The Betes

Apparently last week was Invisible Illness Awareness Week . . . ? Sounds a little suspect, but I came across this list of 30 questions, and I think I shall post my answers here. And then maybe talk a little about being diabetic in Italy.

1. The illness I live with is: type 1 diabetes
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: October 28, 2008
3. But I had symptoms since: umm, probably months before, since at diagnosis my fasting sugar was 690 . . . but I didn't notice symptoms until about a month before.
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: needles - I still hate them, but I'm much more used to them than I was three years ago (no crying anymore!)
5. Most people assume: that I can't eat anything with sugar. Or that my pump regulates my sugar for me.
6. The hardest part about mornings are: getting out of bed (absolutely nothing to do with the 'betes, just something I really don't like - although I've been better at that here in Florence)
7. My favorite medical TV show is: Grey's Anatomy - I'm considering getting a season pass on iTunes
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: umm, definitely my pump. While it doesn't automatically regulate my sugars, it does make my ability to regulate them ten times better and more precise.
9. The hardest part about nights are: worrying that I'll be too high or way too low in the mornings - I don't always worry, but when I do I end up setting my alarm for various times throughout the night just to double-check. I think I build it up in my mind more when I think about not having anyone living with me, and who would notice if something terrible happened and I couldn't summon help.
10. Each day I take 0 pills & 0 vitamins. But I infuse insulin 24/7 through the pump. And I'm thinking maybe I should start taking vitamins. . . . Thoughts? Comments? Recommendations?
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: Hmm, well, I know that keeping myself healthy (mentally and physically) helps me with my sugars and with my commitment to keeping it in control, BUT, there's not actually an alternative to insulin, which is sort of the problem. . . Keep up those trials - things keep improving.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Invisible. I like that I get to control who knows, and when they know. Right now I wear my pump visibly, and I'm happy about that, but I also like that if I want I can hide it, and hide signs of being diabetic. I thought about this recently as I went on some all-day job interviews and made the decision to keep the diabetes hidden. While I hope that it would not be a hiring determiner, since I can keep that off the table, I chose to.
13. Regarding working and career: In terms of interfering with my work, it doesn't, really. I took more sick time in the last two years than before the diagnosis - some of which had to do with the trial I was a part of. I think it has made me more interested in Health Promotion, which is part of my job, so that's good. Also, when there are students with diabetes, we identify together and can go through the trials and tribulations of the 'betes together. Which is especially nice here in Florence, and we have one student who is also Type 1.
14. People would be surprised to know: umm, I don't think that people would be surprised about anything, I'm pretty open about all aspects of it - sorry if I'm too open! - But I find that people are always surprised when they first learn that I've only been diabetic for just under three years. I was a late bloomer in the Type 1 world. :) Oh, and that I HATE the way my tummy looks with the pump inset on it - I'm actually kind of happy that I will have fewer occasions to wear a bathing suit than in Florida.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: that it won't ever go away. I resent that. While for the most part it's fine being diabetic, there are times when I get really frustrated that this will be a lifelong thing.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: be a healthier person (in a sense) - I go to the doctor more regularly; have had my eyesight checked three times!; and eat less food that is crap for me (because it is also usually high in sugar). So that's a good thing. Also moving to a foreign country - although I haven't actually started navigating the health insurance program yet, so we'll see if I take back that part!
17. The commercials about my illness: irritating and/or irrelevant because they only seem to be marketed for Type 2 diabetics
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: making my own insulin :) - no really, it's being able to indulge in some candy or cake without doing mental math, also being able to go about my daily activities without carrying around an arsenal of gear - oh for the days of leaving the house with just a wallet and keys, or even a small purse!
19. It was really hard to have to give up: small purses - see 18 - not a big deal, but minorly irritating
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: umm, I haven't . . . is there some kind of diabetes hobby group that I'm not privy to? Can I join?
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: spend the day not thinking about it, eating lots of little tastes of sugary goodness
22. My illness has taught me: to appreciate the health you have
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: Anything telling me what to do (or eat or . . . ) Hey, want to know a secret? I CAN. I can eat what I like, I just need to be conscious - and use moderation.
24. But I love it when people: love me for me, and not because of or despite diabetes.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: "Hate the diabetes. Love the diabetic" (written on the t-shirts of a team participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk - thanks Rita, for getting me one!)
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: that it gets better, and better. And that life can still be normal and awesome and a-mazing.
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: that not as many people actually know what diabetes is, and what the difference is between Type 1 and Type 2 - having a parent with diabetes skewed my perception of what was normal to know about the disease.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: bake me a sugar-free cake for the birthday just after I was diagnosed.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: Honestly, I've never really written about diabetes, and I wanted to.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: that you're an awesome blog follower - Thanks!!

