In the Eternal City of Fountains...

My homesickness has faded away. At first it was a bit frightening being in a different country, a complete foreigner, greatly separated by the language barrier. But now I'm starting to feel at home. My Italian is improving slightly, and every Monday here I have a class where we get a class of lively ten year-olds and tutor them in English. They have such vibrant personalities and such intelligent minds! My roomie Roselyn and I have 4 kids - 3 boys and 1 girl. There's Alessio, the little punk, who's imaginative, hyper, brilliant, and such a clown. Then there's Mateo, Alessio's best friend and fellow troublemaker; together they are so hilarious. Next is Julie, a girl who loves swimming and knows an impressive amount of English. She sides with Roselyn and I when we poke fun at boys and make jokes. Last is little Andrea, who looks so much like a young version of Jonathan "Jonfen" Safran Foer of Everything is Illuminated. His English isn't as good, so he's quieter than the rest but he's just as bright. I love working with these kids, they're so eager to learn and so full of life! You see them and you just know they're full of grand ideas and imaginings about the world. The language barrier is nothing for this class - a few minutes into knowing each other we're laughing, joking, imitating each other, drawing, playing games, and talking about our lives. We love our kids.

The city's been easier to navigate too. It sure helps your sense of direction when you have modern world wonders reminding where you are at every other street corner. And here, all the students discover a different part of the city and in a process of getting to know each other effectively become each other's guides for the entire limits. I've been getting to know so many people here, it's amazing. I love it. There's an amazing character in the body of UD students that shows up subtly in each person. This is such a wonderful community.

I'm encountering so many new experiences every day, that it's almost overwhelming, but it really forces you to emerge as a stronger and more independent person. There is so much fear a person might run into here, that you've gotta toughen up and in the process you discover many things about yourself. I gotta say, I really like where this is going. Life is good.

Love, Mika :)