Walking, walking, walking

Kimmie did a great job of blogging yesterday about some of our first adventures here. Our second day was filled with a couple of notable things - churchs, walking, and wonderful and charming Italian people - most important our GSE teammates from District 2060.

Tim asked to see churches yesterday, for the beautiful art that most European churches house. Well today his wish came true!! Our tour guide for the day, Diego, did a great job of showing us many churches....which incorporated the second most notable thing of the day....walking! We've learned that Venetians are very healthy from all the walking they do every day - there really is no other way to get around the city efficiently, which allows them to eat the amazing food we've been enjoying. Pizza, pasta, steak, chicken, antipasta - all very easy to eat when you've been walking many kilometers all day long. And Wendy and I learned a very important lesson over and over, heels and cobblestones don't mix. Flats for sure tomorrow!!!

The third notable part of today was what wonderful hosts our dear Italian friends have been. Diego and Allesandro showed us around yesterday and the rest of the GSE team Filipo, Francesca, Carlotta, and Monica hosted our dinner tonight. After our great adventures together in District 5150 - meeting up with the GSE team of District 2060 was like being with our family away from our families. Kimmie and I forgot for a moment in the car that we were in another country, while singing songs on a CD Filipo created from their trip to the Bay Area. To me that is really what this program is about - bridging the gap between countries and making every place a friendly Rotarian is a home away from home. Ciao for now!! More to come (and pictures from me next time!)

Jess

Greetings from Venice!

Hi all, Kimmie here again!

Our adventure started very early Tuesday morning at SFO where our GSE big kahuna in charge Christine Goodin came to send us off and take a picture of the team:

After a layover in Philly, we were finally on the long flight to Venice. Even a delay, bit o' turbulence and babies crying couldn't stop our good mood!

We landed Wednesday around 9:45 a.m.-ish and were warmly greeted by a big welcome crowd filled with smiling familiar faces, GSE Italy team leader Diego & team members Monica and Carlotta, as well as some friendly new ones, including District 2060 Governor Luciano Kullovitz  and Alessandro Lolli, who is in charge of the GSE program for District 2060. Diego took this pic of us at the airport:

We hauled our luggage to a van and then took a water taxi to our hotel. Venice is absolutely breathtaking, more than we could have ever imagined! Many thanks to Alessandro and Diego for showing us around today and taking such great care of us, you both rock! If our first day is any indication of what lies ahead, we are truly in for a treat these next weeks.

Also, we're happy to report that it's gorgeous weather here, we brought the California sunshine! We basked in the good weather while chowing on pasta, chicken, steak, swordfish, pizza, gelato and more. Don't worry moms and dads out there, we're eating well. Perhaps too well haha!

We're also proud to note that once we landed in Italy, we didn't take a nap once (even though our bodies wanted to!). Instead, Diego helped us stay up for the more than 24 hours and now that it's night time here, we're ready to crash. Hopefully, since we're going to sleep around the proper bedtime, we can set a good sleep schedule from here on out!

Take a look at some of the photos I was able to snap around town today...


Waiting for the water taxi:

Beautiful building off the main canal:

View of a bridge over the main canal, taken while in our water taxi:

First order of business after we checked into the hotel, grab some food and drinks to celebrate our landing in Venice!

Look at all that laundry stretched across the canal... what if your clothes fall in?!

St. Mark's Square:

 This is for my bestest buddy: Look, Roxy, it's a Hard Rock Cafe right next to the gondola rides!

Much love to all our family and friends out there, ciao!

This is happening... it's really happening!

Hello everybody, Kimmie here!

I truly cannot believe that this time next week we will be in Italy on an adventure of a lifetime, still so surreal!

The past months have been a wonderful whirlwind of good times with new friends.

So to sort it all out, let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

I first heard of the program through my wonderful co-worker, Stacy Tiffin, who was on the GSE trip to Japan a few years ago.

I remember when I applied... didn't think I was going to be chosen because I felt I was too young, not seasoned enough for this outrageously amazing opportunity.