Ok, so being diabetic in Florence:

I've actually found that I use less insulin now than when I was in Florida. And I think that there are quite a few reasons for this. One, I walk EVERYWHERE, and walking lowers my sugar. Also, portions seem to be smaller here than in the states. And finally, I haven't really gone grocery shopping for real, so I don't have things to snack on, which are usually sugary - at least in part.

As I mentioned above, I have yet to go through the process to become part of the Italian healthcare system. I should be able to start it this upcoming week. In order to do so, I must be an official resident of Florence, which means I need a paystub to show that I pay taxes here - I just got my first paycheck yesterday (yay!) so I can go to do that this week. Then, a police officer will pay an unscheduled visit to my apartment to make sure I actually do live here, and then I'll be a resident. Then, I can go register in the healthcare system and go about getting an endocrinologist. Good thing I brought months of supplies with me when I came.

The only other thing is getting used to a new group of colleagues that don't know about me and my diabetes. Everyone at Lynn was so good and knew lots about it, like what I'm like when I'm low, and what I need, and also that I can eat what I like, as long as I'm aware. There's a lot of sensitivity around the 'betes here, and I think (hope) that it's just because they don't know all of these things yet.

Opening Tour

Opening Tour is almost over, we're in our last destination before heading back to Florence. Here is what we have done so far:

Monday, September 5th - Students arrive all day to the hotels in Berlin (across the street from each other). I did a quick subway trip to Viktoria-Luise Platz!! It was a gorgeous little platz with gardens and a fountain. It's nice to know that I have a platz in Germany! There was a sign explaining who Viktoria Luise was, but it was all in German, so I couldn't understand it. (Just wikipedia'ed Viktoria Luise - and she was a Prussian Princess).

Viktoria-Luise Platz!

Tuesday - The morning was a driving tour of Berlin, with stops at the Berlin wall and the Holocaust Memorial. It was such an interesting tour, with such complex and contrasting stories and accompanying emotions. That afternoon I lead a group of students on an optional tour to the Jewish Museum.

Wednesday - We did a tour of Sachsenhousen, which is a concentration camp outside of Berlin. It is a camp that was used to train officers for other camps, because of its proximity to Berlin.

One of the two Holocaust Memorial gardens we walked through

For both the Jewish Museum, the Holocaust Memorial, and the visit to Sachsenhausen can't really be described adequately in writing. It was so strange and awful and surreal and absolutely horrible.

Thursday we left Berlin for Prague, with a stop in Dresden on the way. I loved Dresden, it was so cute and historic and nice and small, particularly after the massive sprawl of Berlin. There was some sort of market festival going on in one of the squares and it was so great to walk around the little stalls; the students loved it, as did I.

Friday we did a walking tour of Prague and then the students had free time to explore the city. Prague was also incredibly beautiful; for the most part it survived the war, so there were so many legitimately old buildings (rather than the reconstructed buildings and styles we saw in Berlin and Dresden).

A stained glass window in one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in Prague

Friday was Shelley's birthday and so James and I made a giant card on Thursday night and got everyone (or nearly everyone) to sign it. It was super packed full of signatures when we gave it to her at dinner that night.

Saturday we left Prague for southern Germany, with a stop in Nuremberg.

Nuremberg is a beautiful city as well, but it was the most chaotic day yet, as Red Bull was doing a trick bike competition, with ramps and hills set up all over the streets, ending in the square that we had picked to meet our students.

It was complete madness and mayhem. But we finally rounded up all 195 of them, got them onto buses, and made our way to Bad Kohlgrub.

Bad Kohlgrub is a tiny town in the German Alps, in an area filled with other similar small towns. It is about 30 km outside of Munich (I have no idea how many miles that is, just saw the road signs). We are staying in the Shillingshof Hotel, which is this perfect Germany little inn. Being on the Alps means that this town is most popular in the winter for skiing, which I can totally understand. I can picture skiing all day and coming back to the sauna or having hot chocolate (diabetic friendly, of course) in the little restaurant.

Sunday we had mass by the program's chaplain, with the readings and homily reflecting on 9/11. The mass was in a gorgeous church in the town, down a little hill from the hotel. That afternoon we organized three hikes up the Hörnle Mountain, with differing degrees of difficulty. It was absolutely stunning.

