June 28, 2011, 9:22 PM Italy time

The bedroom

Yesterday was the worst day I have had in a long time.  I woke up homesick and went to my first day of school unprepared.  The director of the program was not there and did not give us instructions.  I didn’t even know what classroom I was supposed to be in.  The kids were looking at me like WTF are you doing, and honestly, I would have been doing the same.

Apparently in Italy beating the crap out of each other is considered an appropriate form of recreation.  Who knew?  The class was a disaster.  The other teacher, Susan, and I were in complete panic.  It was like something out of a movie.  The classrooms were unairconditioned, horribly lit, and completely plain.  It was like something out of a horror movie.  They did not have pencil sharpeners and the desks looked like they belonged in a prison.  The kids were crazy.

The Italian teachers were looking at us like we were stupid and the final straw was when an unknown child decided to wipe his shit all over the bathroom.  Yeah, it’s real.  Imagine how mad the teachers were.  Embarrassing doesn’t even describe it.  There were kids yelling in Italian, one kid beat up another kid, and then the whole class smelled like poop.

After class Susan and I split a bottle of wine, ate gross food because we didn’t know what we were ordering, and then got completely lost in a maze of alleys trying to find our way back to the main road.  It was a nightmare.

My mom started saying how lucky I am and how selfish I am for wanting to go home.  The fact that she didn’t understand made the night even worse.  I don’t get why it’s so hard to comprehend that it is because she isn’t here (or any of my friends or family) that is making it so hard.  This place would be great.  But it’s not and I want to go home.

Ryan made it a lot better.  He told me to remember to pray about it, because that usually helps him.  He also reminded me that if I come home without finishing at least one camp I’d never live it down.  Great encouragement, but at least it was better than what I was getting before.

I woke up sad today and started my walk to school.  I said a ton of prayers and tried to enjoy how magical the old fashioned city is.  I got to school and started writing down a million ideas on what to do throughout the day.  Guess what?  It worked.

The day flew by.  The kids never had a down time.  We went from pronouns to a game to a workbook activity to another game and then suddenly it was lunch.  I felt a ton more confident.

Susan and I couldn’t stop laughing at the difference between the days.  It was nuts.  After, we went and had first dinner: a huge ass pizza and a Panini.  It was amazing.  I just finished second dinner now and want to explode.

I can’t wait to go home.  But at least I feel like I’m doing something now instead of wandering around lost.