Ciao Milano!

Hey Guys,

So it is my last night here in Milan. The weather has been amazing over the weekend and the last couple of days. The sun has been shining I have been walking around the city without a coat or a scarf. Definitely cardigan weather. (Though I looked like a nutter to the Italians, who were still wearing coats)

It has been an experience here. There has been ups and downs, but overall it has been a good experiences and there has been more up than downs. 

Milan is beautiful, however I am not in love with the city. You know when you arrive at a city and it hits you, and you fall instantly in love...I got that with Rome & Venice, but not when I arrived in Milan. Sure there are some beautiful aspects, such as the Duomo and Parco Sempione. They always bring a smile on my face every time I see them. Especially when the sun is shining. 

So far Rome is definitely the top Italian city for me. I spent last Saturday in Venice which was simply not enough time. You need a lot longer to see this beautiful city built on water. I would definitely go back one day. As well as visiting the other Italian cities, such as Pisa, Tuscany, Naples, Sicily etc. Just for now, being in the North of Italy has been a good experience. I haven't fully enjoyed what Milan has to offer because, me being me, I have been a worry-guts. Stressing over lessons, observations and then debating about my ability as a teacher. It definitely hasn't been easy, but I feel that this experience was what I needed, to help me find my passion. To find the four words I used to believe in . Which is Love, Hope, Faith & Dream. And I have found it, I always had them, just I needed a reminder to hold onto what I believe in. To be determined and hold passion in everything I do. 

So the highlights of my time in Italy: 

1. Meeting an amazing bunch of people from all over the world. (Well Ireland, the UK, Australia & America.). It has been great getting to know them over the past month. They have all been so incredibly supportive, who know if I would have lasted this long without their support. Love you guys. 

(There never has been a moment where we have been all together, but here are some photos of some of us )

(Tigers!!!)

2. Spending a day in Venice. Though it wasn't particularly a nice day, Venice was still beautiful. I am more of a person who admires the outdoors, the beautiful buildings etc. That's probably why I love Rome so much!

(First Class Privileges) 

(Cos when in Venice, you buy a mask.)

(A glass of Prosecco & Black Ink Squid Spaghetti)

3. The kids, the teaching. Finding out how much passion I had for teaching. How much I enjoy teaching and spending my every waking hour working and planning the fun lesson for the kids. The children have been wonderful. So warm and welcoming, I will miss them. 

(Just a few of the kids monster drawings) 

(My Magic Potion & Monsters to help inspire the kids!)

Though I am not in love with the city, and it wouldn't be a city I would choose to come back to work in. I would come back to see the friends I have made here and find myself wondering around the beautiful Parco Sempione. 

Milan has some beautiful aspects, here are some photos.

(Santa Maria delle Grazie)

(Parco Sempione)

(Colonne di San Lorenzo) 

While I have been here, I have been staying with host families. This month I have been staying with a family, who have been wonderful. I also have had the opportunity to cook for them!

(My Host Dad being incredibly lovely and bought me these beautiful flowers called Mimosas - yes I know what you are thinking, the yummy Indian food, that's what I first thought when he told me the name haha! 

He bought them for me because it was Women's Day.)

(One of the best gelato places in Milano, Grom! Flavours were Lemon & Cream. I totally just wrote that in Italian and had to change it to English - the flavours that is.)

Just a couple of dishes that I have prepared for my host family. Egg Fried Rice & Stir- fry pasta. With curry powder, I add curry powder it a lot of things haha.)

Here are just some more photos of my last weekend with my wonderful and extremely supportive friends. We let our hair down (Or rather I did.) And relaxed and enjoyed each others company, singing our hearts out :) Definitely a Grammy - worthy performance. We would definitely make it to the X Factor finals, with our amazing choreography, our wide range of vocals and team spirit. Hell we would win it! 

(Got to love a bit of Whitney - I Wanna Dance With Somebody)

(Look at me dancing - Dancing Queen - Abba)

(I think you guys know what song this is haha) 

(Proud Mary!) 

(Me, Amy & James) 

(Part of the gang.)

Here are my souvenir shopping photos! Not really souvenirs but whatever haha. Lots of makeup from Sephora and Kiko! I went a tad crazy! I also have fallen in love with the Cruciani Bracelets! Pharrell Williams wears them....(Just saying) And probably some other celebrities. Of course the makeup and bracelets are not all for me (I wish!). But I am looking forward to using some of these products! Maybe I'll blog about some of these products! Though Sephora is french ( I think). 

Here is me being vain, taking a selfie, in perfect lighting to make my makeup look absolutely flawless - (it wasn't)...It's all about the lighting girls haha. Makeup - Mac Foundation, Sleek - Contouring Kit, Benefit - High Beam, Benetint & Benebalm, BarryM's - Mascara & Brow Kit) 

(At Cruciani, there are so many designs and colours to choose from! It is impossible to make a decision. I was there for ages. I bought the grey clover one in Venice and the turquoise infinity one in Milan. I hope to get one to represent Rome too, when I head back to that beautiful city. (Just not now...though it is tempting.) Oh and the Eddie bracelet...yeah that's from England...as you all know that I am Mrs Redmayne...(cough, cough I wish!)

Finally! This has been a pretty long post! But here are some photos of my goodbye cards from my classes. I love it when children do things like this. Put the effort to making you something special. 

I also have been creative and made an Easter basket & goodbye cards for my lovely children. I like making stuff like this, writing little notes. 

