~SuMmeR TraVeLs, FuN, SuN, and FriEndS! : )

Again, It has been WAYYY too long since I wrote in this! I think a lot has happened since then! Let's see..First, my job situation...which I will go into, but first I thought you should see a picture, on the left, of where my office is everyday now this summer..unbelievable.
And now back to reality.. :) ...For the last couple months, I have been teaching children from 4 families, 7 children total, along with 2 adults I had private lessons with, and of course, my time spent with my host family's son, Giuseppe. So overall, I was speaking English through lessons or just conversation with 10 people. It was a great experience and I think I really got better as a teacher and learned the best techniques for each students ways of learning and levels of English knowledge. It was a lot more challenging then only being a nanny and I enjoyed pushing myself in the end. Here is some pics of my kids I taught... This first one is Giuseppe..my little boy :) - him and I have gotten very close over the months I've been here. He's like a little brother to me. We miss each other when we dont see each other for a couple days! He's a sweetheart and has gotten extremely good at speaking English. Sometimes, his mom says she can't even understand what he says in English! I can speak with him as I would normally to a native English/American speaker..he's a very lucky kid to know another language as well as he does and such a young age! One day, his mom told me that he asked her, "Mom, but why can't Brittany come play with me on Sundays? It's not that hard of work to play with me!" :) again, such a sweetheart. He also told me one day that I am one of his best friends and one of his favorite people to play with!..I say this with great honor :) He's a cuddler, which I love, and makes me laugh constantly. His favorite words or expressions lately are.." I detest it!, Unfortunately or Fortunately.., You can forget it!, if something is "valid" or "invalid".." and many more hilarious comments :) He's becoming very Americanized and I'm proud of it! :D This beautiful 5 yr old girl is Caterina. She is a friend of Giuseppe's. She has one of those cute little raspy voices and is always dressed in the cutest clothes. She always is spunky and knows how to stand up for herself when she plays with Giuseppe and the boys. :) She doesn't have a huge passion to learn English, so she can be a bit difficult to stay focused, but she has challenged me to find new, fun, and exciting games to learn English with! I also have 2 brothers that are good friends of Giuseppe's, Armando and Stefano. It was another challenge to teach the brothers at the same time for 2 hours in a row since they were at different levels of English knowledge..but we did the best we could. Overall, very nice boys and I continue to see them when they come play with Giuseppe or at his sailing classes they have together. The picture with the cute girl in pink on the right is Gloria, my Friday student. I love Fridays, well, who doesn't..but she always made Fridays more enjoyable to work on. She was a great student, cute girl, and a lot of fun to teach! I see her at the beach every once in awhile as well this summer! Her birthday party was my first Italian kids bday party! Great food at those I have to say.. :) I also went to Istanbul in April! That was unbelievable! I realize I wrote about it in my last post but I forgot to actually post it so i'll write a bit more about it.. I had such an amazing time with my friend Naz. I really didn't do a whole lot of touristy things, but I basically got to live in the life of my friend for a week- which is a life I loved living! :) Her family was very kind and generous and welcomed me right in to their house and lives.

Istanbul is a fantastic city with a lot to offer. Compared to Palermo, the city was much more modernized and a lot of the city reminded me of a big city in the States, like Chicago or New York. My friend basically let me live her life for a week and it was great. It was exactly what I wanted to do, and I also got to see some tourist spots as well like when I rode a ferry around the Bosphorus Sea. It was so neat to be in 2 continents in one day within about a 5 minute ferry ride across the sea. The whole city of what I saw was beautiful. My friend lived in a beautiful house that overlooked the Bosphorous. We went to this huge mall they have there with a ton of high-end stores which was a lot of fun to shop at! We celebrated my friend’s birthday/graduation from Coe while I was there and she threw an awesome party..we had an amazing day of going to work out at her gym, which was probably the best gym I’ve ever been to, then we got our hair done, got all dolled up for her party, we each bought a dress for it as well…great time..

