School and more...

I haven't written in a while because I've been super sick...Before I got sick I had my first proper night out in Milan last Thursday. An Italian guy who interned at UPenn a few years ago- and came to several of the Bryn Mawr Italian department's events- invited me to an aperitivo at his office. If you don't know, an aperitivo is basically like a buffet of appetizer-like snack foods you eat along with some kind of alcoholic drink. Anyway, this was more specifically an art exhibit/aperitivo. I didn't really know him too well before going but after a few minutes I was shocked to hear that he was 28 years old. His friends, who met me at the subway and walked with me to the event, were 29 and 33 years old. I thought they were only a few years older than me and definitely felt a little self-conscious for being the baby of the group, not to mention the only one without a Doctorate or Masters degree or a full-time job. Everyone else at the exhibit was in their 50s and 60s and whatever age you were, you were dressed nice so it felt like more of an elegant event. There was unlimited wine, like always, plenty of little triangle sandwiches, other snacks and also some dessert. Aperitivo is one of the best parts of Italian culture.

Anyway, the moral of the story is coming up. After the aperitivo we went out for more food and drinks at a nearby bar and while I was talking to the ex-intern, he brought up a very good point. I was asking him about his experience in America and how it was and he said something along the lines of, "Being in a different country in an entirely new city is a life-changing experience. Whatever you are invited to, you say yes. You do things you wouldn't normally do, you spend time with people you wouldn't normally hang out with...Would you usually be out drinking with 30-year olds?" I had to laugh because when I got his invitation to come to this event, I said yes, yes, yes. I had school the next day and I should have spent more time planning the lessons, but again, "Whatever you are invited to, you say yes." I love that line because it really captures the essence of the experience.

Anyway, I should probably talk more about my experiences at the school. I have my hours finalized and therefore, I'm starting to settle in and fall into a routine. I'm in several different classes and I see each one either one a week or every two weeks. Each week, my hours in the classroom add up to 12.

I should explain one last detail. In Italian high schools, the students stay in one room all day and the teachers move around. Each class is labeled with a number- 1 for first year students, 2 for second-years, 3 for third-years, 4 for fourth-years, and 5 for fifth-years. The only reason I listed them all out was to draw attention to the fact that in Italy, students do five years of high school and then three years of college. (side note: If you do law or medicine, you do more than three years.) From there each class is labeled with a letter. So there's 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H...and I haven't heard letters beyond that. So apparently depending on your group, you're with the same 20 or so kids all year or for all of high school. I have to ask someone about this..Anyway, here is my schedule. I want to write the teachers as well to give an idea of how many different people I work with. The names are made up as you will probably notice.

Monday:         9:10am-10:10am with Mr. Michelangelo's 1B class

                      11:20am-12:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 2A class

Tuesday:        10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1D class (every other week)
                      10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Loren's 1E class (every other week)

                      11:20am-12:10am with Mrs. Loren's 2H class (every other week)
       
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1G class (every other week)
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Loren's 2G class (every other week)

                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 4D class

Wednesday:   9:10am-10:10am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3C class

                      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Loren's 1H class (every other week)

Thursday:      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Maria's 1F class

                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3E class
                   
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3A class

Friday:          12:10am-1:05pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 5D class
     
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Angela's 4A class (every other week)

Next month, I'll start teaching a class for Trinity College London's test on spoken English. From the sounds of it, if you do well, it is a nice certificate to have under your belt around here. For our program, we are technically supposed to do 12 hours of teaching and 13 of "related activities". I'm still trying to figure out what the related activities are. The only thing I'm sure of is that the Trinity test classes count. The other American assistant who works at the school is also teaching classes after school for the teachers, but I think that's her thing. She also does private tutoring for teacher's kids, but no one has mentioned that to me either.

I'm the newbie. It is definitely a little strange being the new one here where everyone already knows and loves the returning assistant. Today, when I was walking down the stairs with her we ran into another teacher and he started talking to her about some dinner he had planned with a few other people. After I introduced myself, we small talked for a bit, and finally he was like, "I should probably invite you too..." Another teacher randomly came up to me today and was like, "and who are you?" The getting oriented process is a little awkward, but I like to think that I'm friendly enough and will eventually be part of the community. All of the teachers I work with personally have been great and super welcoming and encouraging for the most part. For example, it was seriously cute of Mr. Michelangelo is offer to take my picture after my first official lesson to commemorate the moment. When he emailed it to me, he labeled it, "Natural Born Teacher"...Here it is: