The past few weeks in Northern Italy have been a mess. Since the Saturday that I was in Florence, there have been massive earthquakes in the area that I was staying in. Many small farm villages and towns have been destroyed. Centuries old churches and buildings have been flattened because of the lack of proper structural support. Because of this, our program was ended 9 days early. Here is my account of the worst earthquakes that sent the Americans home on Tuesday, May 29.
Tuesday morning started out like any other morning at my house. I woke up at 7, got dressed for the day, and had breakfast with my host family. My host mom and I were talking about my trip to Venice that upcoming weekend. She was going to take me to a few places in Carpi to buy gifts for family in the States that week. We also chatted about the meal I would be making on Friday for them. That day, I was going to La Lucciola, the Special Education school so she was explaining that she would be taking me to meet with the others and when she would be back to get me.
She dropped me off at the Piazza in front of the Duomo where two of my professors, Sara (one of the Italian ladies in charge of the program) and three other American girls were waiting. We split off into two cars, Lauren and I with the American professors Dr. Reinking and Mindy and Christina and Kristen with Sara. To get to the school is about a 30 minute drive so we were leisurely driving along and all of the sudden Dr. Reinking says "Oh, I think we have a flat tire!" We pulled over into a parking lot and then i felt the shaking. It felt like both tires on the passenger side were flat and losing air fast. We all got out of the car and realized we didnt have a flat tire....THE EARTH WAS SHAKING. The windows of the building about 50 feet from us were moving. People were coming outside of buildings and getting as far away as they could. After 30 minutes of shaking and nervous stomachs, we got back on the road. All four of us were freaked out because we were unsure if that was going to be a preshock, the actual earthquake, or if something worse was about to happen.
Then we arrive at the school. All 20 kids were outside in an open clearing surrounded by trees away from all of the buildings( The school had a greenhouse building, an office building that also housed the wine and balsamic making areas, and the actual class building). The buildings had been roped off and Emma, the woman in charge, said we couldnt enter the building because the walls were cracking and they were unsure of the safety. Let me give you a little background on this school before I go into the events of the day. This school is a private school that children with severe special needs attend. They range in disabilities and ages. At this school, they have a garden that the students learn to tend. They also learn to make balsamic vinegar and wine. These things are then used in the school's restaurant where the older students work. They train the kids in important aspects of a restaurant so that when they leave, they will have useful skills for the region they live in. So, we arrive, the kids are outside...We ask if it is a good idea that we stay. The kids seemed upset and confused and we didnt want to add to their stress. Emma said it would be okay if we stayed because it would be a learning experience for everyone. However, the kids would be outside all day and therefore the program would be a little different than normal. We decided to stay and go along with it!
First we joined the singing circle where a man was playing a guitar and the kids were singing and clapping. The Americans sang "Make new friends" in a round and the kids absolutely loved it. Once all of the kids arrived, we moved to the garden where there weren't any buildings around and we would be safer. We sang more songs and played a few games. While we were sitting on the ground, we felt several aftershocks. This was a bizarre feeling. Have you ever sat on the ground while it was quaking and the dirt around you is cracking? It's terrifying. We had to keep as cool as possible so that the kids would become even more upset. The more scared we were, the more scared the kids were. This made me realize the importance of being calm in any situation that happens in a classroom because the kids feed off of the adults in the room. After a while of singing, the americans were put to work in the garden. We were the only people (with the exception of one or two kids and a teacher) were pulling weeds in the garden. We had no cell service to get ahold of the families or people in Carpi to see if everyone was okay, and no vehicles (Dr. Reinking and Sara had left and we were car-less) The kids were obviously upset by eveything that was happening. Because kids had to use the bathroom outside, many kids were confused and would pull their pants down where ever they were standing, some kids were crying, some kids were running around. The teachers were overwhelmed, we were overwhelmed, and the kids were too. At one point, one of the teachers and two kids gave us a tour of their animals. We saw the chickens, the sheep, and the donkey. When we were seeing the donkey, we felt the second large earthquake. As we were walking back to the garden, in between the buildings, we felt the third large earthquake. The last was the scariest because we were in between buildings and could see them swaying as the earth shook. After that, they loaded us up into a van and drove us to the restaurant where we ate lunch. Sara came and picked us up after lunch and told us that Carpi had sustained a significant amount of damage and that they were deciding to end the program and we would be going home. She explained that two host families had lost houses. She drove us to our houses. When I arrived back in Fossoli, people were camping out in tents in the gardens between the houses. We stayed outside for a few hours and my host family ventured to the mountains to stay with my host dad's parents for the night. The next day we were to be at the Carpi bus station at 1 where we would head to Milan and get flights home.
What a week! I survived the worst terramoto (earthquake) experience in Italy in 400 years.