April marked my first holiday that I always go home for normally, Easter, or Pasqua in Italian. I knew that I had friends here that also would not be with their families, but I still was going to miss being home knowing my brother would be home and my whole family would be together. In the end, I went to a city near Palermo, Balestrate, with my friend from New York, Danielle. We ended up making a good ol’ American meal of omelets and French toast haha. Overall, we had a great day on the beach and then spent the evening relaxing together. In Italy, they also have a holiday called Pasquetta, which is the day after Easter. For this holiday, my friends and I all went to a girl’s villa in a village nearby and had a barbeque in the sun. It was a lot of fun! There is something about going to a villa, or summer home, that is so relaxing and fun to just hang out somewhere beautiful, have some drinks, and eat great food all day long! My friend who was grilling had my try some intestines for my first time..I think from a pig but I don’t remember…anyways, not good. Haha The coil part was chewy and ya, I won’t go on. BUT..there was a ton of other great Italian food we had..and of course, plenty of vino! :)

When the summer started approaching, my lessons started to die off and a lot of the families stopped with the lessons for the summer and will start up again when school begins in the fall. I was a nice little break, but I kept my adult lessons going. I also moved out to Mondello, near the sea, with my host family. The house is amazing with the most beautiful view of the sea (Pictures: the terrace part looking at the house and the view from the terrace of the sea and beach). It is located up on the mountain a bit, so the view is fantastic. This is what I wake up to every morning. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like living in Mondello because all my friends still lived in Palermo, which really is only a short bus ride away, but I can’t just easily go for a drink or something with a friend without making an effort to make sure I have rides back and forth. I also can stay at my place in Palermo if I need to, so that’s nice to have that option as well. After moving and getting settled in the house in Mondello, I really like living with the family. As I was hoping, I am able to spend more time with not only Giuseppe, but the mom and dad as well. They are a wonderful family and are always there for me if I need anything. I really enjoy spending time and getting to know Angheli, the mom. She reminds me a lot of my own mom, which gives me a sense of feeling at home..as much as it can without actually being home.

Speaking of home, I have had some wonderful visitors from home! First, my friend Katie, who I have known since middle school (left), came to visit! She spent a week in Palermo with me, and then we went to Rome where I met my Mom! It was so nice to have people from home come see my life here and bring a piece of home to me here in Italy. Katie and I had a great week of exploring Palermo, meeting my friends, the beach, and of course, some vino here and there (I think our family members can confirm that with our lovely Skype calls in the wee hours of the morning my time!) J. When I arrived in Rome, I took the train to meet Katie, and what do you know! My mom’s friend and her family were on the same train as me! (we're all in the pic on the left having dinner in Rome) I knew we were meeting them the next day, but it was crazy to see them randomly on the same train! Anyways, I had one night with Katie in Rome where I stayed in my first hostel, great experience, and then we met my Mom and her boyfriend Bob at the train station in Rome! Katie and I had a great Italian meal, met with a college friend of mine who lives in Rome, and had a great night out in Roma! The next day, my mom arrived on the train later than I expected, so I started getting nervous because there was no way to communicate to her if something did happen. I was also excited and anxious to see her…so when she finally arrived, I had so many mixed emotions of happiness and nerves built up, that I started crying when I saw my mom! It was so great to see her because I have missed my family so much! We did some great site seeing with the help of Katie’s great map skills ;) …We walked around the city all day and saw the most beautiful buildings, fountains, and Roman architecture such as the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, caught the USA world cup game in a pub that was full of Americans- which I haven’t been surrounded by so many English American speakers since I left America!, had a great dinner with all of us and my mom’s friend’s family to celebrate my mom’s birthday and another girl’s birthday. Then we said goodbye to Katie the next day, and left to return to Palermo/Mondello. Fortunately, my family was moved into the house in Mondello and my mom was able to stay in the smaller house above ours for the week in Mondello. The view from this house is incredible..there’s nothing like it as I have said before! I say to myself still after 6 months of living here, “I can’t believe this is my life, my job, and I am actually living here in Sicily!” :)

