'Bolle, bolle!!' (bubbles!)

Yesterday Natalie and I spent most of the day watching older students perform songs in English while Angela played the guitar. They played a lot of songs we've already heard, like 'I'm Yours,' 'Hot and Cold,' etc, but they also performed an acoustic version of 'Umbrella' by Rihanna and it was amazing. Natalie and I had a lot of fun dancing and singing along with the kids.

When I got back to classe 1^a A it was time for recess. I spent practically the entire 30 minutes blowing bubbles for masses of SCREAMING Italian children; it was hilarious! They were so excited to chase and pop the bubbles and I was happy to spend time with them. In the midst of all the screaming and running around I also rediscovered my own love of bubbles. They really are a lot of fun!

After school I went home for lunch and then headed back to Calvino for our last meeting to discuss the things we're seeing in the schools with our UGA professors. The meeting lasted a while, but it was really interesting to be able to reflect on the things we've learned and the differences in the school systems we've experienced so far, both in the U.S. and in Italy. We've all learned a lot about our philosophies of teaching from this experience, but I think we all agree that we're looking forward to teaching in American schools.

The entire group was supposed to go out for pizza and gelato after our meeting, but practically everyone made plans to eat with their families instead of going out to dinner. Natalie was the only one left who was still planning to eat out, so Matteo (from VLC, not my host brother) and I joined her and the three of us went to eat at a pizzeria for dinner. When we walked in the restaurant the cooks and waiters immediately knew we were from America and they were very eager to talk to us. Most of them were from Napoli (Naples), but others were born in Modena and it was interesting to learn about the differences in people from other regions of Italy. (Sidenote: the Mafia is HUGE in Naples and apparently it's really, really dangerous to go there because almost everyone supports the Mafia. I'm definitely glad we won't be making a stop there on this trip.) Anyways, we had a lot of fun talking to everyone in the restaurant and I think they felt the same... they even gave us a free bottle of Limoncello to try!

After dinner we plugged my iPod into Matteo's car and sat in the parking lot for a bit listening to American music. In the middle of a parking lot in Italy Natalie and I got Matteo to turn up the music so we could show him how to do the Soulja Boy dance... we're such typical Americans. He thought it was hilarious, but we definitely embarrassed him too. All in all it was a great night and I'm really glad I decided to go out with Matteo and Natalie at the last minute.

Today I arrived at school and the second I walked into 1^a A I realized that something was different.... all of the kids were wearing little backpacks, hats, and sunglasses and the teachers weren't wearing heels. Apparently today there was an end of the school year party (another one) for all of the Modena elementary schools at Parco Ferrari (which is the park right by my host family's flat). My teachers assumed that I knew about it, which I didn't, so it was definitely a surprise.

We left school almost immediately after all of the students arrived and made the trek towards the park. It's only about a 15 minute walk, but with 40 first graders and lots of busy streets to cross it took us almost 30 minutes to get there. For some reason only two of the four first grade classes went, so my friends Natalie and Amber from UGA weren't able to come with us. I was the only American in a sea of Italian children and teachers, which was a little overwhelming.

When we arrived at the park we went inside a huge tent. I had no idea what was going on, but thankfully the music teacher who I met on Tuesday afternoon at Calvino Middle School came over and explained to me that the park caretakers were putting on a show about the importance of recycling. The show ended up being great, even though I didn't understand a lot of what was going on. The actors got the kids really involved in the show, so it was fun to watch them get so excited about recycling. My favorite part of the show was a man on stilts dressed as a huge albero (tree); at the end of the show he even juggled with fire!

After the performance the kids ate pizza and tea (provided by the park, of course. They're always feeding people here nonstop) and then went outside to do several obstacle courses. Even though has cooled down a bit (mainly because of the rain yesterday), it was still really hot outside, so Pina and Paola told me that I could leave if I wanted to. I felt bad leaving them with all of the kids, but they assured me it was fine. I took them up on their offer (because it was really hot) and walked home around 11:30 A.M.

The rest of today is going to be fairly low-key, which I am definitely looking forward to. We've been moving non-stop for the whole trip so I'm glad we're finally be able to take an afternoon to relax for once! Tonight is our end of the trip party at the Modena Golf and Country Club, which I'm really excited about. We've been preparing slideshows of pictures from the trip and pictures to show our host families of Athens, UGA, and our families at home. Tonight we're also leading the families in several UGA cheers and the UGA students all have to make speeches thanking our families in Italian. Obviously there's a lot to do before this evening. I've got to run and work on a paper for class now, but I'll write back tomorrow! CIAO!