Sunday, October 30, 2011

I was suppose to be writing my paper...

but I watched this instead. I had to share. It's Beyonce. If you like her then watch this video. :)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

A Typical Day At Via Lingua


I wake up at 6:30 in the morning, shower, get ready, grab a croissant and walk to class. I get to school around 8:15, print out some last minute materials and start teaching at 8:30am. Right now I am not teaching professionally. It is a part of my course ( you know so i can get my certificate to teach english as a second language) so I only teach for 30 minutes and I am observed by one of the teachers from the school. I teach either Beginner, Elementary or Intermediate/Advanced levels. Each day is a different level. Three students (like me) teach at a time so I am with two other people who also teach for 30 minutes. We usually have about 2 students to teach so it's more personal.

When that hour and a half is over (30X3) we then have 30 minutes where we discuss our lesson with the observer. We have to say some positives, some negatives then we get feedback. At 10:30 we start class where we go over different teaching stuff and grammar.

Then at 12:30 we have lunch and if we are teaching the next day then we have to meet up in the classroom at 1:30 for about an hour. In that hour we are given our lesson topic and we have to plan our lesson. There is someone there just in case we have any questions and then we go home, perfect our lesson, study grammar and do some assignments that are also given to us.

Sometimes we also meet after lessom planning to learn some more grammar, to redo a lesson if we feel that we failed and or to observe a real teacher teaching a larger group of students. It seems like a lot but the weeks have gone by so fast. I just finished my second week. Two more to go and hopefully I will get my certificate and start looking for a job!

The picture is of my TEFL binder for Via Lingua.

I Miei Amici

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Calls in the middle of the night.

First Stephanie Hartfield calls me at 4am. I dont learn my lesson cuz two nights later quien me llama? My mother. What time? 4am. Why? Cuz Skype said you were logged on. Note to self: log off Skype before going to bed. I really have to learn to do this.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Finally.


My First Cappuccino EVER.

Like I shared before on Facebook, I met a girl randomly while shopping for shoes. She complimented me on my shoes and we started talking from there. As I said bye cuz I was going to pay she asked me if I wanted to go grab a coffee. I am in no position to decline offers seeing as I am kinda lonely here so I said yes. (Even though I had tons of work to do). She took me to this bar where we had a cappuccino. I had never had a cappuccino. It was delicious. We communicated in English, Spanish and Italian. She said she would invite me next time she went out with her friends. I took her email address and that was that. I am happy that I am meeting some people here. If only this would be a faster/easier process.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

ACF Fiorentina vs. Calcio Catania

This weekend some classmates and I went to a soccer match. Playing was Firenze's very own team, Fiorentina versus Calcio Catania. The game made me miss being at home. Seriously sometimes I feel like soccer is the only thing my dad and Victor watch and I just have to sit there and watch too. Who would have thought that I would miss it? haha. I am sure Victor and my dad would have loved to be there. Hopefully they will get to see these pics. :)

The tickets actually have your name on it. How cool is that? I am definitely keeping this as a memento.

We were sitting right in the middle. There were so many lively fans all around us.

Here is the team playing. There were actually some good players on the team. I was impressed. :)

I wish I could have taken a picture of when we scored but boooy was everyone so happy when Fiorentina made a goal. I was almost knocked down by like three guys celebrating.
 Everytime they scored the banners would be up in the air. The fans also had songs/cheers for every play. Italians are very passionate about futbol.

Here are some of the people from my class that went to the game. Julie, Whitney and Eric.  

 Overall it was a good game. We tied which wasn't too bad. I would like to go again. Hopefully I will find someone who wants to go with me.

I saw this on the way back from the game. I just had to take a pic cuz it's PINK!!! I feel like I need one of these in my life.

Ps: To get a closer look at the pictures click on them. It should make the pic larger.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

A night out.

First we met up at the steps of the Duomo. There we drank some beers and talked for a bit.

My beer :)

 Not sure how we ended up at one of my classmate's apartment but we did and from there we went dancing. Not the kind of night I was expecting but I had fun. :)

My horoscope from Italian Cosmo.

Whitney

Govanni
Hanging out in Nicolette's Room.

                                                                              Roomie
We went to this place called Twice. I had heard of it and yeah not a good idea. It was filled with American girls and gross men/ young boys. But what a night. I am glad I went out. :)



This is the Basilica di Santa Croce. Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are buried there.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

UCD Italian Majors Meet Up In Florence!!

So I am extremely lucky to have two of my fellow Ags - more importantly, Italian majors- here in Florence. Krystal and Lilly are here studying abroad with UCD so I contacted them because I was feeling a bit lonely.

 The other night we met up and they took me to this wonderful place called the Yellow Bar where I had yummy Spaghetti al Pomodore e Basilico.
It was delicious. Then they took me to a gelateria with the cutest name, Perché no? (Why Not?). I am so glad we could meet up in Italia especially since they push me to speak Italian. Plus, this experience brings us together. We have studied the Italian culture together and here we are now experiencing it together. Its amazing. I can tell that I am going to enjoy every moment here. :)

Here are some pics of us posing with the replica of Michelangelo's David in the Piazza della Signoria:





Grocery Shopping at Conad

    
I've never been this excited to see vegetables.
     
Who knew, they have tortillas in Italy? Loving it. :)

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Did I really just move to Italy?

Who does that? I am not going to lie, when I arrived at the airport and I finally left my parents I was scared. I did not know what to expect. Now that I am here in my cosy room looking out my window at the market down below, the people socializing very lively I know I made the right decision. Well, let the adventures begin. :)
                                            
I apologize for taking the picture at a time when the street is kind of empty. I swear there are people tho! lol