petaloso...

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - more pictures

Just a few more pictures...

First, Estefany gave me this (grazie!!) - cute, isn't it?

These pictures were taken in San Severino:

And this one in Rome:

And now, 6 months after the end of those due settimane di gioia (two joyful weeks), I'm gonna stop writing about the memories of my journey.

The last picture is not mine (thank you, Sol), but I like it a lot because it shows unforgettable people in one of the nicest places I've been to (the castle)

Thank you for reading!

(whoever you are)

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - websites

I've decided to post some useful websites, in case the readers (if there are readers here...) got curious about something I've said:

* this is Edulingua:

https://www.facebook.com/Edulingua-Italian-language-courses-349753403390/timeline/

http://www.edulingua.it/it

(here you can change the language, there are other options)

* and this is the airport I've been to in Rome - a little confusing but it has a lot of information 

http://www.adr.it/fiumicino

* and this is to check train's schedules and prices (really useful - I already knew what train I intended to take before getting in Italy)

http://www.trenitalia.com/

* and this is the castle we've seen in Caldarola

http://www.castellopallotta.com/

* and these are some of the bars I've been to

https://www.facebook.com/Bardellelogge1?fref=nf

https://www.facebook.com/BarCentrale0

https://www.facebook.com/bar-gelateriait-203571042996239/timeline/

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - eating and drinking

Even though half a year has passed, I still remember most of the things I had for lunch and dinner during the trip, and also some of the snacks :)

As I said already, I had pizza several times, and also calzone. But I also had pasta, chicken (twice or 3 times only), a very nice cream made of peas (piselli), and some kinds of sandwiches - one of them with ''salsiccia" and cheese and all the others with ham and cheese: hamburger, toast, panini (I don't know how to explain this, but I'd say it looks a little like a hot dog bread) and piadine (see the picture below, which I took from the internet randomly), which was my favorite.

Probably because I had more bread and pizza than I'm used to, I really missed Brazilian food :(
When I left Italy, I felt I needed our rice with beans, and I also missed eating strogonoff.


Anyway, I have to mention I loved the cornetto (like a croissant), especially one filled with chocolate, the ice cream, and some sweet biscuits (apple and cinnamon) I bought for my ''breakfast" - not exactly breakfast, but I liked eating every morning before leaving the hotel.


To be honest, I haven't tried many beverages. The thing I liked most was the peach juice (or iced tea, not sure, but it was really good).


And last but not least, I have to talk about the aperitivo. When a person goes to a bar and asks for a drink (usually only the alcoholic ones, but there are exceptions!), it comes with some snacks. I don't think those snacks would be enough for a real meal, but I must say I like the whole concept :)
One of the most successful drinks there (I've already mentioned it) is the spritz - explanation here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spritz_(alcoholic_beverage)

This is a picture I got from Bar Centrale's Facebook page - it's pretty much the kind of things I saw (but I think I only tried the chips and peanuts)

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - arrivederci, Europa

On Sunday, I woke up very early because I still had a few things to put away. When I was almost ready to leave, Estefany woke up (I was trying not to make too much noise, but it wasn't easy) and so she got up to say goodbye. Another hard moment for me...

I almost got lost in the elevator! I pressed the wrong button, because I'd confused the floors, but soon I understood what the mistake was and finally left the hotel, and headed to the station. I knew I 'd need to mark my ticket before getting on the train, but the machine wasn't working! I asked other people there for help, but it simply was not working. I got on the first train anyway, and luckily the ''controllore'' didn't check my ticket. It was a short but pleasant trip.

I got off  and soon marked the other ticket - this time the machine worked perfectly :)

And I didn't wait for long - the train to Rome was on time. Staying awake wasn't very easy, but I was sitting by the window so I could enjoy the view. 

These are the tickets:

When I arrived in Rome, I needed to choose a way to get to the airport - bus or train. Some people had told me the bus was a little cheaper, so I found the place to get the tickets and bought mine.

A little chaotic! apparently, the bus that goes to the other airport stops at the same point, so I could've easily ended up in the wrong place! But I didn't... I sat close to a door so I could quickly get off the bus and get my bag. 

I had a lot of time at Fiumicino, and part of it with the bag, but I arrived there really hungry, so I went to Mc Donald's to have "lunch". I spent a little time reading and checking my e-mails, until I could finally check-in. Without my bag, I decided to walk around the airport, to see the parts I still hadn't seen. In the end, time passed more quickly than I had thought :)

However, the flight to Lisbon had a little delay... not a big deal actually, but I was already tired of waiting. During the flight I was ok, but I arrived in Portugal feeling bad - probably because of the dinner. Then I had some snacks and got a Pepsi, and had very little time before the departure.

When I finally entered the plane, I started feeling even worse. It took me a while to get better, I had to refuse the first meal because I thought eating at that moment wouldn't help at all... Fortunately, after the meal the lights went off and I could sleep enough to be ok.

