Happy Monday to all of you! It is good to be home and back into my regular routine after three weeks abroad.
I would like to give a special thank you to my guest hosts, Stuart Young, Jesus Vazquez, Greg Blencoe and Attila Ovari, who kept my blog going with their great articles while I was gone. I have posted links to their blogs below for you to visit.
The first two weeks of our travels took my Aunt Dollie, a good friend Sue Bredekamp, and I to Montepulciano, Italy for a course in Italian at the Il Sasso School of Italian Language.
This was something the three of us put on our bucket list five years ago. I have to admit, that it was much harder than any of us had imagined. We thought it would be fun and had no thoughts that there would be homework, boy were we surprised! We would joke with each other in the evenings as we were studying, that we could not believe that we actually paid to do homework in Italy!
Our brains did get stretched, and we learned a lot about the Italian language. But the best part was getting to meet people of all ages, from all walks of life from around the world all in one small school.
We all came for the same reason, to learn the beautiful Italian language. Our classmates were from countries literally around the world. It was wonderful getting to know them, about their countries and life styles.
So often we get caught up in our own lives in our own little worlds never thinking about what else or who else is out there.
This experience really drove the message home to me that we need to take time to connect with others outside of our normal day-to-day life, neighborhood, city, or country. There is so much we can learn from each other and spread caring and peace between us.
One morning in school we spent time talking (in Italian of course) about what we thought of each other’s country. In my class of eight people, 5 countries were represented. It was a very eye-opening experience for everyone to hear the comments spoken.
Even though some of the comments were not positive, it was wonderful that the people represented did not judge each other because of what was spoken negatively about their country in general.
It was a great learning experience in more ways than just learning the Italian language. We got a snapshot view into the minds of others who live in different countries from each of us.
This experience has made us feel a bit richer and wiser because of the wonderful encounters we had with people we never would have known had we all not wanted to learn the Italian language at Il Sasso.
I want to encourage you to take the time to experience something new, it will change the way you see things from how you do today.
Ciao
Tina
Stuart Young: http://thechangeyourlifeblog.wordpress.com/
Greg Blencoe: http://freemanagementbook.com/
Attila Ovari: http://www.attilaovari.com
Jesus Vazquez: http://www.harvestinginspiration.com
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