Anyway! You have made it to the end of the post! (Hooray!) There has been a lot of photos. I have really enjoyed my time here. I was hoping that by coming here I would figure out what to do with my life. And well it has happened. I now know what I want. It has always been there, I just needed to come to Italy to realise it. That I still had it in me, that I had the determination to strive for this goal. Something I didn't think I was (determined, that is).

I always saw myself as a pessimist person, that if something goes wrong, it's the end of the world. I am still like that. A personality trait like that takes time to shake off. But I have learnt, that I am brave and that I can be strong and determined. I can strive to meet my goals, to achieve my dreams. To be what I have worked so hard to be. 

After all that rambling, I think it is time to tell you all that, I have decided that I have it in me to go back and do my PGCE again. I want to be a teacher, it is a profession I love. I know it will be tough, I know it is long hours, I know I will have to deal with overbearing parents, I know I have to deal with the stress of no sleep and absolute manic when the Ofsted phone calls comes, I know there will be mountains and mountains of paperwork (in some cases unnecessary paperwork). But, this is what I am passionate about. A job that helps children, even if it is just a little. I am there to help people, to work with children, however snotty they are. This my dream, (as well as New York). 

It has taken some time, but I am finding myself again. I am finding myself doing the things I used to love, like blogging (and hopefully reading, when I get home). I found myself believing in all the things I used to hold on too. That everything most certainly happens for a reason.

Have Love, Have Hope, Have Faith And Always Dream. <3 

Ciao,

Sam x

P.S. I just want to wish the best of luck to my new friends, I wish you all the best in whatever you do. It has been wonderful meeting and getting to know you all. One day we will meet again :) Perhaps here in Milan :)

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Ciao Guys,

Allora, I have reached halfway I have been here in Milan for a month now. I have done 4 weeks of teaching, and now I have another 4 weeks to go (I think!) Scary how time has flown. It definitely hasn't been easy. I have had a week where I have doubted my ability to teach, whether teaching was really the right profession for me to go into. However much I enjoy it, however much I enjoy watching children learn and develop. I have had thoughts, am I meant to be in this field? It is a field I have been focusing on for a long time. It's all I know. 

I got the opportunity to spend a long weekend in the Mountains last weekend 19th to the 22nd. (Italian holiday called the Carnival - I had no school on Thursday and Friday!) It was a new experience and absolutely breathtaking, however I didn't really enjoy myself as I was stressing my head off over week 4. I wanted to make my lessons work, to prove that I could do this. So I spent most of my weekend doing work, and not truly immersing myself with the family and relaxing in the mountains. 

The view was amazing, I have never ever thought of going to the Alps and here was an opportunity too so, I took it. The air was so fresh, it was so beautiful. I am not overly fond of snow, because I am a huge klutz but it was pretty, so pretty. Though a few times during the two hour trek, I thought I was going break something. (I use the word few loosely, it was more like every few minutes haha). It was hard work trekking up and up but it was worth it for the grub, maybe not so much for the view, sure you could still see the mountains but the view wasn't as clear, yet it was still a sight to see. So I would definitely recommend a trip to the mountains, just to admire the view. You don't have to go skiing, I didn't go! One: because I don't have insurance, two: I am absolutely petrified of heights. 

Anyway here are some pictures.

 

I have spent the past 4 weeks throwing myself into doing work, making resources, writing lesson plans, trolling through the Internet to find half decent ideas that I could use that didn't rely on an interactive whiteboard or the Internet. I haven't actually been enjoying Milan. The city is beautiful, and I have been walking around, but I haven't really been seeing the city. 

So this week I took some time to relax and try not to stress out. Though I secretly was still stressing as I was worrying about getting my reports and lesson plans done. I took some time out to go and watch the football. Yes I like to watch football. I may look like your typical girly girl. (which I am) However, I really enjoy watching football. So for the first time ever (first time watching a live football match at a stadium), I went to watch football at the San Siro Stadium. It was an experience. I watched Inter Milan play at home to Celtic. You could hear the British fans from miles away haha. I wasn't really taking a side, being an impartial watcher was a little strange. You kinda wanted one side to score but then you are also yelling 'get the ball away!' haha. So the end score was Inter 1 - 0. This was the second leg of the Europa League, so Celtic were knocked out.  Anyway here are some snaps of the stadium.

(San Siro Stadium)

This week I also decided to go and check out the Cementeiro Monumentale with my friends. It was beautiful, I mean very beautiful sculptures, but also it was slightly scary and sinister. The sun came out in time for me to take some nice shots with my crappy iPhone 4S. 

Here are just a few snaps from the cemetery. 

So after trekking round a cemetery, it kinda has made me want to go out a bit more and not stress too much. Of course the money issue limits things. I should just stop being a fatty and stopping buying so much food to eat haha. 

I need to stop stressing so much and open up and enjoy myself a bit more. After all I only have a month left. And I have already been way too organised and started buying stuff to take back home haha. (That is where all my money has gone haha.) 

I am missing home, I have started to feel homesick, missing home comforts, my family and friends. The life that I am use to, back home where I had no clue of what I wanted to do ,after everything blew up last year. Though it was complicated at times, I do miss home. I want to have papa's curries, or mama's food (that always comes second best to pop's but still, I miss it.) 

So yes I am feeling a little homesick, but I don't have long left and I should fully throw myself into it and enjoy myself. It won't be long before I am home.

So yes Sam! Stop stressing! Stop being a worry-guts!

(I had to throw in this song! Ha, Got to love Lady A.)

Home is where the heart is.

Ciao,

See you soon 

Sam x