Is this real life?!

10 years ago by Sarah Silberstein In Teach Abroad - Italy

I am at a lost of words for all of the events that took place this past week. I have so much to tell all of you! So as you all know I went to the Amalfi Coast this past weekend for four days, it was beyond breathtaking. We stayed in Sorrento and went into Capri the first day. We woke up bright and early at 6:30 and took the ferry into Capri where we then got onto a boat that took us to the blue grotto. We had to get onto a small little boat to go into the grotto. It was a little scary at first going into cause its such a small whole, but once you get inside it is by far one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. It was a little cold for the floridian in me but I got in, I mean who passes up a chance to swim in the blue grotto?! After swimming in the blue grotto we went into the green and coral grotto, and they gave us a little tour of the whole island. After our boat tour we got back to the town and went to the highest point of Capri called Anacapri. If you are petrfied of heights like me it can be a little terrifying but the view makes up for it. Once we got to the top we got some lunch. I got one of my favorite dishes linguine and clams and of course a few glasses of wine. Then I got myself a pair of shoes that they custom make for you. These shoe stores are all over the Amalfi, as well with limoncello, two of my favorite things 🙂

On the second day we went into the beautiful Positano, again another breathtaking place. The black sand beaches, which I must say consisted of stones that we layed on, where like nothing i have ever seen before. It surprisingly was not uncomfortable. After laying out for a few hours we then walked around Positano. They are known for their lace so I of course bought a very cute dress! Later that night we went out in Sorrento, but before we left we had a bit of an issue in our hostel. There were ants covering all of the walls it was absolutely disgusting. The best part was when we went to complain the man just handed us a bottle of stuff to kill the ants, but it was a white powder not a spray. Once we solved our ant problem, which wasnt exactly solved we went into Sorrento. I have to say there is deffinitely a difference between the people in the South and the people in the North of Italy. I feel way more safe in the North. The men are beyond annoying, constantly saying things to you on the street and lots of beggars during the day, as well as the vendors who do not leave you alone.

The last day we went to Pompei. I am not exactly into looking at old ruins, but it was interesting to me that they are preserving these ruins that they discovered in 1748. In the states we have nothing like this at all, which does make it interesting to see. We then got back on our bus which was just so luxurious, no leg room and no air conditioning for three hours! It was horrible. The only downfall of the whole trip was that we did it through a company called bus2alps that works with students studying abroad. I did not realize how much I do not have in common with college kids anymore until this trip. They were mostly all juniors and very immature. And everyone had a go pro, not kidding literally everyone. Regardless of that the trip was amazing!

Sunday night the bus took us into Rome. It then took us forever to get to our b&b because everyone kept giving us the wrong directions. It ended up being literally right next to the metro and we had walked about 30 minutes. Once we made it we met up with some of Heather’s friends who go to the University of Rome. They took us to dinner and then showed us the Colosseum and Saint Peters Basillica. They also brought us to the highest point in Rome that showed the whole city. We then left early the next morning, so I spent a total of 12 hours in Rome. I deffinitely want to go back and really explore the city.

Other than my travels, teaching has been lots of fun. The kids are so adorable and sweet. I have a collection of these bracelets that they keep making me. I taught one of my classes Yankee Doodle and they loved it. Most of the children I work with are around 7-10 years old so they are not that advanced with english, but we play lots of games with colors and numbers. I also help them with their pronunciation since they are not used to hearing an American english accent. They are also taught british english, for instance they say I have got two cats, which sounds so wrong to me. Today all the girls in class took me around the school again for an italian lesson and just kept pointing to things and naming them in italian, it was so adorable. I think that I am actually starting to understand italian a little little bit better, if you talk really slowly to me. When the children are all talking to me I take out my phone and have them talk in the microphone on google translate so I can understand them. It definitely does not happen over night, but I am trying my best. I am often lost at dinner with my host family because I have no idea what they are saying, but they have a lot of patience and try to explain things to me in English and are also helping me improve my italian. The teachers at the school also help me when I sit in on their italian classes for the little kids.

I am off to Bologna this weekend! And then going into Verona on Sunday during the day. Cannot wait to share with all of you the rest of my travels.

Xo
Sarah

Is this real life?!

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