Nick
Undergraduate
Music Education and Philosophy |
Nick
Undergraduate
Music Education and Philosophy |
Hello again! Thank you for revisiting my blog. My second blog post outlines my first two weeks in Siena, with images and stories from the city, about my host family, and about the international school! 3/13: First Day With The FamilyWe arrived in Siena around 11am on Sunday morning at the Piazza de Gramsci, and were met by our host families. My family, Edoardo and Michela, are a younger couple set to be married this September! I am their first foreign exchange guest. Edoardo's English is pretty good, and Michela's is developing. After dropping off my luggage at the home, we went to his parent's house for lunch. They also have a foreign exchange student living with them, from Poland, here to study at the international school! She will be in my Grade 10 music class. For lunch, the six of us had lasagna, veal, zucchini, potatoes, and tiramisu. The zucchini was my favorite! I did my best to speak Italian with them, but quite a lot of it went over my head. Also, the father is very excited that I am a drummer. He loves 70s classic rock, and told me a lot about his favorite music. Some of my favorite statements were "I love the Peter Frampton!", "Phil Collins... the best" and a lengthy story which I did not understand about Carlos Santana's ring finger. At night, Michela's sister Guilia and Giulia's significant other, Claudio, came over to meet me and have dinner. Michela, Giulia, and Claudio all prepared short "presentations" for me in English, telling me their names, ages, and occupation. Then, I gave my introduction in Italian. The five of us spoke for six hours, mostly in Italian, and I had quite the headache by the time I got to bed! But I also felt so welcomed into Siena and their family. 3/14-3/16: Exploring SienaHere are some pictures I took of Siena on 3/14. It was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit this day. The sights in Siena are absolutely stunning. The streets are also quite narrow (as seen in my last picture), and constantly wind in curved patterns. The city itself is walled, and is atop many hills, so I am constantly walking up and down very steep paths. Jill, Eve and I joke that our calves will never be as strong as they are on this trip. Come for the wine, stay for the strength training. On 3/15, I ventured to Porta San Marco, the most southern part of the walled city, and upon exiting found this mini-park overlooking the hills of Tuscany. I stayed through sunset on the left bench, and reflected on finally being in Siena. This was necessary because I walked downhill for 20 minutes to arrive at Porta San Marco, and I needed to find the willpower to walk up the same path back home. On 3/16, Jill, Eve and I had lunch at a restaurant near the center of Siena. The menu was in Italian, and there were 40 options for pizza. However, only one option said "special" next to it, so naturally I had to get that. The surprise ham and mushrooms in the middle was a nice touch! There is actually a reason why this pizza was titled "special." It is designed to look like the Piazza del Campo, which is in the center of Siena. It is here that most people sit to relax during the afternoon. This is also the location where the famous Sienese Palio takes place. If you are unfamiliar with the Palio, it is an annual horse race that takes place in July. The city is divided into 18 "contradas", each with it's own symbol. Such symbols include owls, caterpillars, the forest, the wave, etc. Ten contradas bring a horse to the Piazza del Campo, and they race around this half-moon three times. Look up the Palio online for a far better explanation!! Notice the nine divisions of the Piazza, and the nine divisions of the pizza! Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, at night. A photo I took of the western side of Siena. Everything is blooming here at the moment, and there are tons of cherry blossom trees. I love this picture! Some images of the Piazza del Campo and Torre del Mangia (the tower) progressing into night. Later in this post is a few images from the top of the Torre del Mangia! 3/17: St. Patrick's DayIn the morning, I went to the Salvador Dalí art museum! While I could include many images of this art, I have chosen to include my three favorite sculptures from the museum. If you click each image, there should be a caption with each sculpture's title! If you do this and no caption appears, I have failed as a blogger. At night, Jill, Eve and I went to San Paolo Pub to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. The Spock decoration really added to the atmosphere. 3/18-3/20: Torre del Mangia + St. Giuseppe's FestivalThe weekend before school begins! Here are two images that depict my morning on 3/18. Pictures from atop the Torre del Mangia. Here you can see how the streets are curved, and how they all circle around the Piazza del Campo! It is a very unique city to navigate. After descending the tower, I finished reading my copy of Albert Camus's The Stranger while sitting in the Piazza. Talk about a shocking ending! 3/19 was the Festival of San Giuseppe, or, Italy's version of Father's Day. This festival is held in Contrada dell'Onde, the wave contrada! Hence the fish lamps, the blue flags, and so on. I made sure to call my father after this event to wish him a Happy Father's Day.
