Merry Christmas!

Just got back from midnight mass at the Catholic church in Beijing. Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall. What an interesting Christmas . . . . I'm happy to be experiencing it, and also greatly missing family at this moment.

Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy and joyous day - however, and wherever, you may be spending it!

Lots of love,
Vic

Cucino, or at least, I try to cook

I have had students over to cook and bake about seven times this semester, and it has been so much fun. The students do not have access to kitchens in their pensioni, and so they enjoy the normalcy of baking cookies, and I enjoy the company (and also, obviously, the cookie dough). It has been really interesting learning how to adapt to baking cookies in Italy. Baking powder doesn't seem to exist, and baking soda is sold in the soda section of the grocery store, so it took a couple times to actually find it!  They also don't have real vanilla and I haven't yet found chocolate chips. But it has always been fun, and has always turned out something delicious . . . even if it took some trial and error!  Here are some cookie pictures:

Elaina and Jayne at the first attempt

Don't they look pretty?

Uh Oh! Something definitely went wrong

The next batch went better

Laura, Mariah and Amanda at another baking attempt

By this time I had a better idea of what to do, these came out much better!

The school does Glee watching nights, every other week, and we try to make snack for those events. I have successfully made chocolate chunk cookies, peppermint bark, and tiramisu (which was a big success). Although I must say it's a workout whipping egg whites for the tiramisu - I miss my hand mixer!

We did a Thanksgiving dinner for ten people and I made a green bean casserole (of sorts, it turned out more "gourmet" than I planned as there's no mushroom soup or French's onions, so I made the mushroom cream sauce with fresh mushrooms and the onions on top ended up being shallots. 

Federica (Assistant Director), Christina B, Christina I and Mary

Mo and McCall

Shelley and Linda

The Thanksgiving Table (from left to right: brussel sprouts, potatoes au gratin, the turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and fresh baked bread)

My green bean casserole

My brussel sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts

An up close shot of the turkey

Carving the turkey!

Mary, Mo, Christina, James and McCall are ready to eat

The dessert table (I made the apple cake on the right)

Last night I made a delcious chicken stuffed with prosciutto, basil and a pepperjack/pecorino cheese - turned out surprisingly well considering I didn't have a recipe!  I also had a salad - it's crazy how much I miss salads!  I need to start making them more frequently!

Tonight I think I might try eggplant caprese and a rosemary garlic chicken - hopefully this all turns out good too! A couple of students who don't leave just yet are coming over for dinner. 

Adventures in Travel

Ok, so since I last posted, I have been on three trips, and I have one really, really big one coming up.

On November 10-13 I went to England to visit family.  It was truly a whirlwind trip; I stayed with different family members each of the three nights. But it was so lovely to see people, especially since less than a year had passed since I had seen them the last time. That is especially nice for me, as before my trip last Christmas it had been five years since I had been in England. I also got to meet my two new first cousins-once removed (my cousin Amber's two beautiful boys).

I really enjoyed being in England, and would definitely be interested in a move over there at some point in the future if the right job opened up. I'm excited to be so close and be able to travel there with greater ease and less expense!  I'm hoping to make it out for a couple more weekends in the Spring.

Then, for the Thanksgiving break, the school took a group of 70 students to Edinburgh, Scotland.  This was a fantastic trip, I absolutely loved Scotland - although it was really, really windy and quite cold. We stayed in apartments for this trip, and the students really enjoyed that because they had access to kitchens for the first time this semester. We did two really great full day bus tours of Scotland and had a super funny Scottish bus driver who pretty much insulted every group of people - but in a funny and ridiculous way. One big bit that he had was that there is no soap in Glasgow and people there don't keep clean (he's from Edinburgh). He kept mentioning this over the two days, and at one point one of our students actually asked me if Glasgow really didn't have soap!

One of the small towns from the top of a hill.

On the boat cruise

We saw gorgeous countryside, went on a boat cruise of Loch Lomond, and saw some incredible castles and walked through some really quaint little towns.

