Adult Travelers!

If you are an adult considering traveling on a tour, you already realize that this trip is great value for money. I wrote the following after a particularly whiny and trying trip with a very picky and inflexible traveler:

 

*Meal portions in Europe are smaller than they are here. Breakfast will consist of bread rolls or toast, jelly and juice and coffee. Soda, tea, coffee and alcoholic beverages are not included with dinner. You will be expected to pay if you desire this. Water is available at every meal and is safe to drink. Lunch may be as high as $15-$20 for a simple meal.

*Your hotel room may be much smaller than you are used to. The hotel may be old and worn. The hotel industry in Europe is older (sometimes centuries!) and is NOT the equivalent of the American industry. Many hotels do not have AC or elevators. You may have to climb several flights of stairs to reach your room. While comfortable, the European hotels are not as large or modern as American hotels. Please be aware that the walls are also older and thinner and not entirely soundproof. Please be quiet in the hallways and not overly loud when in your room. Be aware that you are sharing space with others.

*You may be expected to share a hotel room with participants from another group. If you are an adult you may be paired with adults from our group or another group traveling with us. Adult rooms can not be changed when on tour. Adults can pay extra to have a room to your self. Every room does have its own bathroom.

*You will be expected to be in good physical shape! You should be able to withstand hot and cold temperatures, walking/climbing stairs and hills in hot or cold temperatures with mild to medium exertion. You should be ready to be on the go from early morning to late at night (and be ready to take in huge amounts of exciting art, history, and cultural learning!)

*Big cities do pose some dangers. The biggest that you need to worry about is pickpockets. You may also encounter people trying to forcefully sell you souvenirs. There are a lot of scam artists on the streets! Be alert. Hold your bag close to your body when in large crowds.

*At one point, you will be tired, cranky, your feet will hurt, your whole body may hurt, you may be desperate for a bottle of water. (Maybe all of these at the same time!) Bring comfortable walking shoes!

*This is a STUDENT trip. Everything is geared towards students. If you are an adult along for the ride, you will also experience the same great value for money, and will be expected to stay with the group except for free time. You will NOT be expected to chaperone students.

*Be prepared for lots of waiting. You may have one to three layovers in airports, some with hours to wait. (EF books airline seats in bulk, so we will receive the seats that are available for our route. This may mean we have to pass through a specific airport or have several layovers.) We may have to wait at the airport for another group that we will be traveling with.

*If you sign up to go on this trip, it is assumed that you are seeking to experience cultural differences, new adventures and different customs, foods and habits. You will be outside of your comfort zone. Please realize that people who are faced with the unknown, unfamiliar or something out of their control can get overly aggressive or grouchy. Travel moments can be frustrating and trying. Please think about how you will react when you are faced with some difficult situations, food you may not like, a hotel room you may not feel comfortable in, or delays that you have no control over. Nobody wants to travel with someone who whines all the time.

If none of this bothers you- then you are ready for adventure!

Please plan on being open-minded, not openly rude; polite and grateful, not rude and thankless; think safety but don’t be scared; and be open to new ways of doing, thinking and acting. We will be exploring a different country with different customs, a different language, a much older history, and different food. Different can be good for you!

Exploring these differences will help you see beyond the borders of the US, will help you understand global connections and nuances; and will help you to become a global citizen who is aware, tolerant, and open-minded.

WELCOME TO OUR GRAND ADVENTURE!

Back to School= A Blank Piece of Paper!

Welcome back to a new school year everyone!

 I love the time of year when brand new sketchbooks are available and new pens, pencils and supplies (and sales) are everywhere! I even love the SMELL of said supplies. When I was younger and my parents would go into a bank in England I would grab lots of the colored blank deposit slips with built in carbon pages. My Dad would bring home old stamps from the office. My sister and I would use these supplies to play "office" for ages- stamping the forms and writing and playing.....such fun! Nowadays I go in to Staples or Office Max, Target or Wal-mart and practically salivate at the over-abundance of supplies.

