Week 1 of the program is in the books.  Long story short, it was a week of rolling with the punches, adjusting, and learning the ropes.  The hardest part for me so far (other than the incredible lack of sleep) is learning how to get through to the kids.  My only camp experience is teaching swim lessons to kids under 6 years of age and the only experience I really have with high schoolers is the very limited time I spent subbing at the high school.  They are a completely different breed of kid, and I'm definitely struggling to find a happy medium between acting like a teacher and acting like a camp counselor.

Apart from the sincere stress that accompanied that first week, overall, it was a really good week.  Sunday was spent picking up the group from the airport in Rome, and Monday was dedicated to orientation, walking tours, and a scavenger hunt between "families" (each counselor has a group of students assigned to them), which my group won!!  The real fun started on Tuesday, though.

I was assigned to course 1 on Tuesday, which meant that I spent the morning walking around the city with the photography class.  Because of the scheduling for the day, I had the early afternoon off.  The entire week of staff orientation, I tried to go visit my neighborhoods, but we never had the time.  So, I took this opportunity to go up to Piazza Savanarola, visit the Villa Rossa, get lunch at Taverna degli Artisti, and get gelato at Badiani.  It was the best afternoon!!  I had some much needed alone time, spoke nothing but Italian for those several hours, and didn't see a single American or tourist.  I love that area so much, and it was so great to be walking those familiar streets again.  That afternoon, I brought a big group of students shopping at the San Lorenzo markets, and that evening, we brought the entire group down to the Arno Beach to watch the World Cup that they were playing on big screens outside.  Though the US lost, it was still a great experience for both the kids and counselors alike!



Wednesday was another relaxing day!  I was assigned to accompany the Business class to an oil and wine shop by the Santa Croce.  Though they didn't get to taste anything, it's a great place to keep in mind!!  That afternoon, I got to accompany a small group of students to the spa...which means I spent the entire afternoon soaking in Turkish baths and getting my steam on in the sauna.  It was incredibly relaxing and felt so incredibly great.  That night, I had the opportunity to go with a group of kids to the Palazzo Vecchio (something I never got to do while I was here).  There was a Jackson Pollock exhibit on display, so we got to check that and the rest of the museum.  Because it was so late, there very few other people there, and it was like we had the entire place to ourselves.  It was amazing!


Thursday was a very interesting day.  During the afternoon, I brought a group to the Botanical gardens.  The bugs were out in masses, however, so they were itching (literally) to go home early.  That night was the night we had all been dreading...the first time we would bring them to Space, a multi-floor club that I went to once and then never went to again.  We were truly dreading the creepy men the girls would encounter and the trouble they could get in.  Fortunately, it's pretty well known that Thursday night is high school program night, so the real creepers didn't come in until we were on our way out.  It ended up being so much more fun than any of us could have expected.  We started off downstairs, where they were playing wicked throwbacks, and the counselors all rocked out together.  Once they opened up the top floor, the students started dancing, and the counselors all danced like complete fools.  We looked ridiculous but had the best time doing it!!  If every Space night is like this, it won't be totally horrible!


Friday was another day with another first.  I got to accompany a small group of students to the Palazzo Pitti for a modern art and diamond exhibit.  I had never been inside the Palace, so I was very excited to see my first exhibit there.  It was beautiful!!  Most of the students ended up just sitting and hanging out in the courtyard, but that just meant that I had an hour and a half of exploring the gallery by myself, at my own pace.  So lovely!!   In the evening, we had reservations at the Diner, and American restaurant, to celebrate the 4th of July and then spent time packing for Venice.  Ushering a group of 60 students around Florence, a city I know very well, was difficult enough...we were all very nervous about having to do the same thing through a maze of a city.  It was going to be an interesting weekend for sure!

I set out on my latest adventure about two weeks ago.  This summer, I'm spending a month in Italy working for a summer camp/study abroad program for high school students from all over the country.

Fortunately, the counselors had about five days to get everything ready, relax, explore, and enjoy some quality time with each other before the students arrived.  Though we were nonstop all week with early mornings and late nights, we had a fantastic time.  Though days were devoted to planning, organizing, and preparing, meals and evenings were ours to bond with each other.  We had the BEST food.  I was really nervous about what my eating situation was going to be like, but everyone in Italy is very knowledgeable about celiac and, if they don't have gluten free pasta or bread, they can at least suggest items on the menu that are safe to eat and will often do anything they possibly can to accommodate.  This is the best I have eaten since the last time I was in Italy and COULD actually eat gluten!! I've had gluten free pasta with pesto and boar, amazing salads with fresh seafood, and all the prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, gelato, coffee, and truffle oil a girl could ask for.

Though things are MUCH more stressful, we have very limited free time, and the counselors rarely have the opportunity to all hang out together (and Blake, the Barcelona director who was staying with us during our orientation, has left for Spain), it is still absolutely amazing.  I am so happy to be back in Florence, a city that is so incredibly special to me.  This is truly my favorite place in the entire world and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to be back here for the next month.  I've already been able to go back to my old stomping grounds, visit my school, and go to Badiani, my favorite gelato shop.  I'm very much looking forward to revisiting my favorite places and seeing all the things I never got the chance to see my first time here!!