Free Write: Italy

This past Mardi Gras break, 21 Latin Students and 12 parents hopped on a plane to Italy for the week! When I found out that I was going on the trip to Italy I was kind of excited, but kind of sad to miss my Mardi Gras break.  I quickly got over those feelings, and looked forward to my trip! Early on Saturday morning, everyone met up in the NOLA airport to start our voyage.  I cannot describe the excitement that I saw in my classmates' faces. Yes, most of us were tired, but we were going to one of the greatest cities on Earth: Rome! The anticipation was built up greatly on the 9 hour flight across the Atlantic ocean into Europe.  Avani, Cody Dillard, and I quickly found our seats in the very back of the plane, and were so excited that we didn't sleep at all! I felt bad for the guy we were sitting next to, he looked like the host of "Cash Cab", and was obviously very annoyed at our continuous comments on his striking resemblance. We finally found ourselves in Rome, and hopped on a bus and headed to our first location, Sorrento. A smaller version of Rome, Sorrento was a beautiful city with beautiful people.  Everybody was kind and helpful, happy to have some visitors from the USA. We made day trips to Capri and Anacapri (The two most beautiful places in Italy, in my opinion), Almafi, Pompeii, and other beautiful places along the coast of Italy.  I am proud to say that I drank the Mediterranean more than one time! Mid-week, we made our way to Rome, stopping in Naples, Cumae, and Ostia. We saw all the famous landmarks, some more than once. We went to the Trevi Fountain, the "Wedding Cake", the Colosseum, the Vatican (which is another country!), the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, Piazza del Nuova, and all of the famous Italian stores. The smell of authentic leather followed us around, which was definitely a good thing, and now we are all lucky to have it come home with us! Every night, there was a 3-course meal, consisting of pasta of some sort, an entree, and a delicious desert.  Needless to say, we definitely were well fed and did not go hungry! We also had gelato at least twice a day, every day. We didn't have to worry about gaining weight, however, because we walked pretty much everywhere! The very last thing that I did in Italy before we left was to pick up a copy of the new One Direction deluxe album, which hasn't even come out in the United States yet. Once I got that, I felt extremely satisfied with everything on our trip, it was kind of a moment of closure! Sadly, our trip had to come to an end. As I am sitting here now in the Atlanta airport, waiting for my plane to New Orleans, I can't help but look at all of my peers and am instantly reminded of the numerous memories that I obtained in these 10 days. I could not have asked for a better trip, with a better group of people. I made friends with people that I would have never expected.  I came into this trip as an individual, but am leaving as a group.  I am so lucky to have been blessed with the opportunity to go to Italy with amazing people, and am certainly grateful to have had this experience. It is definitely something that I will *never* forget. 

Nervous Conditions and A Walk To Remember

Before I left for my trip this week, I went ahead and read Nervous Conditions.  Now a distant memory (quickly replaced with memories of my trip) one thing that really got me thinking is when Babamakuru physically abused Nyasha for her provocative behavior.  Yes, some may say that this was the right thing to do, and she deserved it, blah blah blah, and others may say that he was way harsh on her, and there should have been less abusive consequences for her actions. I was hoping to discuss this in class, I was kind of indifferent on the entire situation.  Part of me thinks that Nyasha totally deserved the beating, because of her "wrong actions", but the other part of me thinks that Babamakuru should have handled the situation in a different manner. Aside from Nervous Conditions, I found myself reading _A Walk To Remember_ for nearly 3 hours on the plane back from Rome. The expression "The book is always better than the movie" is totally true in this case. I loved the movie, but am finding that the book is so much better! Jamie and Hegbert Sullivan are thoroughly characterized directly and indirectly, and the main character Landon Carter talks about his home life more in depth in the book, too. In the movie, the situation with his mother and father was quite a mystery to me, and was pleasantly surprised when it was thoroughly explained in the book. I am only about 50 or so pages from the end of the book, and am hoping to finish it sometime next week. 