I tried listening to music or watching some stuff on TV (one of the titles I chose was Into the Woods, but I had one of the meals while watching it so I didn't pay much attention to some parts - I think I watched half of the movie), because this time I didn't talk to other passengers, so it was a tiring flight :(

Anyway, I arrived in São Paulo, got my bag and looked for a place to sit down and recharge the cell phone's battery so I could call my mother. She needed to know what time I was gonna arrive in Porto Alegre. I walked a lot to find out how and where I'd have to go in order to try to change my next flight time. It was actually very easy and I got a flight a few hours earlier than planned.

Once again I tried to read a little, I had a snack, bought candies for my family and went to the check-in queue. All I wanted was enter the plane as soon as possible...

The last flight was fast, and sometimes I talked to a man next to me - he had seen the Portuguese airline label attached to my backpack and asked if I was coming from Portugal, and he told me a lot of things about the places he'd been to there.

I arrived in Porto Alegre, got my bag, and soon my mother picked me up and took me home... I can't say that it was a nice feeling though... getting home felt strange...

Anyway, I was back, with my bag full of things and my heart filled with good memories.

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - Roma

Saturday was a long day!

It took us a few hours to get to Rome (about 4), but time passed by quickly. I tried to sleep a bit but it was not easy - especially having one of the guys from Costa Rica trying to take a picture of me sleeping...
It was nice anyway, I could listen to the guys practicing 'Volare' for the karaoke, and sometimes I talked to other students.

Before arrving near Colosseo, we said goodbye to some people who were leaving (including Solange and her parents), they got off the bus a few minutes before us. Another sad yet beautiful moment, really touching.


Fortunately, it was a really beautiful day, sunny and not very cold :)

I admit that I had to take a look at Rome's map to remember the names of some places we've seen... we started with Colosseo and Foro Romano (but I couldn't take good pictures)

We walked a lot, and we quickly saw Fontana di Trevi (not exactly a beautiful sight that day, because of the restoration) and later headed to Piazza Spagna.

Then we had only 40 minutes to have lunch! I had a calzone - again - in a small place with Estefany and some Brazilian students.
I really needed to go to the bathroom, so I found a gelateria, near Pantheon, and considering I was there already, I had to buy an ice cream - a really nice choice, it was great!

Later, we went to Piazza Navona, a crowded place, full of bars and restaurants.

After a few minutes, we saw Castel Sant'Angelo and headed to Vaticano, our final destination. It had been about 6 hours walking and I was really tired, looking forward to the time to go to the bus.

When we finally arrived in San Severino, I was not feeling well, and I was sad because I knew that was probably the moment I would have to say goodbye to the guys (except for Anibal, who had left the day before). It was very hard, I could barely speak, so I basically just hugged them before going to the hotel. I wish I could have gone out with them later, but unfortunately I had a lot to do, so I couldn't have gone even if I had been feeling better...

So I started to organize my things, and it took me a while to get better and finish everything. I went to bed sad because my time there was about to end...

* just one more picture to close this post happier:

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - last tears...

My exam was on Friday morning, at 9. I hadn't studied, because I really wanted to see what I had truly learned, and not simply memorized. When I arrived at Edulingua, I met Ana and Anibal, and then I noticed everybody was having the exams in the same classroom - a whole group of level 1 and 3 students from level 3. 

It was a long and tiring exam, but not exactly hard. The listening and vocabulary were the the most difficult parts, grammar was easy, reading a little strange and writing made me cry once more! I had to write about Facebook, and somehow I started writing about the people I'd met during my trip and said Facebook was going to help us keep in touch (but I'm not sure if I still believe this now... anyway, I made few mistakes and got 20/20 in the writing!!! almost unbelievable!)

After I left the exam - exhausted - I met the students during the break and went to class. I got surprised when I saw my teacher looking at my exam, amazed that I hadn't made any mistakes in one of the grammar parts!! At the end, my Brazilian classmate (who was also about to leave) and I recieved our certificates and we all took a picture together.

Many things happened at the same time after that, one of them was Deborah giving me a cute gift:

It took me a while to notice my final grade was 100! Only a few weeks afterwards did I ask my teacher about it, because when the school's coordinator showed me the exam that day, the grade I saw was different, so I was confused... but in the end everything makes sense.

I had lunch with Estefany and the guys (not pizza this time, but a huge calzone!), took a quick walk with her and went back to the hotel, because I really needed to sleep!

In the afternoon we went to the train station because Ana was leaving :( a very sad moment, but also beautiful - so nice the way some people got really close, they looked like a family.

Estefany and I walked for some more time, and we took some pictures in the public garden (fortunately, the weather was great that day!)

I had arranged to have dinner with the Brazilian women I'd worked with for the international dinner, so we could celebrate, and in a way it was also a farewell for 2 of us :( The girls made pasta, it was really nice! Deborah was also there and some people from Argentina showed up inviting us to join them somewhere later, but in the end I couldn't find out where they were so I went back to the hotel. We would need to wake up early on Saturday, because of the trip to Rome! 

