Hello all! Most of you know we made it home okay, but if you didn’t, now you do! We had two long travel days, one by bus from Perusia to Milano, and then the flying day (yesterday) which lasted a looong time (with 9 time zones gained for a day lasting 33 hours). Plus we got up at 4 am local time… (!).
On the long bus day to Milan, the scenery was generally quite fantastic, with farms, vineyards, and hilltop towns visible all along the route. We stopped for a late lunch in an old Italian town called Parma, famous for it’s Parmasian cheese. It was hot out, and we dispersed from the town square in search of our final lunch in Italy. Many got their last taste of gelato before heading back to the bus.
The final dinner up at our hotel’s rooftop restaurant was delicious and followed by remarks by Mr. Brown and by many of students, too. It was an emotional time for everyone
With an early wake-up call, we assembled in the lobby with a take-out breakfast packed by the hotel and made our way to the airport. The check-in process was involved and made for a bit stress, but we were all at the gate before the plan started to load. A long flight to JFK and we made it through customs in about an hour with little drama, although we did have to figure out what to do each step of the way. Then we were inside the secure area and free to wander around just a little bit. The kids enjoyed one last game of hacky-sack, all eventually gathering in a handy corner area which Ona established for the final couple of hours. Then we boarded and took off for Seattle, arriving just ahead of schedule. This entire process was a team effort, with the parents and the students all paying attention and making sure we all made it through as a group.
For this last day, many thanks to Daniela for her help in getting through the early stages of getting into the system at Milan.
I still plan to post some additional photos and also fix the Toulon album from a few days ago which got a bit scrambled during the upload. And I may post a video or two as well, all by the end of next weekend.