On American Soil

I went back to America today!

The morning started out by us all meeting downstairs for breakfast.  While at breakfast we saw many of our teachers.  Mattea's teacher sat down to eat with us.  Patrizia, my teacher, sat down with some other teachers, and then Nick and I were REALLY excited to see Anna Paola (his amazing, wonderful teacher).  We all ate our breakfast, went to get our things upstairs, and we walked all together (ETAs and teachers) to the American Embassy!  I talked to Patrizia for a good bit of the time! I really like Patrizia.  She is so sweet, kind, and it is always so easy to talk to her!  She lets me finish my thoughts, and is quite insightful herself.  I was also able to talk to Nick and Anna Paola, whom I love so much!  It was a slightly rainy walk, but we did take the subway for part of the time!  The subway in Rome, in the morning, at rush-hour...well, that was an interesting experience!  You think the people on the NYC subway like to push and shove and make sure everyone is all in?? Well, the Italians do it bigger and better...they push, shove, yell at you a bit in Italian, and then begin cursing you if you cannot move anymore; not to mention that they have no problem with their hands being near your butt.  So, after a rather claustrophobic subway ride, we came out right at the hotel where I stayed with Nick, my momma, and Barbara back in January!  We walked just up the hill to the American Embassy, and began the process of being let onto American soil.

1. The security was being run by Italians.
2. They let everyone in but all of us.
3. This took forever
4. They only let a few in at a time
5. It was raining
6. I just wanted to be on American soil!  Haha...
7. Once inside, Nick gave me a kiss, and we realized that it was the first time we'd been able to do that on American soil!  haha...cheesy, but TRUE!! 

Once we were all in, then we had to go through security!  You had to leave ALL electronics in an envelope with your last name on it, put everything else through a machine, go through a metal detector, and then put on name badges.  Then we proceeded to make our way upstairs to where our meeting was being held.  The building was gorgeous, and rather majestic; of course it was, it was a gorgeous building in Rome.  Once we were at our room, they like barricaded us off so that we could only go to our room, the room where they set up our food, and the bathroom!  So, we started the day with introductions and such from official people.  They told us all of the rules, which were basically that we could not go ANYWHERE but where we were, and then they told us we would have a tour later, lunch, etc.  The last official person to speak was a lady from the Embassy who shared all of these resources with us that would be helpful for getting information, lesson plans, videos, pictures, etc. etc. for our lessons.  The whole time she was speaking, which was quite a long time, we were all getting rather upset/angry that we had not been given any of this back in October when it would have been sooooooooo much more helpful!  It was really hard to contain our annoyance, but we did!  So, with that we (the ETAs) got started.  Nick and Anna Paola were the first to go!  They were so cute up there...Nick talking about all of the fabulous things he has been doing in Gubbio.  Nick did not really have any issues to address, so his presentation was wonderful, upbeat, and full of some great ideas for lessons. 

After Nick and AP we had our coffee break, which meant a lot of yummy little snacks and some juice, etc.  I did not have coffee, but tried Nick's.  After the break it was Mattea's turn.  She had to talk about all of the stuff that happened after orientation, which I was really proud of her for doing!  Then she talked about some awesome things that she has been doing with her students, and Mattea is just plain fabulous!  SHe had some awesome things that she had done.

After Mattea they changed the schedule a bit because we had to go take the tour of the Embassy.  THey had been SUPER on time today.  The tour was good...cold...but good!  We had a lady whose husband works at the embassy, and she was really excited to show us the art.  We saw buildings, gardens, sculptures, artwork, and more.   Nick disagreed with some of her history facts, but he is a history buff, so he would know better than me.  The Embassy is beautiful! Mattea decided that she wanted to become the 2nd woman Ambassador in the history of the EMbassy.  Mattea, Andrea, and I had fun talking and laughing during the tour.  The teachers were on a separate, Italian tour.  A few Italians came with us, but primarily it was just us.  It was fun, and I feel so fortunate to say that I have seen the inside of the American Embassy in Rome.  They did show us where there are some Mussolini quotes hidden behind some things on a wall, and that was rather strange.  The lady did not care for David's question about whether the President of the U.S. would be jealous of how nice the Ambassador's office/building was!  We thought he was funny...the building was really gorgeous!  They had some issues letting us through security points at times, but who is really surprised.  We had on two types of identification.  They were so super serious about security, and rightfully so, that we were not even really supposed to go back up to our floor without an escort, but seeing as how EVERYONE was on lunch, we just went upstairs anyway! 

