Here I am Italy and I am not quite sure how it happened. I applied for the Italian homestay program many months ago and so the idea of living in Italy had always seemed remote (and unreal). Even now, I am having trouble wrapping my head around it-even after two weeks! But I am here and the reality is sinking in and I am thoroughly overwhelmed by it all. I am living in what once was the stable of a farmhouse - very nicely remodeled into a house of three floors with an apartment on the groung floor which is rented out to a young family. I have the third floor of the house and my hosts Maria Rosa and her 17-year-old son Davide are on the second floor. Maria adminsiters 15 different schools in the area from K-12 and is in a constant state of crisis managing teachers, parents, trade unions, government officials and students. Davide just started his last year of high school after having spent his junior year in the U.S. at a high school somewhere in Illinois. I am here to help them both practice their English which is quite fluent. The farmhouse next door has been turned into a bed and breakfast so if you want to visit....The house is a 15 minute walk away from the nearest town - San Giorgio di Piano - which has a nice piazza and some structures surviving from the 1300's. It is a 20 minute train ride from there to Bologna - a beautiful city with lots of artistic and creative things going on. I've been their three times so far and feel like I have only barely grazed the surface. The architecture is stunning and the food is incredible. I am also in good distance from Ferrara, Ravenna, Modena, Parma, Florence and Venice. Now that I am fully retired, the experience being here is totally different than coming here on vacations where there was a desire to try to see things in a short amount of time. Now I am experiencing what it is like to actually live here - a very different feeling. Of course I miss my students from China and my family and friends in Salt Lake and other locales but I am happy to be soaking up a new experience at a totally new stage in my life. Enjoy some pictures from my new home!
