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Published: October 22nd 2005
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Pulsano on the beach
One of the most beautiful beaches i've ever been to! Pulsano, Taranto, Martina Franca, and Grottaglie October 22, 2005
Hello!
How are you all doing? So I’ve had a very eventful week. On Monday I went to an AFS Orientation in Pulsano, a town on the sea, nearby Taranto. The bus trip wasn’t too bad. We started in Irsina, stopped in Gravina, then in Matera, and then went to Taranto. In Taranto we met all the other exchange students from Puglia and Basilicata, there were about forty of us, and got on a bus to Pulsano. Our hotel, Eden Park, wasn’t bad. I got to share a room with an American named Caroline and a Belgian named Charlotte. At the orientation part we talked about school, good and bad things. Bad things definitely were more numerous. Then we made some skits about Italian school, some of them were pretty funny.
On Tuesday we went to Taranto on a sightseeing trip. We visited the Castello Argonese, which was beautiful, and still being restored. Then we went to meet the President of the Province of Taranto. The building that we met the president in was amazing. I like the style of architecture in Taranto. We got to go shopping for a
Our skit of italian boys
Luis from Paraguay, Marianne from Norway, and Josh from Australia, all waiting for our turn to do our skit. while, and being me, I brought no money, so I just looked. They had some really nice stores though. I like Taranto. It’s a little warmer in Taranto because they are by the sea and have more sun. After lunch we got to go to the beach, only a few people got in the water. The water was so inviting, it was clear, and clean. I took off my shoes and walked a little through the water, and took lots of pictures. I started loosing my voice a little; there were lots of people to talk to. At the orientation part, we made a skit about Italian boys. My group dressed up the two boys in our group in tight-ish jackets, a pink scarf, and big sunglasses. It was hilarious. I found a great friend, the heat lamp that was behind me at dinner. A Godsend those things are, I wanted to take it home!
Wednesday, we visited a town called Grottaglie, which is famous for it’s ceramics. They had so many beautiful ceramics, and ceramic stores. We got to see someone make the ceramics and someone painting one. I didn’t buy anything, I regret that now. What I
My first sunset
This was taken around 6 in the morning. I only slept one hour that day, and it was completely worth it. I'm glad my friends were patient with all my picture taking! really wanted to buy was a tea or coffee set, but they were all really expensive, and I don’t think that that kind of thing would survive the trip home. On the bus trip to Martina Franca we saw these really cool buildings called trulli, which were like upside-down ice creams cones made out of stone, very neat. In Martina Franca we went to the mercato (open-air market). I bought a black sweater and a fuschia long sleeve shirt. Their open-air market is much bigger than Irsina’s. It is a beautiful city too. As crazy as it sounds to go into the sea in October, I did. It was incredibly cold, but after swimming a little it was tolerable. It was worth it. The water was great, we swam out a bit, and you could see the bottom, but you couldn’t reach it. I love the sea. Now I can say I have swam in the Mediterranean Sea! We tried to take a picture of all the exchange students during the orientation part, but the sun was right behind our heads and the people’s heads on top are whited out. It took a long time to get the pictures taken, because almost everyone had a camera. Seeing as it was the last night I figured sleeping wasn’t necessary. A bunch of us stayed in a hotel room and talked, and listened to music. At 4:30 we went out to see the sunrise, it was so cold! Unfortunately the sun didn’t rise until 6 a.m., so some people went back to sleep. We almost missed the sunrise too, we were about to go downstairs when I went to close the door to the roof and saw the beginning of the sunrise. I took so many pictures, but a lot of them turned out blurry. I’m so glad I stayed up, that is my first sunset I’ve watched ever! Absolutely beautiful. Then I went to sleep for an hour and got up to have breakfast. We left the hotel at 2, and we arrived in Irsina sometime after 4. I had the best time ever, so happy for 3 days. It was good to be around so many people who are going through the same thing as me; they became kind of like a second family.
Back at school now, blech! Curse normality. If I had my way I wouldn’t be here for more than one or two weeks at a time. I’m going to go to Sicily with my school sometime next year, and we are going to Lecche for a day in December. I’m hoping to plan a few more trips with other exchange students, we’ll see about that, the process to travel is very long.
Hope you all are doing well. Have a great week.
Best wishes,
Alyssa.
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Laura
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Gotta love those Italian men....
Hey Pumpkin! It was hilarious to see your interpretation of Italian men...it's so true! They are more feminine than most American women!! Reading your blogs take me back to my experience in Argentina. The best friends you'll make on your trip are your AFS friends- those are the people you will treasure for the rest of your life. I'll be visiting one of my AFS friends for Halloween in Wisconsin this weekend! Let me know if you need help organizing AFS trips- I'm the queen of breaking all AFS rules. LOVE YOUU!!! Laura