La Dolce Vita

Ciao Regazzi e Benvenuti a Roma! 
Our Connecting Arts group has hit the ground running these past days as we started classes, and have explored Rome. On Tuesday, students started their first day of classes, with a session on the history of the city of Rome, and their very first Italian language class! Students learned how to introduce themselves, ask others about themselves, and how to count in Italian. We then took students in groups to see some churches near the Ciee Center including the most famous synagogue in Rome! Others went on a trip to the gelato shop, and bought souvenirs. Later they went on a photo scavenger hunt, where we competed to see which group could reach more popular sites around Rome in 2 hours. Students completed 6-8 stops depending on the group including the Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Trajan column, and Piazza Venezia. We ate dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant for dinner called “Pico’s” and took a nice walk home so we could see the Tiber river. 

Wednesday morning students had their second day of classes at the Ciee Center. They did a mosaic workshop where they made their own mosaic style tile (yes they will be bringing it home!) and learning about food items and how to grocery shop in Italian during their Italian class. Their Italian teachers then took students to the grocery store to practice first hand with their new vocab! We had lunch at Ciee, and headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap as the 96 degree heat was quite intense. We then headed to our cooking class where students learned how to make Gnocchi, a traditional pasta dish made with potatoes, and they got to each make their own dough, and cut their pasta! For dinner, students ate their handiwork. 

Today, students had a special class this morning, at the Roman Forum and the Colosseum and will visit Villa Torlonia, and important villa housing a lot of history in it. Later this week students will be taking a trip to the nearby town of Tivoli, to visit some gorgeous gardens, and one of the most famous villas in Italian history, the villa d’este! This villa is a unesco world heritage site, and is one of the best examples of Italian renaissance design and architecture still standing today.