So far, this summer has been great! I love living in Mondello and with the family, with the option of staying in Palermo if I prefer or need to go back to the city. My friends have been great at organizing new places to go out or go to each weekend, which in the summer, is usually places located on the beach near Mondello. Some of my friends and I have started Sunny Sundays or Sunday Fundays- whichever way you want to say it, they’re great! We have been going every Sunday to a different beach in a city usually nearby (like the one pictured above with me and 2 of my girl friends)! It’s so great to go somewhere new each time and see yet another amazingly beautiful city of Sicily with great friends and of course, beautiful weather and beaches.

I also got to celebrate another holiday in Italy called Santa Rosalia (parade statue of Rosalia is on the left)...she is a famous saint in Italy, as well as some other countries, and is celebrated with a parade in her honor because she sacrificed her life for Jesus. They also have great fireworks after the parade.

My job has been going well too. Giuseppe and I have gotten really close- he’s such a sweetheart and is always making me laugh and smile. His mom told me that he actually said, “Mom, why can’t Brittany work on the weekends too? It’s not that hard of work to play with me..” :) so I am thinking he is enjoying our time together as well! In June I would go to the sea with him during the day until lunch around 2. My friend from Canada, Sabrina, also does the same kind of thing as me and our boys have become great friends at the beach- which makes our jobs even more enjoyable to be in the sun and have a friend there as well! Sabrina and I decided to get some new “work clothes” (swimsuits) for the “office” (beach). We always say to each other, “Well, see ya at the office tomorrow!” We love our jobs. This week I started also working with Giuseppe’s cousin in the mornings. I go to the sea with Fabio (3 1/2 yrs old) and Giorgio (1 1/2 yrs old)... (Giorgio is on the left..adorable!), Giuseppe's cousins, in the mornings till lunch and then eat lunch with Giuseppe and stay the afternoon with him since he has sailing lessons in the morning anyways. We always go through the club that my family belongs to and to the beach part near other clubs to swim and play, so we usually see the same people every day and the kids become friends and have them to play with which is very nice. These boys were a little difficult at first because they didn't want to stay with someone new and they only got to see their parents on the weekends because the parents flew back and forth from Florence, where they live. But overall, very cute kids and I have learned a lot working with them...a lot about patience! :) I thought it would be more difficult to work with them because the 1 yr old doesn't know English, or at least definitely can't speak it, and the 3 yr old can only understand some as well and knows a few words..but they have learned a lot and are getting better every day!

In August, I am looking forward to visiting home finally!!! I haven't been home since I left in January and can't wait to see my family and friends! It's been too long since I've seen my dad and brother's faces, other than on Skype! Seeing my mom in June only made me miss her more and I can't wait to see her as well! I also have my 5 year class reunion in August and the next day after that is my birthday, so I have lots to celebrate when I'm home! I hope to write more often this summer and hope to see all my friends and family soon in August!! Cheers and Love,

xx

Britt

Travelin' the big World but Missin the Small Things in Life..~

Wow..it's been too long since I've wrote in my blog!! Anyways, the month of April was pretty much filled up with workin, teaching, and my trip to ROME/ISTANBUL!

First of all, work has been going great. I really enjoy the kids and adults I am teaching and having conversation with. They are all great families with amazing children. I am lucky to have found them. I've gotten my work schedule into a routine now for the week with 4 families, 7 kids total, 1 private lesson with a female adult, and of course, my time with the host family's son, Giuseppe. I think I could take on a few more lessons honestly, and I am currently looking for some takers. My friend that is in charge of a large student organization for the University of Palermo put my picture and an advertisement on the Erasmus website..you can check out the website if you want..it's a great site to learn about the city, culture, and food of Palermo, student life in Palermo, and the main attractions all over Sicily! Check out the website: Palermo Erasmus Life. If you look at any of the Erasmus photos, you will notice that I am pretty much an Erasmus student! It's been a great experience getting to know so many people in this group because I now have friends from all over the world, literally! It's amazing to know you have connections like that- and I know some of these people will be great friends of mine for the rest of my life!

