After my first day of class I went back to my apartment and cried my eyes out. The work load I had already was crazy, plus, we were already told we were teaching in two days!!! Who was I kidding?!? Where ever did I get the idea that I could be a teacher? I was in way over my head. Plus I had an apartment to myself in a strange city that I felt so disoriented in - every time you turn down a street there is a bar or another piazza. There are so many piazza's in Florence its unreal. I have never felt so disoriented in a city the way I did in Florence.
I pushed through the first week not looking at anything but assignments and lesson plans for my teaching practice's. I hadn't been in school for 8 years so getting back into it was difficult; but we did have a lot of work and it just kept piling and of course there was our grammar studying OMG. I was a big grammar fail! There was so much to know in such a short period of time; parts of speech, grammatical functions, functions of primary auxiliary and modal verbs, verb forms, sentence correction and why they are wrong grammatically. Tenses, and I just don't mean past present and future there is more to it then that; the simple tense, the perfect tense, continuous tense, perfect continuous tense and don't forget about intonation and pronunciation. See what I mean? That plus homework. I didn't have time to study because by the time I finished assignments and lesson plans it was 3am and I had to be up by 7am.
I was so relieved when the weekend came. To take a bit of a brain break and enjoy myself a little bit
was great. We (Liz - my tefl sister. Her boyfriend Jimmy and I) went out on the town, had some drinks and rode the carousel in the center of the city. It was great until the next morning when I saw that my wallet was gone! Yup gone...everything gone. We flipped our apartments but nothing, we retraced our steps. I had had it at the bar before we went to their place and then from there my place. We checked the bar the streets and nothing.
When I went to school on Monday I mentioned it and everybody was right on it. My landlord (the directors wife and our Italian teacher) and Stephanie (assistant director) were on the phone to the consulate, asking questions and waiting for other phone calls while I was in class. In a few hours they had gotten in touch with the right people who told me I had to go to Rome ASAP. Rome? That meant I would have to take a day off school. Plus I had no ID and I couldn't check in anywhere without an ID! More stress! My wonderful landlady (Mariagrazia) waited for me to finish class and then took me to the Carabinieri so I could file police report. They were so nice and he even called another cop because I had the same last name as him and he wanted to see if we were related. We were in and out in 20 minutes. Mariagrazia gave me a high five and then a big hug and a kiss. I realized in all of this madness when I felt like everything was lost I was truly blessed with people who barely knew me but still did everything in their power to help me. Sometimes it takes something bad to realize the good you are surrounded with, and to top of the amazing hearts of those around me, Jen - one of my trainers - got in touch with one of last months graduates that is living in Rome who was more than happy to have me stay with her for a night and , Jen also rearranged things so she could give me a private lesson on Friday and my assignments were pushed from Monday to Tuesday. I literally felt like In was surrounded by Angels.
In was extra stressed for the second week due to everything that was going on. I was doing everything I could to keep up with everything but I was still struggling with my grammar and I didn't feel that I was being an effective teacher in my teaching practice's. By the end of the week I was ready to throw in the towel. I was honestly being pushed, mentally pushed and emotionally pushed. But I so wanted this. It is so important to me to get this and that was one of the things that kept me going, I would also be so disappointed in myself and probably regret not fighting for it till the very end. After teaching practice one day, Rebecca and I just started crying with our trainer Tracy. I will tell you something. These women that I am so lucky to have trained under really do have faith in their students. Tracy told me that even if a lesson doesn't go right I never give up and I am giving my all and pushing my students for everything I can get from them. That I have a great presence at the front of the class and my determination is a great quality to have as a teacher. Everyone had faith in me except me, but I figured if they saw something then I might as well keep going.
The weekend came and I really wanted to focus as I was loosing a day going to Rome but it didn't stop me from going out Friday night to the bar right next door to my apartment. I started speaking to a girl about my wallet and she asked me my name. She started saying something to the bartender who then handed me my wallet!!! It was found on the sidewalk the previous Saturday. They had been showing my passport picture around to see if anybody knew who I was, they were going to turn it in to the carabinieri on the Monday. Everything was in it except my money. I had never been to that bar before so I never thought to look in there. More Angels.
