Ciao Lavie: March 2012

.... will be my home for four weeks starting May 10. We had our first meeting on Monday (March 19) which made it all seem so real. We even went on Google Earth and looked at where we will be staying... it looks amazing. 49 days until we will be there.

We will be student teaching at Marymount International School in Rome. I can't wait to write about stories from all my little kiddies and the classroom. Hearing the little four and five year olds speak Italian will be the most adorable thing ever.

Oh, and last Thursday Kate and I decided to start practicing some Italian (her Grandma gave her Italian DVDs)... little did we know it was all audio and nothing to actually look at. We tried playing it on everything that played DVDs before we realized it was only audio.... long story short, I still only know Ciao Bella. Fail.

57 days until my official adventure begins. I absolutely cannot wait, but at the same time I want these last couple months to slow down.

It seems like just yesterday I was at the Study Abroad Fair, September 27, hoping there was some slight chance I'd be able to go on this trip. Knowing it was an opportunity of a lifetime made it hard to turn down (no matter how much stress it would bring- clearly I wasn't thinking about money too much when I decided to apply.) After talking with my sister and mom, I realized I've been having the wrong mindset about the entire trip. They gave me a new way to look at this adventure and I've decided to ignore (at least try to) the whole money aspect. It'll all work out. A trip to Italy isn't something worth stressing about.

Timeline:

October 18: turned in the study abroad application

November 21: received an email saying I was accepted to study abroad in Italy!!

February 19: first orientation meeting- was told we will be visiting Elba, Florence, and Venice as our weekend trips!!

March 4: booked my flight!!! I will be flying over and back with Kate and Kelly. We stop in Switzerland on the way there and Canada on the way back. Needless to say, I'll be a well traveled woman when I return to the United States :)

Hopefully I'll have pictures similar to these in just a couple of months...