First Day of School

Today was ridiculous. To start things off right I slept through my alarm and woke up at 8:00; I had to leave for school at 8:10. By some miracle, I ended up getting ready in 10 minutes and I actually made it to the school on time, looking somewhat presentable.

Once I got to the school I was greeted by an administrator and brought to my first grade classroom. There are two teachers in the class... unfortunately I have no idea what either of their names are. They both were speaking Italian so fast I couldn't follow along, but thankfully one of the teachers speaks some English. Even though we weren't really able to understand each other, the teachers did a really good job of including me. When I first arrived all of the kids stood up one by one and introduced themselves in English, which was so sweet. I'm still trying to figure out most of their names, but I did catch a few and they're all so Italian (Lorenzo, Helena, Simone, Francesco, Fabio, Matilde, etc.). The children are absolutely adorable-- probably some of the cutest kids I've ever seen.

Even though the children went crazy once I got to the classroom, the teachers did a good job of continuing with the day's lessons. I mainly sat at the front of the room and tried to follow along, but it was still a lot of fun. Things started to get a little boring after about two hours of observing, but thankfully the English teacher, Angela, came in and took me upstairs with her. Almost immediately after she told a group of 4th graders I was from the U.S. they attacked me... literally. Before I knew it I was in the middle of a huge flock of 9 year olds who bombarded me with questions. They only know a few questions in English, so I had to answer if I had a boyfriend, a pet, or any siblings about 10 times. They also asked me if I knew Zac Efron... Sarah, that obviously made me think of you. The teacher was practically crying with excitement over the whole thing. She kept asking me to say Ferrari and other random words so that she could hear my pronounciation; it was too funny. I couldn't believe that they were so excited to hear me talk, but I learned later that most of them (including Angela) had never heard an American accent in person.

After I was able to squeeze out of the center of the circle, Angela took me to see Matteo's class. The second I entered the room his eyes lit up and he started to blush when I said 'Ciao Matteo.' Then about 10 of his friends ran over to talk to him about me and you could tell he was so proud of the fact that I was staying with his family. There's no doubt that having an American girl staying in his house makes him the cool kid in school.

Angela then took me to another classroom so that she could teach her English lesson for the day. She said that she had other plans for the day, but she wanted me to hear the kids sing in English so she grabbed her guitar and before I knew it the whole class was singing 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz and 'Hot and Cold' by Katy Perry. Angela said she is obsessed with American music, so every week the kids translate and learn to sing a new song in English. It's actually a really good way of teaching another language, but I was surprised she chose the songs she did, even if some of the words had been changed. Listening to the kids sing was probably one of the most entertaining things I have ever experienced in my life. I literally didn't stop laughing for 20 minutes straight... and I laughed harder than I ever have in my life when they started singing 'Wade in the Water.' So random! After about 10 songs, the music stopped and Angela let the kids ask me questions in English. Once again, I answered the same questions about 10 times, but it was a lot of fun. I think more than anything Angela and the students just wanted to hear me talk! Whatever the case it was so much fun and nice to be able to actually communicate with people.

After about an hour and a half with Angela, I went back to the first graders and, once again, got attacked. Unfortunately, the kids speak no English what-so-ever so we have no way to communicate. Nonetheless, they were precious. I don't think I've ever gotten so many hugs and kisses at once. At one point I actually had to pry about 10 of them off of me just so I could move across the room... it didn't really matter though because they ended up following me anyways. I wish more than anything that I could communicate with them. They have so much to say and the two times I actually understand is when they call me 'bella' or when they say a lot and then say, 'capito?', which means 'do you understand?' Of course I don't, so I just kept saying 'Non capisco' and they would laugh and giggle and keep talking. At one point I said a word in Italian and a girl screamed at me she was so happy. I'm hoping that as my Italian improves I'll be able to at least say more than 'grazie' and 'non capisco.'

After I left school I rode my bicicletta downtown to meet some friends at Piazza Roma. They took the bus and we planned on meeting around 1, but I got completely turned around and ended up riding around for 45 minutes. Somehow I managed to use the little Italian I know to get directions from two old men... they laughed at me because apparently I was only about three streets over from where I needed to be the whole time. When I finally got downtown I couldn't find Piazza Roma, so I gave up. By some stroke of luck I ended up running into some girls from my program. I have never been so thankful to see familiar faces in my life. I can't even imagine what I would have done if I hadn't found anyone. It would have been a long afternoon spent alone until the group met again at 3:00. Needless to say I was a mess when I ran into them, so we immediately went on a search for Nutella gelato. It was the perfect thing to help me forget about how crazy and hectic the day had been thus far... Nutella makes everything better.

After lunch and gelato we all met at Piazza Roma for a guided tour of Modena. We were all so tired at that point that the tour was more of a pain than anything, but it was nice to be able to see the whole city and hear about its history. Afterwards I rode my bike back home (got lost again... had to ask Italians for directions, again), showered, and ate a delicious dinner, courtesy of Simona. I'm off to do some homework for tomorrow, but I can only hope that my day tomorrow is a little less hectic than today! Buonanotte!