Rome ended up being exactly what I needed! Instead of being a stress bag it completely relaxed me. I arrived on Sunday morning and ended up going out with last months graduates for the whole day. We had Chinese food for lunch, went to the Fontana de Trevi, the Pantheon, waited for 20 minutes in a shoulder to shoulder crowd to have some of the best gelato, chilled out on the Spanish steps and talked about grammar, then finished the night off with a wonderful dinner.
I pushed through the first week not looking at anything but assignments and lesson plans for my teaching practice's. I hadn't been in school for 8 years so getting back into it was difficult; but we did have a lot of work and it just kept piling and of course there was our grammar studying OMG. I was a big grammar fail! There was so much to know in such a short period of time; parts of speech, grammatical functions, functions of primary auxiliary and modal verbs, verb forms, sentence correction and why they are wrong grammatically. Tenses, and I just don't mean past present and future there is more to it then that; the simple tense, the perfect tense, continuous tense, perfect continuous tense and don't forget about intonation and pronunciation. See what I mean? That plus homework. I didn't have time to study because by the time I finished assignments and lesson plans it was 3am and I had to be up by 7am.
I was so relieved when the weekend came. To take a bit of a brain break and enjoy myself a little bit
When I went to school on Monday I mentioned it and everybody was right on it. My landlord (the directors wife and our Italian teacher) and Stephanie (assistant director) were on the phone to the consulate, asking questions and waiting for other phone calls while I was in class. In a few hours they had gotten in touch with the right people who told me I had to go to Rome ASAP. Rome? That meant I would have to take a day off school. Plus I had no ID and I couldn't check in anywhere without an ID! More stress! My wonderful landlady (Mariagrazia) waited for me to finish class and then took me to the Carabinieri so I could file police report. They were so nice and he even called another cop because I had the same last name as him and he wanted to see if we were related. We were in and out in 20 minutes. Mariagrazia gave me a high five and then a big hug and a kiss. I realized in all of this madness when I felt like everything was lost I was truly blessed with people who barely knew me but still did everything in their power to help me. Sometimes it takes something bad to realize the good you are surrounded with, and to top of the amazing hearts of those around me, Jen - one of my trainers - got in touch with one of last months graduates that is living in Rome who was more than happy to have me stay with her for a night and , Jen also rearranged things so she could give me a private lesson on Friday and my assignments were pushed from Monday to Tuesday. I literally felt like In was surrounded by Angels.
In was extra stressed for the second week due to everything that was going on. I was doing everything I could to keep up with everything but I was still struggling with my grammar and I didn't feel that I was being an effective teacher in my teaching practice's. By the end of the week I was ready to throw in the towel. I was honestly being pushed, mentally pushed and emotionally pushed. But I so wanted this. It is so important to me to get this and that was one of the things that kept me going, I would also be so disappointed in myself and probably regret not fighting for it till the very end. After teaching practice one day, Rebecca and I just started crying with our trainer Tracy. I will tell you something. These women that I am so lucky to have trained under really do have faith in their students. Tracy told me that even if a lesson doesn't go right I never give up and I am giving my all and pushing my students for everything I can get from them. That I have a great presence at the front of the class and my determination is a great quality to have as a teacher. Everyone had faith in me except me, but I figured if they saw something then I might as well keep going.
The weekend came and I really wanted to focus as I was loosing a day going to Rome but it didn't stop me from going out Friday night to the bar right next door to my apartment. I started speaking to a girl about my wallet and she asked me my name. She started saying something to the bartender who then handed me my wallet!!! It was found on the sidewalk the previous Saturday. They had been showing my passport picture around to see if anybody knew who I was, they were going to turn it in to the carabinieri on the Monday. Everything was in it except my money. I had never been to that bar before so I never thought to look in there. More Angels.
Rome ended up being exactly what I needed! Instead of being a stress bag it completely relaxed me. I arrived on Sunday morning and ended up going out with last months graduates for the whole day. We had Chinese food for lunch, went to the Fontana de Trevi, the Pantheon, waited for 20 minutes in a shoulder to shoulder crowd to have some of the best gelato, chilled out on the Spanish steps and talked about grammar, then finished the night off with a wonderful dinner.
