Things We'll See in Rome

Since we are less than 40 days away from our trip, we thought you might enjoy a sneak peek at some of the things we'll be doing in each city.

Rome is our first stop!

We will of course do the traditional Roman ruins: The Coliseum, The Parthenon, and the Trevi Fountain, along with wandering the streets of Rome and seeing the most famous church in history.

Not only will we toss coins into the fountain, we will walk along the rows where the ancient Romans watched Gladiators die, and see the bones of Raphael while staring up into the oculus of one of the most amazing churches in Rome.

We will also spend time in the Sistine Chapel before the crowds arrive and attend a public audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican. After some time at the Vatican we are planning a truly Roman experience, Gladiator School for the kids and I. We all have to earn our way into the school with the raffle tickets we are selling, but I'm confident we all can! Learning to fight like a Gladiator is something we are all excited about!


One of the coolest things about our trip is the places we will be staying. We are not staying in a traditional hotel in any area we visit, with the exception of Zurich our last night, we are staying in castles, apartments, and at a working farm. In Rome, we are staying at Castello Scandeluzza: http://www.castleofrome.com/index2.htm 

We will of course take lots of pictures and share them via the blog and Facebook throughout our trip! We are so excited!!!!! The countdown is really going now!

45 Days to Go!

One of the big meetings before our trip to Italy was a total success. All six kids and three of our chaperones met yesterday, Wednesday, April 17, at the high school kitchen during lunch, to discuss our final agenda and everything we need to know about travelling.

With only 45 days left before we leave to Italy, all that most of us can feel is tension and excitement, and with yesterday's meeting it only helped me feel more stressed and definitely much more excited! Our sponsors tried to talk about every tiny detail about packing, airport checkpoints, and expectations of being in a whole different country.

As they would talk about our plans for the trip and plans before we leave, my head was going crazy! All I could think of was, how I can't wait to get on that plane and land in Italy! But, then the fact that we still have 45 long days to wait, it only makes me stress and somewhat sad, because that means I still have to worry about school, work, and plans for graduation. Although as for graduation I am not as excited as I am for our trip, I am ready to get over it and travel to El Paso the next day to wait for our flight all night long, since I won't be able to sleep until I set foot on that plane.

All of this excitement isn't only because of the fact of travelling to such an amazing place, but because it means that everyone's hard work is finally paying off. We all now know that all of the time, money, work, and patience that all of us six kids, our sponsors, and the community have put into this group during these two years, has been worth it.

There are not enough words to describe how thankful I am to all of those people who have helped us reach our goal, how grateful we all feel and for the sacrifices everyone has made to help us raise enough money to be able to have such an amazing experience.

I know that this will be a lifetime experience, and as I said before, I am glad that it will be with these five amazing kids and our two great sponsors that I will get to travel with and have the time of my life. Now all there is left for all of us to do is to start packing and make a list of gifts we want to bring back home. Final words: I can't wait any longer! And again, thank you all for your support and kindness!

Words of Wisdom

Congressman Pete P. Gallego came by Valentine School today to talk with the kids about what he does. For those of you who don't know, Pete is a local out here in West Texas; he was born and raised in Alpine. As a teacher, it is always great to know someone in Congress truly cares about the people and kids in his or her community. Pete was in Valentine for the Big Bend Brewery "Valentine's Day in Valentine" party and he has attended several of Valentine's Homecoming celebrations, his is a familiar and welcome face out here.

He spent about an hour with the students of Valentine, and happily answered questions from any kid who had one (the kinder and pre-k kids were the best at asking questions today). He also had some words of wisdom for the students. He told them that they really can achieve any goal they want to achieve, he went from Alpine Elementary School to Washington, D.C. Watching the students of Valentine get excited about his answers to, "Is there a library?", "Have you met a President?", and "What is your favorite part about working in Washington?" was rewarding.

The high school kids didn't ask questions, but for some this trip to Italy is probably the first big step to following their dreams and achieving their goals. Thank you Mr. Gallego for stopping by and always reminding our kids they are important to you.

P.S. I was shocked at how tall Pete is...not sure why, I'm surrounded my giant teens on a regular basis, but I was surprised :)

A Bake Sale and A Countdown!

With 50 days left before we board a plane for Italia, we are into the final push of fundraising. We are still a couple of thousand dollars shorter than we'd like to be (the exchange rate to the Euro means our money doesn't go as far), but we've got a couple of things left. Yesterday, three of the boys and I spent the day in Ft. Davis having our last bake sale. The Maria and Latham were taking the ACT test and Gaby was on her way to Lubbock for Regional Golf competition.

The first bake sale we had in September helped us to raise almost $900, this sale was closer to $500. We didn't make as much but we had a good time.  The boys enjoyed telling everyone good morning who came to the store, whether they purchased goods or not, and I was impressed with how many shoppers knew who we were and where we plan to go.

The boys were even asked to pose with a lovely woman from England here on holiday. She said her mum had kept asking if she'd found a cowboy, and we had three! She was excited to take a picture with the boys and they were happy to oblige :)

With so few days remaining, and spring semester being what it is, we won't have anymore big fundraisers, with the exception of our Mother's Day Luncheon on May 11th. We will have at least one more raffle. Randy Glover, a local artist donated a beautiful necklace that we will be raffling soon! If you have any ideas of ways to help us reach our final goal, please let us know. We've worked extremely hard to be able to afford the trip to Italy, now we want to make sure our money goes as far as we need it to.

Big Bend Brewery Makes Donation!

For the past two years, the Big Bend Brewery located in Alpine, TX, has hosted "Valentine's Day in Valentine" and that event has led to donations for the school and Travel Class. This year, Brewer, Steve Anderson and Brewery Manager, Richard Fallon drove down to Valentine to present the checks. They donated a total of $5,000 to the school and Travel Class and we are so thankful!

As the days between now and our trip begin to dwindle, we are in the final throws of raising money and we don't have many more activities (we've got a bake sale in Ft. Davis on April 12th). The more money we can raise, the better off we will be in a country where the exchange rate is NOT in our favor, and donations like the one the Big Bend Brewery made go a long way.

Since all the kids were away at track and tennis competitions, I was the lucky one who received the check!

The Big Bend Brewery wasn't the only local business to make a donation last week. We also received a generous donation from the Ft. Davis State Bank located in Ft. Davis, TX. We are so lucky to have so much support from so many local businesses and hope we make them proud as we travel through Italy.

We also received a gift from the bike mechanic on Bubba's Bike Tour when they stopped in Valentine on March 26th! He gifted us with a pirate flag that has been cross country from California to Florida several times with different groups of bicyclists.

It truly is amazing how small the world can be and how many people from so many different states and lifestyles are touched by the story of our small school with big goals.