Settimana di Scambio: Messina

Here in Messina, this past week was the exchange week (settimana di scambio = exchange week). It was amazing!!!! I can't even begin to explain the feeling through words. It has been a long, tiring week, but it has been completely worth it.

Sunday, March 14th
On Sunday, after eating a huge lunch with our aunt and uncle, we walked to the lake here at Ganzirri. We sat there for a while waiting for other Intercultura people to show up. We took pictures and had a good time talking. Eventually, everyone showed up. There was all five of us from Messina (I don't remember if I said on here that there is a new girl from Panama here in Messina. She is here for six months) and all of the students here for the exchange week. There was a girl from Quebec, a girl from Turkey, a girl from Norway, a boy from Costa Rica, a girl from Finland, and a boy from the Dominican Republic. We were quite a group. We were just talking the whole time. After a good amount of time had passed, people migrated to a bar to get an ice cream or a granita. After they had eaten, we hopped in cars and went to Pilone. Pilone is a beach here at Ganzirri where there is a huge tower to transfer electricity to Calabria and the other way around. It is literally the tip of Sicily that you see near Messina. It is beautiful there. We were on the beach for a while, but it became cold. After a while, we all went home.

Monday, March 15th
On Monday, we all met at my school at 8:30 in the morning. There, we went up to the highest floor for an Intercultura meeting. There, I ran into people from my class and people from other classes that I have gone in. We watched a movie about Messina the city and Messina the province. It was rather informative, even though it was hard to understand. It wasn't a language issue at all...it was a technical issue. You know when the talking is all fuzzy? Yeah, that is what it was like. After that, we played a game. There were pieces of paper with the names of our countries written on them. Everyone had to put sticky notes on the pieces of paper saying the first thing that they could think of when they thought of that particular country. Did that make sense? It was interesting. The United States always seems to get Obama, fat people, fast food, sports, and big important cities. We also got things like liberty and independence. When we finally finished this game, it was time for the other people to go to class and for us Intercultura students to go around Messina. We started our tour by going to a little museum of contemporary art. There was some interesting work there, but we didn't spend much time in there to actually look at the art. After winding our way through the art, we went towards the Duomo to watch the clocktower. The clocktower here moves and makes noises and has music at noon every day. There was time, so we all headed to a little place to eat a piadina. It is kind of like a crepe, but the crepe part is more like a tortilla. At noon, we watched the clocktower while trying to get a man to stop trying to sell us old cassettes, a Minnie Mouse toy, and maps of Messina. After that, we went to Municipio, the main governmental place here, just to take a look and then headed to the theatre. There, we were trying to see a big picture that I saw on February 13th during the night of culture. Instead, we ended up going into the actual theatre part where the stage is to look at a huge painting on the ceiling. We sat there for a while listening to the story about the painting and then headed back to my school. After that, the day was over and I went back home to my family.

Tuesday, March 16th
On Tuesday, we headed to Taormina to take a look around. We took the bus all the way there. If we had been in the car, it would have taken us about 45 minutes. Because we took the bus, it tooks us two hours to get there. When we arrived there, we walked from the bus station to the main shopping strip of Taormina. We walked along, taking tons of pictures along the way. We went to the Greek amphitheatre there. It was gorgeous. The ruins were amazing and the view from up there was outstanding. I have so many pictures from that spot. Crazy Taneli was doing back flips on the steep seats of the theatre. After walking around there and lounging around, we went to a public garden to eat lunch. It was beautiful and there was a silence that I am not accustomed to anymore. There was sun, so we all ended up getting a little sleepy. After some time there, we ended up walking around more on the shopping strip. We all got gelato. At some point, part of the group decided to split off and go to the beach. As it turns out, some people ended up going for a little swim....while it was raining. It had started to rain. We, the people who staying in the main area, walked around more and then waiting for everyone else. At the bus station, there was an old man singing and talking in the dialect of Catania. We didn't really understand anything, but I swear that at one point, he was saying that he was going to die tomorrow. Then, there was the bathroom attendent saying that she was lucky to have eaten potato salad for lunch. It was an interesting day. There was also a German woman trying to speak to us in German. Unfortunately, Tobias, the only person who speaks German, wasn't there. We ended up coming back to Messina at around six thirty.

