Orientation Days 2021 by Mr. Bellisario

Friday, August 27, 2021 Orientation Days

By Mr. Bellisario

I wrote this first blog-journal from the headmaster’s office at CCI. The afternoon was very quiet despite the fact that the boys were in their residence on the top floor. I remember not hearing them, even though they were in the same building. Through the opening of the school’s front door, I could hear the hum of a Vespa scooter off in the distance maneuvering its way through the narrow streets of our neighbourhood in Lanciano where CCI has been running its programme for over thirty years. 

My telefonino had been buzzing with messages from new colleagues about what time we were meeting at the Allegria for lunch, and others still, sent me suggestions about how to use the latest technology to track attendance or uniform infractions. Our morning was full of activity. 

We gathered as a learning community in the atrium of the school and began our day with morning assembly. Soon after, students made their way to a series of orientation sessions in which we gave them more information about our academic programme, the Cultura programme, extracurriculars, safety protocols and a general overview of Italian culture. 

Once done, we made our way to the Allegria, our residence dining hall, for a wonderful meal of risotto and veal scallopine prepared by one of our new chiefs, Jacopo. Then I spent the afternoon at my desk working on timetables, schedules and a series of emails from parents and students. We had dinner at the Allegria again before students had time to enjoy a cool evening in the town with curfew set at 9 o’clock. 

I was on supervision duty so I took a passegiata along the main corso where I occasionally bumped into our students walking about in groups enjoying gelatos and each other’s company. With about an hour before curfew, we suddenly found ourselves under the portici, a covered walkway on the Corso, weathering a torrential downpour. 

All of us waited, teacher and students, hoping the rain would subside. However, with about 20 minutes left before curfew began, students, first, decided to make a run for their respective residences in the rain, girls up the road to the left and boys straight ahead and up a couple of flights of stairs. Then I waited a couple of more minutes before I found the courage to make a run through the pouring rain back to my own apartment. 

Needless to say, we must have all been drenched by the time we made it back to the safety and warmth of our new homes here in Lanciano. This was the first of what I’m sure will be many more adventures for our young people here at CCI. Tomorrow, Saturday, we hope to have a day at the beach at San Vito, weather permitting.

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