With Shelley and Linda outside of the Balmoral Hotel

The staff and a few students had gotten together the weekend before to have a Thanksgiving dinner so on Thanksgiving itself Shelley, Linda and I ate dinner at the Balmoral Hotel and it was delicious and a really nice evening. It was nice not to have pasta at every meal! I also tried haggis and loved it. We actually drove past the area of Edinburgh that my mum lived when she was a baby! All in all it was a really awesome trip.

The weekend after that I went on the last school trip of the semester - to Rome. I had been to Rome before, when I visited Claire. Most of what the school did was the same as the amazingly thorough tour that Claire gave me, but we did visit the Villa Borghese which is a beautiful house with insane works of art. I really enjoyed that tour. I think the thing I liked most about the trip to Rome was that I knew so many of the students well, and it was really nice to just have a fun time with them. By this point they all know all of the rules, and so it was just a nice, easy trip.

The Trevi Fountain at night

We head back to Rome at the beginning of  January for Opening Tour with the Spring students (same with Summer Opening Tour) so I have the feeling that I might soon be becoming a Rome tour pro!

And, if you've made it all the way to the end of the post, I am going to China on Wednesday!!!!  Each year our school does a Christmas Tour trip, and this year it is going to China. Usually it is staffed by Shelley (the Associate Dean), Linda (the Director of Travel) and the Dean of the School, but this year the Dean isn't able to go, and so I am going instead!  I am so, so excited for this opportunity. We will be flying to Beijing on Wednesday, spend Thursday through  Sunday night in Beijing and then transfer to Shanghai on Monday and we'll be there through the New Year. It should be such an interesting and great trip. It's a small group of students, all of whom we already know and I think it will be so fantastic. I feel so lucky to have this job and all of these incredible travel opportunities. 

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it's been almost four months since I've left. In some ways it feels like I was just in Florida last week, and in other ways it feels like forever ago.  So much has happened in such  a short time. 


The semester officially ended today. Approximately 150 of our students are flying out to go back home after their semester abroad. We have two and a half weeks and then another 130 of them will be arriving for the Spring semester. Wow. 


So much has happened in the last six weeks or so since I last posted. I hope to put out a couple blog entries this week to catch up. 

The Language Barrier

So, I moved to Italy knowing five phrase in Italian (thanks Claire!) and I am happy to say that I now know more, although not enough. I am taking Italian 101 at Gonzaga with 13 other students and a truly incredible professor.

We've learnt a lot of really useful rules, conjugations, phrases and words - things that for the most part I have already used in my daily life (I'm still a little too nervous to ask or give directions, but one day . . . ). However, we have only learnt the present tense. Which is insanely limiting. The next time you're talking to someone, try and only talk in the present tense, I dare you.  It's hard! It means that I don't really use my Italian, unless I'm ordering at a restaurant. I'm getting pretty good at that these days, and have conducted meals using all, or nearly all, Italian! Yay for minor victories :) I just looked on the syllabus, and we're supposed to start learning the past tense soon, but I don't think future or conditional tenses will happen this semester. I hope I'll be able to continue classroom learning of Italian in the Spring, but if not, I know I need to work on my own anyway.

Because Florence is such a tourist attraction, most Italians here also speak English, which also makes it hard for me to practice. It's funny because sometimes I'll go into a store and ask for something, using Italian, and they'll answer me in English. The really nice shopkeepers will usually let me work through it, helping me with the words, or correcting my accent (which is bad - I never put the emphases where they're supposed to go).

I get really nervous though, before I'm going to be using my Italian. I practice what I'm going to say over and over in my head, even when it's really simple things that I've done before. Usually it works out, but sometimes I'll make a totally dumb mistake that I know how to do correctly.  The worst/most embarrassing so far was when I was ordering kababs. I did all of the complicated parts correctly, and was trying to say that I don't want tomatoes. I knew how to say without, but I could not in that moment think of the word for tomatoes. So I hmmd and hmmd, and then finally had to say "senza . . . senza . . . tomatoes". The cook paused, said "pomodoro" really slowly and looked at me like I was a complete idiot - I was. I had already used new vocabulary, had said other food words that I did and didn't want, and couldn't come up with pomodoro, which is a word I knew before coming here. Oh man. I think it was my first time using pomodoro in connection to actual tomatoes and not to sauce or pizza, but still. I definitely should have known. On the plus side that was so embarrassing I hopefully won't make that mistake again.  It'll be something else next time. :)

