Italy, Much Woolton, and Final Thoughts

My last week in Europe was absolutely wonderful! I had the opportunity to travel to Italy traveling to Venice and Rome. It was an amazing experience, and I definitely hope to make it back to Italy someday.

Our view flying over Italy! So beautiful! 

Our first stop on our Italy trip was Venice! We flew from the UK to Venice arriving at about 8pm Monday.  We headed straight to the campsite where we decided to stay while in Venice. I am not going to lie, I was super nervous at the beginning about staying in a tent, but it was actually wonderful! We weren't in our tents during the day so we were never too hot. It cooled down at night.  Upon arrival, we went to the campsite, ate dinner at the restaurant located on the camp grounds, then went to bed to get up for an early day of site seeing! We woke up the next morning and headed to downtown Venice. What's cool about Venice is there are no cars allowed in the city, so everyone just takes a boat or water taxi. We took a bus to get to the edge of the city, walked and took the water taxi the rest of the day. The first thing we did was take a gondola ride and it was great! We got to go see a lot of the city and all the beautiful old buildings in Venice.

After our gondola ride, we grabbed a lunch of pasta which was super good then headed out to one of the smaller islands in Venice to go lay on the beach and have gelatto. It was a fantastic afternoon!

After the beach, we headed back to the main island, had dinner, then headed back to the campsite to swim for a little bit. The warm weather was definitely wonderful compared to the weather we were having in Liverpool the weekend before we left.

We woke up super early Wednesday morning to catch our 5:30am train to Rome. The train ride was a little under 4 hours. The view from Venice to Rome was absolutely spectacular. I definitely want to go back to Italy someday just to go to the country. When we arrived in Rome, we dropped off our bags and headed off on our first day of site-seeing.  We toured the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. They were both stunning places with a wealth of history.

After our visit to the Vatican we had pizza for dinner then headed back to another campsite, this time in Rome, to relax, play cards and swim in the pool.  Thursday would be our biggest site-seeing day of our time in Europe.  Our first stop was the Colosseum and the ancient ruins. The Colosseum was so big and simply breath-taking. You could almost feel yourself being there over a thousand years ago as the lion fight and other events occurred.

After the Colosseum and ancient ruins, it was a quick lunch of pizza (again) and then off to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain! The Pantheon was so interesting and it is said to have something to do with the founding of geometry. The Panteon is a building in Rome that has large columns on the outside, then on the inside there is a round opening in the ceiling that opens to the sky. It was definitely one of my favorite places during my visit to Rome. The Trevi Fountain was also one of my favorite places. Although it was crowded and probably always is, it is one of those places you simply have to visit so you can throw a coin in the fountain. At the end of the day, some people collect all the money that is thrown in (over 3,000 euros a day!) and use to help feed the homeless in Rome. Which is very neat if you ask me. :)

 Since we visited all of these sites on Thursday, which was the 4th of July, we figured we should go find the American Embassy and see if there were any celebrations there. Boy, where we wrong! They would not even allow us to take pictures! It was very disappointing, but at least we had a little piece of home for being so far away from it. We finished the night with a nice dinner, then headed back to camp, before our early flight back to Liverpool the next morning. Italy was amazing, and I definitely cannot wait to go back some day!  
Much WooltonAs I went back re-read my blogs today, I realized that I did not post as much as I should have about the main reason why I was here! To teach and learn all about British Schools. I was placed in a Year 2 classroom, which is equivalent to a 1st grade back in the states. I honestly absolutely loved it! I have not worked with younger children, but am so glad I got the opportunity to because my students were fantastic, and I already miss them so much. I am not allowed to post pictures of them online, so if you ever want to see them just let me know, and I would be happy to show you.  Like all students, some of my Much Woolton Primary students left me with wonderful quotes.  The young man who said, "Miss, I'm just desperate for the toilet." made it hard for me not to laugh.  When giving my lesson about America and explaining a s'more is a graham cracker with chocolate and a toasted marshmallow, a student said, "Oh Miss, it sounds just lovely."  Again, I miss them already.

Final ThoughtsThe last 8 weeks have been wonderful. I am so thankful to my parents for supporting my decision to have this experience of a lifetime.  I learned so much about not only about the British curriculum, but how to travel on my own and live out of nothing more than a small backpack for up to five days at a time.  I also learned to be flexible because things won't always happen the way you think they will and sometimes you have a better experience just because they turned out different than the original plan. I have had a wonderful time, but am definitely ready to head home tomorrow to see my family. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my blog every week. It truly means so much to me!