White paper and new books has always signaled new beginnings to me. I start my new visual journals in January only because I can then write the year on the side. (I know..a bit OCD...don't ask.) Everything else in my life starts over when school starts again. In Belgium, growing up, it was called the "Rentree des classes" (back to school!). One of my FAVORITE things to do was to choose my "Journal de Classe" which was basically a homework agenda. It was cool to fold each page over when you were done with it so you could easily find the next page. I guess my love affair with paper started a long time ago!

New beginnings this year include a daughter who has moved into her first apartment, a son who is entering high school and a son entering 2nd grade. As for me- I am starting my 21st year of teaching art! It only counts on the books as the 19th though so I still have about 12 to go before retirement! I do still love doing this though- from my Coastal students to my high school students (on and off line!) I enjoy sharing my love of art with them.

I am also working hard on my blog to fill it with my favorite links and pages, so when someone asks about the trip to Greece next summer, I can say "look on my blog!" Links- look on my blog! Current events in the art world- hopefully,... on my blog!

I have also set a goal to walk/run a 5k with my best friend in September. Hopefully the health benefits of this training will give me more energy to keep up with the new soccer seasons that both boys are about to embark on!

Life is good. I hope we all have a wonderfully exciting year, full of discovery, learning, creativity and imagination!

NHS FALL SEMESTER students please click here: Click for information form.

CCCC students please click on the form in the Icebreaker information in the Getting Started folder. Thanks!

50 Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom

CLICK HERE for 50 ways to use Wordle in the classroom!

Hello, my name is Sara, and I am addicted to technology.......

The good news is....I don't want to be cured!

Check it out- Technology in the classroom is not a new idea!

I attended a three day online symposium this week that was offered through the NC Virtual Public School. It was both overwhelming and tremendously exciting- overwhelming because I want to be able to absorb everything and put into practice as much as I can, but there is a LOT of it! It is exciting because I am so very interested in learning about all of the new technologies that NCVPS is putting into practice. Sometimes I wish the f2f schools moved as fast, but understand that when you are dealing with huge budgets and staffs and other constraints sometimes it is hard to keep up. I do think Onslow County Schools does a great job with keeping up with technology...OCS and NCVPS are moving at lightning speed!

Today I am going to share some of the great sites and tools I learned about with you....and if anyone is actually reading this and wants to participate, I would love for you to join in and voice some ideas. (See below.)

Tomorrow, I am going to send all of my family members a simultaneous call using DialMyCalls.com. This will be my first practice all using a "blast" that will reach them all at the time that I designate. (7am? Haha... just kidding!) You have all seen this with the calls that the schools make to reach lots of people at one time. Did you know that YOU can do it, for free?

My family members will all receive a recorded message from me that is less than 30 seconds. This is a great way to reach all of my online students, parents and DLA's that I must contact on a weekly basis. I can touch base with them and let them know what deadlines are coming up. I can even use this with my f2f students at Northside.

In the first week of school I can have students create Wordles that we can post online or on a bulletin board. I have played with this great tool many times (my online Coastal Art Appreciation students do one and love it! They often share it with their children if they have kids....) I am going to use it more with my f2f students.

Some other sites that I have yet to explore include Voicethread, sharing safe, educational YouTube videos in a safe environment at schools which block YouTube at SafeshareTv, , creating a quick poll at PollEverywhere.com and others which include jzip, wallwisher, quizlet, grooveshark and google voice. I can't wait to go exploring and plan for incorporating many of these in my online and f2f classrooms.

One thing I have done is re-open my Twitter.com/saragant account! I had one over a year ago, and just didn't use it- I was thinking about it in a more personal sense. I didn't even think about it in a professional sense. So- now I follow Shu, one of the technology guru teachers at NCVPS, and I follow other professional organizations and people that influence how I work and interact with others- and learn! Of course the personal links are important too! Richard is one of my oldest and dearest friends from when I grew up in Belgium- we went to school together from Kindergarten to 12th grade! Now I am following him, too, on Twitter. I can also send a tweet out to all of my online students and remind them that an assignment deadline is coming up. I can use it ALSO for my f2f students.

