True life.  I am in the middle of packing for a weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain...say whaaaaat?!

I just want to say that as many times as I can while I can so that in about 4 months when I have my nose buried in a book for 3 straight days, I can think back to how unreal of a summer I had flying from country to country on a whim.

This week of school was much slower than last week.  For starters, my feet are not cracked and bleeding. I was walking on my tip toes for a good 3 days last week because of all my Roman adventures.   This week, got got to learn more about the people of Italy...which is totally my jam.  I have been waiting to pick the brain of someone and learn all about Italian life, everything from their culture right down to their favorite Nicolas Sparks novel.

Wednesday we got to go on a trip to the Ariccia's elementary and high school.  I fell in love with the big brown eyes kids at the elementary.  Gosh they were cute!  They were looking at us with those big brown eyes like we were Justin Bieber himself.  They were so excited to show the Americans their art work and sing us songs.  They were so proud!  We were in a 5 year old class room, and watched them do a math word problem.  I'm pretty sure when I was five I was making finger puppets and eating glue.  Not only were they solving math problems, they could speak basic english and their drawings would put Picasso to shame.

When we came up to the school, my mind went to the crummy Guatemala schools with dirt floors.  It was nothing great to look at on the outside, so I and others selfishly thought, "man, they are so lucky they get to have American students come help them for the day!"  I guess I walked into this day thinking I was going to some third world country school where the kids don't have shoes and are playing with rocks.  Shows you how clueless and American I am.  I wasn't the only one.  We were all surprised at how the kids in the elementary school were so well behaved, smart, and loved.  I guess us haughty Americans think everyone else in the world is sub par to our education.  We may have the best looking schools, but like I said.  Sometimes not much is happening inside the school except feasting on glue.

Next, we went to the high school.  It was YoungLife all over again, except the kids were looking at us like they wanted to BBQ us for lunch and we couldn't understand what they were saying.  It was their break and all the kids were circled up in their prospective cliques smoking...and staring.  I'm positive they were saying, "Who are the strange dressing new kids?!" There was for sure no hiding how uncomfortable we all were feeling either.

We were led into the school by a nice guido looking lady and each divided up into groups.  I was so nervous and felt like I was being sent to my death.  I love high school kids, but I really like high school kids who speak my language.  Six of us went to a classroom full of both boys and girls.  When we first walked in, I had an immediate rush of panic wash over me.  I mean, I was being such a baby.  I don't know why it freaks me out so much to be around a group of people who stare at you an uncomfortable amount of time and don't speak "American" as we keep referring to it.

We were each assigned to about 2-3 students.  I was paired with two 16 year old girls who were all smiles when I sat down.  "Ok", I thought.  "this may not be so bad.  I don't think they want to eat me."  The purpose of this assignment was for these high school students to practice their english with someone who cannot help them out by knowing Italian as well.  So, in comes the stupid American's role.  Because unless I could help them out by repeating 'ciao' or 'grazie', I would be no help.  

These were the two girls I got to spend the afternoon with.

Clearly the students were given a list of questions to ask us because the first question they asked me was if I had any siblings.  Eh, I mean I guess we can start there.  They spoke very good english so it was really fun to sit and talk.  When I could tell they ran out of their questions, I started asking a few of my own.  Starting with, when you think about America, what comes to your mind?  They sat a thought for a good while, so I was getting excited about the answer.  After a few moments, they smiled, apparently very proud of their coming answer.  "Fast food and the Statue of Liberty", they stated proudly.   I tried to act really excited that this was their answer, but I couldn't help but be mildly offended.  Fat Americans.

Their favorite American movies are Moulin Rouge' and Silence of the Lambs.  I just nodded trying not to look totally weirded out.  To each his own.  They asked me if I had met Edward Cullen...to which I replied no.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that 1. vampires do not exist, and 2. he is a fictional character.  You gotta leave something for girls to dream about, right?

After being at the high school, I realized kids are kids.  No matter what country they live in.  Looks, boys, gossip, cliques, self image, and Justin Bieber are all important.  We are all made in the image of the one God and that one God saw that it was all good.

That night, we put on an 'apertivo' for the town of Ariccia.  It was part of our classwork and we each had to make an appetizer for 40 people, and we were told to purchase 40 bottles of wine as well.  It was so fun!  All of our professors and directors of the program came and brought heir families and friends.  We invited the kids from the high school as well so we got to hang out with them as well.  Somehow they found us all on facebook and have proceeded to like every move we make and my newsfeed is starting to turn into all Italian!  Everyone came around 7:30 and did not leave until almost 1:00am!  That is the longest appetizer party I have ever been to for sure!  They just love being with each other.  Age doesn't seem to matter in this country either.  Your best friend can be 70 and you're 30.  They love learning from each other and I have loved learning from them.  They take life slow.  One of our professors, Marco, gave us some great life advice.  He said, "The secret to a long and happy life is to enjoy it and laugh often."  Spoken like a true Italian!

I made fresh garlic cheese bread with basil.  Crowd pleaser.

All the girls made such wonderful appetizers!
 Everyone loved all of them!

Enough wine for the entire town! 

Delicious desserts!

If there is one thing I hope to learn during my time here in Italy from the Italian people is the ability to appreciate where I am and who i am with.  Stop moving so fast that I don't love well the ones I am with.  I hope i hold onto that truth forever.

Yummy spread if I do say so myself!

Enjoying the evening with our Cooking professor, Mary Lou.

That's all for now!  See you after Barcelona!
Leigh