Monday we went to Salzburg for the day. It was lovely, although our tour guide that day sort of sucked, so we were mainly left to wander on our own. It is a really cute town, and we had a delicious lunch, followed by the most delicious dessert - knockerl - a Salzburg speciality.

Tuesday we first went to Neuschwanstein Castle, which is one of three castles built by Ludwig II of Bavaria. It is the inspiration for the castle at Disney. It was absolutely gorgeous. Ludwig II died before it was finished, so we only toured through the finished areas, but man, they were incredible. Just gorgeous. And there is a bridge up the hill behind the castle over waterfalls that overlook the castle, so after the tour I hiked up there with some students and took some incredible pictures.

And on the way down there was a little stand where a woman was making fried dough balls and I bought some and they were unbelievably good and fresh and hot and so, so yummy. After the Castle we stopped at the little town of Garmisch to look around. It was a really cute town, but it was about an hour out of our way, each way, and since we were in an area surrounded by cute little German towns, next year we're going to look for a different one to visit.

Wednesday was the long, long drive to Florence (we left at 8:30am and arrived in Florence at 6pm - but part of that was our bus driver passing the street of the school four separate times and not turning!). The bus ride wasn't too bad though, I read, slept, and played Monopoly against some students on their iPod - Totally kicked their butts - woot! At our lunch rest stop I was helping all the students figure out how to pay, then order and get their food and so when it was my turn to order the woman asked me if I was the staff person, and when I said yes, she comped my lunch and gave me a bottle of wine. Not sure yet if this is customary or if she felt sorry for me with the scores of American students :)

Opening Tour is in fact now over, I didn't get internet after Berlin. I bought a wireless card on Friday evening, but it's not working. I'm at the office right now trying to catch up on life. I'll post more later about living in Florence, what I do at work, and my travel plans!

Blog updates

I didn't have internet after Berlin, so I wrote some posts on my computer, and I'll be posting them up soon. Also, I fixed the comment thing, so that should be working now.

Conversations and Conjugations

On Conversations:

On Sunday, September 4th the Student Life staff was in Berlin and we were ready for the students to arrive the next day. After dinner we walked around the neighborhood nearby to the hotel and had a drink in a little bar. Walking back to the hotel Shelley said, "Just think, right now 195 students are flying through the skies, on their way to us." Wow, that is an incredibly awesome mental image; it is a way to imagine the immensity of the experience of these students. They are leaving their country, many of them for the very first time, and are on their way to a semester, or year, in Italy. All of these hopes, preconceptions, goals, nerves, and anxiety - all at an apex as they fly across the world on their way to us. I hope that at times when they cause problems or frustrations, that I can reflect back on this idea and reframe my perspective.

And Conjugations:

A vast majority of the people with whom we have interacted in Germany, and a good number in the Czech Republic, speak English. I know the same is true in Florence. All of these kids grow up learning at least two languages, many of them three. While it made traveling easier as I know very little German and absolutely no Czech, I am also embarrassed. I am committed to learning Italian, and need to keep this commitment going, as I've already seen how easy it is to get by with English.

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from my week so far, I forgot to bring my cable with me to Berlin, so Opening Tour pictures will come later.

Me holding up one of the completed frames with the composites of all of the students (well, I have 112 of them). Notice how nicely aligned they are? I spent way tooo long on that :)

This is the dresser, trunk, and window of my bedroom

My bed, bookshelf and closet, and you can see the right edge of the fireplace

The kitchen! The thing on the left is an organizer/coat rack. The entry way is just to the left of that.

My living room/dining room/ part of kitchen. The bedroom is through the doors in the back, this is taken from the entryway.

This is dinner that I made for myself - fresh ravioli straight from the market!

My first week!

So it has been one full week since I've moved to Florence, although it really feels like a lot longer than that. It has been such a busy week - full of work, exploring, eating incredible food, unpacking, and traveling. I'm going to try talking about this without being too long, but we'll see how that goes :)

Ok, so Sunday I arrived into Rome and had to get to Florence - it sucked!! Never try to navigate an airport, two trains and two train stations with more than one piece of luggage (I had two huge rolling duffels, a small rolling carry-on, and an overstuffed backpack). Thankfully one of my co-workers was on the flight from Toronto to Rome with me, so we navigated together. It was awful though; it was really hot and sticky, we couldn't move well or quickly, and while we pretty much knew where we were and where we needed to get to, some navigations were a little trickier than others. Mostly just the Roma Termini station - after that it was fine. We were met at our apartment and we had the afternoon to relax and unpack before going out for a terrific meal that night.

