Hello and welcome to my travel blog! I use this blog to share two big loves in my life, traveling and teaching.... Follow my travels, teaching expereiences, tips and stories here!
Current travel: I am currently living and teaching English in Torino, Italy for 3 months.
Enjoy, and lots of love to each of you!
....Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.
Happy Monday readers! It's almost the end of year 2014 which means you should be thinking about your New Years resolutions......perhaps my blogs have inspired you to make 2015 a year to travel to Europe :) My resolution in 2015 just might be to travel back to Europe.....there simply wasn't enough time in 3 months. Jennie and I are currently on a 5 hour train ride from Waverley station in Edinburgh to Kings Cross in London. The view on this train ride is magnificent.....Scotland's seaside to my left and green valleys and rolling hills to my right, and in front of my a double chocolate chunk cookie from Ben's cookie shop in Edinburgh. We spent our days in Edinburgh between walking tours, hiking, and cooking low cost food in the hostel. Our hostel was in perfect ... read more
Merry Christmas from Dublin Ireland! I know readers, it has been almost a week since my last blog and that is due to all the traveling we have been doing within Ireland! Where did we leave off last? ....in Torino ofcourse! I still am finding myself saying ciao and Grazie to people around Ireland, ignoring the fact that English is spoken here. Those words just come natural for me now! We departed Italy on Saturday morning, to arrive in Dublin, followed by a 3 hour bus ride to Galway. So far in Ireland we have seen minimal of the beautiful land that Ireland has due to the fog, rain, and windy weather. We have seen sheep in green fields so that was a successful moment on our bus tour! Galway is a small Irish college town. ... read more
As I was walking down Via Po, on my regular Wednesday afternoon walk headed to meet a student who I tutor, one of my students parents saw me, a big a smile on her face and said Sarah!!! She ran over to me, pulled me by the hand and gave me a big Italian kiss for a greeting on each check. She than proceeded to introduce me to the people around her as if I were a celebrity. When I enter school each morning the students wave so happily to see me walk through the school doors. It's incredible to know that I have not only immersed myself into the Italian culture, but become part of their community here in Torino. I went to a scouts ceremony (scouts is similar to boy or Girl Scouts in ... read more
Three days spent in the Italian mountains with my first year classes has been....something I never imagined I would have the opportunity to do, and am so happy I had this experience, Andiamo ragazzi!.... Pracatinat can be described as a 'retreat center' nestled into the Italian mountains, and is used by the Piedmont region schools for overnight trips. For the duration of the trip the students do team building activities, hikes, and plenty of free time for 'disco teacha' each evening. (dancing). To make it clear....it felt like I had the role as camp counselor for 25 Italian students for 3 days. I especially felt like a camp counselor because I do not have top authority over the students, and more importantly, cannot communicate enough with the students. So, I brought two important E's with me ... read more
Ciao! Hope you find yourselves well, and perhaps getting ready for holiday cheer back home! The holiday cheer is spread throughout Torino with beautiful lights all over the city and plenty of Christmas trees up. It was our second to last weekend in Italy....where has time gone? The weekend began by staying in Torino. Staying put in Torino for a few days was a change from the 'norm' for the past few months of hopping on a train immediately after teaching on Friday mornings, or even Thursday evening. Jennie and I were happy to check some of our Ireland plans off our list....simply which were accommodations for our first few nights in Galway. Do you Have tips or ideas on things to do in Galway...!? Send them my way please! Grazie. If you've ever had gnocchi ... read more
Ciao! As promised in my previous blog, here are some updates on my teaching experiences.... :) in Francesscas classes we have been talking aBout the big thanksgiving turkey all week lonng and showing photos of the famous 7 kilo turkey. Francessca even told the students that back at Sarah's house in Minnesota, her family was cooking 2 turkeys, I saw on Skype! Francessca explained this to the students in Italian, but, when I heard 'due tochino skype ' and saw students eyes widen and mouths drop, the language was no issue for me....the facial expressions were 100% clear. Last week, I finished up my state lessons with the state all Italians love, know, and dream about....New York. They are rather surprised to learn that New York City is not the capital of New York, as are ... read more
Giving thanks, Italian style. A quick update on our thanksgiving here in Turin. I am long overdue fans, apologies! Life, teaching, and traveling has been getting the best of me but I am keeping my blog duties as promised! A tradition is a tradition and this year, we were blessed to bring the tradition of thanksgiving to Torino, Italy. My host mother Francessaca treated thanksgiving like many mothers would, with panic, and control of the kitchen. We left school on Thursday at 430 with francesaca frantically saying to our students 'move! I have a turkey to cook!!!' It was the first whole turkey she had ever cooked in her Italian kitchen......outcome was a success! Also cooked in a butter-wine gravy sauce......delicioso! (Recipe was an entire bottle of wine.) Our thanksgiving family included mom, dad, Susanna, Davide, ... read more
Bonjour! It's time for a blog about that Romantic city we all dream about.....Paris. The past three days for Jennie and I have been filled with macaroons, Eiffel Tower, the under grounds of Paris, and crepes. My heart was taken by pistachio, chocolate mint, and salted Carmel macaroons in Paris. Perhaps it was taken by macaroons because Juliet has still not replied to my email I wrote her in Verona questioning where's My Romeo? An adventure to Paris France was our first Europe travel by train out of italy. The train ride from Torino to Paris gare de Lyon train station is close to 5 hours....and there's always going to be delays, so keep account for that. Upon our arrival it was navigation time for Oops hostel... Booking a hostel by the name of Oops hostel ... read more
Jennie and I took a day trip into Verona on Saturday....call us crazy? We thought so too. It was worth the adventures and 8+ hours of trains however! The beautiful quirk about day trips is that they always must start bright and early in order to take full advantage of the time....buongiorno 7:15 am train ride. Another dark morning waking up to the pitter patter of rainfall on the Torino cobblestone. The train ride to Verona is about 3.5 hours so we should have arrived in Verona at 1015ish but the train was delayed a bit, as per usual treinattalia. I have learned that it's important to always add an hour of train travel time when traveling within Italy. Which is common with travel almost anywhere, delays happen, and delays happen quite often here With treinattalia ... read more
Hello and happy Friday! I have no huge blog for you guys about an big adventure I have been on, because it has only been 5 days since my last trip. I am here to share some things I have left out in many previous blogs thst are overdue for a blog. So sit back, have a rest (as my host mother always says!) and have a cafe as you read away my friends. One thing, in my opinion, and many locals opinions, everyone must experience in Torino is the view from the top of the Mole Antonelliana. Mole, for short, was used as a synoggauge at first and is the tallest building in Turin. It was later turned into a cinema museum. The Mole is an easy building to find in skyline photographs of Turin ... read more