The other limiting factor is my vocabulary. On one of my Italian quizzes we had to say four things we do in our free time. I could say that I read books (leggo i libri), that I write emails to my friends (scrivo e-mails ai miei amici), and that I walk around Florence (cammino a Firenze) - but I couldn't think of vocabulary, or verbs, for other actions. So for the fourth thing, I said "vado in palestra e faccio ginnastica" which means that I go to the gym and workout. LIES!  As you all know, I most definitely do not go to the gym and if I had fifty sentences in English to say what I do with my free time, that wouldn't even make the list. But, I know how to say it in Italian, so now my Italian teacher thinks that I workout.

This happens when asked about my weekend too, I can sometimes say where I went (I did learn the past tense of "I visited"), but it's very restrictive. So sometimes I'll just make up something that I did, or say that I didn't really do a lot, because I don't know the words. Hopefully that will change.

I am definitely understanding more though, which is good. I don't usually get most, or even half of the words, but I can usually get the gist of the conversation. Usually. On Friday though, I went to lunch with the Dean and the university's travel agent, and one said to the other "brutto tempo" which we've learned means bad weather. So I thought they might be talking about how it was supposed to rain all weekend. I felt pretty proud of myself, for catching that, and was kind of nodding along thinking about the rain. And then the Dean turns to me and says that they're talking about the Italian bureaucracy and how terrible it is and how inefficient everything in government is. Ok, so I have no idea if they were talking about the weather, and then really quickly switched and managed to have an entire conversation about bureaucracy in one sentence, or if brutto tempo can also mean bad times, or bad situation. Guess I'll have to ask in class tomorrow.

So for now, I will keep guessing at what people are saying, and will try to use my Italian even when I'm worried it won't be right. And hopefully, before ten years have passed, I will be passably proficient!

I just had a midterm for that class on Thursday, so I'll post back here and update on that when I get it back.

3 Year Anniversary

Three years ago today I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In that time, I have:

• Learned that carbohydrates are a sugar - seriously did not know this before - there's a whole lot of sugars out there
• gotten a pump (YAY)
• gone to more doctor's appointments than probably the 23 years previous combined (maybe)
• memorized the spiel given by TSA agents given prior to the patdown
• Been swabbed for explosives many times, by said TSA agents
• Used the expressions "I"m going to go shoot up" and "I'm super high" without risk of prison time :) (although with some weird looks)
• found out I have incredibly awesome and caring friends
• learned that doctors are an incredible resource, and that if one isn't doing what you need, to ask questions, come prepared, or find a new doctor.
• had my pump confused for a pager, a cell phone and probably many other things that people didn't even tell me about
• learned the importance of health insurance, and been so, so thankful that I have it
• moved to a new country
• grown way more comfortable with needles
• participated in a 3-year diabetes study
• done a whole host of other things entirely unrelated to being diabetic!!

I remember the period of time when I was diabetic but undiagnosed, the day of my diagnosis, and the subsequent weeks of initial treatment so clearly. Even having seen my dad live with diabetes, I was so upset, frustrated and anxious about being diabetic. While it does suck some times, mostly it's just an annoyance. 

World Diabetes Day is coming up soon (November 14th (aka Claire's Birthday!)) and this year I'm participating in a WDD postcard exchange, which could be kind of cool!  I have just discovered this whole online community of diabetics and some of it is medically helpful, some funny, and some just helpful to know that there are other people out there dealing with some of the same issues. 

An Incredible Weekend!

I just had a truly terrific weekend from start to finish! On Friday the school did two trips to the Corsini Winery nearby, and I helped to chaperone the afternoon tour. So we left campus at 2:30pm and hopped onto a bus for a 30 minute drive out of the city. It was beautiful, up on a hill, with a lovely little garden and views of vineyards, olive tree groves, and rolling Tuscan hills. Our tour guide was really nice, she had even come in our day off. The Corsini Winery makes three different types of chianti wine (basic, medium, and super fancy - not what they're really called, but you get the idea). They also make two types of extra virgin olive oil (organic and non-organic). We were shown around the winery, saw and learned about how they make the wine and the olive oil, and then we had tastings of the wines and olive oil (with bread and a meats platter). It was really cool to see everything, and I learned more about Tuscan wines and a whole lot about olive oil. I really enjoyed all three wines, but I think the middle one was my favourite. The olive oils tasted very, very strongly of olives, which I wasn't expecting. I'm not sure if it's because it's how olive oil is supposed to taste, and it's just super processed in the States, or if it's just a different style of olive oil. . . . Shall have to look into that more, I suppose.

