The first few days.

I'll begin with a little background. I am going to Siracusa, Italy. Siracusa is located on the south eastern coast on Sicily. It is a city of about 130,000 and was once considered the strongest city in the world. That was when it was a part of the Roman Empire making the city extremely old about 2,700 years approximately.

My travels begin by saying goodbye to my family before security and then meeting Andrew Fiegen on the other side. Andrew is the other American exchange student going to Siracusa. Our travel took us through Toronto, Rome, and then Catania. Once in Catania we met up with our respected host families. There to representing my host family was my host mom, Stefania and my host uncle, Marco. They were friendly, although I didn't get to know them that well because as soon as I exited the airport I boarded a bus to take me to a resort is the Calabria region of Italy. Specifically in Capo Rizzuto. As I entered the bus I was greeted by thirteen new smiling faces. Eleven kids from my school aged 16-18, and two teachers. I was immediately peppered by questions. All of which were in Italian. I understood nothing. The students called back the english teacher (the only one on the trip with substantial knowledge in English and Italian). She translated questions for the students, and then translated the answer back for them. This went on until they seemed to run out of questions. Next came the basically incoherent conversation that arose with the mixture of bad english and even worse Italian. We didn't gain much information from the conversation, but what I gained was a friend. One of the boys, Sebino, took a liking to me, and took me under his wing so to speak. Once we got off of the fairy, necessary to bring us from Sicily to the mainland, exhaustion got the better of me and I slept the rest of the way. At the resort we moved into our temporary homes for the next two weeks. The rest of the day consisted of me following around Sebino, and him telling me Italian vocabulary almost all of which I forgot immediately. That night after we ate dinner we watched a musical version of Alice in Wonderland. All of which was in Italian, but I know the story so it was still slightly interesting. After the play I went to bed at the early Italian hour of midnight. For those of you who don't know Italian culture they stay up notoriously late. Due to a rest period of laying around and talking that occurs in the middle of the day.

Day two started at 8 in the morning and was packed full of activities, including my first swim in the Mediterranean sea. This was a delightful experience between my and Sebino, one that I will remember for a long time. Other activities were swimming in the pool, going on a mountain bike ride, playing a pickup game of soccer and another show. The swimming in the pool was interesting in a different way from swimming in the Mediterranean. It was one of my first examples of a cultural difference. When swimming in the pool you are required to wear a swim cap. Not bringing one with me, forced me and Sebino to track down the english speaking teacher and ask where we can get one. I ended up buying one from the gift shop and paying three euros for it. The soccer however was slightly a shocker. Being a pickup game, and that I had played many year of it I thought I was going to be proficient maybe even one of the better players. WRONG! I felt completely out skilled on the pitch. The time that the players had spent with a ball at their feet was evident. I looked like a fool many times, but still enjoyed playing. Then came the show, this time it was a game show they held between different guests at the resort. The only thing that I could tell you about the show was that it involved couples and one of them won. The rest went right over my head. After the show I sat outside with Sebino and three other girls on the trip form my class. They talked for awhile and periodically asked my questions that took a great deal of work to understand and answer. I again called it an early night at 12:30.

Day three was eerily similar to day two with the only major differences being that I played beach volleyball, went on a longer mountain bike ride and the show at the end of the night was different. The beach volleyball was quite fun. Me and an assortment of other guests played a small tournament. My team got third out of four teams. A fairly unsuccessful outing if you ask me. The show was an interesting experience again. This time it was another musical. From what I gathered a musical version of the movie Magic Mike. If you're not sure what Magic Mike is I suggest you watch a trailer.

My Italian has been getting quite a bit better, as well as, Sebino's english. Making communicating easier, but still difficult. Tomorrow I have been invited to go wind surfing, which I am very excited about. Below are pictures from the resort and some of the classmates on the trip. Ciao!

Me and Sebino on the bus 

Swim cap only pool

The volleyball court 

The outdoor theatre 

Classmates and teachers after dinner one night