cthomson

Addio Italia The time has come to bid farewell to “mi casa Italiano” for the last four months. School is over, the play is done, the students are gone and Terry and I are leaving for Paris on Wednesday. It has been an experience I will treasure forever. Not only did I get to visit some amazing places, I learned what life is like in a small Italian town. I will remember fondly the many walks among the olive orchards and the lush vineyards with a spectacular view of mountains in the distance in one direction and the sea in the other. I will laugh at my attempts to converse with salesclerks in Italian and their attempts to understand me. I will remember the taste of the delicious gelato, the seafood, the pasta (oh my god ... read more

Here be Goats Curious title isn’t it? Yesterday, Saturday, a group of students from CCI travelled to Tremeti Island to be tested and obtain their scuba diving certification. The Tremiti Islands are comprised of San Domino, San Nicola and Caprara and are also known as “the pearls of the Apulian Adriatic Sea”. They are situated off the coast of Italy near the “spur” on the heel of the boot. A few other students and some teachers accompanied the divers for rest and relaxation on the beach. We boarded the bus at 6:15 AM and arrived at the ferry to San Domino around 8:00. The trip took about 45 minutes and we disembarked to a glorious day of tanning on the beach, or so I thought; George had other plans. The tiny island of San Nicola, described ... read more

Buona Pasque, Happy Easter! It’s been a busy few days here in Lanciano where they do Easter in a BIG way! It began Thursday evening with the parade of men, covered from head to foot in black and wearing medallions displaying a skull and cross bones. One man, the penitent man as I explained last week, walks barefoot in the midst of them bearing a cross. Another group of four men carry a platform with another cross which bears a skull and crossbones. They all carry gigantic candles and the lights on the streets they walk down are turned out and everyone turns out the lights in their houses so the centre of the town is in almost complete darkness. It’s very eerie and so medieval. Another parade takes place on Friday with children and women ... read more

This week’s adventure was a trip to Urbino with the staff and students of CCI. We left early Friday morning and arrived around noon hour in Urbino, a town noted for its university and the ducal palace built there in the mid 15th century as well as being the home of the painter Raphael (you can see one of his more famous paintings below). It was immediately apparent that Urbino is a university town. Instead of the usual staid Italians I have become accustomed to seeing in the towns we have visited, there were many “student types” walking the streets to and from classes and sipping cappuccinos or expressos at the many cafes. It would have been nice to stroll through the town and visit the shops that cater to this crowd but, alas, time did ... read more

Our Italy Trip: Sicily, Rome and Florence Terry and I had quite a trip. We began tour of Italia on Sunday morning leaving bright and early from Lanciano. George, the brave soul, packed us all up into his Lancia and we headed off onto the bucolic roads of Abruzzo province. All started well on our way to Naples with a planned stop in historic Pompeii. We had heard many stories about Italian drivers but, for a while, this didn’t seem to be the case. Aside from losing our way a couple of times we were fine. They don’t like to mark the roads clearly, in the hope, I imagine, that unsuspecting tourists will lose their way. How do you say “This road don’t go to Aintree, boy.” in Italian? Pompeii was fantastic. It was raining a ... read more