Author: Natalie Griffin

I only had a few MUST DO things on my list for this adventure to Italy.  One of them, I completed this past weekend: hiking through Cinque Terre.  It was the perfect weekend! The weather was amazing, the tourists were few, and the gelato was delicious.  I met up with other American teachers in Italy and had the best weekend with them.  I found a few tips online before setting out on this journey and I have a few of my own to share.

Worth Every Penny- I almost hesitated on visiting the “Italian Rivera.”  I was supposed to be staying much closer to Cinque Terre.  Originally, I was going to be somewhere around Torino, but now I’m staying on the opposite side of the country.   My train ride got expensive quickly and now takes 5.5 hours.  But I regret nothing.  I saved for months and months so I would have enough to do the things I really wanted to do.  Like this.

Cinque Terre Pass- We all bought one day passes at the train station for 12Euro.  Which included unlimited train access to the towns, access to all the hiking trails (more on that later), usage of the public bathrooms (more on that later too), and free Wi-Fi (which I never got to work, but I wasn’t really trying to use it much anyway).  I’m not sure if we did end up saving money by buying it but it was worth the convenience of not having to buy tickets for everything, I think.

Bathrooms- As much as I needed it, I tried not to drink a lot of water so I wouldn’t have to use the bathroom.  Italy has a weird bathroom situation in general which I have mentioned before, but ALL of the public bathrooms we came across were squat toilets.  I might as well just have been outside.  And, the one I used didn’t even have toilet paper.  However, this just applied to the public ones.  When we were at dinner, it was like Christmas morning when we discovered a real toilet, toilet paper, and a working sink at the restaurant.

Closed Trails- A HUGE part of why I wanted to go was to hike the trails.  They go from town to town and vary in difficulty.  Luckily, the rest of our group was on board with this too so we all went! A fellow teacher warned us that one of the trails was closed.  However, we found out the hard way that TWO (out of 4) trails were actually closed. If you are going, make sure you ask! When we bought our Cinque Terre Pass we were handed a pass and a map but no indication anywhere that any of them were closed and there were no signs on the trail or in the town about it. We were looking for one trail and came to find out that it has been closed for THREE years and no one told us! It ended up working out well for us though but it would have been nice to know.

Difficulty- I had read a little bit about the trails and we took the advice that I found to start with the hardest trail in the town furthest away.  We stayed on the blue trail, which is a more direct route to each town, though there are other trails that go further up into the mountains.   Let me just say, we all grossly underestimated how difficult it was.  It was a workout!!  Luckily, overall, we are in pretty decent shape.  We all wore proper attire and shoes. But some parts were definitely a little scary, with no barriers on the side and/or narrow pathways, stairs that went on forever, etc.  You wanted to look around at the view but also had to carefully watch your step.  I would imagine that falling off the side of a mountain is no fun.  The first trail we did, from Monterosso to Vernazza, took us about 2 hours.  But we were rewarded with amazing views, especially as we got close to Vernazza.

The only other open trail was the one from Vernazza to Corniglia.  It was a little bit easier, not as many stairs, but still challenging in parts.  The map said it was estimated to take an hour and a half to finish.  But we are proud to say that it took us under an hour.  I was a little bummed that we couldn’t do the other trails but we still had a lot of fun AND got our workout in for the day!

Cash- This is NOT a place to rely on your credit card.  Considering a lot of tourists do go there, I was surprised but there are MANY places that don’t accept cards, or if they do, there is a minimum purchase amount.  Even the day pass that we bought at the train station was cash only.  I had to go to the ATM 3 times in 2 days.  But after spending some time at some of the bigger cities around Italy (Milan, Torino, Venice, Bologna) I will say that Cinque Terre was cheap in comparison.  My most expensive meal was 7.5 Euros.

English– Not only did I not have to speak Italian at any point during the weekend, I barely heard it from those around us.  Nearly everyone we encountered spoke English.

FOOD- I don’t eat out much here in Treviso.  Mostly because my host family cooks every meal and we all eat together.  And when I do eat out, I feel like its just to survive….I would rather eat at home with them.  The food is better. That’s how I felt with every place I’ve been to in Italy so far…EXCEPT in Cinque Terre.  The food was incredible!! The region of Liguria is known for a few things, pesto and focaccia being two of them.  I made sure to have PLENTY of both while I was there.  The Trofie al Pesto is a local specialty that I had at La Scogliera in Manarola and is near the top of my list of best food Ive had in Italy so far.  In addition, Ive made it my mission to try gelato in every new place I visit. The gelato I had in Vernazza is also a top contender.