3/22-3/25: Into The Schools!3/22 was my first day in the classroom! While I am going to share more stories about the actual classes in a blog post tomorrow, I will share a bit now! I am teaching K-10 General music, working with both the Primary Years Program (PYP) and the Middle Years Program (MYP). Each class has their own unique "unit of inquiry" which will last across the next six weeks. Some of these units include: protest music in Grade 7, songwriting in Grade 10, meditation and meditation music in Grade 5, the water cycle in Grade 2, and the theater in Grade 4. In addition to these units of inquiry, each student in Grade 6 is working on their "exhibition" projects. These projects are when the students select a unit of inquiry on their own, and with teacher guidance work through each step of the inquiry cycle. Some exhibition projects that have been chosen include: street art, the role of dogs in society, zoology, dyslexia, botany, pollution, and innovation during the renaissance. I have been spending the past two weeks (including the following week, 3/29-4/1) co-teaching with Ms. Rebecca. As such, my role has been to continually engage students in their inquiries by asking prompting questions, highlighting their thoughts, and offering alternate perspectives on their topics. Additionally, I have worked to get students more engaged in active music making, through singing, ukulele playing, piano, body percussion, and movement. These students are exceptionally bright, and have very open-minded perspectives about controversial areas of society. The school population is made up of 26 different countries, and there are many languages spoken other than English and Italian, though those two languages are predominant. The students are very aware of issues in the world, and are truly empathetic towards all people. Quite often, the students chose to present or ask about topics like diversity, gender orientation, sexuality, personal identity, feminism, equity, etc. It is refreshing to be in an academic environment where young learners hold such contemporary and empathetic views towards others and the world around them. Below are pictures of Ms. Rebecca's classroom, and my name badge. The students call me Mr. Nick (pronounced, Neek!)! This is my view every day walking home from school. Wrapping UpBelow is an image from the home of Saint Catherine.
It has been wonderful living in Siena. While a lot of that is due to the weather, food, and landscape, for me it is mostly because of the people. I am so happy with my host family, my mentor teacher, and my students. I am constantly learning when around others here in Siena, learning about their culture, their language, their backgrounds, their perspectives on issues in the world, and learning about areas where I can grow as an educator. I know that I am learning just as much from my students as they are from me. I am so excited to continue living and teaching in this international environment.
