Winter Wonderland!

Ok, this has nothing to do with Italy, but it definitely snowed today! I love snow, so I just had to rave about it. I think it's the first time I've seen it snow in Auburn, and it was beautiful! It only stuck a little bit, but if you squinted it sort of looked like you were somewhere a little farther north. Tennessee, maybe. Or Huntsville.

I didn't take this picture, but War Eagle, anyway!

Where books come to life!

This is a post I had to do for a class assignment. You can find it and my classmates' thoughts at: http://www.humsci.auburn.edu/pmachine/weblog.php

I was the last student to sign up for this trip. It was a very spur-of-the-moment idea. I was sitting at lunch with my friends from the College of Education when I just said out of the blue, "I think I'm going to Italy next semester." They just laughed; I'm not well known for my follow-through. The deadline had already passed, but, lucky for me, there was one spot left. I took that as a sign to mean that I am meant to go on this trip. My major is Early Childhood Education. Most of my fellow travelers are students in the College of Human Sciences. It was more than a little intimidating for me to go into that first class knowing that many of my classmates are fashion and interior design majors (I'm not known for my sense of style, either). I consider myself blessed to find such a friendly and interesting group of people with which to share this adventure.

I am looking forward to many things on this trip. As an educator, I am very interested to visit the local elementary school in Ariccia and note the similarities and differences between Italian schools and our American schools. I am also a voracious reader; in fact, I hope to become a librarian one day. I really enjoy reading historical fiction. The Human story intertwined with past events brings history closer and makes it more personal. I can't wait to actually see some of the landmarks that I have read about in all those books! I'll feel like I'm inside the story. It's really a dream come true for a bibliophile who doesn't usually travel much farther than the last page.

This is a picture of Florence (or Firenze). I once read a fascinating historical fiction novel that is set during the time of Savonarola and the "Bonfire of the Vanities." I have wanted to visit the city ever since.

...The assignment was to tell a little about yourself and something you're excited to do or see in Italy. I ended up saying two things I'm excited about. For my next post I'll describe some more.

17 more days!

So we've been going to our orientation class for a week now, and I am getting pretty pumped up! The people in my group are really nice, and I'm excited to get to know them better. There are 20 girls and 2 guys! :-)

I've been trying to see my friends as often as I can. I'm going to miss them all when I'm gone! My cohort buddies are doing their internships this semester. Every time I've talked to them they've been exhausted. It makes me wish that time would go really slowly for the next few months! I've also been spending a lot of time with Zack. He's really sweet and I'm going to miss him.

I've already learned a lot about Italy, Ariccia, and Rome. We've been studying Italian to try to get some key phrases stuck in our heads. I love my little Italian phrasebook. It has some hilarious stuff in it, e.g., "Il tuo ego e fuori controllo." That means, "your ego is out of control!" HAHA! I need to remember that one.
Dr. Abell gave us copies of menus from some of the local restaurants. One is called the "Bebop." Cute, huh? One of the pizzerias has some very interesting pizzas. For example, how would you like to try a pizza topped with salmon, tomatoes, and mayonnaise? ...That's exactly what I said!

Anyway, every day that goes by gets me more and more excited for the trip! It won't be long now!

Ciao!
~Rachel

Bongiorno!

Welcome to my Blog! I wanted to make my first post, but I didn't know what to say. My mom told me to say that I'm excited, even though that goes without saying!

I'm heading to Ariccia, Italy on February 2, 2008. I still can't believe that I'm actually going to do something that I've always dreamed of doing! I'm going with the College of Human Sciences at Auburn. There is a group of twenty-something that is coming with me. I know two of my classmates, but once the orientation classes start on Tuesday I'm sure I'll become friends with the others in the group.

It's hard to believe that in less than a month I'll be flying across the ocean on the way to Italy! I'm going to use this blog to keep my family and friends updated on all of my adventures. I'll post pictures and write entries as often as I can, so be sure to check back often.

Ciao!