I wasn’t sure if I would have time to write something this week because I have been quite busy, something which I am sure will continue for most of the year, but found a few spare moments this evening to recap the week. As it is around the time of Thanksgiving, I have found myself reflecting on how thankful I am to be here and have this opportunity. Sometimes I just have moments of being overcome with thinking how truly lucky and privileged I am to have this wonderful experience.
Anyways this past week marked my first time going to my social service at a senior’s center in Trieste. It was a really, really nice building with a cute park in the middle and a nice garden on the second floor. Also in true Italian style there was a large hall with pillars and plenty of incredible sculptures as well as a room full of paintings to allow the residents a chance to ‘escape’ without leaving the center. Most of our time was just spent with a tour of the center, which was so big we only saw probably a third or so, and then a brief introduction with the seniors. They had to guess where we were from and I got mostly France, England and Germany! I think that initially it will be challenging to communicate as my Italian is not that great but I know that once I start practicing it will improve a lot.
Also this week one of my co-years hosted a presentation on the Colombia Peace Deal. It was really well done and again made me realize what a diverse and international student body we have. It is funny because even though geographically I was closer to Colombia in Alberta, I feel much closer and aware of what is going on now that I am here.
This week I also had my first tutorial dinner. There are roughly eight or nine of us in my tutorial group and we went to my tutor’s house and brought food that we had cooked to make a nice dinner for all of us. It was a nice break from eating in the cafeteria and I look forward to more of these throughout the year!
This week was also our first Osmizza, which is a farm that we visit to drink wine and sing together. It was about an hour walk to get there, however it seemed much shorter because I was chatting most of the way. Even with my limited knowledge of wine I could tell that this wine wasn’t great however it was still a nice evening singing and talking.
On Saturday I attended a workshop hosted by a former student of the college who now works at Google. He led a presentation which was quite interesting about creativity, innovation, brainstorming and prototyping. I learned a lot and think that “design thinking” can be applied to many situations.
Barcolana!
To top off this busy week this morning myself and two friends traveled to Trieste to watch Barcolana, a huge sailing event held annually. Luckily we met up with a staff member from the school who was able to guide us in the right direction to the best viewpoints. There were roughly 2000 sailboats all set to race at the same time and it was quite cool to see them all together. We ended up doing a small hike as well along the coast to see all of the boats and then caught the bus back to Duino. It was a really nice morning and the weather was beautiful.
I am also very happy that the weather has finally cooled down. It is still sunny and warm however feels a bit more like fall which is a welcome change. It is still pretty green here though, and I do miss the yellow and orange trees and piles of crunchy leaves back home. However I do appreciate the warmer temperatures here!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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