Florence!

Ciao! Today was the day we arrived in Florence! This city is beautiful and full of life! When we arrived, we checked into our apartments! Then, we set out to explore. We headed to a huge grocery store but didn't stay long due to the large amounts of people inside! We went out for a stroll through the market and made a few purchases! Our bargaining skills are getting a lot better! I saved around 30 Euro! The rest of the day went pretty much the same! I bought a cool looking pizza that had hot dogs and fries on it! However, it was not very good!
 Tomorrow is the day we begin our real exploration of Florence!

Last day in Italian classroom!

Ciao! Today was filled with more classroom excitement! We started our morning off inside the same elementary school as Monday!

Children at work!

We saw some of the same faces as before and were greeted by new ones that we were working with! We started off working with fourth and fifth grade classes combined to make it easier on us! The kids were awesome and chop full of questions for us. After the first few questions that always came up, such as "How old are you?", the questions became more detailed. For example, the boys would ask me questions about video games. I notice this happened the same as it would in an American school.

My first group!

The girls tended to ask more questions about animals. After questions, we moved into our "Where's Walrus" activities! The kids loved the book. Just as they did in America and the previous classes, there were plenty of giggles! I could see a real difference in the age groups when it was time to draw the pictures. I noticed that there was a similar pattern to the way the kids responded to drawing in Italy as if we were in America. The kids did not seem as excited to draw as younger students had been showing. The kids acted as if they would be embarrassed as to what others would think about their drawings.

Second group!

It took a lot of motivating to get the students to start drawing. Some of the drawings were great, others were not the best. I could tell that some students had given up earlier in their lives on working on their art. After the activity, we taught the students our song before they were dismissed. We had a nice little break and were served some cookies and juice while we waited for the other group. The next group of kids were younger.

Second class!

They were age 6 and 7. They did not ask as many questions as the older kids. When asked if they preferred cats or dogs, more males chose dogs and more females chose cats. We did the walrus activity with them also. They giggled a lot at the book and really enjoyed it. It took a lot longer to get them to start drawing, but everyone did do a drawing. Some were awesome! After a few minutes of drawing, the students acted very similar to American students of that age. They lost interest and we lost control of them.

Cherry farm!

Their actual teachers did not help us regain control of them. Maybe that is because the way they were acting was normal for them. I am not sure. After the class was dismissed, we headed to lunch. We were served another 3 course meal. The lunch room was very chaotic again compared to an American lunchroom. It was very loud but the teachers did not seem disturbed by it at all. I am assuming that this is just how lunch goes in this particular Italian school. After lunch, the mayor came back by to the school and gave us all a gift. It was really awesome of her! We left the school and headed out to a cherry farm. The trees were beautiful and full of cherries! We sampled some and left out for a snack! After our snack, we went to a vineyard and saw some more of the grapes used to make Balsamic Vinegar. The tradition of the vinegar is huge in this area of Modena, Italy. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel for a nice rest. For dinner, we headed out with our adoptive grandparents for a nice 3 course meal! Tomorrow, we leave the Modena area and are headed to the city of Florence!

Reggio Emilia!

Ciao! Today was different! We finally got to go to a Reggio Emilia School! The school was very well organized and only had 78 students.

Student created area!

Art display!

We were gretted at the door to begin our tour! They started off by showing us enourmous amount of paper work that has to be filled out on each child! Throughout the school, there were multiple displays of student work.
There were not as much art work hanging on the walls like you would see in an American school but, there were multiple displays of student work. There was a large section that the students created.

Dress up center!

Reading small group!

Oh, I forgot to mention, these are 4,5,and 6 year old kids! Their creativity was amazing! We visited each grade level. The kids in the classroom all seemed to be extremely engaged in whatever they were working on.You don't see that level of engagement in AMerican classrooms usually, but they were also in really small groups. We watched students work in different centers that appeared to be very similar to Hand In Hand.

An artist and his masterpiece!

Drawing taken to another level!

Both schools are child centered learning based schools! We went into the teachers room where we were given snacks! Italians love to give snacks to us! We had some good conversation about education.
America and Italy seem to both be having similar issues with their education system and the law. The school gave us a small gift and we were shown the coolest thing I have seen in a long time! They showed us a book where the students designed homes. Cool right? Actually, very cool because they project became real. They actually created the houses the kids made and sold them to the public. We took a walk to the houses to admire how awesome they were!

