Sept 20-27

Buon Giorno,
It’s Kasia and Natalia H blogging from Italy!!
This past week has passed by very quickly. Italy gets more and more amazing everyday as we learn about the culture, history and people. This week we settled into a routine and got to know the town and people much better. The gelato here is great, and we discovered that the best gelatoria in town is Papaya, located right on the lungo mare (boardwalk). We also found where the large supermarket, Oasi, is; it resembles an Italian Loblaws Super Center. Oasi is about a 20 minute walk down to the end of the lungo mare. We also took a walk through the ‘old Porto San Georgio’ that was built in the medieval ages. It is amazing how old the town really is.
Thirteen of us joined a fitness club just down the street from the school we attend. It is complete with almost any fitness machine you can think of; from rowing machines to bikes to weights. On Saturday we had our first spinning class. Ms. Carducci, Mr. Tuohy, Mr. Petrolito, Heather, Julia, Merisa, Clarissa, Natalia H, Sam D, and Sam L. all got their behinds whipped by Luciano the fitness instructor... Beyonce’s song “Halo” will never be the same.
This week we had our first experiential Italian class with a visit to il mercato. We got to see some small-town Italian culture and try our hand at haggling in Italian with the vendors. All together it was an awesome class. In this past week we have gotten much better at speaking Italian, and have even learned how to tell time.
Any parent who may be concerned that, with all our extracurricular activities, we aren’t doing enough homework needn’t worry. We have quite enough work to realize we are ‘high school seniors’ without attending our regular schools. It’ll all be worth it though when the parents come in just over two weeks and we get to take a break from school to travel.
This weekend we had a little change in our schedule that made us all very happy: we went to church Saturday night and got to sleep in Sunday morning!! Some people took advantage of this opportunity to have breakfast outside of the hotel. The change was very welcome.

Please check out this week's photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tcdsbinitalia/sets/

Through these past three weeks we have all gotten to know our roommates very well. Here are the most interesting things people learned about their roommates:
Natalia H. learned that Kasia’s personality type = special
Kasia learned that Natalia H. is her bffl
Samantha D. learned that Marisa is very very messy
Marisa learned that Samantha D. snores like a man
Clarissa learned that Julia likes to stare at walls and that Alex can use an umbrella as a weapon
Julia learned that Alex loves Buffy the Vampire slayer and Clarissa likes to speak “gangster”
Alex learned that Clarissa needs a megaphone to wake her up and Julia and Dallas Green were meant to be.
Melissa learned that Taylor id brutally honest
Taylor learned that Melissa extremely, extremely neat
Heather learned that Silvana likes to shop and that Chelsea likes Italian boys.
Silvana learned that Chelsea is wittily sarcastic and that Heather eats a lot of Kinder chocolate.
Chelsea learned Heather is afraid of vomit and Silvana likes to tan on the beach.
Natalia Z. learned that Samantha L. is paranoid that there are no locks on the washrooms
Samantha L. learned Natalia Z. hates her dentist
Dylan learned that Ricker loves Red Bull
Ricker learned that Dylan likes to sleep
Claire learned that Michelle is a messy neat freak
Michelle learned that Claire makes up dance routines on the spot
Peter learned that Sean is a football maniac.
Sean learned that Peter is intimidating (or so he thinks).

All twenty of us are looking forward to Wednesday when we are going to be formally meet some Italian students at the art school and take a sketching class.
We have had one of the best weeks of our lives!!!
And…
We miss Annamaria!!!
Ciao y’all!

Buon Giorno, ci chiamiamo Ricker & Peter.

These past 2 weeks we learned many things, including: how to greet new Italian friends, learning about the past of Rome and the religious background of art. We also learned about Greek and Roman history. We have all been getting used to living without family and some close friends. We’ve been spending our time in Porto San Giorgio swimming in the ocean and meeting Italian students. The weather has been amazing, warmer than Canada’s summer. Currently it’s 30C during the day and high 20’s in the mornings and evenings. It’s only rained once, so far. We visited the Amalfi coast, Rome (inside the Vatican and Sistine Chapel). We’ve also been to Pompeii and saw many ruins. Paestum is another city we visited. It’s an ancient Greek city with many ruins. Last night we met our first Italian friends and got gelato with them. They were very friendly and helpful, showing us around the town. Peter’s favourite flavour of gelato is nocciole and Ricker’s is straciatella. The hotel has some great food, but it’s a little more repetitive than home. The typical Italian dishes are pasta, meat and fruit. Breakfast is much different than it is back in Canada; no pancakes with maple syrup. Instead, we get some continental breakfast which includes cereal and bread with cheese and ham. The breakfasts they eat in Italy are also consumed in very small amounts, but the lunch and dinner with 2 main courses makes up for the lack of food in the morning. The school we attend is top quality with some very mature and intelligent students. The principal is also a lovely fellow. He came to visit us even though he was sick. The art school produced many paintings and statues which are for viewing in the hall. We attended mass today which was very similar to a Canadian mass. The people were very friendly and welcoming. After mass, we went for a walk in the piazza where there was a market setting up. Some items being sold ranged from fresh porchetta to winter jackets (30 C is relatively cold for Italians?). It’s been a hectic week, all in all. Everyone was happy to have a day off after mass today. Some people went to the beach, while others slept and others watched movies or worked on homework. Our batteries are charged and we’re ready to go back to school.

Please take a look at a few photos we've chosen to post: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tcdsbinitalia

Ciao y’all,
Ricker & Peter

Benvenuti a Tutti!

Friends, Romans, countrymen...

Or, with apologies to Shakespeare,

Dear parents and friends of the 2009 TCDSB Semester in Italy program,

Welcome to the "TCDSB in Italia" blog. This is my first and, in all likelihood, last submission to this blog. Hereafter, this project will become completely student run. How will that work? No doubt much better than if I were the sole contributor! When it comes to computers, I consider myself much like Socrates, as in "the only thing I know is that I know nothing."

Each week, students will take turns being responsible for overseeing the content herein. They will work in already assigned pairs to choose which photos to post, which stories to tell, which memories to share. It will, I hope, be a way for them to share with their loved ones all they have learned about Italy, Italian culture, each other and themselves.

I look forward to what we'll see in this forum over the next few months, and I'm sure you do as well. I hope you won't restrict yourselves to merely observing; please feel free to be active participants in our little blogosphere. Post comments as often as you wish, send messages, start discussions, maybe even try out a little of the Italian you haven't used since high school.

And of course, most importantly of all, enjoy.

Sincerely,
Mr. Tuohy

P.S. -- Postings will take place on Sundays only. The rest of the time trust that we will be busy doing homework, going on excursions, investigating a new culture... and building memories.