Blogs from Paderno del Grappa, Veneto, Italy, Europe

The past week of my life has involved a formal dinner, basketball conference championship games at 3AM, climbing a mountain, studying, a test, a company tour and packing. Quite a bit of activities for a town of 2000 people. Ok so last time I left you off, I was getting ready for a formal dinner. The dinner involved several courses. The first course was a cake like pie shaped thing with bread and ham in it, very delicious. Second course was pasta with veggies and a little beef. Third course was chicken, and the desert was orange based cake. It was a lot of fun and tasty. Last weekend on saturday myself and three other guys, Zach, Matt, and Juan, all climbed Mount Grappa, which is located a few miles away from Paderno del Grappa. The ... read more

Yesterday I graduated from the Cimba LIFE program. It was an intense 3 day leadership boot camp. I found it very enlightening and stressful. I'll start off by describing what I did and then give analysis. We started off in a classroom learning about neuroscience and how the brain treats stress. Then we ate dinner and met the instructors. They dressed in black suits and were very loud and showed no emotions except frowns. Quotes include: "You may move quickly," "Last one in closes the door," and many more which are yelled. People now finished with the program joke about them and have the accents of the trainers who originally said them down, which is very comedic. The trainers were extremely intimidating. We started the official program in a formal ballroom sort of deal, which is ... read more

Beginning of Classes Today started the first day of actual classes. Yesterday we had orientations all day and time to catch up on our sleep from all the traveling we all have had the past few days. We went to the mall yesterday in Castelfranco, which was a lot like an American mall. First thing anyone did was go for food because the portions here aren't the greatest but the food is pretty good. Chicken and Pasta is always an option for a meal. It will just take us some time to get used to. The funny thing with this mall experience was that everyone ran to Burger King. I think it was a bit of a way to feel like being back home, something everyones sort of missing at this point but that is just ... read more

I can’t believe the summer is over. My students gave their final presentations this morning. And then they packed up their suitcases and got on busses headed for the train station. It really is sad that it is coming to an end so soon. Campus feels so strange without them here. And with them leaving, it is starting to sink in that I’ll be leaving soon also. Fortunately, Ryan will be here in a couple days and we’ll have some more time in Italy before we really have to leave. I figured that today was as good a day as any to pack up the suitcase I want to ship home. Ryan and I plan to travel light, so I need to get some of this stuff off my hands. Anything that I felt that I ... read more

Travel can really do a number on a girl… especially when she has to come back and teach a class the next morning. Needless to say, I fell behind on my blog. What follows is more of the Cliff’s Notes version of my week back in Paderno del Grappa. Monday: We went out to eat in Asolo. Right when we were about to order, the guy at the table next to me got a very yummy looking pasta with shrimp. So at the last minute, I quickly scanned the menu and found what I thought was the meal he ordered. But when mine arrived, it was not pasta and shrimp. It was pasta with jumbo shrimp/shellfish with their heads and legs still on! (And yes, they still had their eyes.) I did my best to eat ... read more