Pesto- Like I said, pesto is something this region is known for.  So I wanted to buy some to bring back to my host family.  Let me just say, that if you ever find yourself in Riomaggiore, please buy your pesto or wine at Enoteca D’uu Scintu.  And tell the very nice, Bob-Marley-loving employee that the 7 Americans that barged into her store and taught how to whip and nae nae, say hi.  It was easily the best and craziest experience Ive had in any store, ever.

Dont Follow Your Waiter Home- After our dinner in Manarola, we had to catch the train back to where we were staying.  We were standing on the platform when our waiter from dinner showed up to catch the same train.  We said hello, of course.  When we got to our stop, he got off the same one.  And as we were getting closer to our AirBnB apartment building, we see our waiter going into the same building.  I’ll never forget the look of terror in his eyes when he thought all of us were following him home.  Im still not sure if he really understood what was going on but I bet he made sure his door was locked when he got to his place.

After 12 miles of hiking and adventure, we were happy and exhausted.  I had some time briefly the following day so I went back and explored Manarola and Monterosso a bit since we spent the least amount of time in them the day before.  All in all, it was an amazing and memorable weekend. Cinque Terre is highly recommended!!!

Up next for me: Sicily and a half marathon in Verona!! Stay tuned!

Teaching is not my profession.  When I was very young, I used to pass out worksheets to my stuffed animals and teach lessons, but that is about as far as I got.  My transformation into Jen: English Teacher (and gym twice a week) has been like nothing else I have experienced.  Granted, I am the assistant teacher, meaning there is always an actual teacher present, with a teaching degree.  However, it is often up to me to lead discussions and ask the students questions.  Even the teachers sometimes look to me to confirm that words or phrases are being said correctly.

Not only has this job been something new for me, but the entire Italian school system has taken some getting used to.  My high school experience has been over for quite some time but I do remember it well.  And I actually find very few similarities between my high school experience and what my student’s lives are like. The students themselves are so different from those in America.  Maybe if the students were like they are here, I might consider a career in teaching.

10 Ways Italian High School is Different from American High School

1. Students are responsible:  Imagine a world where the students, not the teacher, are responsible for their own grade.  There is no extra credit.  The student knows what is expected of them and they either comply or they get held back.  There is no grey area. No parent/teacher conferences.  No yelling by parents or begging by students if they receive a bad grade.
2. Students are mature: Imagine a world where cell phones are not glanced at during class.  Where students stand when the teacher enters the room. Where there are no giggles if the word “erect” is used in an excerpt of something you are reading.   They are respectful.  They are nice. They always have their homework ready.  I teach 17 classes each week of 22-25 students.  And not a single one of them has been in any trouble over the course of my last 3 weeks.
3. Study, study, study:  They study a lot here.  One of the assignments my students had was to tell me about their normal day.  ALL of them said they study at least 3-4 hours every single day.  They do not have jobs.  They can’t. School takes up a lot of their time and teachers (most teachers) are very strict with what they expect from their students.
4. 5 Years: In America, being a 19 year old “5^th year senior” is never a good thing.  But in Italy, 5 years of high school is standard.  Students range in age from 14-19.  Since you can smoke, drive, and buy alcohol in Italy at the age of 18 it makes for an interesting dynamic and you can always tell who the older kids are.  They are often found right in front of school, smoking away or they are carrying their motorcycle helmet around.
5. Saturday School: It is one of my most boring memories of high school.  I got into trouble one time and was required to go to Saturday school.  I sat at a desk for a couple hours and did absolutely nothing.  However, on Saturdays, high school in Italy is in full swing.  Students attend school 6 days a week here.  Sunday is the only day off.
6. High School Branches:  Public or private were my only options for different high schools.  Everyone basically took the same core classes and selected a few elective classes here and there.  But here there are several different branches of high schools which prepare students for what they want to do when they reach the university level (if they decide to go).  I would compare it to picking a college major.  I teach at a Classical and Linguistic school.  Students at my school study the basics of history, math, Italian, science, etc but they also study multiple languages.  For example, my host brother has several courses in Latin, Spanish, French, and English every week.  He is only 15 and can speak 5 languages!!  There are also Scientific, Artistic, Technical, Pedagogical, and Vocational high schools.
7. “You can’t sit with us”: This line from Mean Girls sums up many people’s high school cafeteria experience.  The cafeteria could literally be a jungle sometimes.  But this is something that Italian high school students will never get to/have to experience.  There is no cafeteria.  While the students attend school 6 days a week, their school day begins at 8AM and is over by 1PM.  They receive a 15 min break between the 3^rd & 4^th class where they often meet their friends in the hallway or grab a snack from the vending machine.  Students eat lunch when they return home in the afternoon.
8. After school activities: Sports and clubs are a big part of high school for Americans.  From football practice to the yearbook club to play rehearsal, these meetings took place after school.  None of this exists in Italy.  There are no sports, there is no yearbook, no drama club, no band, no school newspaper, etc.   Some students do participate in sports, but it is not through the school.  Students generally don’t hang around after the final school bell rings.
9. Schedule changes: I always knew my schedule before school started.  I knew where my classes were, how to get there, etc.  There were seldom changes to the schedule after school started, unless there was a good reason.  In Italy, things are a bit more…relaxed (in this aspect of school, at least).  Even last week changes were still being made to the schedule.
10. Lockers and crowded hallways between classes: Neither of these exist in Italy.  They don’t have to.  The students do not need lockers because they always have all of their books with them.  When they get to class in the morning, they stay there for the whole day.  The teachers are the ones who change classrooms (which has led to me getting lost many times).  The same 20-30 students take all the same classes together in the same classroom. All year.

