under the roman and tuscan sun

Twenty-four hours in a tour bus with 50 adolescents? Was I crazy when I agreed to chaperone the trip to Italy? We left Poix at 7am on Sunday, and arrived in Rome just before 7 on Monday morning. We had breakfast and then hit the ground running. I was so tired from the long ride (and perhaps a little fuzzy from the anti-anxiety medicine I took) that I'm not even sure what we saw, but I do know that I appreciated the warm sun after a long French winter. Of course, it was even nicer in Poix during our absence - while we were stuck in the rain while waiting to get into St. Peter's Basilica, Poix didn't have a drop all week.

The kids were lodged in families about an hour outside of Rome. They were a little nervous and excited to meet their hosts, and three of my girls were reassured when their mamma greeted them with "bellissima!" The five teachers and two bus drivers also stayed with a family in a rather large home. We had one half of the house all to ourselves, but dined with the family. Pasta, home made soup, zucchini from the garden (have you ever tasted fried zucchini flowers?) wine from their vineyard and home made limoncello. I found myself alone with the mamma several times, and panicked when she started asking me all sorts of questions or giving me instructions about our picnic lunches, but I was surprised that my French and the little Spanish I understand really helped. It was a good reminder of how my students must feel when I speak to them.

The second day, it took us nearly three hours to get back into Rome...the traffic was terrible! Fortunately, we made our 11:00 reservation at the Coliseum. When I went in 1992, we weren't really able to visit much, but this time we were able to walk all the way around. One of our students - the kind of kid everyone helped to pay for the trip because we all know he has a hard life - told me all sorts of details that his Latin teacher had taught him. We are all so glad he had the opportunity to travel with us. We picnicked in a little park, then went on to the Forum, where Audrey, Juliette (the Italian and Latin teachers from the collège de Longueau) and I spent most of the time in line for the toilets, but while waiting we met a nice young Canadian woman from Alberta who was giggling at our conversation with the students while we were waiting.

Wednesday, we went to Hadrian's Villa, the Villa d'Este and Tivoli - a nice break from the noisy and crowded streets of Rome. I think les petits picards enjoyed being in a place that was more country than city.

Thursday morning, we packed our bags and headed to Florence for an afternoon of sightseeing. Our arrival was delayed by a rather lengthy stop by the Italian police - our poor bus driver Rémy was pretty traumatized by his first Italian traffic ticket, and the girls were terrified that they would look in their luggage and find all of the counterfeit leather goods they'd bought (without our knowledge, by the way...). In Florence, they had a scavenger hunt to complete, and much to my surprise, they were excited to do it! The Italian police were more than willing to help them out, and the kids got to practice their Italian skills. After Florence, we had a mere 18 hour bus drive back to Poix. We got back to school just as classes were letting out, and the French kids who complain that there's nothing to do in Poix couldn't wait to get out to see their family and friends.