Tag: Italy

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Grace Koepele

Boom! Shake It Up, Shake It Up

The second part of camp in Cimadolmo continued to keep us on our toes—we took an evening trip to the nearby city of Treviso, challenged our campers with various escape rooms, enjoyed a surprise visit from Carl the singing guitar man, took a field trip to Venice, and conducted a second scavenger hunt all in the first three days!

Despite our vast range of activities throughout the week, the kids somehow always found a way to work one line from our popular “City Camp Rocks” song into absolutely every aspect of their days. If someone so much as dropped a pencil, jumped in the air, gave a high five, or did nearly anything else, one or two kids would suddenly exclaim “BOOM! Shake it up, shake it up!” Which, with this song being a call-and-response song by its very campy nature, would require a follow up response from the surrounding kids of another resounding “BOOM! Shake it up, shake it up!”

Wednesday was an adventure within itself—the entire camp took a day-trip to Venice to visit museums, wander the city, and give the children a chance to practice their English in another setting. While the older campers spent the morning amongst the all of the paintings, photographs, sculptures, and other lovely things at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Art, I accompanied the younger groups to the Natural History Museum for a visit with our new friend the largest crocodile in the world and a laboratory where we made castings of trilobites and other cool fossils.

After the museums, we ate lunch on the museum campus and strolled around the city until it was time for us to return home (more often than not with that infamous “shake it up” line or some other camp song serenading the passing tourists). Our journey back to Cimadolmo required not only a train but a school bus as well, since the town does not have its own train station. Both the train and the bus rides to and from our little Venetian adventure kept everyone entertained with lively (and lengthy) renditions of five or six different camp songs and many rounds of Uno (with some children willingly acting as the table for the cards because our transportation did not provide tables).

After one of our classically long camp days, my coworkers and I treated ourselves to an evening out among the tiny, winding canals and cozy streets of Treviso. The time out away with all my coworkers was exactly what we needed to recharge. After a nice stroll as the sun set we took an aperitif in a cozy piazza near the city center and enjoyed the peaceful break from scurrying children and constant theatrical play. As much as I love my work with the kids, the songs, the games, and the busy going of it all, it felt refreshing to have this time to step back from camp and chat together about everything else in our lives aside from camp.

Our final day of camp together was tiring and busy, but lovely just the same. In between practicing the songs, games, plays, and questions that comprise the final show, we took naps, drew more pictures, played new games, and fought off ravenous mosquitoes while enjoying the sunshine outside. Once five oʼclock rolled around, we took a two hour pause at our respective homes before returning in the evening for the show that is our camp farewell. In my room, we had one of the liveliest arrangements of songs and games Iʼve seen at any of my camps (not to mention our wonderfully decorated classroom thanks to the fleet of artists I had the pleasure of tutoring at this camp). It only seemed fitting that we ended our final evening of this immensely artistic and musical camp with a massive dance party to the “Cha Cha Slide” (and we even roped our camp director into joining in on a second round of the song).

I will miss the insane artistic drive of these campers, their enthusiasm, my long evening strolls through nearby vineyards, and post-camp relaxation time with my host sister Vittoria but at the same time I am excited for what my next and final camp has in store for me. Each and every camp this summer has tired me to a new degree but has also led me to make some phenomenal friends, meet wonderful people, try a plethora of new things, continue to see the immense beauty of Italy, and left me feeling full of gratitude.

I will miss my time in Cimadolmo but I look forward to the next adventure ahead of me in the beach town of Marotta! ‘Til then, ciao for now.

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Grace Koepele Italy

Third Time’s The Charm

My third camp of the summer brought me to Cimadolmo, a small town nestled among the Prosecco hills of the northern Veneto region of Italy. Along with a South-African, a Canadian, and a fellow Michigander, we had an incredibly eventful first week.

Six young women pose outside in a row, smiling and wearing red or blue shirts that read "ACLE CAMP TUTOR."

At the beginning of the camp, the children were quite timid with our morning circle songs and activities—something that is not uncommon — but their level of apparent disinterest made me worry that they would be an unenthusiastic bunch. Thankfully, the first afternoon of habitat games came around and my worries were alleviated. In habitat games, we divide the campers into teams and have them compete in various relays to select the animals, colors, adjectives, and places that will become their team names. By the second game, practically every kid was invested in the competition and in the fate of their groupʼs name. Once the names were selected and each group began designing their team crests, every camper had at least one marker in hand and was making some contribution to the artwork. After this activity we soon came to know that any artistic endeavor required at least 30 extra minutes because the kids loved so much to draw and create absolutely anything.