Have you figured out the theme yet? The tools and technologies that I am learning about and using in my online world carry over into the f2f classroom. This blended modality is becoming more and more popular. The presentation that caused the most excitement with the 300 plus educators that I was online with was by far the Mobile Apps presentation. (Have I mentioned how much I love my iPhone?! I am so very grateful that the bus driver in Rome whose bus I left it on returned it to the group...talk about GRATITUDE!)

Dr. Bryan Setser, the executive director of NCVPS has tasked us with coming up with a way to incorporate lessons using smart phones and touch iPods into our virtual classrooms. I have a few ideas already, but I have decided to poll YOU, the blogosphere, and Facebook world, and NHS family, and Twitter pals, to see if you have any suggestions! As you know, creativity shared is creativity squared, (?!! just made that up, don't know if that makes ANY sense, but you know what I mean!) so please put your thinking caps on and head on over to my Google doc and throw some ideas out for me. I appreciate it! Click here!

(Don't worry, nobody will see what you write except me!)


Oh yes, and.... see you on Twitter? "saragant" Tweet me. :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Paris Coupe Mondiale!

Alec and Lisa and I made it to the Avignon train station just in time to make the train, having walked the mile or so from the nearby bed and breakfast where we stayed. The train ride passed quickly and comfortably, and before we knew it we were in Paris. We checked in at the Paris Renaissance Marriott, grateful that our husbands travel a lot, allowing us to claim award stays in very expensive rooms!

We caught the RER to Paris from LaDefense and headed for the Louvre. Lisa wanted to see the glass pyramid. It was so hot that we sat by the fountain and then sat IN the fountain which was refreshingly COLD! Bliss! We headed over to Pompidou center area, ate at a cafe then wandered around for a bit and watched the street performers at the Pompidou center. We had intended to go to Sacre Coeur but did not feel like doing all that climbing! Then we found a cafe that had about 5 screens set up- a crowd was already gathering and getting seats ready for the game, and they were passing out balloons, hats, and other fun stuff. Alec had a blast! I had been rooting for Holland until they started playing dirty, so I was happy they won. There was literally hundreds of people gathered around outside the cafe, it was great!

Alec and I took the underground channel tunnel train, the Eurostar, from Paris to London yesterday afternoon. Took the Tube to Liverpool St station, and then the 5:30 train to Diss, which would have had us in at 7. Unfortunately someone committed suicide on the tracks somewhere along the route and they closed the line for about an hour. Poor soul, it was very sad. Alec had a little 3 year old girl sitting near him, they kept each other amused most of the way!

Finally arrived to mum and dads last night after a stop for fish-n- chips on the way back. Bliss.


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Provence!

Just a quick note before we head out to the TGV train to Paris. Avignon is wonderful, even more so because there is a festival going on right now! We went to see the Roman aqueduct the Pont du Gard yesterday. We didn't get to see the lavender fields though. There is so much to do here, I would love to rent a place and explore for a few weeks! I love the sound of the Cigales.....the cicadas. They are deafening!

We saw the Germany Uruguay game last night from a cafe that had huge misting fans that were pleasant to sit in front of. They had some similar ones in Rome.

We are off to Paris to see the final and spend a day before heading to England tomorrow- under the sea on the channel tunnel train!


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Location:Avignon

France

Part Deux of my adventure has begun! Alec and I took the train from Rome day before yesterday, and arrived in Cannes late Wednesday night. We slept for 11 hours! We met up with my sister Lisa and we walked down to the waterfront and the famous waterfront. We passed shops such as Gerramo, Loius Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce et Gabbana, etc. Within minutes of arriving on the promenade Alec was having his picture taken with Chewie and Austin Powers- the cardboard cutouts that is! The beach is stunning. Further out was the huge cruise ships, then there were the glittering yachts, the sailboats, the motorboats, and the tubing and paragliding rides. We settled for an hour on a paddle boat! It had a slide on it, so Lisa and I paddled and Alec went in and out of the water. I had ALL my stuff with me since the robberies in Italy, so here I was, in a paddle boat, slightly off the coast of Cannes, with a bag containing my iPad, my Canon, all our train tickets and passports, and wallet/money! I got a bit nervous when the waves started coming off the motorboats that were pulling the tubers!

