Ciao Americans

Well, it’s Friday night at 11.. we’ve been going since 5:30 AM… and I’m just ready for bed. Today was the first day where I really just wanted to pick up the phone and call my family and best friends. Surprisingly, I haven’t been homesick this entire trip, which is odd because I’m the biggest homebody ever. For some reason, I think life isn’t really going on back home… and my little brother isn’t really going to end middle school this Friday… :( stop growing up so fast. I bet you’re going to be taller than me when I get home in a week.


I have learned so, so much about myself in these few short weeks. Mainly just reinforcing what I already know about myself… but I have also learned new things… which is good right? It is supposed to be a learning experience and I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity. 

Okay, but enough of that… let’s start with yesterday (Thursday.) The bus ride took only 20 minutes, we got to school 20 minutes early, and I was able to enjoy my cappuccino on the patio. When the kids would get a little rowdy, all I kept thinking was “I’ll be in Elba tomorrow… let them be rowdy.” It worked. I stayed with the kids in music, and it was a HUGE step up from last week. The kids actually listened to me and behaved (for the most part.) However, this music teacher makes ME want to pull my hair out. We sang a rainbow song… the rainbow she drew was red, yellow, pink, green, purple, blue. Seriously? If you’re going to teach four year olds about the rainbow, then teach it correctly. Who doesn’t know ROYGBIV? During lunch, the windows to the inside cafeteria were opened and pigeon flew in. It was probably the funniest thing watching the cafeteria woman swing a broom at a pigeon trying to get it out, shouting Italian at a bird. Dana and I had to take the kids to the movie room while our teachers had a planning period. The teachers wanted them to be quiet, but making 35 four year olds be silent is nearly impossible. We gave up. Diamante came up to me after I said “absolutely NO MORE MOVING AROUND” and said, “But Miss Heitz, I want to sit with the boys.” I told her she is fine where she is and she replied, “But I like the boys. I want to kiss the boys.” I couldn’t help but laugh, which made her laugh. Oh, my silly diamond.

After school, we went to one of Max’s favorite restaurants. Lorenzo and Mauro are brothers and own the restaurant. The food was delicious, except for the sheep intestines. Yup, disgusting. It’s supposedly a famous Roman dish. Jo-ell and I thought it looked so delicious, wanted to share it, heard EVERYONE laughing at the other table, and they informed us we were about to eat sheep intestines. Lost my appetite QUICKLY. Of course, the waiters loved us. They kept saying "Ciao Americans!" I left one of them a note (maybe a little too much vino?!) The bill was 524 euros… haha. After we went to the Spanish Steps.. not sure the importance of these steps, but I can say I saw them :) We ended the night with some delicious gelato.

with our waiters!

Spanish steps

So this morning, we were up at 5:30 AM and out the door by 6. Walked half a mile up the road, on a train by 6:30… then a bus ride, boat ride, and craziest/scariest car ride of my life. Once we get off the boat, our vans aren’t there yet so Max is randomly finding cars/friends to put us in the car with. Katie C, Kate, and I get in the car with one of Max’s friends… and I ask if he lives in Elba… and he says something back in Italian about how he doesn’t speak English. Great. Let’s just say we made it to the hotel and we’re alive. I had some doubts. These Italians are ridiculous drivers. At one point he took out a cigarette pack and I thought he was asking if we wanted to smoke… I said “no.” And then he kept saying something. I think he was asking if we cared if he smoked so then we said yes, and he didn’t smoke… just decided to drive even faster.

We get to our hotel and we’re in paradise. We go straight to the bar and order Elba Sunrises. So delicious. All meals are provided by the hotel and we were given the biggest lunch ever, 3 course meal. Then we waited a little bit, had a pina colada, and started our journey to a beach. Speedos, saggy boobs, and sex… that’s what I saw on the beach today. All the men wear speedos… it’s quite the sight to see. We all fell asleep on the beach and I woke up drooling. Kelly and I took a nice little stroll on the beach and then we all headed back. Little wine shops are all over, outside ones where it’s difficult to pass and turn down wine. I had to buy some. Surprisingly, we were ready pretty quickly and headed to dinner around 9. Another 3 course meal, actually four including dessert. After dinner, a group of us decided to stay in (which is why I’m currently blogging) and another group went out on the town. Elba is PERFECT.