CC Abroad: Big Opportunities And A Fun Day!

Happy 4^th of July, everyone!

It's still weird to me that such a big holiday in the US is just another day here in Genoa. This is the end of week 3 of the program. As of tomorrow, I have 2 weeks left. I can't believe how fast time has flown by! It still feels like I just got here a few days ago.

At this point, everyone in the program is buckling down and working hard on their projects so we can get them finished and looking good before the screening. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part. At the end of the program, we are renting out a movie theater and having a private screening of all of our videos. We will get to invite all of the friends we've made here in Italy and everyone will come together to watch our videos. It's really amazing, but also puts a lot of pressure on us to make something that will make everyone proud!

I also have some other big news! Giulliana (our program leader/foster mom) met with the director of the Genoa Film Commission yesterday to tell him about our program. He was so impressed with all the obstacles we went through to get here that he called a friend of his at a newspaper. I can't remember what the newspaper is called, but basically it covers the whole region of Liguria (which is the part of Italy we are in) and it's one of the top 3 newspapers in the WORLD. Anyway, his friend is going to write a full-length feature article on us!! She is coming tomorrow and she is going to interview all of us about our experience and take pictures. This is HUGE. Our names will be in the article and Giulliana says it's a great thing to put in our portfolios and resumes for later. It's such an amazing opportunity. I still can't believe it!!

The director of the Genoa Film Commission also invited all of us over to his house for apperitivi (drinks and appetizers) next week. Again, this is HUGE! It's not every day you get to talk with someone so powerful in the film industry.

In other news, yesterday was a fun day! We got up kind of early and Natasha, Alex and I packed up all the equipment and went over to a little shop in a side alley to interview a guy named Daniel for Natasha's movie. He's an old friend of Giulliana's and he owns one of the oldest shops in Genoa. The interview was actually a disaster. Our sound equipment ran out of batteries, and then our camera ran out of battery. Daniel was so patient with us, even though he was laughing at us. Haha!

After that, we went back to the apartment for a small siesta (afternoon break). Then we all went over to the Museum of the Sea. We got a 4 euro discount to get in so we thought it was worth taking a look. And let me tell you, it was SO COOL. It was this huge building with 5 floors, and it was basically all about the history of ships in Genoa. It had 2 full-scale replicas of ships built in the early days of the port. We got to walk through them. And it had a ton of artifacts from the early forms of navigation and equipment and all sorts of things. I'm such a nerd, but I LOVED it. Unfortunately, though, only about 1/3 of the signs were in English, so I couldn't read a lot of the history of all the items. But still, it was really cool to look at everything. They even have books that were printed as far back as 1602! I mean, can you imagine how much history those books have seen?

Probably my favorite part of the whole museum was the Immigration Exhibit. It was so awesome! When you walk up, they give you immigration papers and a passport. Then you walk into the exhibit and you go through an orientation video (all in Italian, of course), and stand in line to board the ship to your new home! The ship was built just like they would've been in the past and you got to walk through the dorms for men and women, the dining hall, the hospital, the jail. It was so interesting to read about life aboard the ship. Then you got to go to the office and scan your passport and it told you who you were. For example, Natasha was an 18 year old boy. Then it gives you your bio, but it was all in Italian so we couldn't understand it. Anyway, we got to explore the whole ship. Then, when you get to the end of the ship, you get to your new home. A lot of immigrants moved to... shoot, I can't remember. I think it's somewhere like Brazil? Anyway, they built their homes in the jungle. So we got to walk through a little cabin in the jungle, and when we walked around the back of the house, of course a big cat (I honestly don't remember what it was, but I think it was a Cheetah or Leopard) was chillin on a branch right in the back of the cabin. Haha. Seriously, though, wild animals were a danger to people living in the jungle like that.

Anyway, the whole exhibit was really cool! Scattered throughout, they had lots of hands-on stuff to do and even letters from immigrants that left their spouses, parents, families, etc, for us to read. It is amazing what people went through to start their lives over somewhere new.

After the museum, we went and had dinner at a restaurant called Wild Wild West. It was, of course, cowboy themed. It was very American. Haha. We all got burgers. And, actually, I couldn't even eat mine because it was soooo greasy. Is this what it's gonna be like when I come home? All of the food here is so fresh. There aren't any weird chemicals in it. No wonder the US is having so many health problems. I'm gonna starve when I come home!

And then, after we ate dinner, we went to the movie theater for the Genoa Film Festival. They had some screenings for some short films, so we went to watch. All of the movies were less than 10 minutes long. Most of them were in Italian, so we had to guess what was going on, but a couple of them actually had subtitles, so that was nice. It was really cool to sit in the theater with a lot of other students and watch their work. I actually learned a lot. :)

Well, that's pretty much been my life lately. I only have 2 weeks left, so I'm trying to live it up and enjoy it!! Tomorrow, my friend Brady is coming to visit from Prague (he's studying abroad there right now) for the weekend. So Natasha and I are planning all sorts of fun things to do while he's here! Cinque Terre is number 1 on our list right now. It should be a fun weekend!

I hope all of you back home have an awesome 4^th of July weekend and that everyone stays safe! I'm glad I'll be home by the 24^th so I can join in on the festivities! ;)

Talk to you all soon! Ciao!