My trip to Istanbul was amazing! I got to see my friend, Nazli, who lives and is from Istanbul. She went to Coe College with me and is a great friend! It was great to see her and her life in Istanbul. She showed me an amazing time and what a week in her life is like..which was unforgettable! I got to take a boat tour along the Bosphorous Sea that separates the Asian and European sides of Istanbul. It was beautiful! I also enjoyed many delicious Turkish foods and restaurants, visited their awesome mall while we did some shoppin for Nazli's big birthday/graduation party! That party was definately one of the highlights of my trip..along with this night and many other great nights at the fantastic clubs they have, I got to meet some of Nazli's friends. They were all great people and showed me a good time! Her family was also very generous, treated me well, gave me a place to stay in their wonderful home, and made me feel so comfortable. It was really nice to spend time with her family, because mine is in the States and I miss them so much! So it was great to feel a part of another for awhile :) Istanbul is definitely a place I want to visit in the future again and could even see myself possibly living there...if I can stand being away from my family again for so long!! :)

I have definitely been a bit homesick lately..I've been missing "the small stuff"...little things here remind me of characteristics of my family and friends that I miss so much. It is hard being away from the people that you used to be able to see everyday and now don't and haven't in 4 months! I knew it would be this way, and I'm not regretting the decision to come to Italy, but I have really learned a lot about myself and my relationships back home and how important they are to me. I feel almost a bit lucky because a lot of the time, like they say, you don't know how much something means to you until they're gone- well, I have luckily been able to realize these things now and can still write, talk, and see (on skype) the people that really mean the world to me. I am having a great time here in Palermo and traveling, but the people back home still and always be an important part of me.

On a not so deep subject, :) , I am enjoying my students and lessons..I am still growing as a teacher and it is definitely a challenge to learn how to teach without any prior experience, lessons/books to go by, or any techniques taught to teach ages 5-37! Like my students, I have found that I really am growing as a teacher and learning just like they are. Each week I learn something new that could help my students or learn from mistakes I have made. Maybe I have not been the best private English teacher these families have ever seen, but I think I have made a difference in each of these students..which is something that I am proud of. I am continuing to grow and have learned a lot from the experience of teaching..a lot that I would not have learned if I was only being a nanny for children. I will only be teaching the children for a little while longer because in the summer, I will only be an au pair for my host family and another family that is relatives of theirs. I may keep some of my older private lesson students and make the trip back to Palermo once in awhile. Not sure the definite schedule and plan for the summer yet..it is still being decided.

To this day, I still meet new people every week and I love it! Every time I go somewhere, there are new opportunities, experiences, and people to see and meet! I have been to some new clubs and restaurants, ran to some new parts of the city, and continued to make great lifelong relationships with some great friends. Sometimes, the best days are just being able to lay on the beach in the sun with friends, some locally made vino, music, throw around a ball, and relax...I have a feeling that these kind of days are setting me up for a preview of a great summer to come! I am very excited for the summer because I get to live closer to the beach in Mondello with my host family, have some great adventures and trips planned with my amazing friends, hopefully getting a chance to visit HOME in July!!, my friend from High School is coming to visit in early June, and right after that my mom is coming to visit!! I can tell already that this will be a summer I will never forget! :)

