Venice....

As cliche as this is, words can not describe the beauty that Venice possesses! The entire place is a labyrinth with streets that look like alleys and a walkway that is seemingly always filled with tourists. All kinds of stores, stands and restaurants line the street and so many of them are filled with the glass and masks that Venice is so famous for. The masks are every color and style you can imagine and many have elaborate feathers, lace, fabric, etc. designed all over them. The glass is beautiful and colorful and formed into so many different shapes! There are glasses, paper weights, animals, perfume bottles, jewelry of all sizes. We walked for hours all around the city getting lost and seeing all the different Piazzas, the Palazza Ducale. The bridges and small sidewalks all along the canal are all the entrances to either residences or even more stores. The houses along the canal are decorated with clothes lines and colorful paint and beautiful roofs. While we were walking through the market we also had the opportunity to see a parade walk through with so many young girls and boys dressed in amazing pirate looking costumes. The only things that I had any issue with the the amount of people all over the city. It is incredibly tourist-y and so many different languages are being spoken by groups of people all around you. Also there is a fairly steep sitting charge at almost all of the restaurants so even if you are buying something, its going to cost you to sit at their tables and eat their very expensive but tasty food.

All around Carpi!

I am amazed at the beauty that not only Carpi possesses but also the areas around Carpi. At the end of last week I had the opportunity to go to the Safari Zoo in Pastrengo, Gardaland near Verona and a beach in Tuscany. The zoo was unlike anything I had ever seen before! My classroom went as a field trip and I was an extra person to watch the students, however I was as amazed and memorized as the kids were. Unlike every zoo I have been to, driving into the zoo was like a true safari, the animals were running in front of the bus and roaming around together freely. It was truly an experience I was lucky to have because I got to see various types of animals I had never seen before in an environment as close to natural as possible. The drive to get the the Zoo was also very beautiful and I was able to see many different types of houses and a glimpse into what Verona looks like. Gardaland, which is the equivalent of our Six Flags was an adventure even without going on any rides. For the most part things were exactly the same except both much more relaxed. Small differences like people jumping the rope lines and smoking in line and changing in the middle of everyone were just a few things I noticed right off the bat. The most efficient thing however was the line management system. At the front of every line there was a automated screen that said how many people could go on the ride at that time and then allowed that many people through the gate. So simple, yet so smart! Tuscany was an entirely different world. I have never been in a more beautiful place. Spending the day at the beach bartering with people selling necklaces and books along the shoreline and then walking along the beach during sunset, I saw a completely different part of Italy that was only 2 hours from the place I had been the past two weeks. The types of houses, the businesses and the people were all amazing and I hope to one day get the chance to spend more than just a day there.

In Carpi!!

I can't believe how fast the time is going already! Carpi is amazing and all of the people I have met are so helpful and eager to meet the "Americana". The first week flew by with the introduction to the families, our schools, Carpi and Italy in general. By 9pm everyday I was in bed or was waking up for dinner after a 4 hour nap. We have gotten the chance to experience so many things already especially within the school system here in Carpi. I personally am in a Pre-school class with 4 year-olds who, along with their teachers, did not speak a word of English upon my arrival. At first I was incredibly nervous when I walked into the room, but that nervousness was overcome by excitement and all of the hugs and pictures from my students. Surprisingly, working with the younger kids has helped me learn a lot of basic terms in Italian language, the things that someone who is older wouldn't even think is an important thing, mostly in regards to answering my question "come si dice... (point to an item)". I have seen so many differences and similarities within the classroom as far as behavior management and how different situations with students are handled but if you just looked at the class, aside from the Italian words, it looks like a typical preschool classroom. This however, was not the fact in the rest of the schools I have had the opportunity of seeing. We learned that instead of students moving from classroom to classroom, the teachers are the ones that generally move leaving the classroom itself, pretty bare as far as decoration goes. Also, in many cases, from discussion with other kids visiting Carpi, there is very little structure as far as time goes in the schools. I can't wait to see how much more I will get to learn and see in our short time left.