Tropea!

Ciao tutti!
So after we got back from Sicily, we had a pretty quite week, the usual, teach kids english, have lunch, go to class and then have dinner and just hang out with the whole family till super late at night. wednesday, Michelle, Andrea and Shayna all came over to my house for dinner, which was fun. It was a little difficult at times because me, michelle and andrea are all in second year and can pretty much understand and/or get the gist of what people say in italian, but Shayna is only in the 100 level so we had to translate alot, but it was still alot of fun. Then more of the family came over and we just sat and ate dessert and emilia (andrea's mom) who is hysterical taught us some "bad words" in italian, and we taught some to them in english, quite entertaining, haha. Thursday me, Michelle, and Andrea went to Cosenza to meet the ex of michelle's host sister. We ended up going to a mall, and it felt and smelt like a real mall, it was crazy! i didn't buy anything but if you cared to know, a mall is still a mall no matter what country you are in.
Ok but the best part of this last week had to be our trip to tropea. We left friday after lunch (the higher ups at the local schools through us a lunch party with homemade regional food, it was super nice!) and took multiple trains and got to Tropea around 7. Tropea is this amazing beach town on the west coast of Calabria. Its in all those picturesque post cards you see of the Mediterranean with tourquoise blue water and the cliffs in the background. Anyways before we left we checked the weather report and it said rain and storms all weekend. Well God was definitely on our side this weekend, we got to our hotel (there were 6 in our group) just in time for a glorious sunset over the Mediterranean. Unfortunately my camera decided to die just as we got there, so I'll have to steal some pictures from my friends. oh also our hotel had the most gorgeous higher up view of the whole town. After we took pictures of the sunset we walked down the hill and went to this recommended pizza place which was uber good. we were told that they had the best veggies ever, but I actually perfer the veggies my family makes :-) After dinner we just hung out and chatted at a gelateria, because the town was pretty dead considering its not summer yet. Then we hiked back up the huge hill to our hotel and chilled on our balcony for a bit before hitting the sack. After a night of being eaten alive by bugs we got up and saw blue skies!!!!!!!!!!! we got breakfast and then jumped in the hotel pool for an hour or so before taking the shuttle down to the hotel's private beach. The water was cold, but sooooo clear! and while there were clouds in the sky I swear god had his hand protecting the sun just for us. I got sooooo tan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! heheh we were only there for one day, but a few hours in the hot sun was perfect.
when we got back all the family went over to Michelle's house to watch the European championship soccer game which the team that my whole family hates L'inter was playing in. I was rooting for them to loose (because aldo was) but I seem to have inherited my dad's luck for picking the wrong team. L'inter won 2-0 :-( but after it was crazy because they are an italian team, and its been 45 years since they've won the copa europa the piazza in Rogliano was crazy!!! There were fire works and crazy fans waving flags from cars and every other crazy mob thing you could think of. It was so much fun! even though I was bummed they won. Afterwords we went to the Yogurteria and got frozen yogurt and chilled there before we went home. Overall a pretty good weekend. Now to get back to the loads of homework I have to do. Mi mancate tutti!!!
Baci
~Alyson~
:-)

Sicilia!

Ok so I realize that it’s been a bit since I’ve written, I am just having so much here I don’t have time to write! Haha ok so I think I left off with the pulcino. Unfortunately he died last Monday ☹ Michelle was very sad; as was Aldo at first Aldo thought the Pulcino was sleeping because he had a fever. Oh another piece of baddish news, so while Aldo was running outside he fell and scraped his face really bad, he didn’t cry and there wasn’t blood but he was in shock and he sort of had the Phantom of the Opera look going for him. But when I got back on Monday his face was muuuuuuch better! I was worried it would scar really bad, but I don’t think it will, which makes me very happy!!!
Ok so that was Monday, Tuesday Cesar’s cousin came over for dinner. She goes to the University of Cosenza, but it was tons of fun because she doesn’t like dialect so we all spoke Italian the whole night, which was really nice because I could more or less understand everything!!! That night was fun. Wednesday was entertaining (every night is entertaining) we were all at Michelle’s (my friend who lives with Vanessa’s mother) and they found an Italian phrase book and we were teaching them some bad English words, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder! Haha the phrase is true that “tutti sono Tucci, tutti sono pazzi!” Everyone is tucci, everyone is crazy! Oh but I learned a new word in dialect “ciodu” or pronounced for all you people that cant speak Italian “chiodu” meaning pazzo or crazy. I am learning a few word in dialect but when people speak dialect I still cant understand anything.
Thursday me Michelle Andrea and Shayna all ate lunch outside in a park and we finally got some sun! Then we went to the Tucci garden that has all the fresh vegetables that we have been eating (My favorite dish so far has been this Zucchini puree that Vanessa made, its amazing!!!) all their vegetables are super fresh and delicious!
Ok so this weekend our program went so Sicilia! Friday we were in Reggio Calabria (the toe of the continent) but part of the autostrada was blocked by a land slide so it took 2 hours more to get there so we missed the museum but we saw the bronzi which are these famous ancient Greek bronze statues found in the sea near the coast of southern Italy. They are in amazing condition for being from 500 BC give or take.
Saturday we took a ferry to Sicily, the ferry ride was suuuuuper windy! I was literally being pushed around from all the wind! But it was really fun. Then we stopped for an hour in Messina, which is the first town you get to in Sicilia. At noon everyday there is a sort of Small Worldesque spectacle on the big clock tower in the center of town that I think tells some sort of story, but I’m not sure exactly what it was, I know there was a rooster and a lion and a priest and angels and some ancient king guy but it was cool nonetheless. Saturday afternoon we went to Catania which wasn’t my favorite city I’ve been too, it’s a little to industrial for my taste, but all the buildings we made from the black lava rock from one of the eruptions of Mt. Etna. So that was cool. After that we went to this little (and quite dirty) beach, but it was sooooooo windy and cold this weekend! But I did go swimming it was sooooo cold! Much colder than Santa Cruise, but it was fun to at least be at the beach.
Sunday was super fun! Sunday morning we hiked mount Etna!!! I was expecting it to be a rigorous hike so I wore shorts because I figured I’d be hot, however it was sooooo windy and freezing!!! It was so cold I had to drink a coffee before to keep warm (which I actually liked! At the moment I am drinking café lattes with lots of sugar but I am determined to like coffee before I leave!) But despite being super cold it was tons of fun! I wish we could have done a rigorous hike, but we only had our guide for 4 hours. Mt. Etna was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Afterwords we went to the beach, but it was cold and cloudy. BUT this weekend we are going to Tropea and its supposed to be sunny!!! I am having sooo much fun here, and i love my family and i am sad that we only have 3 weeks left! :-( I love and miss you all!
Un bacio (how the italians end their messages, it means one kiss)
~Alyson~
:-)