Mia Vita Bella~* my beautiful life

Ciao!! So it looks like I’m slackin on writing on my blog more than once a month.. J Well a lot has changed for my job over the month. My job started out a bit rough since I wasn’t prepared to start teaching when I got here. I thought I would just be more of a person who would speak English to their children to help them practice,etc- BUT that’s not the case..at all! I really am a private teacher for mostly children of different families around Palermo. It’s been a tough month trying to all of a sudden become this amazing English teacher with games, lessons, homework all prepared for every lesson! Plus, it’s not just one level/grade of children..it’s all ages and levels of English knowledge! I have now taught people ages 4-35…big range huh?! So the other families I wrote about in my last blog didn’t work out the way we had planned. They were all rather large families that wanted something different than what I was offering to their children..they wanted to really get what they paid for if they were going to put money into English lessons since they have such big families to provide and pay for. I totally understand what they are saying, but on my defense, it was a bit hard to adjust to being a teacher and knowing what the heck I was doing ..and to be really good at it too! (This is a random picture of one of the markets in Palermo..those are always fun and interesting to go to!)

So, in the end, my private lessons didn’t work out great..at the time, it crushed me, but thank god for my loving and comforting parents, I eventually got over it and just realized things can’t always go perfectly and moved on! I was lucky for my host mom, Angheli, to be so kind to help me out. She knew I was pretty upset and felt bad for not being able to work out for those families, so she has been so sweet to constantly be helping me find families to work with and to set them up with me. Right away, I started with a couple other families! These ones have worked out great so far! I have really been enjoying the kids I have started with..right now I currently have 4 families of children, not including my host family..And I have some leads to some others! I also have been doing a private lesson with a middle-aged lady- each week we meet to have conversation in English, read articles in English, or things like that. This has been going great and I really enjoy it..she just needs to practice her English so it works out great! I should do the same with someone only to work on Italian..I think I might ;) I’ve been getting a little stressed out about making sure my lessons are well-planned out, finding new ideas and games, etc. I’ve been second-guessing myself and have been stressing myself out because I don’t want another family to reject me. That sounds so sad haha…but ya can’t be great at everything right? J Well anyways, I hope to be a good teacher and have this work out for me, because now I have all these great tools, games, books, workbooks, flashcards, etc to work with and use (thanks to my wonderful mother and Angheli). And every day I go to a bookstore near me and search books for ideas or I go online to look for ideas, so I really am trying hard to be successful at this and make all this worthwhile. It also wouldn’t hurt to make some more money too! ;) I am trying hard for Angheli as well because she has been so great to get me these jobs and I don’t want to let her down when I’m sure she talks to her friends or these families about me. The picture on the left is of Teatro Massimo..its by the bookstore I go to..just thought it was a cool pic! ANYWAYS, jobs going ok right now..not the best, not the worst- but hopefully it’s on the up curve! J

Palermo is such a beautiful city which I hope to have some extra free time soon to explore more of the beautiful parts of Palermo and Sicily! I’ve been really working hard on these teaching jobs, so I haven’t given myself much free time during the day to tour things…but it will come. Also, when it gets to be summer, I will not be teaching, I will just be the nanny for Giuseppe, my host family’s son. We will most likely be moving to their place in Mondello they rent for the summer. Mondello is a GORGEOUS city about 15-20 away from Palermo..it is right on the sea where everyone from here goes usually if they want to go to the sea. I’m excited for the summer and being able to spend more time with my host family because right now, I honestly don’t spend that much time getting to know them. I only see Giuseppe at night after he finishes school, sports, and homework. I also give him a bath and eat dinner with him, so a lot of our time at night is spent doing that. I also work on Saturdays with Giuseppe since we don’t get a lot of time during the week to just play and hang out. I get to spend more time getting to know Angheli and Antonio , my host parents, as well. I’m excited for that this summer too because I am thinking we get to relax and go on the sea, etc. They are really a great family and I am very lucky to have been put into their hands! But I have gotten to go to some really amazing places..I went to the Port of Palermo (the 2 pictures on the left) one Sunday afternoon where it was about 65-68 degrees outside! So beautiful and relaxing! I’ve also been to some really great parties my friends have had and some new clubs...it’s always fun to try new places, but we also have our regular clubs/pubs we can always count on! One night, I actually stayed out until about 8am..birds chirping, sun is completely up…took a few days to catch up on that sleep! J The picture to the right is of a street that I enjoy going to once in awhile for a drink at a pub, coffee, or dinner!