My teaching experience so far has been good.  I like it, but it is definitely weird for me, having hundreds of kids every week just staring at me while I speak. I pronounce some things differently than they are used to.  They are taught British English.  The very proficient students and teachers even speak with a British accent!!  They ask me a million questions about myself and life in America.  Some have even asked for my help outside of school. They just want someone to have a conversation with and I am happy to help.  I am still getting used to the way things are here.  I never knew that my ability to speak English would ever be helpful to someone, but I am glad it is! There are new, different things that I notice everyday, but I am definitely taking full advantage of this once in a lifetime experience!!

At home in Florida, I have a picture above my bed that I have owned for at least 10 years. It is a picture of two people standing by the Grand Canal in Venice.  I have been wanting to see Venice for myself for as long as I can remember.  The Italian Job (the newer one) is one of my favorite movies just because it takes place there.  Here in Italy, I am actually very close to Venice. A mere 30 minute train ride that only costs 3.30euro.   So naturally, on my first day off, I went to visit the city I have been wanting to explore for the better part of my life.   I went this past Sunday.  My host family had other plans and my fellow American teachers all live at least 4 hours from me.  So I went to Venice alone.  It was definitely strange being in one of the most romantic cities in the world by yourself, but it was quite the experience.  It was actually nothing like I had imagined.

I had originally planned on taking a vaparetto to get from the train station to the end of Venice. But I decided against it.  Granted, I was there on a weekend, but not even in high tourist season.  Still, all the boats were all standing room only.  I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had fallen out of a boat that day.  Instead, I did a lot of walking.

I wore comfy shoes.  I wore my running shoes actually.  I had read enough about Venice to know that you will do a lot of walking.  I did not track my mileage but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I had walked nearly 10 miles.  As someone who not only runs but also walks a lot in daily life, it is saying something that my feet hurt the next day.

I did not ride a gondola. And I do not regret it.  The expense was a big reason. And prices are per boat, not per person so I would have been fronting that bill all by myself.  It is something I *would* do, but I don’t feel it is a must-do situation

The crowds are awful in the places you would expect.  Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge (even though it is currently under construction) were mobbed with people.  There were selfie sticks everywhere.  I took the main road to get to these places, which was also fairly crowded.  I thought this was Venice. I didn’t like it, honestly.

Once I walked past Piazza San Marco, the crowds calmed down. By this point, I was starving.  I was ready to eat anything.  I walked a little farther, nearly to the end of Venice, near the gardens.  Finding a restaurant in Venice is not difficult.  I found one that only had two languages on the menu out front (I had been told that the fewer the languages, the better the food) and ordered.  The gentlemen serving me seemed very confused that I was not waiting for anyone to join me.  The food was not the best and was quite overpriced but a girl’s gotta eat! And I am glad I did. Most of my walking took place after lunch.

I walked to the Dorsoduro area of Venice (which means I had to backtrack through Piazza San Marco).  It was a far walk, but definitely worth it.  The Basilica di Santa Maris della Salute was stunning.  And it’s close to my favorite spot I found in Venice: the point, the end of the Grand Canal. I took zero photos of that spot, mostly because nothing would do it justice.  On left you can see San Marco on the right you can see the island of Giudecca.  There are beautiful churches all around.  It was quite spectacular. I just stood there for a bit and took it in.

