Written by Italy & Greece Students, Kate T. and Lillian A.
Since the last update, the Terra group has completed our time in Matera and travelled to Greece! In a farm outside of Matera we were tasked with designing and painting recycled fridges to turn them into “book fridges” as a sort of lending library for a nearby town, Altamura. With the help of local contacts, at the end of the week we got to unveil the fridges to locals at the library we partnered with. And…they were a hit! Following that, the students got to have Sunday lunch with some local families in town. In groups of two we went off for the afternoon with these families who have children around our ages who speak English. The students were able to fully immerse in a Italian family meal with all of its courses and learn more about the culture! We ended our time in Matera with a fun Halloween party on the last night where even some of the local families showed up! The next day we said goodbye to our friends in Matera and drove to Naples for our last night in Italy. We explored the city that afternoon and the next morning we flew to Greece for the second half of our program!
Our Highlights of the Week:
The highlights from this week were building the book refrigerators for children and being able to read to them in english and in italian. The second highlight were the italian home stays and learning about their culture and life. The final highlight was the halloween party where we had a fun night before we headed to Naples.
But growth always comes with challenge … how did you grow this week?
Something that our group has noticed over the course of the program is the time for adjustment when moving to a new place. We visualize it as a spiral where at the beginning of the new location we are more tightly wound. And then as time goes on we get more used to our surroundings and the culture like the wider edges of a spiral. I think this is something we as a group struggled with in Matera. The place and people were amazing but the day to day activities had a different structure from other farms we had stayed on. Nevertheless, our group persisted and I think it’s safe to say we came out of it with Matera being one of our favorite stops on the program!
How’s the group doing?
I feel like the group has grown to be more comfortable with each other by sharing feelings, thoughts, clothes and food. The next week we will be continuing to explore Crete until we start to travel to Athens. We are looking forward to traveling to Aegina and spending time hiking and swimming at the beach.
One last thing …
We are having such a fun time exploring Italy and Greece! The group is really thriving together and facilitate a curious and positive environment. We also love our OE’s, shout-out to Meg and Mary!! ❤️