I remember when I interviewed... didn't think I was going to be chosen because I felt there were too many qualified candidates ahead of me. Literally, before I went into the interview I was sitting in an area with a few other folks who'd applied and were telling me about their amazing jobs and volunteer experiences. You'd have thought I was up against Ghandi and Mother Theresa...

I remember when I got the call from the most excellent Christine Goodin that I made the team... I was chosen? GOODNESS GRACIOUS GREAT BALLS OF FIRE! At first I was speechless and then I let out a shout and did a little jig! Just ask my boss, Brian Shields, he'll verify that tidbit of information haha!

Many thanks to all of District 5150 for choosing me along with my awesome team and fearless team leader, and welcoming us into your Rotary family! Every event we've attended has been fantastic. It's inspiring to see all the service projects you're working on. And it's a great feeling to truly feel welcome wherever we go.

Also many thanks to my host club, The Rotary Club of Fisherman's Wharf, for being so supportive. I promise to make you proud! And I'll return with many stories and pictures for you guys :)

So much to do before we leave!

My boyfriend Mike and I are driving to my hometown of Fresno this weekend to visit my family and drop off my cat, Wanda.

But after that, it's a whole bunch of packing and then we're off...

Ready or not, Italy... HERE WE COME!


Ciao for now!

One Week Away!

Well here here are with one week to go before we embark on this fabulous GSE trip to Northeastern Italy!

I have recently sent out the link to this BLOG to a great many Rotary leaders and hope to have it published in the District Newsletter.

If you just joined us...welcome! I am sure you will have a good time following the District 5150 GSE Team as we wind our way through the Italian countryside!

Ciao!

Countdown is ON!

Hey Everyone - the countdown is on! We leave exactly 3 weeks from today and as excited as I am to be going on this trip, I am just as nervous about all the things that need to be done before we go. Whew....deep breaths, deep breaths.....

We've had an amazing month spent hanging out with the GSE team from District 2060 and all the wonderful Rotarians and Rotaracters in District 5150. The Italian GSE Team have been so much fun to hang out - so sweet - and they have given us great insight into some of the fun that is in store for us when we get to "The Boot". We've also gotten to experience some of the team learning how to use chopsticks, how great the whole team is at speaking English in front of large crowds (so much better than me attempting to speak Italian in front of anyone!), and how much they have enjoyed their visit to our beautiful District 5150. This last weekend was topped off with a BBQ hosted by the Novato Rotaract Club at the Marin Bocce Courts - pictured above is both teams with some of the Novato Rotaract members (thanks to Ryan Olson and Sarah White for organizing the event!!). I will be so sad to say goodbye to all of them tomorrow morning at my sponsoring club's meeting and I personally can't wait to host a few of the team members on their next trip back to the States.

I also was graced with a surprise Buan Viaggio BBQ this last weekend by my family and friends and need to send a shout out "THANK YOU" for all the fun that was had. Two special friends put together a little care package for me to take to Italy. I'm totally ready to go with my Italian phrase books and other goodies they supplied me with. Such lovely friends and family!! Hopefully they all follow us on our adventure through this blog. Arrivederci for now :)

Jess

District Conference

Hi, This is Tim. We are sitting here at the Rotary District 5150 Conference. There's about 300 Rotarians here and we are receiving a lot of information and gaining a LOT of experience about Rotary and what these Rotarian people do...Impressive.

We have to present to them tomorrow in conjunction with our counterparts the visiting Italian GSE team. It's been great to meet them and get to know them. They all are so nice and have great senses of humor. One, think I really want to do before I go to Italy, is learn to tell a couple of GREAT Jokes in Italian, so I can be as conversational and charismatic as our counterparts are.

Well, better stop blogging and get back to paying attention to these Rotarians!!!

One Step Closer

Well we are one step closer to the trip! Tickets have been issued and the team departs San Francisco on May 18 at 8:30 a.m. to Venice, Italy!

Feel free to join us at the airport that day to see the District 5150 GSE Team off!