WHen we arrived upstairs, it was lunch time.  The other tour group had not made it back, so the 6 of us grabbed some food (lasagna, small foods, drinks, and yummy desserts), huddled ourselves around a table, and had some wonderful Italian food!  I am really going to miss the fresh, healthy, non-processed food of Italy!  THe lunch was amazing, and it was nice to just sit around and talk with everyone!  Since Andrea had not been able to come to dinner last night, it was our first time to sit with her to talk.  When the teachers joined us, we had all finished, and so we mingled a bit.  I sat and talked to David for a while, who is so incredible and so sweet and funny!  His girlfriend Kayla is coming in a few weeks, and he is so excited!  It was so endearing to see how excited he was just to see her and be with her!  I know that they are going to have a great time.  Then I went to join Nick, Mattea, and Andrea in a conversation.  This is when I learned that Zeno, Andrea's boyfriend, got into Howard in Washington D.C., and she is going to defer grad school for a year and move there with him. She will probably reapply to D.C. schools.  Mattea and I decided that we would move to D.C. as well, and that way we were close to Andrea, each other, and two hours (or a little less maybe?) from Nick who will be in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I like this plan!

So after lunch we had a FULL schedule because we had to skip over David's presentation that morning.  So, David went first, and he is a great public speaker!  They asked us to begin talking more about the difficulties we were having, rather than all of the amazing lessons we had been doing, and so David certainly did this.  Myles was next, and then Andrea.  At this point we had all made it very clear that we wished that we had more resources from the beginning, and that the teachers/us had been more informed about what the role of a Fulbright ETA was supposed to be.  We had some serious discussions about how the schools were not using us in the correct ways, and how the majority of this would be solved if we had orientation BEFORE we were supposed to be in the schools.   Fulbright seemed to hear us out, and we did defend some of the teachers who were just simply uninformed. 

I was last to go, and I had to work up a bit of courage to say what I was going to be saying.  Everyone complimented me later on my public speaking and how well I did.  Nick was very sweet and supportive once I had finished because I was feeling a little guilty, but I had simply stated the truth.  Fulbright seemed to hear me out, and I was happy about that.  I was also able to talk a little bit about my experience in Reggio, and how it left me with a renewed sense of excitement to come back to the schools and implement a more student research based approach in my lessons.  Throughout the day, the idea of the rigid Italian school system was discussed, and Anna Paola seemed to lead the charge on that one a bit.  It was a nerve wracking presentation, but it went well, and Patrizia was happy to hear the things I had to say. 

After I was finished, another lady asked us some questions about something we wish we had known before we started, what were some of our little victories, and then she addressed the teachers.  My little victories were in getting the students at the school in Cosenza involved, and now we are on a roll with lessons connecting, as well as the "topics" of the lessons/discussions.  My other little victory was getting that girl in Francesca's class to smile!  It seems so silly, but it was really important to me! 

After this, they said a few closing notes, we petitioned for a final meeting in Rome, and then I had to talk to Fulbright.  I stayed for a while and talked to them, and it was nerve wracking and difficult.  Sweet Nick was there to encourage me and support me once it was all over.  He had told me earlier that Cecilia, our original contact lady, mentioned to him earlier that she noticed we seemed to "be together".  When I was talking to our ministry lady, Fulbright lady, and Cecilia, I mentioned this and they were all like, "yeah, we noticed...yay!!"  It was so cute!  Then, Cecilia mentioned it to me and Nick once more when we were in the hallway and she was telling us how cute we were together and how happy she was for us!  The Italians really love our relationship! 

After all of this, we headed out of the ministry and back to the hotel to rest.  Andrea had to go to work, so she had already left.  When we got outside, we asked the guards if we could take pictures and they said, "NO!!"  SO, we went across the street and this picture happened:

Mattea, Nick, Me, Myles, and our homey David

There was also a really beautiful sunset!  So, we walked back to the hotel, and had great discussions while we did.  I love that about this group!  We can talk about serious things, funny things, intellectual things, or just random nothingness.  It really is incredible.

We went back to the hotel, changed clothes, and hung out for a bit.  Andrea met us downstairs later, because they would NOT let her come upstairs, and made some comment about us being Americans, but they do not do that kind of thing here in Italy...something about if the police came by to check who was in the hotel, they would get in trouble. The chances of that happening?? Probably slim to none.  However, it was fine...

So, we actually decided on this Syrian restaurant that Andrea and Zeno had been to.  The food was INCREDIBLE...we had wine...and a ton of food...lots of laughter...great conversation...and fun pictures:

My INCREDIBLE couscous and veggies in an ah-mazing sauce

Stealing Chicken from Nick

Group Photo

 We had a great time!  This group is so amazing.  We ended the night by talking to some Americans we met and taking pictures while Mattea and Andrea talked to them

 

...then going back to pack.  Andrea stayed over with us, so the girls stayed up and talked a bit!  Mattea had to catch an early flight, so we stayed up late...she rested for like 2 hours, and then she and ANdrea left to get her to the airport.  I was sad to see them go, but I will see them soon I hope.  I love my two Fulbright loves!  

Overall, it was a fun, exciting, nerve wracking, incredible, amazing Rome trip with my loves.  I dont think we could ask for a better group!