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - pizza, gelato and opera (and pasta too)

On Thursday, our teachers told us what the school's surprise was - an opera presentation that evening!

In the beginning I got sad and a little angry because it meant the karaoke evening (initially supposed to be that Friday) would be only the next week... and my group hadn't even started practicing... actually, I'm still upset I couldn't be there or watch most of the presentations :(

But later I ended up ''accepting'' the schedule changes and looked forward to the opera :)

In the morning, we had an 'outside'' activity - it was the second one, the first had been the week before, a little more interesting. Basically, this time we had to interview people around and prepare a newspaper report... it was a bit hard, because I worked with Deborah (just like the week before and many other times, and I always liked working with her) and she was nearly voiceless, and I was extremely sleepy... not to mention I didn't feel ok interviewing people out of the school...

I had lunch near the hotel with Estefany, Anibal and Iván - pizza again! Time went by very quickly, but I had a lot of fun with them \o/

We went back to the hotel to rest for a while because in the afternoon we had a different culture activity at Edulingua - a game! ''Who wants to be a millionaire?'' We made 4 teams (mine had only women and we named it ''Belle donne''), and there were prizes for 3 of them (more pizza!). I didn't care about the prize anyway, and the game was very funny.

After that, Estefany and I took a walk, we went to a bookstore and newstand, I don't remember where else, and later met some people at Gelateria.it - that's when I had the gelato (ice cream). Also a very good time :)

And then we had to get ready for the opera... I don't remember the name of the company now, but the opera is ''L'elisir d'amore'', a very simple and funny love story. There were 3 singers and a ''narrator'' who helped telling us some parts of the story, and also played the piano. Very beautiful!

Here is a picture showing 2 of the great singers - again, from Edulingua's Facebook

And after the opera, we headed to Birreria again... it was a farewell gathering, because some people were going to leave the next day, some other on Saturday :(

It wasn't exactly a happy evening for me, but at least I had nice pasta (I had seen Anibal eating it the week before and thought of trying it - especially because it had peas and ham!).

Here is a picture of some of the girls, probably waiting for the beer and snacks...

I should have gone back to the hotel early, but I didn't. And I remember I started crying again when I was telling the guys I believed the most wonderful thing about the trip was having met such amazing people... And they were really really nice (Iván, Nicolas and Ana even hugged me) and soon the tears were gone, and we talked for some more time before Estefany and I left. 

I think I went to bed at about 3 am! Which means I didn't sleep more than 4 hours before my exam - but that's the next post...

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - Gubbio

On Wednesday, we had class in the morning, and I had lunch in a very good pizzeria with Estefany, Ana, Iván, Nicolas and Anibal (but I may have forgotten somebody, I sometimes don't trust my memory that much...). The only time there I had a ''quattro formaggi'' dish - and I love things with 4 formaggi.

In the afternoon, we had a trip to Gubbio :)

On our way there, I talked to Iván for some time, it was very nice! I also tried to take a few pictures, but it was not easy... here is one of them

Gubbio is very interesting! A medieval city, really beautiful.
Uunfortunately, my camera ran out of battery soon after we got there, so these 2 pictures are all I have...

this one is a theatre, I think...

I really liked this trip - the place is nice and the weather was good. I had great ice cream too! twice \o/

While we were going back to San Severino, the guide/teacher told us there was going to be a surprise at Edulingua the next day, and therefore some changes regarding our schedule. I got really curious!

After that, I remember there was a moment I started to cry, wondering how much I was going to miss everything and everybody later... 

But then, some minutes before arriving in San Severino, I started talking to Deborah, we shared some ideas about teaching, it cheered me up a little :)

I didn't go out that evening, so I just had some snacks in the room and later went to sleep.

DUE SETTIMANE DI GIOIA - birthday at Bar Centrale

Monday was a holiday in Italy (Lunedì dell'Angelo), so we didn't have class. Some students stayed in San Severino, and I had lunch with Ana - my first pasta there! We spent some hours talking, it was really cool!

I took a nap in the afternoon and didn't do much... in the evening I met some people at Birreria, but we didn't stay really long. 

On Tuesday, the morning class was a little later (30 minutes actually). I had lunch with Estefany and in the afternoon we had one more class, about art - very interesting and funny! A bunch of students went to the supermarket and then I had to wait for a while before going out again because it was Estefany's birthday.
Some people were preparing a little surprise at Bar Centrale - including a cake! One of the Brazilian girls let me know when everybody was there, so Estefany could arrive after all of them.
As soon as we arrived we sang ''Tanti Auguri'' (the Italian Happy Birthday).
It was great!! We had a lot of fun there, talking and drinking and taking pictures \o/


I got some pictures from Iván's Facebook (grazie!)
This first shows the moment we arrived at Bar Centrale :)

and I really like this one too...