After situating the bags, we corralled the kids into a meeting room for introductions. Then we gave them about a 30-minute break. This allowed everybody some time to relax in the hotel lobby or the terrace overlooking a very swanky pool. The backdrop to all of this was lots of sun shining down on the majestic countryside right outside of Viterbo.
The hotel was not so much a hotel as it was a resort! The hotel is cut into a moderately steep hill overlooking the countryside outside of Viterbo. Large lobby with a terrace to match. The pool is quite large and walking trails and gardens make up the rest of the property. It was really quite nice! The picture to the left was taken on this huge terrace. As you can see, the weather for the student's arrival was about as perfect as it could be!
This is me and my mentor/Italian "buddy", Yvonne. She's of Polish descent but grew up in Chicago, went to college in New York, and has lived in Viterbo for the last 15 years. She's helped me get acquainted with living here, get my Italian SIM card for my phone, show me where the hippercoop (or supermarket/mall) is, and the best local places ITW (that's "Inside The Wall" for you blogger rookies) to get fresh produce, meet, caffe, pizza, and gellato. How did I get so lucky?
This is Alessandra (a.k.a. Ale) and Danielle, our two local SYA Italian teachers running the student's first Italian lesson after completing their paperwork to live and study in Italy (called il permesso).
This was the scene in the hotel lobby just before the students met their host families. As you can see, Ryan (slouched over in front) held on as long as he could during the administrative paperwork, but the Italian lesson afterwards put his whole body in shut-down mode (well, that and the no-sleeping-for-24 hours thing). Not to worry, Ryan was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when it was time to meet his host family!
I put these four pictures together to set the scene for what was to happen next. On the terrace next to the lobby (see pic above) the students were on one side while the very excited and anxious host families were on the other side. At one point, Pat (SYA director), Dave (Activities Coordinator), Ale (Italian Teacher), and Roberta (Pat's Administrative Assistant and married to Dave) were having to push back the families...as if they were about to "rush the stage". It was quite amazing to see this all go down.
One by one, Pat would call out the family name followed by the name of the student who would be living with them followed by lots of clapping and celebrating. The family and student would meet in the middle of the terrace to exchange salutations, have a few refreshments at the back of the terrace, then it was off to the family's house to start their adventure together...just like that! This mini-ceremony happened 54 times, once for each student. When all was said and done, it took close to two hours to get through all 54 names.
The sunset at The Balletti Park Hotel was equally as nice as the day was yesterday. I can see why people like to come here for some R&R!
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