climbed on the roof tonight.

today was another stressful day at school -- more meetings, more confusion, more feeling like a tiny little insignificant minion.  things are just super unclear with what, exactly, my role will be in the classroom and since i sort of have no idea what will go on in a classroom of 2 year-olds, i'm having a hard time contributing to any sort of conversation that would determine my roll. so......

BUT it's ok, because we climbed on our roof when we got home to watch the sunset!  we climbed on veronica's desk and through her skylight (even though she wasn't here, thanks lady!) and it was incredible.  the clouds were crazy and we could see the water and pretty much the entire city (it's ok, veronica, i'll get back up there with you tomorrow).  the terracotta roof tiles only moved a little bit so we were totally, 100% safe (so don't worry, mom).

i'll post pictures of the sunset soon - the clouds were hot pink and out of control.

xo liz

aHHHHHH

first of all, i am SO BEHIND in my 2birds1blog reading - like haven't read in weeks - and i'm ashamed. i also don't know how i'm going to be able to remedy the situation any time soon because today was SO overwhelming.

it was a great start to the day because i got to skype with jordan! which was a first, since she left for el salv. so, even though she made me late, it was super great. and oops, that reminds me that it's 5:20 now and i was supposed to talk with her again at 5 (ooops, sorrrrrrry jfox).

but so! at school we had meetings and meetings and meetings and i am so beyond overwhelmed and i can't decide if it's because it's a new school and my 1st year of teaching and all of that or if it's because i've never worked with 2 year olds before?! hopefully it will become more clear.

however, veronica just called me and there is a reggae festival down by the canal, so, i'm cutting this short and going to meet her and others.

will update more later!

xx

best sunday ever.

today was such a good day! before i get into what i did today, here are some pictures pertaining to my last posts and also some that i haven't really mentioned:

roman amphitheater in the center of the city - it was only found like 50 years ago?

picking blackberries on the way to slovenia (with carrie, another IST teacher)

roommates + me in front of piazza dell'unita in the center of the city

now! for what we did today.

since it rained all day we were dying to get outside today -- the weather was incredible! the sun was warm but the breeze was cool, pretty much my ideal forecast. 

at about noon30, veronica and i left the apartment with the goal of just walking around and getting to know the city a little bit better. we headed straight for the castello di san giusto which is at the top of a hill right in the center of trieste. check out the wikipedia page here! we entered the castle (only 3euro) and there wasn't a whole lot going on inside except some incredible vistas from the top. (see pictures below). there were lots of sailboats out that got us excited about barcolana that is coming up in october! (barcolana is a huge regatta that happens annually in trieste and is apparently THE event to attend -- check out some pictures/info here) 

after exploring the castle for almost 2 hours, we met up with another new IST teacher (kristin) and went down the other side of the hill (opposite from our neighborhood) to have some gelato and continue our exploring.  we wandered around the city center (there are lots of area pedonale - pedestrian streets - that are amazing for wandering) and checked out some cafe's/restaurants that had been recommended to us by returning staff -- i'm getting a list ready for when i have visitors! most things were closed because it's sunday, but we picked out plenty of places to come back to! 

eventually we made it to il penguino, which is a bar on the water (actually on a little pier that juts out into the water) where some of the staff came the other night for salsa dancing.  they had loads of tables outside so we sat, had a coffee, and soaked up some rays. 

we then wandered back to piazza unita (main piazza in the city) for a glass of vino and some intense people watching.  we've been checking out la moda here so that when we get our first paychecks, we know what fashionable items of clothing to purchase -- there were some great examples in piazza today -- check out veronica's blog for pictures of some of the great (and sometimes humorous) outfits we saw today -- i think she's going to make it a regular feature. 

after our people watching we went to a german/austrian-style pub "bire" for dinner and some delicious birra rossa.  this pub is my new favorite place, it may become "our spot" they show all the soccer games so there were a ton of young-ish people inside watching games and they have booths outside so we were able to sit and eat/drink and watch the sunset over the hundreds of sailboats (see last two pictures)!!! after we finished eating we met some italians and joined them at their table for some private italian tutoring, haha. veronica is almost fluent - after only one week of learning. 

so - very full sunday (not quite the italian style of relaxing) and a very good one at that! 

teacher work week starts tomorrow with a day full of meetings and working in our classrooms. i also plan to continue to get to know the city before i get too swamped with work so stay tuned for updates on that!! 

veronica and me at the top of il castello di san giusto (in the center of the city)

another vista from the castle

best gelato in trieste

me in front of all the boats and the mountains in the background

sunset shot #1 over all the boats

sunset shot #2

i know, i know, SORRY!

no post for a few days - SORRY! not a whole lot has been going on -- just more meetings and such for school and getting to know the city so here are some brief updates on what is going on.

