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Naples & Pompeii

Naples is one of the oldest cities in Italy. This is evident because of the architecture and the monuments in the city. It sits about two-three hours south of Rome and the two cities both have a bustling city feel. In Naples though, street lights and pedestrian signs are mere suggestions as locals walk into the middle of the street dodging cars and ignoring honks from the cars/vespas/and buses that have to slow down for the pedestrian. Another noticeable difference of Naples is the trash that is lined up on the street and the graffiti on the buildings. It is obvious that the city has delved into a lower socioeconomic class but I was surprised that the local people would allow the city to get so bad. One of the locals that I talked to said that the mafia has an influence over the city so that contributes to the trash and the graffiti all over the city.

Since Naples is famous for its pizza I knew that would be the only thing I would be eating there. While walking around the city we stumbled across the pizzeria that Julia Roberts ate at in the movie “Eat, Pray, Love.” The restaurant, Pizzeria da Michele only gave two choices for pizza: margherita and marinara. Apparently in Naples when pizza was first invented these were the only two choices so the restaurant keeps the tradition which makes sense since it’s been a family business since 1890. The pizza was 4.00 euros and it was huge! It was big enough to share with another person and be stuffed for the rest of the night. The other pizza place that we went to during our time there was Troians. This pizzeria had three floors and a firebrick oven on each floor. The firebrick oven on the floor that we ate at had mosaic tiles covering it. The chefs were all very nice to us and invited us to take pictures with them while they were making their pizzas and transporting it into the oven. The pizza was deliziosa!

Pompeii was a graveyard of old ruins that have survived the elements for 2,000 years. Mt. Vesuvius was looming off in the distance and unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to see the volcano since Pompeii itself was so massive. I was very surprised at how things like the amphitheater, the bath houses, and the theatres held up for such a long period of time. It is hard to describe just how incredible Pompeii was. Although some ruins were just big mounds and it was hard to picture exactly how the city looked like, it was evident the damage that occurred when Vesuvius erupted. We paid 5 euros to get the handheld listening device that told us things about Pompeii and I would highly recommend it because I learned about things in Pompeii that I would never have learned from a textbook.

Assisi

Wednesday March 5 was Ash Wednesday and signaled the beginning of Lent. Expecting the usual smeared cross on my forehead that I have been receiving for my entire life I was surprised that the ash was instead sprinkled on my head. This ash signifies the beginning of forty days where people either give up something or try to do something each day for the time period or in some instances, both. This weekend the girls and I did not have any big plans so I decided to spend a day and travel to Assisi. For those who do not know, Assisi is home to St. Francis of Assisi and St. Claire of Assisi. Both very influential people of their time and inspiration to many people around the world including Pope Francis himself.

Arriving at the train station and looking upward, the City of Assisi is situated on the side of a mountain and looked massive. Taking a taxi up to the city we got dropped at the Basilica of St. Francis. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside but regardless it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The artwork, frescoes, statues, and religious significance of the Basilica blew me away.  I could have stayed in one spot looking around all day if we did not have more to see. Again, I was reminded how blessed I am to be in Italy. Walking from the Basilica to get lunch I was amazed at how many English speakers, mainly from America there were. I have been accustomed to listening to Italian for so long I was surprised to be able to understand what they were saying. It is evident that tourism in Assisi is their main form of Economy as most of the shops were for tourists selling various merchandise to commemorate people’s time in the ancient city. Walking to the Basilica of Saint Claire I did not think I could see anything more beautiful than the previous Basilica we visited. I was wrong.

The Basilica of Saint Claire is smaller but no less impressive as the artwork, relics of the saints, and the original cross of San Damiano hung inside the old church. The cross of San Damiano was the one where St. Francis was praying in front of before he received the message from God to rebuild the church. Looking around and seeing the Franciscan Friars maintaining both Basilicas or seeing Nuns on the street was very cool and added to the religious charm that Assisi had. Both of the Basilicas had the tombs of the Saints and the tomb of Saint Claire was very special for my friend Emily as she felt a connection with the woman buried in front of her.

The beauty of Assisi was overwhelming and could be so for even those who are not religious. Seeing the artwork and reading about lives of people who lived centuries ago and still have an impact on people today is very powerful. I joked that the beauty of the churches in Assisi have ruined me forever but some part of me will always know the truth of that statement. Those basilicas cannot be compared to any others nor the Saints who inspired them and house their remains.

