Lesson Learned

       School days normally drone on, but as this week flew by a lot of lessons came with it; such as learning the streets (more like ally ways) of Prato. You have to make sure that you pay close attention to the details of the buildings and scenery because most of them looks the same and the street names are a little more hidden than an American street sign.

Photo 1 - The bus ticket

       Our first test run field trip was to the mall, which was an adventure because people do not normally travel in groups of 31. Add in semi- rush hour and the fact that it was the first day of school for Prato students, and it became a very hectic moment. As to how we actually arrived there?...Well, we had gone to the first bus stop with everyone ready and waiting and the first bus that came was completely full. We ended up exchanging Italian numbers (getting an Italian SIM is definitely recommended), picking which chaperones went with what group of 15, and figuring out bus schedules and correct pronunciation of stops. Constanza said tell the driver "PARKO PRATO" and he'll show you where to go. Meanwhile the other group took a bus to another stop and walked a few blocks to meet us at the mall. 

        The closest mall that isn't a mini market is called COOP. They have just about anything you would need in terms of day to day from sports equipment to the ingredients you need for dinner to a new computer. There's a pretty open variety of stores and little food places for standing by and hanging out. 

Photo 2 - The old nebulizer

Photo 3- The new nebulizer

       There's been a sickness cycling through the students from Beacon that goes from one to the other regardless of whether or not you're around each other. By attempting to get adjusted to the weather here, you're bound to get sick. Of course the one who should live in a bubble (Lianne) caught it straight away. When you have an asthmatic roommate and know the struggles that come with it when you catch a cold, she had to take her nebulizer to help her breathe. When we went to plug it in, after putting in the medication and setting it up, as soon as she turned it on the battery blew. Instead of the machine blowing the hotel fuse, which we were afraid of, the hotel blew the machine. Constanza was nice enough to go with us to 2 different pharmacies to help translate all of the questions Lianne might've had. Lucky we asked her, because the lady we ended up buying the new nebulizer (Photo 3) from couldn't speak a word of English. She gave us a discount and Lianne's home insurance went through so everything turned out okay. It was kind of hectic that day though due to it also being laundry day. 

 Photo 4- MP Wash Di Dodi Morena

       The washing machines come with the detergent built in. Whoever thought of that has to be well off by now. If you have sensitive skin it might be a problem, but my skin is sensitive and I haven't had anything go wrong. It's a small laundromat with two different sized washers, 4 small and 2 big, and 3 large dryers. It was kind of funny to see Jeunesse put in the 5 Euro bill about 25 times because the machine just would not take it.  NOTE: Its best if you come with only change. One of the ladies that showed up behind us while we were having machine problems had a ridiculous attitude. For what you might ask? IDK. Because of her impatience, she pushed past thw entire line including us to put her money in. A bit of a rough start to learning the laundry etiquette but we got it down now with the help of a few Italian men who were also doing their laundry. But hey, at least our clothes smelled great.

Photo 5 - Drawn by Lianne Smith

        The best lesson we've learned so far is that our rooms have to be cleaned every week day regardless of whether or not the "Do Not Disturb" sign is on the door. Trust us. Resistance is futile. So far the front desk has only called and yelled to get out the room once (Photo 4- LS). We'll leave it up to you if it's a good thing that you almost always have to wake up at around 10 am. We could say that's all but there's always a lesson to learn and always a corner left to be discovered. Arrivederci!