Wednesday, March 17th
On this day, we went to the mainland. We went to Reggio Calabria. It was a rather beautiful day filled with sun. I walked to the ferry place. Fortunately, I was early. There were quite a few people running late. As it turns out, the majority of us ended up getting on the ferry, thinking that they would be behind us shortly. The woman in charge of us had told us to get on the ferry. Well, as soon as we were on, they shut the big doors behind us and the boat started to move. Yes, we crossed the strait of Messina without an adult. It wasn't that big of a deal. When we got there, we just sat on some benches and waited for the next ferry from Messina to come. When it did come, we walked a little ways to a bus that was waiting for us. Inside the bus, there were the students from Reggio Calabria and the students there for the exchange week. Surprise surprise!!! My friend, Manda, was there. She was my roommate in New York and in Rome. I knew that she was living in Sardegna and was doing her exchange week in Venice. What I didn't know was that she had changed families. When she changed families, she changed cities entirely. I was happy to see her and talk with her again. Anyway, in Reggio Calabria, we went to a cow farm for milk. We got to see the whole process from cows to cheese and milk. After walking around the farm, we went to the factory where the milk and cheese are made. Afterwards, we ate an enormous lunch together. After lunch, we lounged around on grass, taking in the sun, and watching crazy boys trying to do backflips and other feats. After a while, we went to the center of Reggio Calabria and saw "The Bronzes". The Bronzes are two statues that were found here in the strait. There are rather incredible. They are, more or less, perfectly intact. After that, we all took a gelato and walked along the waterfront walkway. We made it onto the beach and had a phototaking session. After that, we took a subway closer to the ferry, hopped on the ferry, and went home. For me, this day didn't end here. Our dog was hit by a car and we were all in Messina. The dog was at the vet. Thankfully, the dog is fine. Anyway, this ended up being a long, long day.

Thursday, March 18th
This was Aeolian Island day! We all hopped on a bus to Milazzo early in the morning and obviously, we went to Milazzo. At Milazzo, we got on a boat to take us to Lipari, one of the islands. We stopped at Vulcano first, and then moved on to Lipari. When we stepped off the boat, it was like stepping into another world. We were immediately pulled off to the side by a man who was trying to get us to go on a taxi tour around the island. It took a while to get him to go away. We all walked a long way into the city. We made our way to a little harbour where we talked for a while. Then, we turned around so that we could try to find our way up on top of a hill where a castle/church thing was. We never made it exactly where were trying to go. We climbed a big set of stairs and went into a church. it was a beautiful church with an amazing painting on the ceiling. We were there for a while, then headed to buy lunch. I bought a bunch of stuff just to try it and see if I liked it. After buying lunch and drinks, we hopped on a bus to a good beach. There, we ate lunch, lounged around, and some people went for a swim. I ate my first arancino!!!! It was delicious. It is a typical food from messina. It is rice with a ragu sauce fried in the shape of a tear drop. It is delicious! While we were there, I got my first tan of the year. A tan....in March!!! How fun is that! After we were done on the beach, we headed back to the boat, and then to the bus, and then to Messina.

Friday, March 19th
Today, we all went to another school in Messina to do a meeting with some of the classes. We watched a film about Intercultura. It made me feel so postive about what I am doing here in Italy. I already felt positive, but I enjoyed watching it. Intercultura, AFS, for an entire year, is a big thing. It is hard, but it is rewarding beyond anything else. Afterwards, we each talked a little about our own experiences and then had a little party. They had brought us cakes and cookies to eat. Afterwards, we all went to buy a sandwich and then headed to Pilone again. We went on a tour to learn about the importance of the swordfish hunt over the years here in the strait and of the actual geography of the seafloor. We went into an old fortress on the coast and also watched a documentary of an actual swordfish hunt. It was fascinating. After that, we all ate our sandwiches and went on the beach. Most people ended up sleeping. The girl from Turkey called home and was talking in Turkish. In general, over the past week, the girls from Norway were talking in their language and the people from Finland were talking in Finnish. Eventually, it got cold and we all started to move around. One of the volunteers showed up with her crazy dog that wanted to be let off the leash. After a bit, we all seperated and either went to our houses or went to the center of the city.