NC and the Global Issues Paper

This past week has been a hectic week for me.  I had a ton of reading to catch up on in _Nervous Conditions_, I had to finish my rough draft for my Global Issues paper, and I wanted to read _A Walk to Remember_, my free reading book that I haven't really gotten much time to read since I bought it. This week, I read a total of 180 minutes in _Nervous Conditions_, carefully annotating each chapter in order to not only be able to answer the questions and partake in class discussion, but to also fully understand what is happening in the story.

I wrote my rough draft for the Global Issues project on Sunday, but I edited my information and the contents of it so that it could be turned in for reviews.  I was proud of my rough draft once it was done, and pleasantly surprised when I received only a few fours and mostly fives on my paper. I worked for about 15 minutes editing my paper fully for the in-class revisions, and was able to go to bed at a reasonable time last night, for the first time in weeks.

"The Vow"

This past weekend, I went to see "The Vow" with my friend Anna.  Based on a true story, it reenacts the events of a young married couple that gets in a car accident, and the wife ends up losing her memory up to a certain point.  After the car accident, she doesn't even remember who her husband is.  Played by Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, as an audience we see thteir struggles to fall back in love, the same kind of love that they had fallen into before.

We all know that most Nicholas Sparks books/movies result in crying, however this one ended in a happy way.  I only teared up during the movie, and walked out with all of my mascara on my eyelashes. I enjoyed the movie, and I look forward to the next one, "The Lucky One", starring Zac Efron and someone less significant (that I can't remember).

Global Issues Project and _Nervous Conditions_

This past week, our English class has been working hard on our global issues projects, with a plan to have the final draft of our paper due sometime next week. I am enjoying this process, because of all of the things that I am learning while researching.  Because of my trip to Boston, I was a little tripped up while working on this project, but luckily I have pretty much straightened everything out.  I spent about 1 1/2 hours on my plane ride up there working on my paper, but it was helpful to have already done some of it in the class time allotted.  I also worked for about 45 minutes on Sunday night, just making sure that things were on the right track for my rough draft.

Along with the G.I.P., we are also starting another book, Nervous Conditions.  It is narrated by Tambu, a Zimbabwe native, as she tells us the story of past events in her life that have, in a way, rid her of her nervous conditions.  I read chapter one in about 30 minutes, fully annotating and looking out for important things in the book. So far, it is really interesting, and I am enjoying this book a lot. I can't wait to get into it a little bit more!

Boston, Massachusetts

This past weekend, my mom, sister, and I traveled up to the cold north, ending up in Boston, Massachusetts. The reason for going was because my brother and his band, The Joint Chiefs, were selected by Berklee College of Music to perform in a music showcase, something of high honor.  A lot of famous Berklee alumni, such as James Taylor and John Mayer, were in this showcase while they were students.  Everyone was thrilled that TJC got this opportunity, and so everyone's families went to go see the show.  On our first night there, we had lobster rolls at this delicious dining house called Legal Seafood.  It was so good, I am actually wanting some right now.  The next day, we shopped around Boston, saw some cool graffiti, we even went to this placed called Trident, and they were formally known as the "Dead Author's Club".  It was like a bookstore/poetry cafe/lunch diner.  It was really cool!  Then, the big night came.  We went to this place called the Berklee 939, it was right next to the Boston Fire House, so there were a ton of people! It was packed, and all of the "band families" got to hang out in this backstage room before the show.  It was nice to meet all of these people that my brother and his friends have been talking about since this past summer, and it was cool to see how the band met each other in the first place.  The performance was great, there were so many people and Berklee ended up streaming TJC's performance live on a few websites.  The next day, we did other tourist-y stuff, and then we left to come back home on Sunday.  I am so happy that I got to go back to Boston, and now that I am older, I can definitely see Boston as a possible location for college. I really enjoyed my short, but fun time there, and I definitely look forward to going back!