A funny story from this past weekend..so I have made 2 great friends that live near Palermo that are also from the US, which has been great to get to know them- amazing people! Anyway, this Saturday afternoon, my friend Danielle and I were walking back to my apartment building when we saw a stray dog sitting in front of the entrance door to my building..we ended up standing around waiting for this dog to move out of the doorway for about ½ an hour because whenever we got close, he would bare his teeth at us and growl! He was a big dog that was cold, hungry and angry! Haha So, we ended up going down the street and buying the dog a slice of pizza to try to lure him away from the door! HE DIDN’T WANT THE PIZZA!! Haha, oh man..this was just hilarious to us because we were a bit hungover and all we wanted was to go inside to take a nap J Finally, after waiting around, not knowing what to do, considering even stopping the cops to see if they had a tazer gun or something!!, but the dog finally saw another dog and got off the steps- HILARIOUS moment in Palermo I’ll never forget! This is a pic from my window of the dogs paw and the pizza sitting there..he came back in front of the steps after we finally got inside!

My friends here are great. It just keeps getting better the longer I am here because I meet new people, make new relationships, and get to know some really amazing friends. Every week I get closer to these new friends and love Palermo even more! During this journey, I have realized you really get to know yourself on a new level. I have learned a lot about my personality and what qualities in friends makes me really, truly happy. I know I have made some lifelong friends here, and it feels great! (The picture to the right is of some good friends of mine- right to left, they are from Venezuela, Canada, New York, and Palermo!)J I really do miss my friends from home and family too! I hope to stay in touch with all of you and to share all of my experiences here with you as much as possible! It’s so beautiful here and I am sooo glad to be on this journey. I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well!! Ciao!!!

Oh, I have also booked my flight for my first trip in Europe…Istanbul, Turkey!!! So excited to visit my friend from College, Nazli!! J I will be going there in the middle of April!

~Britt xoxx

Ciao Amici! :)

Hello Friends!

It has been awhile since I have wrote on this! Well, it has been a week or so since I have arrived in Palermo...things are getting better everyday! I have met 3 of the 4 families that I nanny/teach to...they are all wonderful. I am so lucky to be placed with such great families. They all have been very welcoming. My main family that I live below and moved here for- Angheli, Antonio, and Guiseppe- have been gone this past week on vacation to this very small island on the Indian Ocean...so, I have only been working a few hours a day with the families I see once or twice a week. I will work with Guiseppe, the main family, everyday when they return, which will be tomorrow. Anyways, I have learned that my job is to teach English to these children more so than "nanny," so I have needed to come up with games and lesson plans quickly for the kids! I have been telling people I meet out that I teach English to 4 families of children..it sounds way better than telling people I am a babysitter. haha (Many people here know the word 'babysitter' far more than the word 'nanny' or 'au pair'..I found that strange!) If anyone has any ideas of games to teach children English...please send them along to me...I need ideas! :) This picture to the right is one of the streets I pass a lot...the store that is cut off with the red and white overhang thing is the Coop where I buy groceries.