I LOVE my apartment - it's so charming and lovely and perfect! It has high ceilings and all of the doors are really tall double French doors! Most of the furniture or finishings are old, but in a way that looks like it has character, not that it needs to be changed. I'm on what is called the second floor, but it's really the third floor (they don't start numbering floors until you've gone up one flight - the lobby is not the first floor). I overlook a park, which is nice. There is no air-conditioning and it has been unbearably hot in Florence, but I hear it's going to cool down soon. I'm all unpacked, and eagerly awaiting the rest of the stuff that I shipped so that I can put up pictures and such! I went to Ikea to get throw pillows, a laundry hamper and a step stool, but I might need to take one more trip. All in all though, the apartment came with everything I need.

Ok, so a brief day-by-day:

Monday - went to an outdoor market for a coffee, then walked to school, met some people and went to the Agencia delle Entrate to get my codice fiscale which allows me to work. Then we went to lunch at this incredible restaurant right around the corner from the university center. That night we went out for Gelato and kebabs and walked around by the river.

Tuesday - We went to Ikea in the afternoon, got personal stuff and desks for our office. That evening I blew all the power to my apartment when I accidentally hit the power button on the remote that goes to the air conditioning unit (Yeah, that was fun!) and spent the next three hours in darkness trying to figure out what to do - good thing I'd picked up candles at Ikea. After we got it temporarily fixed, we went out for drinks

Wednesday - First real day of work - took the passport pictures of all 195 students, stuck their names onto them, taped them onto white paper and photocopied them into "books" so that all the staff can help learn who is who. That night we went to an Irish pub for Pub Quiz night and our team came in second place - that was a lot of fun. When I was up at the bar getting drinks the bartender looks at me and says "Victoria? Victoria Frost?" Katie Hedden had been a sophomore at my high school when I was a senior and she was also involved in theatre. What are the chances?!? She is completing her Master's at NYU and she's doing their exchange program. Oh, and that night, after pub quiz, we went traipsing around the city looking for the "secret bakeries"

There are two or three bakeries in Florence that bake the pastries for the bars and coffee shops to sell in the morning, and if you go there around 2am you can knock on a side door and buy incredibly delicious, fresh pastries. Shelley and Linda have worked at Gonzaga in Florence for over four years and had heard about the secret bakeries but had never gone. There was one right around the corner from the pup, but it was closed for August (lots of things shut down in Florence for most or all of August). We then went back to school and went online, looking for the other one - which we found! We walked over there and it was seriously amazing. All these different kinds of croissants (with jam, with nutella, with chocolate . . . ) and doughnuts, and other yummy goodness! Oh my!

Thursday - at work James and I took the pictures from the little "look book" and then repasted them onto nice big blue cardstock, which we put into two frames and are now displayed in the lobby of the building - this took forever - mostly because we had to draw and measure lines to make sure the pictures were straight and evenly distributed. That night I made dinner for myself - potato ravioli with basil and olive oil, and a glass of Proseco.

Friday - we spent pretty much the entire day putting together our new desks - they're great, but from Ikea which meant they had 100 little steps, and there were two of them. With that done, I went home and packed and then went out and grabbed a panini for dinner, and then orange granita with yogurt gelato - which was an awesome combination.

Saturday we flew to Berlin to prep for Opening Tour. The student arrive Monday, so six of us flew out early (me, Shelley, Linda, James, Federica and Alessandro). We walked around so that we would know how to get where we need to take the students, did a little shopping, and then had dinner at an australian restaurant (we're going to be eating traditional German food for the next ten days, so we all had curry!) Berlin is beautiful, lots of newer buildings, more than I would have anticipated. At one point we were just walking down a street and across it was a path of two bricks - the marker of the wall! It is so insane to actually be here and see things like this.

Today I'm just relaxing until we have our final prep meeting - I feel like I've been going non-stop since I got here so I'm excited for a low key afternoon. I'm really excited for the students to arrive, and I hope that all goes smoothly.

That's all for now, but I'm sure I'll be posting again soon!

Oh - a character guide:

Shelley - the Associate Dean for Student Life - my boss and a super cool woman - from Texas

Linda - the Travel Director - she organizes all of the trips and is also super cool - originally from Sweden

James - the other Student Life Coordinator - from New Jersey

Federica - the Assistant Director of Student Life - absolutely wonderful and so nice

Alessandro - the business/operations director and a professor here

Pat - the Dean of the program

those are pretty much the only people in my life right now, so I'm happy it's a good group :)