We finished that up and went searching for restaurants that didn't cost a small fortune. Cannes really is the playground of the rich and famous! We had a lovely dinner then walked back to the hotel. We are excited about watching the World Cup final in Paris on Sunday!

Meanwhile we are on the train to Avignon. If you ever learned French you may remember the old Childrens nursery rhyme "sur le pont, d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse". Weeellll....I can't wait to dancing on the old bridge! It's actually HALF a bridge now, haha, but it's still danceable!

The papacy also moved to Avignon in the 1200's, for about 70 years, before St. Catherine brought it back to Italy. The Italians aren't very happy with her for that. I was surprised at how resentful they are of the Vatican. So we may see the Palais du Papes, the Palace of the Popes. This region also attracted many artists, from Cezanne to Chagall and Matisse. There are mountains that go right to the sea, and beautiful cypress trees. For some reason I am inspired to buy a lemon tree for our back deck when I get back. I love the Mediterranean colors.

A bientot my friends, until the next update!

Sara


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Location:On a train in the south......

Home Sweet Home

Welcome home to all of the travellers! I am glad you made it home ok. I have noticed that it is funny how a single second can change everything, just like the world cup commercials say. We had some unfortunate robberies take place at our last hotel in Rome. I noticed today that I too had some jewelry stolen. I left my iPhone on the bus that took us to the airport yesterday. Luckily the bus driver returned it, but I did not know this until I ran into someone that was with us on our tour at the train station. As horrible as all of this was, I am so very thankful that everyone made it home safely and no one was hurt on our trip!

I want to thank all of the parents and travellers, and especially Kim, for helping out!

Alec and I spent yesterday on the trains from Rome to Cannes. We are at our hotel now waiting to see my sister Lisa! I'm looking forward to seeing the world cup final in Paris on Sunday!

Please feel free to email me at saragant@aol.com!

Take care,

Alec and I miss the group already!

Sara

Roma!

We had a great day in Roma today! We went to the coliseum, went to the Vatican and then found our way to the restaurant by the river. On the way home we were treated to a wonderful impromptu concert by the NC crowd! What great fun! The best part of the day according to Morgan- Alec acting like Radio.....Austin- dinner, no, Sistine chapel!! Brittany- the amazing architecture of St. Peters Square!! John- exploring the Vatican! Aubrey- drinking cold water out of a communal Roman water fountain! Layne- I don't know!! Hmmm!! I really liked dinner! Tori- feeding pigeons in front of the largest cathedral in the world. Michelle- the Colisseum!

We had a fantastic day! The last day is tomorrow and we leave for Pompeii at 7:30am!

Sent from my iPhone
S. Gant

E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized state official.

At the Roman Colisseum before our long day in Rome!


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Location:Rome

Siena

This is the famous Campo, or square, of the medieval town of Siena. We had an amazing day today in this town, and ended up back in Florence in time for some people to watch Germany trounce Argentina and others of us to run to the Uffizi to see Botticellis Birth of Venus!

Let me tell you a bit about Siena. There has been a horse race run in this square for hundreds of years-almost a thousand! It's called the Palio and is an amazing race. The kids can tell you all about it- or you can google it. We missed it by ONE day!! We got there today and they were cleaning up, and lamenting the loss or celebrating the victory, depending on where they were from. We saw the white horse being paraded around and the procession of people from the winning contrada- or area! We then went to the Cathedral where everyone was literally stunned with amazement at the gorgeous artwork. Poor Brittany has been suffering from a cold and after giving her some Dayquil this morning I was so glad she perked up enough to keep telling me how glad she was she got to experience this!