House created by kids!

Our pizza!

After we took some pictures and said goodbye, we headed out for lunch! We found an awesome pizza place and it was very tasty! Schuyler, Nancy, and I shared a pizza. Three of us did not finish it, thats how big it was! After lunch, we headed to a museum. We were only there for an hour and I honestly didn't quite grasp the concepts going on inside of it.
We left the museum and stopped for some gelato! I got chocolate of course! Corky paid for it for us again! He has really been awesome to us and treated us so nicely! Afterwards, we headed out to the hotel to get some rest. For dinner, Schuyler, Nancy, and I headed to get some cheese burgers! Yummy! Since we were all real tired, we headed back to the hotel after we ate!

Parmesan Cheese and Balsamic Vinegar! 5-26-15

Ciao! Today was pretty cool! We had a full morning of awesome experiences. After breakfast, we headed out for the Parmesan Cheese Factory!

Large tub of  milk!

Machine picking up cheese!

The region of Modena we are in is the only place where true Parmesan Cheese is made! Everything else is not authentic! We walk into the factory and are asked to place what appeared to be scurb type clothing! As we entered the factory, we were amazed! We watched them take giant tubs of milk and mix them a lot! As they were mixing, they were increasing the temprature! They took a cheese cloth and scooped up a large chunk of cheese! It was huge! A man came by the chunk and cut it in half. He had to be super precise to make sure each half weighed similar weights. Afterward, they tied each individual piece into its own cheese cloth.

After it is stamped and put in container! 

A machine was called to the tub and they placed the individual pices onto the machine. It picked them up and carried them around a belt into another room. In this room, the cheese was picked up by another machine and placed into a container with a weight placed on top of it. It will sit there for a day before moving on. After it sits there and drains, it is moved into another room where it sits even longer and is stamped with the companys information. It gets placed into a room that is extremely hot to continue the drying process.

The heat room!

After going through the process, they took us into the holy grail of cheese! The room we were brought to had over $50 million worth of cheese in it! It was amazing! We took a few pictures before heading out. The smell was getting to the girls! After we left the cheese factory, we got went over to the Basalmic Vinegar Museum. It was pretty cool!

Holy grail of cheese!

They started us off by showing us a video on the history of the vinegar. Then we took the tour. We saw some barrels that were hundreds of years old! They took us to their attic where the Balsamic Vinegar was being made! There were multiple different barrels being made!

Balsamic Vinegar!

They showed us the difference between 12 year old vinegar and 25 year old vinegar. There was a difference in color and texture! They allowed us to do a taste test on each but I skipped on it! I didn't like the taste of it when I had tried it the night before! We finished up and headed back to our motel. We had the rest of the day as a free day. Schuyler, Nancy, and I seriously sat in their room for five hours and stared at the walls. We wanted to rest and really didn't want to walk around the city with it raining, Eventually, the rain stopped and we headed out!

Schuyler and Nancy!

We went to a local cafe and had food and enjoyed the night! We made an Italian friend! It was so nice to be able to enjoy a good time with good friends! After the cafe closed, we headed back to our rooms for the night!

Back In The Schools! 5-25-15

Ciao! Today was another awesome experience! We started our morning off by visiting the mayor of  Modena!

Door to mayor's office!

She was very helpful to us and gave us a very warm welcoming! She brought us inside the area where they hold meetings for the city! She gave us an overview of the information of the city and provided us with some awesome snacks! Afterwards, she brought us out into the city and to a school!

Welcoming into their school!

The school!

Of course, when the mayor shows up to your classroom, you let the visitors in! We just had a small look in of the school before heading out. There was a man walking with us, who we all thought was just a translator, but ended up being the headmaster of the school we worked in for the day! When we left for the school, we were hit by an amazing scene! This was the most warming welcoming I have ever experienced! The children from the school were all outside and started singing when we walked up!

Welcome in Italian!

