'Bacio di guancia!'

My second day at school went much smoother than the first. I woke up early and I even had time to eat breakfast, which I haven't done since I've been here. My bike ride to school was nice and when I got to the classroom all of the children were ecstatic to see me again. It's not a bad feeling to walk in the door and have 22 little Italian children yell 'Ciao Mariel, belissima!' and give you a million hugs and kisses. This trip has definitely been an ego boost. Italians are so affectionate and complimentary; I love it! Yesterday a bunch of the children asked me to 'Bacio di guancia' and I had no idea what that meant. I found out today they were asking me to kiss them on the cheek and once I kissed one child's cheek, the other 21 kids were in line for kisses. It's definitely a different world here.

I spent most of the day at school observing, but I was able to play with the kids for a while too. Today was class picture day and the teachers insisted that I be in the picture, even though it was only my second day at the school. My friend Amber took a picture of me and my class and it's adorable. I can't wait to show everyone! I also took a lot of pictures of my students and when they saw my camera they freaked out. I think every child wanted his or her picture taken and the things they were doing to get my attention were hilarious.

I also received about 20 drawings from the kids today. One girl, Raffaela, started the trend and once the others saw what she was doing they all wanted to draw me a picture. I'd love to keep them all and bring them home, but it's only day two and I have too many drawings already. I'll keep the best ones to bring home. My favorite so far is one that Rafaella drew and it says (in Italian of course), 'Hello Mariel, I hope that you like our school. You are very, very beautiful. Love, Rafaella.'

After school ended I went back home for lunch. Fillippo, Valentina, and Valentina's friend, Elena, and I all ate lunch together and it was a lot of fun. Valentina and Elena are both obsessed with America and the questions they asked me about the United States were so random, but fun to answer. They were using their English books to help them translate and the books were so cliché. The books said stuff like, 'All Americans love to play baseball, eat Chinese food, and go to the shopping malls!' Whoever wrote those books needs to actually go to America before they publish a book about the country.

When I finished lunch I left for a meeting with the group at scuola Leopardi, which is about a 10 minute bike ride from the Ferrari's flat. I was wearing a dress and riding a bike (bad call) and I have never been whistled at so much in my life. I definitely got a bunch of 'Ciao bellas' and 'Buonggggiornos' too... Italian men definitely fit their stereotype.

Anyways, after the meeting (which was incredibly boring and took way too long) some of us sat around at talked for a bit at the school before going home. I'm doing fine adjusting to the Italian lifestyle, but a lot of people on my trip aren't doing so well. One girl said she'd been calling home crying every night? I don't see how that can be possible because we're all having so much fun, but being here is a bit of a culture shock, especially for people who haven't been away from home for long. It was good to talk to everyone about the differences in the cultures though. I love Europe, but I can't say I'd be able to get used to how different life is here. It's a good place to visit though, obviously, and I'm having a great time. I wish my family and friends could come here and then it'd be perfect! A little bit of ice and air conditioning would help things too :)

I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow I'll be gone from 8:00 AM until about 9:30 PM because we're going straight from school to a meeting and then to have pizza and gelato with the entire program. It's going to be a fun, but busy, day so I need lots of sleep! Goodnight!!