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The start of my blog! How exciting. It is difficult to put into words how excited I am for this experience. IPDS Siena has been a goal of mine since February 2020, and there have been many twists and turns since then that have made this goal seem either feasible or impossible. Yet, here I am, and I am so happy! Here are some stories and updates regarding my experiences between March 9th and today, March 13th. 3/9-3/10: Flying to Florence We flew into Atlanta from Buffalo around 3pm. Between 3pm-8pm, the four of us walked to our terminal, got food, bought Euro, and independently called our family members. Then, our flight to Paris departed at 8:30pm, landing in Paris at 10:40am (4:40am in Buffalo). I sat in between two people, both who only spoke French. I fell asleep for six hours on the flight, and woke up to the flight attendant asking me if I wanted breakfast. Embarrassing! I considered apologizing to my seat mates, but then quickly realized they themselves were just waking up, too. Quite the experience. We waited in the beautiful Paris airport for our flight to Florence, and then upon landing in Florence made our way towards our housing! 3/10 Evening: First Night in Florence Here are some pictures from my first night in Florence. I was astounded by the city’s beauty, and that feeling grew throughout my stay. The Duomo: Palazzo Vecchio, demonstrating support for Ukraine: Me in front of Ponte Vecchio, the Medieval stone bridge which crosses Arno river: A picture of the Arno, taken from Ponte Vecchio! 3/11 Morning: The Uffizi Gallery After having breakfast at our religious housing in Florence, Eve, Jill and I all headed over to the Uffizi Art Gallery around 8am. We spent about six hours in total at this gallery – I could have stayed the entire day! The exhibits were incredible, with works by da Vinci, Botticelli, Caravaggio, and many others. Here are some pictures of what we saw: Botticelli’s Primavera + The Birth of Venus: Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation: After seeing these exhibits, we stopped at the coffee shop which is atop of the gallery. Here is the view and what we had together: Then, we continued towards the Caravaggio section of the Uffizi to find the famous depiction of Medusa: 3/11 Afternoon and Evening: Outdoor Journey in Florence After the Uffizi, we traveled to meet as a large group at the Piazzale Michelangelo – the beautiful location overlooking the city. Here are two pictures of us here around 2pm! Next, Eve, Jill and I walked from the Piazalle Michelangelo to the Boboli Gardens which are located behind Pitti Palace. Here are two pictures I took at this location: We ended the night at an Italian restaurant where I ordered tortellini for dinner. Try to not be too jealous… 3/12 Day: Galleria dell’Accademia + Basilica di Santa CroceThe day began at the Galleria dell’Accademia where the famous Statue of David is displayed. I always knew the statue was famous, seeing it in popular media and hearing about it, but I never recognized how incredible it was until seeing it in-person. Unbelievable. I have no idea how a human being could ever create a piece of art like that, and I found the history about it inspiring courage in the people of Florence against enemies to be very interesting. Here is a picture of me in front of the statue! Also inside of the museum was an ancient musical instrument museum! Here is a cool picture of a serpentone (serpent) from 1802. Next, we traveled to the famous Basilica di Santa Croce. Here are pictures of the Basilica, including a third picture displaying public support for Ukraine. To finish the afternoon, we ate meat and cheese and drank wine which was bought from the famous mercato centrale in Florence. 3/12 Evening: Florence Proceeds into Night To end the night, we raced back to the Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset. It was here that I made some new friends – they were from Morocco, France, Italy and Spain! A group. I suggested a fair trade – I would take their photos if they would take mine. They quickly agreed and then offered me wine. Talk about a quick friendship! Here is one photo they took: Here are six photos I took of Florence transitioning into the night, including the sky darkening and the lights of Florence slowly turning on. Pretty amazing! Lastly, here is a photo a friend took of me in front of Florence at night. I love how it turned out! 3/13: Arriving in SienaAfter taking the bus, we finally arrived in Siena and were met by our host families. My family, Edoardo and Michela, took me to their home and let me drop off my luggage. However, this was not the end of our time together! They then took me to Edoardo's parent's home, who made me lasagna, potatoes, zucchini, veal, and tiramisu. After this, Michela's sister and her significant other met us at home for dinner and conversation. This lasted for five hours! Our conversations across the day have mostly been in Italian, which has been challenging but also so interesting. I find myself catching more and more of the spoken language, and we all seem to already have a great connection. I plan to explore Siena tomorrow, and continue developing my Italian language skills in the coming week.
The start of this trip has been incredible, and I am certain this positive energy will continue through the next weeks. At the moment, I couldn't be happier. I am so excited to start teaching at the International School of Siena, beginning this Wednesday. More to come in the next blogs - stay tuned! Nick |
AuthorHi! My name is Nick Stanford, and I am one of the student teachers participating in the IPDS Siena program. This is the second IPDS program I have participated in, the first being IPDS Italy, where I taught in Torremaggiore in January 2020. I am a dual degree undergraduate student from SUNY Buffalo State College, earning my Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy degrees. Follow along my journey through this blog! ArchivesCategories |