This is us waiting in line just to pay for the gelato. We haven't even gotten to the back where all the flavors are.
This would be us enjoying the yummy gelato that was worth the 20 minute wait. People actually step on you and push you out of the way to get it.
The next day Mel (one of the girls I was staying with) took me to the embassy ND waited two hours while I was in there. The people at the embassy were incredible. The gentleman I had been emailing with answered all my questions and said it wasn't (meaning my questions) an issue as they were there to help me and ask all the questions I needed to. Then the woman that helped me at the embassy filled out some of my paperwork for me, helped me with all the details and was so friendly. I was so impressed with how helpful they were, they really helped lighten my situation... even more Angels.
I got my home work and assignments done on the train and emailed them over so they were there by the morning. I pushed through the week but with a little more ease. I felt so relaxed after Rome. I think a day out of Florence really did me some good. I was getting my assignments done and I finally got in some grammar study with Liz which helped wonders. I was able to participate in class and was motivated for new grammar because I was finally getting it. It felt good and took a load off. My teaching was better than I thought it was, I guess because I felt more relaxed I couldn't feel any improvement, I felt so ambivalent about my teaching. My first day I was petrified, I wanted to call on sick, or just not show up. "They must be mad if they think I can do this!" I thought while reminding myself that if I want to be an EFL teacher I was obviously going to have to teach; which resulted in me asking myself my famous question "what the fuck did I get myself into!"
The weekend came and we were given the first half of our exam which was a take home grammar test. Plus Mel was in from Rome and was spending 4 nights at mine so I had a roommate which was great! Friday night is my drinks night so after some wine after class we went to the bar by my place for drinks. I felt like poo the next day, but that didn't stop me from starting and finishing my take home within a couple hours.
The last week had slowed down. Our assignments were all handed in and it was just studying. We still had our teaching practice but it was more challenging because we had no guidelines for our lessons so we were building them from scratch ... lol I can do that now. I was so nervous for the exam on Thursday, I felt like throwing up. I am not a good test taker at all, my brain goes blank like a white board which is what happened during the exam. Most of it was on tenses which I can do in my sleep and I just blanked on the test. Everything I had over studied - the stuff I struggled with - had one question each on the test. Of course. But, I finished it... I studied so hard and it was the last leg of the journey. I was exhausted and just so happy it was over, but I wasn't relieved. I wouldn't be relieved until I knew if I past or not.
We went for drinks to celebrate. Which ended up in lots of drinking lol. I was supposed to meet up with this guy I met the week before at the bar by my house but he ended up bailing so I was in bed by midnight...which was nice and early for me and made the next day that had been looming over my head since day one come quicker.
I was so nervous and so emotional on the inside. I had been emotional through this whole course. It was so important for me to pass, to accomplish a goal I have been contemplating for 2 years, one that fell through earlier in the year and changed things for me. I was the first to g in and talk to Jen and Tracy.
"You studied your butt off. We could tell. You have come so far and have improved so much.....". Guess who is officially an EFL teacher?!? I fucking did it! I have never been Stroud of myself and it feels so good. I even got to tell someone I was a teacher lol. I am also certified to teach business English.
These past four weeks have probably been some of the toughest weeks of my life. I feel tht this course really broke me to see what I was made of and to be honest I'm one tough little cookie. With everything that happened, even though I wanted to I never gave up and pushed myself. One of the toughest things was even though I had Liz and Jimmy I was on my own. I had no one to come home and talk to or hang out with and release some of that pressure, it was the first time in a long time that I have been on my own and it freaked me out. I've always had someone around the past few years even of it was just in a hostel, so I was really tested with this. It was so worth it, I would do it all over again and I thank everyone at Vis Lingua for everything especially for showing me how great of a teacher I truly am and am growing to be even better every day. And of course a big thank you to my classmates, we were small but we were definitely a little army and so glad you were the ones I got to fight with ... OK?!?
That evening we walked to the other side of the river and went up to the church to hear the Vespers ....the monks sing a Gregorian chant at sunset, super awesome! Then went to Piazza del Michelangelo where we had a full view of Florence.
Saturday morning Jimmy and Liz came over to take me to the train station as I was leaving for Paris. My wonderful landlady came as well as I was leaving my amazing apartment and had to unwillingly hand over my keys. She smoothed it over by bringing me a kinder egg for Pasqua (Easter), and said I am more than welcome to stay there whenever I want.
There were no trains to Paris from Florence because it was the long weekend and the Italians love their holidays. "I can not help you!" the woman said unkindly, but she sold me a ticket to Milan where I hoped I could get a ticket. When I arrived the station packed and the information booth was closed with a sign that said no ticket sales. Great!??!?? I asked one of the station officers where I could by tickets and headed that way. When I got there I only found ticket machines and know actual person. This guy asked me if I needed a ticket and I said I needed the ticket office so he showed me where it was but I had a really bad feeling about him. Once we got there I thanked him (in Italian of course) but he wouldn't leave. He was muttering under his breathe and giving me a really creepy smile. I told him repeatedly I didn't understand him and then finally he told me he wanted money for showing me where the office was. I told him no but he insisted I had money because I was buying a ticket. I said I had enough for a ticket and that was it, thank you for your help goodbye. He wasn't happy but it worked.
Again no tickets "I can't help you." She wouldn't even sell me a ticket to another country she said e erupting was sold out which I found hard to believe. Then I asked for one back to Florence. " ma'am I don't know why you keep asking me I can not help you." Then she would turn and talk about me in Italian to her colleague. I will tell you something, if you know someone personally (in Italy) they will do anything to help you out, but in any other case they could give two shits they just tell you know and that's it they won't find a way to help you. I had no idea Pasqua was going to be like this and I couldn't book anything in advance because I was waiting for my passport which arrived Friday and then had trouble with my new credit card and had to deal with that. As she was pretty much yelling at me for no reason I said to her "I asked you for a ticket to Florence" No was her answer.
I had no WiFi so I couldn't even look up hostels in Milan but I still at some point had to make it up to Amsterdam and according to the evil woman downstairs she couldn't give me a train till the first of May. I was so pissed, and I didn't believe her. I went to a ticket machine and you will never guess what I found...a ticket to. Florence. My god I just wanted to go back down and give her shit but I was so tired and upset and had too much to carry I just sat on the concrete floor for 5 hours hoping to god I wouldn't get hemroids from it lol. I managed to grab the horrible WiFi connection and message Justin, the guy I had met the previous week. He owns a hostel right across from my apartment. He said he would keep a bed open for me. I also managed to send Liz and Jimmy a message that I was coming back.
When I saw Liz at the train station I just wanted to cry. 10 hours of a pointless journey. We went for drinks at the bar to wait for Justin. After he checked me in and Liz and Jimmy sussed the place out they headed home. I was exhausted but Justin said after the other night not happening we had no excuses. It was midnight but he managed to find a place that made us an amazing pizza. We then went for drinks at an Irish pub and then at 2am we went to this vip club that is after hours and I had to buy my membership before I walked in the door. I didn't get to bed till 630 in the morning, I had almost been up for 24 hours. I had so much fun and Justin is an awesome guy and really came through for me even though I barely knew him. He even pretended we were in Paris so I wouldn't feel so bad.
I had an email from the hostel on Paris, they couldn't accept my reservation for Saturday night as they were fully booked. Haha everything happens for a reason right? I guess that is why the universe made me meet the evil woman lol it was all worth it. Saturday night was a blast but I tell ya. I was so tired and hangover the next day I could barely do anything. I had an Easter family dinner with Liz and Jimmy but had to go home right after lol.
I decided to grab my flight to Amsterdam the next day, but due to the holidays there were no buses. Great! I reserved a cab but it wasn't in the piazza at 530 in the morning. I called them and they were on the other side in front of McDonald's so I was walking over and he left. Ahhhhh. Omg! So unreliable. I found one at the bus station fast but something happened. This blood curling scream came out of the bus station. A woman screaming for two minutes like she was being attacked. MI wanted to cry, no one did anything, not even me. No one ran towards it or called the cops, they just stopped and stared it was so awful.
I love Florence with its little hidden streets and dog poop covered streets. Its my favorite city in Italy and I am going to miss it. Now I am in Holland. I have arrived safe and sound but you are gonna have to wait for the next blog.
Ciao for now
Teacher Emmie
