Valle di Primiero

Last week I went to the Primiero Valley for my settimana di scambio (exchange week.) Primiero is located in Trentino, about an hour from the city of Trento, and nestled into the Italian Alps. The town was beautiful, I've truly never seen anything like it.

On Saturday the 22nd I got up bright and early at 4am to take a bus to the airport with my friend Giullia from Brazil who was also going to Trento. We arrived at the airport at 6:00 and then waited until noon for our flight. When the time came to board our plane we realized that there were two other students on the same flight. Our plane arrived in Verona around 1:30, where we were greeted by volunteers. When everyone had arrived by plane we headed to Trento to pick up the last students who had come by train. All together we were ten students; myself, Michelle from Australia, Giullia and Andrè from Brazil, Valeria from Columbia, Nagy from Egypt, Veera from Finland, Ture from Hong Kong, Karin from Thailand, and Agustin from Uruguay. The night that we arrived was spent with the family. My family was Flavio and Isabella, who are married at 23 years old, Valentyna, an exchange student from the Czech Republic, and Rocco and Sophie, their two dogs. I really liked the family and hope I can see them again before I leave!

Sunday was spent getting to know our families and that night there was the welcome party. There was a brief presentation on the history of Primiero and the rest of the time we got to know one each other. At a certain point in the night it began to snow and it's one of my favorite memories from the trip, not because snow is something extraordinary for me, but because at least half of the students in our group had never seen snow before. I hope I never forget the look of amazement on their faces. We went to bed pretty early that night to prepare ourselves for our trip the next day to Venice.

Monday was our trip to Venice!! We took a bus and two trains to get there but it was worth it. Venice. Is. Amazing. There really is nothing else like it. The weather wasn't the best but we made the most of it. We split into two groups and took gondola rides. The best way to see the city truly is on the water. Never missing an opportunity to eat, I ate lunch on the gondola. After the gondola ride we went to St. Marc's square. The architecture is breathtaking and I took at least 100 photos. We also decided to feed the giant flock of pigeons. That's where things went a little shitty.
1.Put the crackers in your hand.
Ok.
2.Have the dirty rat birds crawl all over your body (including your head) searching for sead crackers.
Doing good
3.Run away once all crackers are gone to avoid being pooped on.
Failure.
I ended up having my jacket sleeved covered in poop which wouldn't have been that bad if it wasn't freezing and windy that day. Thankfully Andrè had a sweatshirt that he didn't need. After the pigeons we went to a bar and ordered some food and drinks. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but somehow Giullia, Agustin, Flavio, and myself ended up seperated from the group. So we did what any normal people would do and snuck onto a boat and headed to Murano! At the beginning my anxiety was pretty bad but by the time we got to Murano I was all smiles. We spent an hour at Murano where we bought souvenirs for our families. Before heading back Agustin surprised us with bracelets! I still wear mine everyday. Once getting back to Venice we headed to the train station and went back to Primiero with the rest if the group.

Tuesday we went to a caseficio (cheese factory? my English is starting to get really bad) where we saw them prepare all different kinds of cheeses. There was a bit of a smell in the room with year old cheese, but it tasted so good! We then went to a small farm where we saw the cows whose milk was used to make the cheese. After lunch we went walking through the valley. The mountains in Primiero are so beautiful. I've never seen snow covered mountains before then. We also saw wood sculptures that the residents of the valley made. Everyone asks which town is nicer, Primiero or Nova Siri, but it's like comparing apples and oranges. I love the sea in the summertime, but I also missed the mountain air and the smell of trees.

Wednesday we went to the school in Primiero for three hours. Do you all remember how I described my school? Well this school is NOTHING like my school in Nova Siri. This school is three floors and has a wooden roof! I wish the schools down south could be a little more like the schools north. After school we went on a trip to il lago di Calaita, which is a lake high up in the mountains. In summer the lake is surrounded by flowers and vegetation, but in winter the lake is frozen over and covered in snow. We started walking with our giant snow shoes but soon decided to just play in the snow. We had a snowball fight, built a snowman named Selfino (selfies being the photo of choice from the trip), and took lots of pictures.

Thursday was the day that went skiing! Well maybe for the others it was skiing, but for me it was more like repeatedly falling down a hill with sticks on my feet. At the beginning it was bad. What a normal person could ski in five minutes, I did in an hour. After a while I slowly started to get better. During the day most of the group decided to go walking with the snow shoes, but after some bribing I decided to try my luck at skiing another time with Agustin, Ture, and Karin. I was much better this time, cutting the time it took me to do it the first time in half. And I also discovered what my problem is, non posso salire! I can go downhill no problem, but going uphill is a whole other story. Even though I had a sore back and was covered in bruises it was still an enjoyable experience. And I can count skiing (falling) down tha Alps off of my bucket list!

Friday morning was spent at the school and that night we went to eat tipical food of the region at a local restaraunt. We saw how they prepare canederli, which is more or less week old bread, chopped into pieces, soaked in milk, and then rolled into balls with a variety of meats, cheeses, and vegetables. I really liked being able to spend time with the entire group.

Saturday was our last full day together. Saturday morning was spent at the school where we prepared food from our host countries and were forced to sing our national anthems in front of a group of people. I baked peanut butter cookies as my American food. After eating we played dodgeball and soccer with two other classes and designed shirts to remember the week. That night was the going away party. We ate and danced most of the night and were just enjoying each others company. Towards the end of the night the host mothers from the week began to sing a song that they had written for us! By the end of the song I was teary eyed. After dancing a bit more my family decided that it was time to go. As I started saying goodbye to everyone I started to cry, especially when I said goodbye to Agustin and thought about when I had to leave my family tomorrow. "It's already over" was all I kept thinking. When I had said goodby to everyone and started to leave, my entire group of friends came running towards me and we had a final group hug before I left.

Sunday was the day we had to return home. When I said goodbye to my family for the week I miraculously didn't cry in front of them, but she'd a few tears in the car on the way to the airport. At the airport is when I really started to cry. It's amazing how many friendships and strong connections you can make in just a week. We boarded  the plane and were back in Bari by 8:00 where Giullia and I waited another 5 hours for thes bus to take us home. I got back in my house in Nova Siri at 2:00 in the morning.

My week in Primiero was by far my best week in Italy, and maybe the most fun I've had in my life. The volunteers, the families, and the students are people I will remember forever. And the friendships I made in just one week I hope will last a lifetime. I'm already planning to meet up with some of my friends from the week, and hopefully we can all meet up as a group one last time before returning in our own countries. I'm so grateful to everyone who made this week possible, and will remember the week for the rest of my life.