I am going to ask my husband to call each parent of a student that is with me and ask you a question for me. I am so very proud of these kids, they have all bonded in such a fun way and there is no us/them division between the kids and adults. We all hang out together a lot of the time. I heard Layne say tonight as we were all walking back to the bus after dinner that she just loved everyone in our group! She was VERY excited that Germany won..she is wearing a Germany jersey now!

Tomorrow it is off to Assisi, which is still in Tuscany. We have been enjoying the views from the bus. I have tons of photos of cypress trees!
We will then drive to Rome and perhaps have a Rome by night tour. Then the next day is a jam-packed day in Rome and around the Vatican. Then the next day will be our last in Pompeii. They have already been saying that they don't want to go home and that they want to come back and live here one day, which is GREAT!

I have to go- I could write a lot more but I am in a smoky internet cafe and feeling ill!

Thanks, parents, for entrusting me with your delightful child...I am loving sharing their grand adventure with them!

More tomorrow from Roma, I am PRAYING for WIFI in the new hotel so I can use my ipad finally!

Ciao, Sara

Grand Canal, Venice

I was taking more photos with my good camera but need my iPhone to upload these photos. I'm charging the iPhone on the 4 hour drive to Florence tomorrow (me and Claudio are good buddies now!!)

I think everyone got to go on the Grand Canal today. What a fantastic history lesson, art lesson, cultural experience and sooo much more these wonderful kids are getting!! I love them, we are becoming a little family.

Murano Glass

Checking out the amazing glass!

Venetian Glass Factory

We all wished we had....oh, a couple of thousand more dollars so we could buy some of the gorgeous glass!

St. Mark's Square, Venice

VENEZIA!

What an incredible day we have had! I am pretty sure I am speaking for everyone when I say today was magical! We were on the bus by 7:45 for an 8:15 boat ride across the Laguna to Venice. We approached the Piazza San Marco, disembarked and had a one and a half hour walking tour of Venice.
We walked across little bridges and canals, around various campos (squares) and marveled at the architecture, while listening to Carlo speak to us. We had whispers around our necks, little headsets that hooked us up to the guide up front, so he didn't have to shout. We will be using those all week. Most of us went on a Gondola ride after lunch, which lasted about half an hour and actually went out onto the Grand Canal for a little bit, enabling passengers to see the Rialto Bridge.

We had some free time which most people used for souvenir shopping or visiting St. Marks Cathedral. Then at 4 we met back up with our guide Carolina and she took us to the Doges Palace, which was fascinating. We saw the incredible meeting room where up to 2000 people once met to discuss Venetian affairs. We also saw the prison and the Bridge of Sighs, the last little bit of fresh air prisoners would breathe as they headed to the prison.

Finally, a lovely boat ride back to the Lido, the resort area we are at, in the blazing hot sun. Kim and Tracy and Tori and I went into the sea for a little bit....it was a bit cold so we only went in up to our bums, but now we can say we have been in the Adriatic!

Dinner was delicious again, and now the kids have some free time before their curfew. Tomorrow morning we are driving on a 4 hour drive to Florence, so I know I will be updating my travel journal then!

I have to add photos from my iPhone, which I am having a hard time charging. (Long story....) I will do that later. I love how well things are going, everyone is so excited and grateful to be hear. I have already heard quite a few people asking about the Greece trip next year. You may have unleashed some travel-loving addicts!

Ciao from Bell' Italia!

Sara

All 18 have made it on to their flight, Aubrey made it to Atlanta and Alec and I are in Dulles waiting to board our flight to Frankfurt. Hopefully we will all meet up safely in Milan tomorrow morning! Aubrey just made it to Atlanta safely! Off we go- more tomorrow from Italia!

Sent from my iPhone
S. Gant

Blue Skies..........

Off we go on our grand adventure! The main group has made it to DC safely after a very early morning! Alec and Aubrey and I had lunch at RDU and Alec watched Paraguay beat Japan in PK's. Waiting to board this plane to Dulles, then on to Frankfurt. Aubrey is flying to ATL then directly to Milan. She had my favorite saying of the day so far- we were plugging in our iPods and phones to recharge. She looked around at the charging stations and said "I love the future!".