Several young children lean over a large sheet of paper, coloring a landscape.

Other afternoon activities fortunately proved to stir similar levels of excitement throughout the week; during our camp-wide scavenger hunt we had one Freddy Mercury impersonator, three human pyramids, four love letters to for us tutors, and 35 giddy campers running from one side of the school to another in an effort to solve all of the tasks first.

A young boy with his back to the camera posts a drawing on an orange wall next to several other drawings.

Once water games day came around we were in for a treat. Not only did we have 200+ water balloons to launch at one another but also a surprise “celebrity” participant (a camper impersonating Johnny Depp), a couple “Baby Shark” references, three water-war waging tutors (including myself), four completely soaked helpers, 10+ water relays, and countless buckets of water poured on anyone within range.

Young children smile and pose for a selfie--one wearing large, red aviators with the remnants of a fake mustache on his lip.

We ended the first week of camp with an eclectic talent show featuring everything from magic tricks, to the Macarena (courtesy of our lovely camp director and assistant), to gymnastics, to a re-telling of a Roman battle, to a dramatic reenactment of the time I was chased by a moose (which featured one of our camp helpers giving another a piggy-back ride so that they could chase me around the stage pretending to be a moose).

In addition to the excitement of camp, during my first few days in Cimadolmo, the Prosecco hills surrounding the town were officially named a UNESCO heritage site! Over the weekend, my host family and I visited a castle on one of the hills, where we made friends with some donkeys, admired the panoramic view of the nearby towns and countryside, and hurried down the hill back to the car when a hail-storm began aggressively pelting us with hail. Due to the storm, we spent 30 minutes hiding under trees, bridges, and overhangs in our car rather than drinking Prosecco but the adventure was lovely just the same (although I think Prosecco would have improved my sentiments toward the situation…. and lowered my panic as we scurried from one partially-safe spot to another).

A beautiful Italian landscape with old, white buildings in the background, rolling green hills in the foreground, and stormy clouds brewing.

All in all I enjoyed my first week in Cimadolmo and I look forward to what little adventures come my way next week!

Til then, ciao for now!

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Grace Koepele

No Limits

The second half of camp in Mogliano-Veneto brought a new wave of post-camp activities, tested limits, and Independence Day traditions—both exciting and slightly terrifying.

My host family began the week with a day-trip to the Dolomites, promising a hike and lots of sheep. I cannot claim to be an avid hiker, but I do enjoy walking, being outdoors, and exercise enough to think of myself as somewhat capable when it comes to these types of excursions. At best, I envisioned a long, steady climb up some mountain in the Alps where I could celebrate the hike with a photo or two of the land below. At worst, I thought we may only climb partway up a hill while my young host brother chased sheep. Neither of these expectations were remotely close to the host parentsʼ actual plans.

The author, a young woman, poses with a young boy in a car.
A beautiful landscape photo of two mountains covered in trees in Italy.

After a lovely lunch in between two mountains, with sheep and cows grazing in the field beside us, my host parents led me to an “adventure park” in the forest next to us, where they cheerfully handed me a wristband to complete the high ropes course that curves between the trees. If my family in the States knows anything about me, it is that I have always had an intense fear of heights. I will not step near the edge of a balcony if it is too high off the ground, let alone climb any sort of tree even part-way. Whether due to an ever-present desire to please or some buried wish to redeem my 11 year-old selfʼs decision to sit out of a class trip to a ropes course some ten years ago, I do not know, but after what felt like two seconds to decide my fate, I followed my host dad inside a small hut to grab a harness and helmet before hooking myself up to a wire and beginning my ascent into the trees.

After my hands stopped shaking violently and the panic attack subsided a little, the course was actually quite fun: there were zip lines, jumping and swinging, and unstable portions, and even a stretch where I had to shimmy sideways across a wire. But, were it not for the photos and videos that my host dad—Massimo—promised to take during this horrific half-hour of playing Indiana Jones, I honestly would not be able to recall much about the first few obstacles.

The author, a young woman, poses with a young boy while both wear climbing gear.

While I was initially petrified of climbing and swinging (and falling) through the course, I am proud of myself for doing it and also glad that I didnʼt back out and have to choose the righteous path of redemption some ten years from now.

After I finished the course, my host mom—Sabrina—coined the phrase that has now become a bit of a mantra for me during this time in Italy: no limits. Obviously, it is healthy to have some limits, but I quite like the idea of pushing myself to really try things that I would otherwise decide are either for other people or for another time in my life.