We arrived back in Florence around 6pm, had a little break, and then I met up with a couple students and colleagues for a gelato run. We went across the Arno river to a delicious gelateria that all of the students had been raving about, and finally took me to last Tuesday. As evidenced by the fact that I went twice in one week, this is gooooood gelato! It is really creamy, and they have a good array of flavors - I got the caffe and the nutella yogurt. I still don't know a lot of Italian, but I quickly mastered ordering gelato in Italian, so if you come out to visit, that's what we'll be eating :) The students parted ways after gelato and James (a colleague) and his friend from New Jersey came over and we played Ticket to Ride and drank some chianti. All in all a good day.

Saturday during the day was fairly low-key; I did laundry, tidied up, and read a book. I did grocery shopping in the afternoon, and then that evening I went over to Shelley's apartment for dinner with her and Linda. Shelley has a new bread machine and it was so nice to have fresh bread with flavor (they don't use any salt or herbs or really anything to flavor the bread in Florence). It was a really nice evening of eating, chatting, and hanging out - I really feel like I have good friends here :)

Sunday two students came over to bake - they don't have access to kitchens of their own. That was a really fun afternoon - we made peanut butter cookies and M&M cookies - such a nice treat. They didn't turn out perfectly - I still haven't found baking powder and baking soda here yet. But they were still really good, even if they looked funny, and tasted a tad different. While waiting for the cookies to bake we played some rounds of Bananagrams. It was really nice interacting with students outside of the office, and they enjoyed coming over too. And also, my apartment still smells of freshly baked cookies - so that's awesome!!

After that I did my Italian homework and cleaned up after the baking party. I skyped with some people, wrote a couple of emails, and then I got ready for my night out.

The school arranged for students to get discounted tickets to a concert Sunday night at 9pm, and I jumped on board and also bought a 10 euro ticket. The concert was Vivaldi's Four Seasons  and it was INCREDIBLE! I absolutely loved it. There was also an opera soprano, who sang four or five songs throughout the evening. She had a really fantastic and very impressive voice, and she got really animated, which was cool to see. But the best part, for me, was definitely the Vivaldi. There were eight musicians, three violins, a viola, a double bass, a cello, a harpsichord and an instrument that I didn't recognize, but looked old and somewhat like a sitar. The first violinist was unbelievably talented, and the other two violinists were really incredible as well. It was cool to see such a small ensemble perform classical music, I paid more attention to the movement of the bows, the instruments, and the musicians than I have at symphony performances. Particularly with "Spring" I felt that the visual part of watching the concert augmented the experience of hearing it. Which was a neat experience. I was really blown away by the whole thing and can't wait to go back.

It really was a great weekend in Florence, and while I've had some incredible weekends since moving to Italy, they have been while traveling around Europe. It was nice to feel really good about being in Florence, and I'm excited for more weekends to come.

  

Paris!

Paris was so incredibly fantastic. I absolutely loved every second of being there and cannot wait to go back (no trip planned for now, but I'm definitely making it back there)!!!! I had wanted to visit Paris for such a long time, having spent so many years studying french. And when I found out that the school was doing a trip to Paris, it was the one trip that I really, really wanted to chaperone. Fortunately it seems the students felt the same way about the city as I did, and lots signed up so we needed four chaperones. While I was super excited to go, a small part of me was worried that I had hyped it up too much in my head, and that it would be disappointing. Thankfully this was no where near the case; Paris blew my expectations out of the water. I loved it!

We (myself and the other three chaperones) flew in Thursday afternoon, arriving at our hotel around 4pm. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Canal de la Villette and it was actually really nice. It is a really new hotel and very "green", which was cool. I had a room on the top floor with a little balcony, and had lovely views of the canal and boats.

