Why have I not yet had a gelato?

Hello there family and friends!!

This is my first post of my blog as an English Language Assistant in Brescia, Italy. I will use this blog to update everyone in a centralized way about my life here abroad. Feel free to post reader comments or questions or email me personally to catch up. Where to begin?!

I arrived a little over a week ago on Tuesday, September 28th. I flew from Newark to Milan and then took the shuttle from the Milan Malpensa airport to the Milano Centrale train station and then a train to Brescia. It only takes 45 minutes from Milan to Brescia by train - so it was pretty easy. Luckily, I found someone getting off in Brescia to help me with one of my two huge American suitcases. Yet, my adviser in Brescia was looking for an American girl struggling with two suitcases so she missed me as I casually walked out with one! We went straight to my apartment, which is a five-minute walk from the historical city center and a twenty to thirty minute walk to my school.

The view from my room's window onto Via Milano which goes into the city center.

I have my own room in an apartment with three other Italian girls. The only common space we have is the kitchen, so it's a little tight but we all get along well. My oldest roommate's name is Daniella [43] and she is from Palermo in Sicily but is here in Brescia to teach Elementary school. Next, there is Giovanna [28] who is from Caserta near Naples and also teaches Elementary school. Finally, Paola [28] is from Varese just an hour and a half away or so and is training to be a lawyer here in Brescia. She studied law at university and has just finished her two years working with a lawyer [in Brescia] before she can take the test to become a lawyer herself. I know nothing about the BAR exam ... but as for the Italian version, she takes the written part in December and doesn't hear until June whether she's passed and can take the oral part in July! Talk about waiting a long time to find out your results. 

The name of the school where I am teaching is "IPC Camillo Golgi" - it is an "Istituto" versus a "Liceo" which means that it is a vocational high school as opposed to a "normal" high school where kids might go on to college. In this way, Italian kids separate and specialize in either an Istituto or Liceo. Golgi has a sector for Chemistry, Advertising, and Tourism [other istituti have other sectors] whereas normal high schools might separate into liceo classico [classic high school], liceo scientifico [science high school], etc. The students go to my school for five years and are thus trained to go into the workforce. This semester, I am teaching third and fourth years in all three sectors and I'll have the fourth years starting in February. Consequently, this semester I have 16 one-hour classes [all different classes!] per week whereas I'll only have 9 one-hour classes in the spring. It's a little backwards, because I have way more to prepare for as I'm just getting used to teaching and once I've had 4 months of experience ... I'll only have 9 hours a week! Oh well, better to have it start out hard and get much easier than the other way around. My school goes from 8 am to 2 pm, Mon - Sat and yes, I actually teach four hours on Saturdays - but at least I do have Mondays off. I might try to ask for Saturdays off next semester with only 9 classes to coordinate.

Enough of my apartment and school - something about Brescia! Brescia is a city 45 minutes east of Milan that is nicknamed "La Leonessa d'Italia" or "The Lioness of Italy" because in 1849, Brescian citizens united to rebel against Austrian oppression for ten "dramatic" days. It is a very industrial city so there are many people who come here from the outskirts [or the south of Italy like my roommates] to work. Unfortunately, I've been so busy getting settled in and starting teaching that I haven't yet gotten to visit parts of Brescia's touristy spots! I'll let you know when I do. Last Saturday, Brescia hosted a "notte bianca" or "white night" celebration of the arts. All around the city center, artists and galleries displayed art, musicians played in the streets, outdoor markets were set up with food and crafts, and some places like the theater and some kind of parliament building were open for viewing. My roommate Daniella and I went out for pizza and then walked all around the city center. It was really nice to see the heart of Brescia full of people and activity!

This is the Teatro Grande where they have Operas and Ballets
We viewed it for free during la notte Bianca!

Who knew? They had pretzels at the festivities - the second one was covered with cheese, mmhmm.

Sorry this post was so long, but I wanted to get out all of the basic information and then a little fun! My goal in the next couple of days is to FINALLY get a gelato before the temperature becomes too cold!!

a presto
Ciao ciao