The author, a young woman, stands in front of two forested mountains in Italy.

Following this mantra, I also ate octopus for the first time in my life—this being significant because I have been a vegetarian for a few years now and am not necessarily grossed out by meat, but I do stand by the fact that I donʼt love to see suction cups on my food when I eat it. Keeping with last weekʼs post-camp tradition of going to a friendʼs pool, I also finally managed to sit (and stay on) their massively cute (and unstable) unicorn floaty!

The author, a young woman, swims in a pool on a giant inflated winged unicorn floaty.

On Wednesday, my coworker Niamh and I took our two groups to Venice for a scavenger hunt full of lions, water wells, tourists, and as many gondolas as we could find (bonus points if the gondolier is in the vicinity of their gondola)! After this long day of interviewing tourists, taking photos, fending off ferocious pigeons, and successfully not having to fish any children out of the canals, both Niamh and I were able to learn and use some Venetian slang and enjoy a well-earned gelato. Nothing takes the cake for tested limits like agreeing to supervise two groups of hangry tweens alone right after youʼve told them that they must create their own pop song about how much they adore English camp before they can buy ice cream. We also agreed to share the bonus points amongst our teams from Niamhʼs human re-enactment of a gondolier with their gondola (my idea and her physical implementation).

On a street in Venice, a young woman lies on the ground pretending to be a gondola while a gondolier stands over her, pretending to paddle.
Three young women in red camp counselor uniforms pose with three young campers in Venice.

To end the week, I celebrated Independence Day with my host family by cooking them dinner, instigating a family spa evening, and simulating fireworks with sparkling candles in toast. 

A person sits on a patio in a folding chair with cucumber slices over their eyes.
A table is set with a striped tablecloth and a blue plate that has three candles pressed into a piece of toast.

All in all, I had an absolutely incredible time working in Mogliano-Veneto. While the camp was gigantic and the campers were many (sometimes too many), my coworkers were an amazing support system for laughs, moral reassurance, and company throughout the two weeks. Seeing as my next camp is a mere 23 kilometers away and still in the Veneto region, I have a feeling I will be returning to Venice soon with my campers for another exciting adventure!

Til then, ciao for now!

Categories
Grace Koepele Italy

Hot, Hotter, Hottest

The first half of my second two-week camp with ACLE was one of superlatives.

While my previous camp in Vicenza brought what I thought to be many coworkers, campers, and hot days, this week in Mogliano-Veneto boasted the most. Though the ratio of tutor to camper remained roughly the same, there were 9 tutors (including me) and 92 campers ranging from six to thirteen years old! The sheer energy and volume that each morning circle musters feels as though we may have the whole city singing “Good Morning The Sun Is Up” or “Itʼs Not Hard” along with us in no time.

It became so hot each day at camp that I did not even try to wear the same work shirt twice. Within the first 15 minutes of arriving to the school, I would begin to sweat without even registering that it was hot. Due to this awful heat wave, every day only grew hotter. On Thursday, our camp reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (but apparently felt like 110)!

In an effort to keep everyone hydrated, engaged, and sane, many standing games became sitting games, meditation breaks became our norm, and one tutor even created a “water dance” to encourage the campers to stay hydrated while also teaching them directions (e.g. up, down, right, left, etc).

Despite feeling like I was living in inferno, I was blessed again with an absolutely amazing host family. My host parents, Sabrina and Massimo, are always happy to talk, swap stories, go somewhere, or simply spend time with me and their six-year-old son, Riccardo. Together, we had some of the busiest days yet this summer; every day after camp brought new trips the pool, pilates classes, and a night out in Treviso (a cute nearby town with canals like Venice but not nearly as many tourists, pigeons, or confusing dead-ends).

After a long, hot, and somewhat hectic week, we took a day trip to the beautiful beach-town of Iesolo and quickly forgot about our exhaustion. We swam, tanned, and played a lively game of Bocce Ball—which prompted an important distinction in regards to the new nickname that Massimo has given me: Michigan. We decided that saying “Go Michigan” is not an acceptable form of moral support when we play a family game as it wrongfully supports my collegiate competitors (although we decided saying “Nice try, Michigan” is alright if I lose in a game).

While the past week may have been the hottest, busiest, and most tiresome week Iʼve seen with ACLE so far, I cannot wait to begin the second half of this adventure in Mogliano-Veneto and see what our massive camp accomplishes together next.

‘Til then, ciao for now!