it's been hot here. i've been missing air conditioning a little bit.  however, though, our school was designed to be in the middle of the desert so that it could be kept semi-cool in conditions of extreme heat - so it hasn't been too terribly stifling in school, which is nice. it should be fun in the winter, however, with the lack of insulation.  today it's rainy and cloudy and really really windy which we believe is our introduction to the bora, which is the allegedly terrible wind that comes around with the fall. we're all very excited.

the other day we (veronica, lizzy, and me) hiked on some trails right behind the school that lead into slovenia. before getting to slovenia, though, the trails go through 2 super cute italian villages - the first one was banne and then trebiciano.  both of the towns were gorgeous, cute little houses with giant gardens with fruits, vegetables, and beautiful flowers growing.  walking through the towns we almost had to whisper - they were so quaint and quiet, it was incredible. on the trails there were blackberry and fig bushes that we picked fresh fruit from and that was delicious.

i met the lead teacher i'll be working with, muniza.  she's originally from pakistan but speaks great english and a little bit of italian.  there's also a TA in the classroom who i have not met yet and she's italian.  through talking with miss muniza (all the kids call us by our first names so i'll be "miss liz" and i am SO EXCITED) i've gotten really excited about my class! yes the idea of them being 2 year olds is still somewhat daunting but i like the way it sounds like the class is set up and all of that so it will be good!

last night with the storm and the clouds, the sunset was insane - we could only see bits from our roof but the entire sky was this incredible coral color -- the photo does not even do it justice. and there was a rainbow! we wanted to get up on the roof, but the wind was a bit extreme for that :(

sunset from our roof (poking my head through the skylight)

more later! ciao!

xo

a little bit of turkey....

so, tonight! we went to a brewery in barcola (just outside of the city) and well it was pretty great. drinking pitchers of beer in italy? WHO KNEW!?

however, this visit to the brewery solidified my speculation that here in trieste, they're pretty big into turkish bathrooms. for those of you who aren't sure what that means, exactly, i've added a picture below.

so, um, yeah. 

dear jordan fox: you would HATE these. 

and it's raining here now, which is sad because we left all of our skylights open (yes we have skylights). but va bene, nothing got wet/ruined. however, i DID forget that it does, in fact, rain in italia and this was a sad reminder. 

ciao! xx liz

are you serious?

one of the reasons i'm glad i don't live in america right now, this is embarassing.

also - i changed the font so the contrast wasn't as stark -- better for reading?! let me know!

the lowdown.

got internet functioning in the apartment!

so, what have i been up to so far?

trieste is amazing. it's a semi-big city on the adriatic sea. it's pretty hot right now but there's usually a nice breeze that is quite pleasant. generally, walking in the shade is great and walking in the sun is scalding.  so i love the nice weather but lack of air conditioning is making me a little excited for things to cool off. however, i hear that it stays warm through september, making it beach/sea-appropriate weather for quite some time still (!).

traveling was long -- flew from dc --> munich --> trieste.  on my flight from dc to munich was veronica, one of my roommates, as well as two other new teachers headed to our same school. then, in munich, we met up with all the other new teachers except for a few that were taking a different route. so meeting everyone was fun and having a big group travel together was also nice for entering unfamiliar territory.

future roommates in the airport ready to go!

once we got to trieste, we were greeted by some current teachers at the school and whisked away to our apartments in the city -- the ride into town was incredible, we drove around a corner and were headed down a mountain and you could see the entire coastline of treiste - most magnificent welcome view ever.

view of the sunset from our rooftop (sticking our heads through the skylight)

our apartment is pretty great. there are three of us (previously mentioned fabulous roommate #1: veronica, fabulous roommate #2: lizzy - yes i live with another liz, again, and myself) so we have a three bedroom apartment.  we've got lots of common space (including a nice balcony) which is super nice.  we're on the top floor and have 2 floors - the upstairs (where veronica and lizzy's rooms are) has skylights in each room which we discovered host incredible views of the sunset over the building next to ours. high on our list of goals is to figure out how to climb out the skylights onto the roof. i'll keep you posted.

after settling in a bit and welcoming lizzy (she arrived on a later flight), the school hosted a dinner for all the new teacher arrivals at a restaurant down by the canal in the center of the city. dinner was super delish - pizza and wine, what more could you want after a long 2 days of traveling?!

view of trieste and the sea from our strip on the barcola

the next few days were filled with activities planned by returning teachers.  they helped us get cell phones (call me!), we watched un partito di calcio (soccer game), went to a few bars in the city and a club outside of the city and then sunday we had a group outing alla barcola, a strip of boardwalk just outside the city where everyone goes to swim in the sea.