Carnevale

In Italy, there is a celebration here known as Carnevale which is the last celebration before the Roman Catholic liturgical season of Lent. The beginning of Lent starts with Ash Wednesday where many Catholics give up something they enjoy. Carnevale then is a period of time where people celebrate with costumes, masks, and food before Lent. The celebration of Carnevale ends on Martedi Grasso (in Italian) or what many people in the U.S. refer to as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Carnevale is celebrated all over the world and the world famous Carnevale in Italy is in Venice. I knew Venice was going to be crowded with tourists and I heard of another town that does something for Carnevale. ViaReggio is a little beach town that holds a celebration for Carnevale every year that is more for the local Italian people. By train ViaReggio is only two hours from Siena and 15 minutes from Pisa so we went to Pisa first and took all of the touristy photos with the impressive leaning tower and then headed to our main destination.

ViaReggio is very similar to the small beach towns in California and was a comfort to my friends and I as we visit California often so it was a great reminder of home. The first thing on our list was to visit the beach and then later that night we dressed up put on our masks and went to dinner. While at dinner we saw a group of people our age dressed up in costume. We asked the waitress where they were going and she said there was a block party not too far away. We decided to go and check it out and it was not a disappointment. Different DJs on every street, drink stands, food trucks and people dressed up in costume dancing. We danced the night away with a mix of American music and Italian music.

On Sunday, ViaReggio has a massive parade that is very famous around Italy. On Martedi Grasso it even gets broadcasted on TV all across the country. The floats are made out of paper machete and get worked on for the entire year prior to Carnevale. The large floats carry up to 200 people dressed up in costume, singing, dancing, and throwing confetti. This extends to the people on the street as well as mostly everyone was dressed up in costume, singing along to the songs, dancing on the side, and throwing confetti on the performers. Some of the performers pulled me and Beka into the parade and we danced with them for a little bit. It was a fun party atmosphere and I had a blast. It was the best weekend I have had in Italy so far. If you have never heard of the Carnevale in ViaReggio look it up immediately. You won’t be dissapointed. If you have the opportunity to be in Italy around January/February sometime in your life go to ViaReggio to experience it. You will not regret it. I know I didn’t.

The First Week of Teaching

Since I am an education major the biggest draw for me to come to Italy other than to experience the culture was to be in the classroom teaching English to the Italian school children. I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I could not pass up. You can imagine our excitement as the nine students made our way to San Girolamo, the private elementary school that we would be teaching at. My best friend Beka and I are co-teaching fourth grade under the aid of Dania. Dania is the school’s English teacher and for not being a native speaker she does a wonderful job of teaching and speaking the language. The first lesson was mainly an introduction between us and the kids. It was the first time since arriving to Italy that I realized I was exactly where I needed and wanted to be. Looking at all of their faces struggling to speak English to me and knowing I could help them in their future I could not have been happier.

The Siena School for Liberal Arts also has after school programs that are open to kids if they want to be in a class to learn more about Music and English or Art and English. I am helping teach the Music and English and there are kids of ages ranging from 5-9 years old. We teach them English songs such as; The London Bridge, Who Stole the Cookies, Old McDonald etc. It is a two hour class where we speak to them primarily in English but can have fun and be silly as we sing songs and dance around.

Originally, the education students were just supposed to teach solely at San Girolamo. Anya, the coordinator between the Siena School for Liberal Arts and the Italian schools was able to get some of the education students into the public elementary school called Peruzzi. As much as I love San Girolamo I do not think it is an accurate representation of all of the schools in Italy. Since Peruzzi is a public school it shows how the Italian government runs their schools. Walking into Peruzzi I could already tell the differences between the schools. Beka and I are teaching fifth grade this time and the homeroom teacher Laura is a very nice and welcoming lady even though it was hard to communicate with our lack of knowledge of the others native language. The students at Peruzzi are learning English out of a textbook and a video that accompanies the textbook. I am a firm believer in the importance of teacher to student interaction so I could tell the need for us to be at Peruzzi was very great. Their is one student in particular who is going to be living in the United States in couple of years so I was excited to help her as she would need this skill in the very near future.

Although I am teaching three different classes of English and am very busy with that as well as my course work I couldn’t be happier to be in the classroom. Being a native speaker of English now as I teach it I see the language in a completely different way and learning Italian as well during this time has given me a great appreciation for those who are bilingual speakers. I hope during the time I am here to give all of my students the tools to learn English easier and that hopefully it will help them in their future.