Last Week of Teenagerdom!

AHHHHH ohmygosh so much to be planned, so much to be done!
Right now I'm in the midst of planning my summer, which is somewhat of an ordeal, since I have several different people to coordinate with. GAH. But right now the most important thing is the last few weeks, in which I will be, supposedly, on my own. So rather than wandering around Europe by myself for a few weeks, I think I'm going to WWOOF. What is this strange acronym, you ask? WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.  Basically, you join and get access to the contact information for a bunch of different farms, and the idea is that you go work on the farm for however long and they give you free room and board. I think that coming back to Italy and working on a farm (preferably in the south) would be a nice way to round out my trip and continue learning and practicing Italian language skills. And it's a good way to have a MUCH cheaper yet still fun and fulfilling end of the trip. Plus I can try out my second grade dream of being a chicken farmer! Yep,  when I was seven I wanted to farm chickens. Go figure. Anyways, people I know who have done it in different countries seem to like it, and this is again something that kind of scares me. But like I said, terror is the spice of life, all things worth doing will probably be scary at some point or another. So I did it. I signed up and paid the 25 euro membership fee. I figure worst case scenario I don't up doing it and I have donated 25 euros to a nonprofit. Not so bad, if you ask me. But I think I will, provided I can get dates straightened out. And hey, what doesn't sound fun about harvesting wild herbs and milking sheep on a beautiful Sicilian farm? So hopefully this works out. And hopefully it will be good for my bank account, since I'm really not counting on having money left my the end of the summer. Which is totally fine as long as I can get my butt to the airport in Rome on June 30th.
Prior to this particular adventure of the summer, though, I will be traveling quite a bit. Immediately after the program ends at the end of April, Krissy and I want to go to Greece, Rome, and possibly Croatia, and then Simon and I will do at the very least England but probably more, and then at the end May Julia shows up for a few weeks and we'll go to Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, and Ireland. If any of you eager readers have suggestions of places to go (including favorite cities in Italy) I would love to hear them! I honestly don't really know what I'm doing, I'll have to invest in a Rick Steves guide book sometime soon. Allora!

In other news, this is my VERY LAST week as a teenager! That's right, I'm twenty in one week. Weeeeeird. I suppose I should be angsty and sulk and get into trouble over the next week so I can be sure to have taken full advantage of the "stupid teenager" excuse. When I get back to the states I'll have to do grown up stuff, like find a place to live and hopefully get a job. Dio mio, what tasks. Ah well, those things I will happily leave for future Robin to deal with, the poor sucker. Anyways, I don't really have any plans for my birthday, although I know that my host mommy will be making me tiramisu! And I have a test and a short (very short) paper due on the 8th, so it will probably be relatively low key, but we shall see. The 8th is also (aside from Rachel's 21st birthday, she is very excited and so are we!) the festival of women here in Italy. I'm not quite sure what that means or entails, but I will let you know once I found out.

OH and while I'm here I'll share with you how well English teaching went today with my first graders! It was shapes and colors day, so we played bingo! I  made out some card with shapes on the different boxes (only 3x3) and had the color each shape whatever color they wanted, and then called out a shape and a color. They seemed to have a good time, and I felt accomplished for having filled up the hour and kept their interest. Next week will be animals and numbers, so again, any suggestions for favorite games or song are welcome.

Allora. I think that's all for now. Spring break planning is also underway (Naples, Sorrento, Palermo, and the Amalfi Coast, among various day trips), and this weekend will be full. Friday will probably be Assissi with Krissy, followed  by a Cheese farm visit on Saturday and a Carnivale festival trip on Sunday. I'll keep you posted!

And, should any of you want to send me a cool birthday card or anything (hint hint), here's my address once again:
Robin Boedecker
c/o Siena Italian Studies
Fontebranda 69
53100 Siena, Italy

And, if you only have enough stamps to send within the states, it can always be forwarded to me!
Robin Boedecker
113 Jefferson Dr
Tiburon, CA
94920


Should you be so inclined....