They sang three different songs for us! We could tell that they had worked very hard and it made us all feel very special! Once we were inside, we had a quick look inside some of the classrooms before lunch! The classrooms were very similar to the others we have been too. The walls all were lacking very much decoration and art work like you may see in an American school. After the brief look in, we sat down for lunch, Lunch in Italian schools are much different than in America. In America, you pay $1.75 for a tray of food that no one wants to eat. In Italy, we were served a three corse meal! First, we had a noodle dish with a meat sauce, then we had trays of meat and cheese, and finally, we were served a peach pie for dessert! The kids at lunch were much different than those at an American school also. Amercans schools, from what I have seen lately, don't allow students to get up or even talk. These kids in Italy were running around and extremely loud.

First corse of meal!

The tables had jugs of water for students to pour their own drinks, instead of milk like in America. After lunch, we headed to recess. At recess, I interacted with a group of students and played what seemed to be volley ball without a net.

Working with a small group!

It seemed just like an American school at recess! Boys played together in the soccer field and girls all hung around together doing other activities. After recess, we started our lessons with the kids. We broke into groups and I started to feel extra special. All of the students were wanting to be in my group. I know its probably because I am a male and they don't see very many males in the school. It still made me feel extra speical! In our groups, we worked with Where's Walrus again! The students still really enjoyed the book. We made them do the same activity as well. When asked to draw the walrus somewhere in their community, they all jumped right on it. I've noticed that in Italy, when you are given directions, you listen and follow them, Usually in America, you have to give directions multiple times. These children also acted the same as previous children in the other Italian classrooms.

Student work!

Class two!

They drew walrus in the biggest places in their community. The studenst in Aosta drew walrus in the moutains and the students here in Modena drew walrus in the Panaro River. After we finished with the first group, we switched for a new one. These students were a little less well behaved than the ones before but were still good. We did our walrus activity and got similar results from the students before. After the activity was over, the students prepared to leave for the day. The students stayed in school until 4:30, unlike in America, they would have gotten out at 3:15. After we left the school, we went back to our hotel for a rest.  That night, we headed to our adoptive grandparents house for dinner. The food was fabulose! They served us a three corse meal! It was the first time I \actually thoroughly enjoyed my meal while being in Italy. After dinner, we were shown their Balsamic vinegar they they were making in their attic. It is an awesome process that takes years to make. Un fortunaley, I do not like the taste! Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel for the night!

Antique market and Italian Festival!

Ciao! Today was a litle different than the last few days. It finally quit raining! After breakfast, we headed out with some friends of Dr. Marciano to a antique market!

Antiques market

At the market, they had a variety of items. There were some items that came from World War 2 but, they were mostly European. It was a very neat place to look around! For lunch, Schuyler and I seperated from the group, again, to both get a pizza! We both ate an entire pizza on our own!

Ferarri Museum

 After lunch, we set out to the Ferrari Museum. Schuyler, Shakela, and I decided to sit back and wait for the others to explor the museum. We didn't really feel like looking through it. I had a terrible headache! After the others finished checking it out, we headed to a festivle being celebrated by a lot of Italian people! At the festival, the scene was crazy! There was loud music and people having a good time! The girls did a little shopping and I bought a lot of candy! We left there and headed for McDonalds! We fianlly go to a McDonalds but my head was hurting so bad that it caused me to not feel so good. So, I didn't eat! We left afterwards to our hotel for the night!

Modena Area!

Ciao! Today was very rainy again! The rain messed us up on a little bit of our exploration. Howver, it didn't completely mess it up!

Bar Acquarello

We made our way by bus from Venice to Vignola. This is where we will be staying during our tour of this area and Modena.

Front view from top of castle

We are staying in the Hotel Eden! Once we got everything unpacked, we went for lunch! We at at a local bar and I had a pretty tasty pizza! After lunch, we stopped and got an ice cream that Dr. Marciano got for us! Then, the awesome part of the day happened! We got to go and explore the Rocca Castle in Vignola. The castle was beautiful. We were not able to take pictures inside the castle of the beautiful artwork.

Back view from castle!

Bell tower!

We went all through it. At the very top, I was able to get a picture of the bell tower and some of the views around the city. It was definitely a nice place to visit! Afterwards, we walked around a few shops to browse before heading back to our hotel due to the increase in the rain!