So this past week I have spent time with 2 families for a couple hours a day each. As I said in my last post, one family has triplets and 3 older children. They have been very very welcoming to their home, especially since my host family is on vacation. They have been very generous to offer me to eat lunch and/or dinner with them. By the way, the food here so far has been great! They use such fresh foods...fresh veggies, fresh fruit, great pasta and breads...mmm! :) The triplets do not know a lot of English, so we have been working on things like animals, foods, numbers, and objects around the room. They love to play games and stay active, so they are a great challenge for me to keep entertained, yet keep them focused on speaking in English..I don't know how many times I have used the phrase..."In inglese!!!" ;) Their sweet smiles and grins make it hard to get upset with them! The older 3 children, Giuseppe 15, Cesare 13, and Sara 12, are really great as well. Last week I spent an hour with Giuseppe and an hour with Cesare. It was actually fun because I got to walk around Palermo with each of them for an hour speaking in English. They are quite good at English. Giuseppe took me to see the Cattedrale (Cathedral) and the older part of Palermo, and Cesare took me to the newer part where there are many places to shop and newer buildings. The family's picture is on the left of this paragraph. To the right is Quattro Canti (4 Corners)...It is in the old part of Palermo and it divides what used to be the center of the city into 4 sections. Now, Palermo is bigger with the new part of the city, so it doesn't do that anymore..it is just called Quattro Canti still.

This picture is of a beautiful church. --->

The other family I have is a family of three kids...Cesare (Chess-a-ray) 10, Clementina 8, and Celeste 4 (they call her Chu-Chu as her nickname)! Chu chu is so adorable! She forgets that I don't speak Italian well, so she just loves coming up to me and sitting on my lap and starts talking away in Italian to me haha.. then she realizes I have no clue what she is saying to me. She is catching on though and learning a few words of English :). Clementina is learning the basics as well..I spend an hour with Clementina and Chu Chu (Chu Chu just plays around us haha) and an hour with Cesare. He has a good English vocabulary. A game I have played with him and his sisters is Guess Who?. That has worked really well to learn vocabulary and you can play at different levels (for example, Cesare descibes more in depth about each character). This family lives by Teatro Missimo, one of the large theatres in Palermo, so it is nice I get to walk by it when I go to their house.

Here is a picture of teatro missimo at night..I am standing with 2 of the triplets and Sara, their sister. The parents and those 3 took me on a night tour last week on Sunday. On Sunday nights, they close off this main street with many shops on it for people to be able to shop and walk in the street as well with no cars..there are also guys on the street doing magic performances, etc. It was pretty cool!

My host family, the picture to the left, will arrive tomorrow from vacation...At first I thought I was going to be completely lost without them being here since I just arrived, but this past week went great. I met up for dinner and some drinks with a girl from London, Beth. She is a nanny for a friend of Angheli, the mom of the host family. Angheli left her name and email with me before she left. Beth is super nice and very fun to talk to..we have gotten along well this past week. She has introduced me to many people and places around the city..I don't know what I woulda done without her! :) There is a group here called Erasmus that is a group just for people not from Palermo, foreigners, to have other foreigners to hang out with..they also plan events and things to do around the city so you get to know Palermo and people! It is mostly students from around the world, mostly Europe, that are studying at the University in Palermo. Currently, I am one of the only Americans in the group! This past weekend, Beth and I attended at house party that was of all these people. It was hilarious how many languages were being spoken in this house, but it was really cool how all these people from around the world were all here in this flat! (Oh, also, Beth has been rubbing off on my with her English words and accent haha) (hence.."flat"instead of apartment) :) (above: Beth and I!)

From this group of people, I have made other friends. I have met some really nice people from around the world and some who live in Palermo. There is a "leader" of this group, Davide, who mainly puts the events together and stuff..he has been really great as well by inviting me to events and outings or for a drink at a pub or something with a group of people..he also has the hook-up around the city..he got us into a club for free :) He is a really nice guy who just loves helping out people that are new to the city and wants everyone to know how wonderful Palermo is!

So, my first week has gone pretty well...love my families I teach to, met some nice friends, and I got to see a lot of Palermo! The only thing missing is my italiano! :) which, by the way, I am trying to learn at least 5 new Italian verbs and some vocabulary each day. In a week, I have really learned a lot from going out with friends and going around the city, and also just listening to my families speak. Hopefully, I will be fairly fluent soon for you all to come visit me! :D I will write again soon... Miss you all! Ciao Ciao!