lizzy, liz, veronica in piazza dell'unita d'italia (beautiful lit up at night)

today we had the beginning of our "orientation" and getting into the school groove of things.  we begin the process of getting our permesso di soggiorno (permission to stay) and got a tour of the school. we also began to learn about the daily commute we'll have.  while the school isn't super close to my apartment (or the center of trieste), there are two easy ways to get to school and neither takes more than 45 minutes.  also, the ride up to the town of opicina (where school is located) is absolutely breathtaking (pictures to come).  also, opicina is a cute little town with lots of restaurants - i'm looking forward to having an excuse to get to know it much better.

during the rest of this week we have more orientation meetings and paperwork as well as (hopfully) meeting our teachers and beginning to work in our classrooms! school doesn't start until september 6th but i know that these next two weeks are going to fly by.

it still feels like i'm on vacation (see pictures of piazza dell'unita and the barcola) but i've made a pact with myself to stop eating pizza for every meal, to walk up the 7 flights of stairs to my apartment instead of taking the elevator, and to finish unpacking. i want to be totally settled when school starts!

oh! as far as getting settled, our neighborhood is super nice.  there are two grocery stores only blocks away and lots of restaurants and tabacchi in the main san giovanni piazza which is very closeby.  one thing i have encountered, is that it's going to be a bit difficult to eat vegetarian here.  however! i have already found a mostly vegetarian restaurant and have been told of a very organic/vegetarian store that carries lots of foods that aren't found in traditional italian supermarkets. so yay! i'm hoping that not being able to find things i'm used to eating will force me to learn to cook and get super innovative, just wait - i'm going to come home and blow your mind with my culinary expertise.

one more thing - i haven't found postcards to buy! this is a good sign because it means that trieste isn't a huge tourist town (of which i was only slightly aware before moving here)! i have some ideas, though.

i just fell asleep writing this post so i must go to sleep. another early day of hurry-up-and-wait tomorrow! yay, paperwork! (oh but then tomorrow we're going to a local brewery!)

ciao! buona notte!

xo liz

swam in the adriatic today, nbd.

i'm here! i live in italy! you should be jealous because it is amazing. 

wifi isn't set up in my apartment yet so apologies for the delay in notification of my arrival. but i got here just fine! only a short delay in munich for our flight to trieste, but everything else went wonderfully! oh except for the fact that 8 suitcases didn't make it onto our small commuter jet from munich to trieste because there was too much baggage and guess which one of mine didn't make it? yes, the enormous suitcase that 3 people can fit into. but it's ok because i've gotten it now so i'm getting settled in my apartment (which is super cute)! 

so the afternoon we arrived (friday) we had a little bit of time to get cleaned up from the traveling and then we had a dinner in the city with all of the other new teachers and many of the returning teachers.  since then, we've had lots of planned events for everyone to get to know each other and the city together which has been awesome. 

we got cell phones yesterday, so CALL ME! it's free for me to receive calls so i want to receive lots of them. my digits are +39 345 683 6463. and if you have an iphone, text me! and i'll respond. 

then last night we went to a pub and watched some calcio (inter won) and had some flavored grappa (yum) and then went to a club just outside the city ON THE BEACH, so i mean that was ok. 

this morning we got up and went on a marathon walk to get our bearings a bit and then spent the afternoon alla barcola which is a strip of "beach" about 10 minutes outside of the city center. i say "beach" because it's essentially a boardwalk with areas of lounging and stairs/ladders down into the sea. so i got lots of italian rays and swam lots in the adriatic sea (which is super super salty, ps). 

it is incredible here. all day everyday since i've been here i've been having to remind myself that i live here - i still feel like i'm on vacation. tomorrow we start orientation and have lots of paperwork and all of that so i'm sure it'll start feeling more like "real life" soon, although living in this place makes that seem like a stretch. 

a more thorough update will come soon, promise!

love you all! baci! 

at least i'm not the only one

check out this nytimes article on 20-somethings growing up (or not)

glad i'm not the only one!

so, uh, college is over?

as soon as i graduated in may, my to do list has consisted of one major thing: get ready to move to italy.

while this is only one thing, it encompasses a trillion other tiny little things, one of which is "start a blog."  i tried to start this blog probably 10 times throughout the course of the summer, but each time i stopped before it was completed because of various reasons: i didn't have a good title, i didn't know what to write about, i wanted to take a nap instead, you get the idea.  well, now, it's crunch time.  i'm leaving in approximately 40 hours to begin my version of the real world and i'm not packed yet.

so because i anticipate being far away from many of the people i care about for the next year (at least), i hope to keep you updated on my adventures in the "real world" through this blog.  i'm sure you'll get some rants, horrible spelling at times, and maybe some long, drawn-out stories, but i hope there will be a few gems among the mess.

i love and miss you all and thanks for keeping tabs on me!

xo liz