 The little garden walkway by the canal - we walked along here everyday to the metro

Thursday we spent the afternoon mapping out the routes and modes of transportation we would need to take the next couple of days with the students. Then, we took those routes to time it all out. I'm really glad we did that because it allowed us time to not only familiarize ourselves with the metro, but also to find all of the meeting points for the tours we would take. Traveling with such a large group of students (63) meant that everything took slightly longer, and since most of the time we had to switch metro lines, it was good to know in advance!

That night we walked around and came across a little restaurant that looked nice, and had escargots, which was our unanimous requirement for dinner that night. It turned out to be really nice, with good food, friendly staff, and not too expensive! Win!  We had escargot as appetizers to share, and they were garlicky, buttery, and all together delicious!  I had duck as my main course and it was also really perfectly done. We all went to bed relatively early that night, as we had an early start on Friday.

Friday morning we did a biking tour of Paris, through a company that caters to English speaking groups. It was FANTASTIC!!! I totally recommend doing a biking tour of any city, as a really good way to get an overview. They split us up into five smaller groups of about 12, which was the perfect sized group. They had really comfortable, easily adjusted bikes, and we all set off with our respective guides. It was a three hour tour, and we basically biked all around the city center, stopping to learn about various sites, the history of various areas, and some french culture. We were mostly on bike paths or really small streets, so it was nice and comfortable. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, the Pompidou Centre, Victor Hugo's house, a private garden, some old courtyards and streets, the Latin Quarter, and much, much more. In my group I had a student who had just started learning how to ride a bike, and was really scared, but wanted to try. The guides fit her and another student with a tandem bike, and they did just fine, although I think it was a little harder for them with all of the stopping and starting we did. This was definitely my favourite guided activity of any city, and gave me a good sense of orientation of the city, and also a good overview of the various places, so I could chose to explore more in depth.

Our group cycling through the streets

That afternoon we had a guided tour of Musee D'Orsay, which is an art museum mostly centered around Impressionism. Although right now, most of the main impressionist area is under renovation, which was unfortunate. But we did get to see some Monets, Manets, Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and much more. I have to say, I don't think I'm a fan of guided museum tours, as we didn't get to see everything, just the highlighted works of art. I stayed around at the end to look around some more on my own, and appreciated that more.

That night I went to dinner with Linda and Shelley (two of the other chaperones) near our hotel and again it was a great meal. I had a delicious steak, and we had really nice red wine and a delicious creme brulee!! I was so tired from all of the walking and biking around though, that I fell asleep immediately after dinner.

Saturday we did a walking tour of the city. When I first saw that on the itinerary I was not too excited, especially as we had the biking tour the day before. However, it too was great. It was themed around the French Revolution, so it was a nice focus to the tour, that make it totally relevant and new to the students. It was cool to walk through the city and stop and see where major historical events had actually happened. Our tour guide was great for this tour, she was really engaging with the students, and used funny stories and anecdotes to help keep their attention.

After the tour we had some free time so I walked over to the Left Bank and wandered around on my own. It was really enjoyable and relaxing to just have time to myself. I had a crepe for lunch (yum), and wandered into Saint Sulpice, which is a really beautiful church, and the organist was playing, so I sat and listened for a while.

Sacre Coeur

That afternoon we met the students in front of the pyramid by the Louvre, and took them up to Montmartre to have a wander around. We went to Sacre Coeur, and walked through the surrounding neighborhood.  That night we met up at 8 for a night time tour of the Eiffel Tower. It was gorgeous at night, and cool to see it lit up. We had group passes all the way to the top. I didn't go all the way up though, unfortunately. Several students were late, and by the time they got there, and we waited for the elevator to the first level, it was already 9:15pm. And there was a 45 minute wait from the first level for the elevator to the very top, and then a twenty minute wait from the top to come down. And while I wanted to go up, my sugar was low, and I didn't have a snack with me (bad diabetic). So I ended up just on the first level, which was still really cool, and I got some incredible pictures. Then we went down (which took another half hour) and went to dinner. Going up to the very top is definitely something I want to do, and I hope to do it during the day, so that I'll be able to spot some of the sights I've seen.