Molto amore (Much Love),

Brittany

Benvenuti in Italia

Ciao! I have finally made it to Palermo! It is so beautiful here! My apartment is right in the city's center (downtown area). It is just like you imagine Italy to look like with high towered buildings to live in..each having an entrance that looks like you're entering a hotel. Right away, driving from the airport with the mom of the family I will nanny for, Angheli, I noticed every single car is tiny! They all drive small little cars so they can zoom around in lanes that don't exist and honk constantly (Angheli did not honk, but she did just nonchalantly move from lane to lane while talking to me and looking at me haha). The first night, Wednesday, Jan. 20, I ate dinner with Angheli and Antonio, the dad. They're home is beautiful...all homes so far that I have seen have a very historic look to it, but it makes it really pretty. They are actually moving next door sometime in the near future because the next door place is bigger..haha. But anyways, I went with Sugar, Angheli asks her to take me places lol, to the supermarcado (supermarket for those who don't know Italian hahaha jk) and we went to the cellphone place called Wind. I didn't have my money exchanged yet, so no, I don't have a working phone yet, but I will soon! Anyways, we ate this amazing fish dish with fresh vegetables..no wine!!....it was delicious. It was weird because my roomate, Sugar, who is very very sweet and helpful from the Phillapeans, is obviously my roomate, but she serves/is the made for the family...so she was serving me and taking my plates, etc..kinda wierd. They also set the table all fancy with all the silverware settings out in the correct place around my plate. So far I have had that fish dish, and this pasta with vegetables, and for dessert, we always have fruit available. I had a chocolate last night (Thurs.) We usually eat dinner around 8:30/9pm.

Wednesday night, the first night here, I slept about 14 hours haha. I was super tired and jetlagged. I am finally kinda getting used to the time change..it is still weird to think that back home, you just are starting your day basically when I am ending mine! Thursday, at around 1pm :), I woke up to loud Italian boys talking loud outside my window, which is right above a pretty busy street around the city's center (my windows are not very soundproof!). I was dreaming when I half woke up to that--then I realized it was real and I AM IN ITALY!! haha...so I stretched out on my huge bed (a little bigger than a double...huge to me, cuz I've never called a bed of my own larger than a single or twin lol) Thursday afternoon I was reading in my bed because it was raining outside and I haven't started working yet, I heard a car go by blarring I believe it was Evenessence?! lol Many cars go by blarring American music..I also heard "low" :)

Yesterday, Friday Jan. 22, I got to meet a family that I will be working on English with...the triplet family as they call them...they have triplet boys, Pietro, Francesco, and Sergio, and a girl, Sara,12, and 2 older boys, Cesare,13, and Giuseppe, 15. They are a beautiful family, very nice and funny. Again, Sugar took me there with Giuseppe, the main boy I will nanny for (he's 6), and I talked to the older 3 kids and the mom, Ilde, the whole time. We had tea and some bread lol. They made me feel very at home and were very welcoming..a great family. The older Giuseppe knew the most English of anyone so it was kinda difficult..one of the triplets, Pietro, was soo cute! well obviously they all are haha, but he would come up to me and jus smerk and smile and say something in Italian..he just didn't understand I DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR SAYING! haha but he was cute...it was funny how 2 of the triplets are identical, and 1 isn't..poor guy! :) This family I will call them the Morgante's..they're last name.

What else is funny...the shower's just have little handheld spouts..no shower heads, so that kinda sucks to have to hold that the whole time, oh! no shower curtains so you're jus kinda out there if anyone accidently comes in! The doorknobs in this building I live in are in the middle of the door..you wouldn't believe how sometime simple like that is hard to get used to! A lot of doors like the bathroom door pushed out not in...thats tough too haha.

Today, Saturday, Jan 23, I am going to meet another family I will work on English with/nanny for part-time. Today I will meet Monica's family...she has 2 girls and a boy. I will tell you how that goes later! Until then,
Miss you all!
Love,
Britt