Buonasera everyone!
Am I the only one who still can’t seem to believe that we’re already 2-3 weeks into our TAB experience? Little ol’ me a year ago would not have imagined that my life would become an endless cycle of drinking espresso in the morning made out of an Italian Moka and taking the train to get to our classes at the YMCA. But, it’s safe to say things are going very well here in Rome. We’re well adjusted to our new home and seem to have grasped the city’s unique culture and people. Just the other day, MacKenna and I talked about how our first time in Termini Station (the largest train station in Rome) made us nervous with the number of people traversing it and its overall general chaos. Still, now we laugh about how easy it is to maneuver. This week, we finally started our orientation-like classes, and we met up with our liaison (Beatrice) to learn about the intricacies of the Italian education system. Each week brings us exciting new learning opportunities. Although we haven’t started teaching or volunteering anywhere yet, we’ve been informed that we’ll be placed in various high schools across Rome that are partnered with the YMCA.
Now, as someone who is an early childhood major, hearing that I would be teaching older students spooked me a little! I don’t have any past experience working with high school students, and to be completely honest, I feel a little bit intimidated by them. However, as I try to brush my anxieties about this new situation aside, I remind myself that TAB is meant to be an experience that pushes you out of your comfort zone. I’ve already adopted a new perspective towards the opportunity, which makes me grateful as I will gain a lot of new experience traveling unknown territory.
On the topic of other anxieties TAB has presented so far, another one surrounds the general expectations surrounding our knowledge of the Italian language. While we try our best to practice at home in our spare time, talking to vendors at a market by asking “quanto costa?” (how much is it?) or even at restaurants /cafes when ordering or asking for the bill (Il conto, per favore!), our liaison seems very insistent on only using Italian when possible. We’ve slowly started implementing the language when presenting our side of the Canadian school system by writing out small sentences in Italian and reading it out. It’s certainly a slow process, but we’re getting there! It is a great wish of mine to gain basic fluency in Italian by the end of TAB. Not being able to understand what someone is saying to me in the language really puts me in the shoes of someone in Canada who may not know English. I’ve gained a perspective that emotionally shows me what it feels like to be in a position where you simply have no choice but to freeze or blank out as your brain tries to decipher what is being said to you, and it’s a very humbling experience.
In our spare time, we’ve had the pleasure of visiting many historical attractions and top destinations Rome has to offer! Every street seems to have something mesmerizing about it (I swear 80% of my camera roll is just of streets and buildings). We’ve been around the Colosseum, Vatican City, walked the Villa Borghese gardens, saw the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon, among other places. We also took advantage of the first Sunday of the month last week as the majority of tourist attractions/museums are free that day! The history nerd in me really flourished as we ended up checking out Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Museo Nazionale Romano, and Musei Capitolini.
I’m looking forward to things to come!
Ciao for now,
Alex