From the Eiffel Tower

We had a lovely little dinner in a cafe that night, then went back to school. On Sunday there wasn't anything planned as students had flights out throughout the day. Shelley, Linda, James and I went to Notre Dame, and then walked around the little island and found an incredible cafe and had probably the best hot chocolate, with salted caramel ice cream. Delicious!

The tray with the hot chocolate - they brought out the steamed milk and heated chocolate and you could mix it however you liked. It was so decadent!

I absolutely loved Paris, and really can't wait to plan my next trip there - so if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll totally meet you there!!

Things I want to do the next time:
go to the Louvre - with such a big group, a guided tour would not have been feasible, so I want a good chunk of time there in the future
go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
walk around the Latin Quarter some more
see the Luxembourg gardens
Get closer to the Arc de Triomphe
and probably lots, lots more!

Off to Paris!

Ok, so I have a list of about six different blog posts that I plan on getting up, but it will have to wait, because tomorrow morning I leave for Paris for the weekend!!!!!  I am so incredibly excited! I am going with the school, which is super awesome. We have a group of 63 students, so much more manageable than the 195 we traveled with on Opening Tour.

I plan to take lots of pictures, and to post about it upon my return.

In the week and a half since my last blog post, I have:

• Met up with family I haven't seen since I was really little
• Learned how to make a three course italian dinner
• Watched two episodes of Glee with a group of students
• Led a field trip to Media World (the best buy equivalent) and the Coop (massive grocery store)
• Taken another Italian quiz
• Bought and built an Ikea dresser
• Taught people how to play euchre :)
• And had some fabulous meals out around Florence!

I'm absolutely loving living over here, even though there are things that I miss or am finding difficult. But it's such a cool experience, and the students and people I work with are great.

In the meantime, here's some topics that I am planning on writing about, maybe if I say it on here, it will make me follow through?!?

• Italian Class
• Mosquitoes 
• Life in Florence vs. Life in the States (my observations)
• Things I miss from the states
• Suggestions? If there's anything you want to know, or hear about, put it in a comment :)

A Day in the Life

MORNING
8:02am - alarm goes off and I hop into the shower (or, more usually, I hit snooze for an extra eight minutes). Then I get dressed and ready for work. I leave between 8:45 and 9, depending on how many times I remember things I wanted to bring as I walk down the stairs - it is hard not living 500 feet from the office! This morning I went back in for my watch, and then again for the power adapter for my laptop, choosing not to go back for my thumb drive when I was already out the door to my apartment.
I usually stop at the bar on the way to work, yes, that's right, the bar. In Italy places that serve coffee and pastries are called bars - and they usually also serve alcohol, although I have yet to order that in the morning . . . yet. I get a cappuccino and some sort of pastry before continuing on to work. It takes me about 12 minutes to walk to work.

WORK
We're expected to be in around 9:30, although it's pretty flexible. This semester I try to arrive around 9:10 so that I can get settled and check my email before my class starts at 9:35. I am in Italian 101 with thirteen other Gonzaga students. I plan on writing a whole post about that soon, so for now, it's an awesome class although it's weird being in school at this level.
From 10:35 to around 1pm I hang out in my office, working on projects and pausing frequently to help students. Students come by the office to sign up for trips or events (Right now we're doing sign-ups for a wine tasting tour, cooking classes, yoga classes, and roommates for the upcoming trip to Paris). Students will also drop by to ask how certain things work here, where things can be found, and other "living in Florence" questions - some of which I already know the answer to, many of which I find out with the student.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday I generally go to lunch around 1:15pm, with colleagues. There are tons of great little restaurants and to-go places around here, so depending on the mood (and budget) we'll run out for a quick bite, or have a leisurely lunch. Often lunch at restaurants includes prosecco (my new favourite) or wine, which I first thought was strange to have at lunch, and now am getting used to it.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I have lunch in one of the pensione, which is where the students live and eat. There are nine of them, and I rotate through each one. This is really nice because I get to interact with lots of students, the food is great, and it's free! Lunch is the biggest meal of the day in the pensioni, so it is typically fruit or vegetables, a pasta dish, and then a meat main course.
I usually get back from lunch between 2 and 3pm, and then it's only a couple of hours until it's time to go home. The afternoon is usually a little quieter and I have more time to work on projects. Today I made a Breast Cancer Awareness bulletin board and put that up outside the Fitness Room.
I try to leave work right at 5, but it's been 5:30 or 6 most days. On Monday nights I come back at 7:45 for the Pensioni Representative Meetings - sort of like Residence Hall Association. Tuesday nights are either Glee Nights or Game Nights (alternating weeks), and the past two Wednesdays have all had some kind of trip (Fiorentina Game and the first round of cooking classes). So those nights I come back to campus for work in the evenings, but am usually home by 9 or 10.