Last day in Venice! 5-22-15

Ciao! Today was pretty interesting! It sucked because it rained all day but a little rain did not ruin our fun! We started our morning out by going on a private walking tour of the city! Venice is beautiful and holds many treasure!

Statue in Venice!

Street in Marano!

It is the final burial place for Saint Marco! There are beautiful statues and buildings all throughout the many different islands! After our walking tour, we headed out for a lunch break. I got a new kind of pasta and enjoyed it! Next on our adventure, we headed to a huge water buss to take us to Marano.

Tower in Venice!

This is an island in Venice where glass blowing occurs. The artwork here was gorgeous! We shopped for a while and watched people make different things out of glass! It is an awesome art form. We left the island on a water bus back to St. Marco. We walked around a while and checked out a few shops and headed out for dinner.
Schuyler and I decided to venture away to the Hard Rock Cafe! It was a very good decision! It may have cost us a lot to eat there but we had an awesome time! It was a little bit of America in Italy! Tomorrow, we head out for Modena!

Venice!

Ciao! Today has been a day full of travel! We started off by eating breakfast on the Hotel Turin! We finished up and headed right for a bus! The bus was about an hour and a half ride! It took us to the train station! I got to ride on a train for the very first time! From here, we set off to Venice! It was a four hour train ride! 

Water taxi to hotel!

When we made it to Venice, we took a water taxi to our hotel and checked in. Then, we went out to view the city on water! The city was beautiful! Dr. Marciano, Ray, and I headed to see the church of Saint Gregory but, it was closed. 

Venice!

Inside the church

We checked out another church and then went back to pick up the girls from the hotel. We strolled around for a bit and peaked inside some widows at different shops! We went out as a group for dinner. The food was okay but the staff was really rude! We could have walked out without paying for over 60 Euros of our bill but we decided to do the right thing and let them know they under charged us! After dinner, we headed back to our hotel for the night! Also,  you always make sure that you be very careful in the city of Venice when the marble on the ground is wet! 

High school!

Ciao! Today, we went back to high school! A high school in Italy that is! We had the opportunity to go inside Elena's high school classroom! The school was awesome! They have their own farm and make their own wine at the school! 

First classroom!

The first class we worked with were very fun! We did like we did with the elementary school children and used the book "Where's Walrus?" to have some fun! They loved it! We also had the draw where walrus would be in Aosta, like we did with the elementary school. Their favorite place to draw walrus was at their farms and the bar. We also taught them the Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes song! Since they were high school students, we knew they could speak a decent amount of English. So, we brought in a new book called "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus!"They enjoyed it! We broke down into small groups and read them another book in the pigeon series! It was fun to watch them enjoy themselves. 

Second classroom!

We brought them some jelly beans from America to try. There were 49 different flavors and they loved them too! After the class left for break, we moved to another classroom but Elena was still the teacher. This class did the same activities as the first class and really enjoyed it also! It was different for them, since majority of their lessons are strictly school business and no fun! We left from their to head to lunch. At lunch, Elena brought in some of her fifth year students to talk with us. They spoke great English and were very entertaining! After lunch, we headed out to the Roman bridge. 

Front view of bridge!

The bridge is named Pont D'ael. It was beautiful! It has an aqueduct running under it! We were able to walk across the bridge and then back across inside of it. Inside, the floor was made of glass! So. you could see what was under you and it was scary! 

Across the top of the bridge!

We finished up with pictures at the bridge and headed out for the village of Congne. It was beautiful! We went to the Italy national park that is very near to Cogne! When we go to Congne, the scenery was amazing! Beautiful waterfalls, mountains, and rivers! While we were there, we went to a hotel owned by Elena's cousin! The hotel was beautiful! They provided us with drinks and some snacks before giving us a tour. They showed us each type of room. The suite was beautiful! The hotel also had a resort in it! After they showed us the rooms, they took us underground to their cheese cellar! They have cheese here that they age for years! It smelt very badly but it was still cool to see! 

Waterfall near Cogne!

Cogne!

We left Congne and headed back to our motel! We went out for dinner for the last time during our trip with Elena! Tonight is the night we pack up! We will see you tomorrow, Venice!