Camera Obscura

I'm in Raleigh working on a video editing online course for next year. I have just found some of my favorite clips from David Hockney's Secret Knowledge book promotion. I bought the book when it came out- it makes some very convincing arguments that the Renaissance artists used a camera obscura when they worked, to obtain the truly realistic and breathtaking work that they did.


Click here! David Hockney

Getting Ready!

I leave for Italy, France and England in less than two weeks so I am
updating and consolidating my blog. I bought a new Canon the other
day, and think I willbreak down and get an ipad this weekend. I will
be teaching two classes when I am gone, so I need to be able to keep
up with e-mail and grading. I also want to be able to post photos,
thoughts, and artful (hopefully!) observations!

I read a great post today by an old friend that I went to school with
in Belgium. I think his comments about the hunger and need to create
are spot on. Thanks Brian!

Http://lomimonk.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/the-drive-toward-creativity

Heading to Boston

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We are leaving in the morning for Boston to see ira graduate from law school on Friday! I'm VERY excited for that reason, but also because I will be able to visit the Museum of Fine Arts!

Alec and I are also counting the days until the World Cup and the trip to Italy! But for now, I'll content myself with exploring the "Athens" of America as my friend John said tonight!

Location:Chandler Ct,Jacksonville,United States

Welcome to my grand adventures! Students and adults have traveled with me to England, Ireland, Wales, Italy, and France. This summer we are visiting Italy, and I am planning for summer 2011 already! If you register for the Greece trip by March 31st you can save $150! Register now for the trip and monthly auto payments are around $200, a little more if you are an adult. I have a Powerpoint with all information that I can send you. Please don't hesitate to e-mail me with questions. I would like to meet with you before you enroll on a tour. The trip includes round trip airfare, ALL breakfasts and dinners, a two day cruise around the Greek islands, entry fees, and a full time tour director. SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION. Thanks for stopping by- please feel free to check out our other trips and photos, in the links below right.

ITALY UPDATE!

Hi everyone,

I want to share the dates for our trip with you! Our confirmed date of departure is June 29th. The tour will return on July 7th. The trip is definitely getting closer once we get dates, and it won't be long before I have hotel and tour director information!

Please make sure you have confirmed your name as it appears on your passport. Failure to do so could cost you a penalty.

All fees should be paid at this time! If you are not paid up by March 12th, PLEASE contact customer service and work with them so that they don't drop you from the tour!

Remember that I told you about the "Italy Tutor 24/7" app that you can download from iTunes. It has worked great for me. At our next meeting after spring break I will have a brief quiz (with prizes!) on basic phrases. Please make an effort to learn some of them!

Our next meeting will be Thursday April 15th- that should be an easy date to remember! I will know the airline by then and will be able to give you information about baggages sizes. I will hopefully have the hotel information, if I do then I will share that with you. This is a MANDATORY MEETING! I will be going over phone cards, money, travel plans, and some on tour requirements. PLEASE PLAN TO BE THERE. If a student can't make it I need at least one parent to be there.

I am currently signing up students for the GREECE and Turkey trip in summer 2011. If you are interested, and you sign up by the end of March you could save $245. ($150 discount now, and $95 repeat traveller discount!) PLEASE e-mail me soon and I can send you the powerpoint if you are interested.

Please make sure you have signed up for the optional trips if you want to go to Pompeii and Siena. IMPORTANT! IF YOU HAVE NOT VISITED YOUR EF ACCOUNT AT EFTOURS.COM LATELY, PLEASE DO SO TODAY! Often EF will leave a message for you there if you are missing something.

I am excited about our grand adventure- we leave in 112 days! Are you saving your spending money?!

As always, if you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Sara Gant

All About Creativity

Creativity in America.

Click above to read about Daniel Pink and creativity in America. Fascinating stuff! Let me know what you think!