Happy Mothers day!

Happy mother's day mommy!!!
Ciao tutti! Happy mothers day to all the mothers who are reading this! (probably just my mom and nanni)
Nothing much has happened since I last wrote. My family is still great! This weekend there was a hot air balloon (mongolfiere) or something like that festival in a town nearby. so sat afternoon/night we all went to that. It was super cool, but the Hotair balloon rides had closed by the time we got there, which was sad. BUT michelle's sister Ester really wanted an animal and there was a booth that you could pay 2 euro and pick a number and that number would correspond with an animal (fish, turtle, etc) anyways Ester scrounged up enough money to go buy one. and she let Aldo (my little brother) pick the number and he picked 75. Guess what 75 was? a Pulino! or a little baby chick! So her mom wasn't too happy about it, but it was cute. so they brought it home to their house (thank goodness, Aldo was set on bringing it home to ours) and apparently it didnt stop chirping all night, so Michelle took it and slept with it! ah! (I have a slight fear of birds). His name is Michael Paolino. Aldo liked the name Michael and Ester liked the name Paoloino. For a while though Aldo wanted to name him Scott!!! Scott he always remembers your name! anyway today we are going to see Cesare (my host dad) play soccer for Rogliano, and speaking of that I have to get back. Love and miss you all! Ci Vediamo!
~Alyson~
:-)
p.s RIP Michael Paolino. :-(

loving rogliano!

Ciao tutti!
So we finally have wifi at the cultural center where we have class everyday, so it will be easier for me to update this. BUT so far I am looooooooving Rogliano! Its a small town, but I feel like I am getting a true Italian experience. My family is sooooo nice, they wait on me hand and foot, its crazy! My little brother Aldo is such a ham (probably not unlike myself when I was younger) haha he reminds me of Scott, always playing with some sort of ball, he loooooves soccer! They are slowly making me a soccer fan. Wednesday was the big game between Roma and Inter to decide the "CopaItalia" or the Champion of Italy in their devision. I was for Roma (of course) but unfortunately they lost 1-0 :-( Aldo HATES Inter so he was very upset, but Vanessa's dad Francesco loves Inter so he was rubbing it our faces. I eat dinner alot with Vanessa's mom's family, which I like because my friend Michelle lives there, and she has 2 younger sisters names Zulieka and Ester who are really really nice. My Italian is getting loads better! I am constantly thinking and talking in italian, so I apologize if my english sounds a bit like Yoda right now, but I am so used to thinking in Italian. It is a little hard because everyone here also speaks dialect which I can't understand at all. For example the phrase "ciao come stai?" in dialect is "We, comu sta?" so its very different, but when my family talks to me they speak in Italian which i can usually understand.
So far I haven't done much. On our way here to Rogliano we stopped for a night in Paestum where there are these amazingly preserved ancient Greek temples (and a beach too!). So that was cool. But in Rogliano I usually just go to school eat and talk Italian. The food is is ammmmmmazing!!!!!! I am trying to get Vanessa to teach me how to cook. But its sooo much food! and Vanessa gets really sad if i don't eat all of it, I have definitely learned to use the phrase "sono piena" meaning I'm full alot! But she is slowly understanding i want smaller portions, which is nice. I also try to walk as much as I can. Yesterday we went and saw the University of Cosenza (a bigger town about 20 min away) and then walked around the town of Cosenza. We ended up hiking to this really cool medieval Castle on the top of this huge hill that was really cool.
Ok I have to go because my computer is about to die, but Overall I am having a blast and I love my family!
Ci Vediamo!
~Alyson~
:-)

Rogliano!

Ciao tutti!
I am safely in Rogliano. I loooooove my host family. My moms name is Vanessa, her husbands name is Cesare and i have a little 5 year old brother named Aldo. They are sooo nice. and bascially the whole town is related, tutti sono Tucci! everybodys name is tucci! haha I dont have internet i am currently using the internet of my host moms mother. so i probably wont be able to update this very often. but i am having lots of fun and everybody is sooooo nice. but my mother is always cleaning! but she wont let me help! sempre sempre sempre pulisce pulisce pulisce! but i just wanted to tell you i am safe and happy! Ciao ciao!
Alyson
:-)