Pretty Things and Pretty People

Well, last week ended well. I was able to experience conferences Friday and it was great. Meeting the parents was beyond interesting since most of them are wealthy Italians who adore the teachers at AOSR. It was great to meet them all and talk about their children. I felt as if I learned even more about each child, where they come from, and how their life is.

Last Friday was a lot of fun. We went to appertivo with our cooperating teachers at a place in a piazza right by our apartment. In English, the place is called Beer Oasis. The appertivo was DELIGHTFUL. There were fresh artichokes, broccoli, spinach pie?, pasta (of course), and so much more. Don’t forget the deserts because there were huge plates full of them.

Saturday morning we got up and moving, preparing to go to the beach (it was a beautiful day!!). First,

Fun on our Terrace!

let me explain that the door to our apartment can only be opened with a key. Also, there is a lock on the inside and outside, that you can only lock with that same key. We have two sets of keys. Since we are probably the smartest Americans in our building (sarcasm), we may have left one set of keys in our door, on the inside, when we went to leave for the beach. What does this mean you may ask? Well, it means we had the other set of keys, but since one was in the door (on the inside) and the door was already closed, we could NOT lock it or open it. It was seriously hilarious… like how dumb can we really be!! So, thank goodness for our amazing neighbors. First, the little old lady who does not speak any English at all comes out and talks to us. I try my best to speak to her in my wonderful Italia, but resorted to Google Translate

Breaking into our apartment

(which obviously sucks at translating). She kindly let us borrow her phone to contact our landlord. While we were waiting for our landlord to arrive, our other neighbor, Jon, came our and actually spoke English. We told him the story and he helped us out a ton… explaining to the little old lady what was really going on, speaking to our landlord, and trying to get us in. We exhausted about everything because the locksmith was very expensive and we had no other plan. Finally, the landlord arrived and what did he tell us… we are going to break into the window (oops)! Using his handy dandy key, our neighbor guy climbed up there, unlocked our window (the gate blocking it), and opened it right up (luckily we had the indoor window open). He only broke the handle on one of our glasses. We seriously owe these people a big huge hug (and maybe a drink)! By the time we got into our apartment, we decided it was too late for the beach. Our neighbor friend told us one amazing detail about our apartment building… we have a terrace!!!

Let the night begin!

We went and picked up some pizza from our friend Mohamed, got some wine,

What would I do
without these beauties?

and a book and spent the rest of our afternoon on the rooftop terrace (lovely, I know). Later that evening, we finally decided to venture out into the great Testaccio district (the huge nightlife scene right next door to us pretty much).

 The girls stopped at a food truck and got a bite to eat and then we made our way to a pub. They were playing live, Italian music, so it was wonderful. Then, we decided to go to a “club.” Since we are American, we somehow made our way to the front of a HUGE line and the guy let us in. Cover? Yep… 15 Euro. We figure that was for all of us. Nope, per person (oops…). It’s okay though, you get a free

drink out of it and it is probably the best nightclub ever. Long story short, we were there all night (clubs literally do not close-we were probably the first people to leave).

Sunday, we slept.

Monday comes along and everyone is so, so excited because... 3 day week!!! My students and I finished our Battle of the Books bracket (March Madness, but with books), watched The Outsiders, and had a lot of pre-Spring Break fun. Although my 8^th Graders think they are too cool for school, they are not. I think they might be digging my sarcasm, no? I work pretty hard on making them excited, because man, some of these kiddos have a pretty amazing life, so it is hard to be excited for school.

Tuesday, I think was a normal Tuesday (it’s Friday now and too much happens in between for me to remember these things… sorry, mom).

Roman Island

Wednesday, the final day of school, was pretty exciting. Everyone literally^th Grades going up, on a Wednesday, eat the food, eat gelato, ‘cause it’s Wednesday.” ß Just to share my fav, LOL. They did a really good job though and had a ton of fun. After school, Anna and I ran in the beautiful weather down the river and headed towards the Coliseum. On our way, we stumbled upon a beautiful parky area that has an amazing view of the forum. I cannot tell you how many secret spots are in this city. I love it. We then walked by the beautiful museum and got to the coliseum. We ran back, ate dinner, and went to the caffe to try to book the rest of our trips.

Beautiful view of the Roman Forum

had smiles on their faces all day long. Lots of the teachers are going to be hiking northern Spain, traveling through France, or going to any other wonderful place you can imagine. Jess and I had our students write parodies today. They could choose to rewrite Let it Go, I Will Survive, Shake it Off, or The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air song. We gave them these choices, but of

course they begged to do rap songs: “8

Thursday… SPRING BREAK!!! WOOHOO. We woke up bright and early and went for a beautiful run. We ran down the river with the sun rising and around Roma. On our way back, we stopped at a little hidden Bar and got our morning cappuccino. It was lovely. When we got back, we ate breakfast and got ready to

View of the Roman Forum

take the train to my cooperating teacher, Jess’, house. When we got to the

Jess' cute patio

station, Jess and her beautiful, adorable, little girls picked us up and brought us back to their home. I cannot explain how fortunate I am to know these ladies and not only work with Jess, but be a part of her life. She was so kind to invite us over. Guess what we got to do?! Dye Easter eggs. If you know that we are el ed teachers… you know we absolutely loved this. Jess’ house was beautiful and so homey. It was a nice feeling to be around family. We just hung out, enjoyed the sun on her patio, danced, had an amazing Italian lunch, and enjoyed each other’s company. Later in the afternoon, Jess took us
back to the river and we walked home. When we got back to our apartment, Anna and I decided to soak up some more sun on the terrace and then get ready and go to aperitvo (When in Rome, live like Romans, right?). We decided to go to the Jewish Ghetto. We actually ran into one of the other teachers, who pointed us into the correct direction of the ristorante we were looking for. This aperitivo was not the best, but Anna’s mimosa sure was!! It is so nice that Italians make everything fresh (her mimosa was made with a squeezed orange, no joke). We then walked around the piazzas, had a wonderful evening, and came home.

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Today was a beautiful day. We got up early to start our day, ran and went to the café to book the rest of our trips. After that, we made our way to the beach. It was beautiful and only thirty minutes away. We found the beach and lounged, while watching everyone dancing, playing games, and being young. It was interesting to see how people were dressed: some were in their suits and some were in their winter coats. Italians think 68 is cold… Anyways, after being on the beach, searching for a

bathroom (finally finding one in a McDonalds), hanging out in the beach piazza (watching children

Ostia Lido

chase street performers and people eating gelato), we were ready to head back to Roma. When we got to the metro, we were trying to make sure we were getting on the correct train. When all three of us were on, Anna yelled “I don’t think this is the right one.” So of course, I am the one to jump off and the other

Flowers from Gloria,
Jess' daughter

two, well they were stuck on it. Their faces were in literal shock, it was hilarious. I just smiled and waved as they pulled away. Funny

thing is, it actually was the correct train. So, as I am waiting for the next train, all of a sudden I hear someone scream “Breeeeeannaaa.” As everyone’s heads turn, I look to the right. Here is Kylee, running out of the train, coming back to save me. At that exact moment, the other train pulled up. I thought Kylee would miss it, but we didn’t. Luckily, we both jumped on and picked up Anna at the next stop, where she was waiting for us both. It was an experience we need I suppose. So finally, all of us made it back and we are relaxing before our day full of travel tomorrow. We are off to Dublin and then Athens, Greece!!! So, Mom, when we speak again, I will be full of fish, chips, Guinness, and euros. XOXO & Cheers to being on Spring Break!