What were you grateful for this week?
A relaxed weekend at the sea.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
My host child not wanting to speak to me at all in English.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.
I helped take care of the baby even though it is not expected of me.

Tell us about your week! 
This week rather than going out to the stables like we normally do [my host family’s daughter] and I stayed home together. We spent our days playing princesses, go fish, dancing, painting, and lots of other fun activities. 

 

The family came home late Monday night and so I had a free day and I wandered around Rome more and found some new beautiful chapels I had not seen yet.

 

One day this week I visited Santa Maria della Cooncezione dei Cappuccini. This is a church where bones were arranged on the walls and ceilings artfully. It is the burial place of many Capuchin as well. It was interesting to see however it was also a little uncomfortable to walk through. This was for sure a one time visit for me. 

 

This weekend I joined the family on a trip to their home in Sabaudia again and got to enjoy the beautiful sea. We spent our days at the sea tanning, swimming, and just relaxing. We spent a lot of time with the family’s friends and had an evening where we stayed out late. They had a cookout and we were the only ones at that part of the sea and it was so beautiful to just be out there in the dark listening and watching the waves. 

 

My host dad’s work was sponsoring plays in the park and so at night we got to go see three different plays this weekend. Unfortunately for me they were all in Italian. I do however really love theatre and so I was able to watch the other aspects of the show and use my background in theatre to enjoy what I could. 

 

One thing I love about Sabaudia is that there are always so many different fun events going on. You could leave one and walk down the street to another one. This weekend they turned one of the main streets in the city center into a court and there were professional athletes playing paddle ball there.

 

Monday morning I woke up to the sound of loud thunder and it started pouring. It was so beautiful to watch all of the rain pour down, and I was grateful for a break from the heat. This week was full of fun days for me.