That’s when I got lost. On purpose.  I put my Google maps away and just started walking.  I made it to a point where I didn’t see any signs in English (or any other language except Italian, for that matter). The streets were quiet and I was the only person around.  Occasionally I would see someone enter their home.  Or someone pulling their laundry in from the clothesline.  I still can’t believe that people actually LIVE there.  I’m still not sure how anyone could.  It would be like if I lived at Disney World and millions of tourists came through my town everyday.  But that was the Venice that I fell in love with.  That is the Venice I had pictured.  The quiet, real life Venice.

I am positive I will return to the city, possibly even this weekend with some of the other English teachers.   But it was definitely a nice experience being able to explore on my own without any real agenda.

I have had quite an adventure over the last week and a half!!!  Already in just the first 10 days I have seen the Last Supper in Milan, I took a beautiful boat ride on Lake Como where I got to drink delicious wine for 2Euros while cruising by George Clooney’s house, climbed 300 stairs for a beautiful view of Lake Lugano in Switzerland, I have seen the alps in Torino for a 24 hour visit, traveled 5+ hours by train to the other side of the country, seen the ancient island of Caluggia, taken a water taxi (vaperetto) to one of Venice’s islands to eat a homemade Italian dinner prepared by my host family’s nonna, and finally, I have been able to take several self guided walking tours (i.e. walking aimlessly) around downtown Treviso, the city where I will be staying for the next three months. In just the first week I have learned so much about this beautiful country, I had no idea about any of this until getting here.

1. Smoking is allowed nearly everywhere. I hate the smell of smoke. I love America for the fact that smoking is restricted to out of the way places. Here, people walk through the city with a cigarette in their hand…they even permit smoking in every outdoor area of restaurants I’ve been to. Even the kids at my high school can be found smoking outside after school and nobody takes a second look. However, I am very lucky to be living with a family that doesn’t smoke!!
2. Every bathroom I have been in is different. It is not as simple as pushing a lever or even as easy as it automatically flushing when you get up.  Some bathrooms have two buttons…for the two different amounts of water to flushed out (depending on #1 or #2), some have just one button, some have these buttons on the top of toilet, some on the side, some on the wall next to the toilet, I’ve even used one where I had to step on a button on the floor!! It has often taken me multiple minutes to figure out what to do.  And I still don’t know/don’t want to know how to use a bidet
3. Rugby is 10 times more dangerous and more awesome than American football. Don’t get me wrong, I love football. The week before I left America, I was at a Tampa Bay Bucs game…but after watching my first rugby game today where my host brothers team was playing, I am definitely a fan.  Of course I didn’t understand everything that was going on and I have no idea what people were screaming on the sidelines but it was still pretty awesome. (They won, by the way)
4. Pronto! I love that Italians do not say hello when they answer the phone, they say “Pronto.” My online translator tells me this word means “ready”.  They get straight to the point. I might start using this.
5. This did not happen to me specifically, but it did happen to the people I was with and it is a lesson learned! If you see a wine menu and the price is equal to a nice glass of wine in America, you are not ordering a glass of wine, you are ordering a whole bottle! 4 bottles of wine for 4 people showed up to the table and it was hilarious.
6. Places exist where they not only leave their doors unlocked, they leave them wide open!! Pellestrina, an island of Venice, is stunningly beautiful, quiet, and apparently filled with trustworthy people.
7. Every region has their own language. They have their own dialects, their own accents.  As if learning a new language wasn’t hard enough!!
8. Everything is delicious. Literally everything. From bread to vegetables to wine.  I hate green beans. I have hated them all my life. But I tried them here and I couldn’t get enough.  Same with the freshly caught fish I tried.
9. Everything is beautiful. Literally everything. The history is astounding. There is something new around every corner. I get goosebumps on a daily basis. My eyes get watery. It is a breathtaking country.
10. Say yes to everything. Every time my host family asks me to do something or try something, they never force me to. But I have been very adamant about saying yes. I order whatever they order. I drink what they drink. I try everything. If they want to take me somewhere, I say yes. In just a few days time, I have been able to do and see so much that I wouldn’t have been able to without them.

I am so excited about the next few months! I started teaching school at the beginning of this week.   I have been able to run a few times, and I’m slowly learning the city.  I’m hoping to make my first trip to Venice this weekend! Stay tuned!

Learn more about Teaching English in Italy here: