Written by Italy & Greece Students, Conrad I., Mason E.
This week, we left Greece and travelled to Florence, Italy. We did a walking tour of the city, seeing the statue of David and other famous monuments across the city. We also visited the Uffizi gallery as a group, seeing many famous renaissance art pieces. We also visited Orti Dipinti, a community garden in the heart of Florence, which is working towards more sustainable practices regarding the production of food and management of waste. We spent our time there learning about the history of the garden, environmentally conscious agriculture, and made our flavored salts and teabags from plants grown in the garden.
Our top highlights of the week:
🍝 One of the highlights of the week was the authentic Italian cuisine we all experienced. We all had amazing pasta, pizza, and many Gelatos over the course of the week.
🚊 Another highlight of the week was the train to Paladini breaking down, leaving us to scramble onto the next platform for the new train that was leaving soon.
🇮🇹 A final highlight of the week was the city tour of Florence. We all got to see many historical monuments, including a crypt that was built around 600 AD.
Growth comes with challenge – what are some of the challenges you’ve overcome this week?
This week many people fell ill and were not able to participate in group activities, thus creating a strange group dynamic. There were many times when people struggled to get through the day because of the lack of energy. We managed to pull through by supporting each other individually, and catering to everyones needs.
What’s happening next week?
Next week, we are tech-free in Paladini, a chestnut farm in the mountains of Tuscany, where we will be sharing a tent all together as a group, and helping the chestnut harvest for the season, as well as many other projects on the farm. We’ll forward to the opportunities to separate ourselves from the outside world, in order to become closer as a group.