EVENINGS
I now have internet at home (yay) so the evening are when I can Skype or chat with people from home. This is usually my intention each night, but I've been so tired recently that I crash into bed pretty early. Dinner varies depending on the day, time, and inclination. Sometimes I eat out, sometimes I make real food, and sometimes I eat cereal, oh, and last Wednesday, I had gelato for dinner - yes, that's right, for dinner!

Fridays are special days at work, because the students don't have class, so many of them leave on Thursday for weekend travel. So when I'm not traveling with the school, Fridays are a great day to get lots of things done!

We don't usually have events over the weekend, as a vast majority of students leave town. But September 25th was Corri la Vita - a run/walk for cancer and I arranged for a Gonzaga team for that event. This past weekend I met up with some of my mum's friends who were in the area and we toured around a couple of absolutely beautiful Tuscan towns - definitely deserves it's own blog post - so look out for that soon :)

So that's pretty much my life right now, I'm exploring more and more each week, and expanding my little world to include more stores, markets, and restaurants (and one or two historical sites, my whole life doesn't revolve around food, although i'd like it to)

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 :)

"The most important part of the story is the piece of it you don't know" - Barbara Kingsolver

Wow, how much do I not know about my story . . . ? A whole lot, and I'm kind of loving it. I am sitting in the Toronto Pearson airport, with four and a half hours until I take off for Roma and I am running the emotional gamut. I am so excited for this new adventure, but still have feelings of anxiety, nervousness and fear.

One thing that has consistently helped me be excited is my attempt to learn Italian - I have a book, a couple of free apps on my iPod, and some audiotapes that I put onto my iPod (Thanks Spanish River Public Library). Not only is practicing Italian something practical for me to do, but it also is studying, something that always calms me down and provides me with focus. I am such a nerd! As of now though, I could have a conversation in which I explain that I don't speak Italian, so somewhat helpful, but a far cry from where I'd like to be. I'm really looking forward to getting there and practicing, and to taking Italian classes at the school - it should also help me bond with some of the new students.

The idea of leaving Florida has been much harder to deal with than I had ever anticipated; I've moved so many times previously, one would think I would have a better handle on it than I do. I've really made a life down here though, and I will really miss my friends, colleagues, and the area. My time at Lynn University had its ups and downs, as I've had everywhere else, and as I'm sure I will experience in Florence. But overall I know that coming to work at Lynn was the best professional decision I could have made when I left UCLA. I've had so many opportunities and I have learned so much about working in student affairs, about myself, about being a professional. I was unsure if starting the Women's Center was the right move for me, but two years later I know it was. I know it is time to move on, to gain new experiences and perspective, and I'm excited for that, but I'll miss lots of things, mostly people, from Boca Raton (and surrounding areas - Slumville!, Wellington!, etc)

The scope and ability of technology is making the transition appear easier, hopefully this will actually turn out to be the case. In addition to email access, I will be able to see and talk with people over Skype, be able to keep up with events, changes, thoughts, on facebook, and travel becoming easier and easier. I hope that my Skype contact book grows in the next few weeks, as I know I will need people with familiar voices and faces to help ground me and help me to make sure I choose a positive attitude.

My plane lands in Roma on Sunday morning, I will then take two trains and a taxi to my new apartment. Monday I need to get all the paperwork in order to be able to start work on Tuesday! On Saturday we fly to Berlin to prepare for the arrival of the students, who fly in on Monday, when Orientation and Opening Tour start - we'll spend the subsequent nine days traveling around Germany, with stops into Austria and the Czech Republic.

If you're reading this, please keep in touch via email, Skype or snail mail - I would love to hear from you.

With love,

Vic