Thoughts on the trip so far

(Youth on the Move Campsite)

Hi All! I've been uploading lots of content related stuff to the blog so far based on what we have been doing in workshops, but I thought it was time I told you about the rest of the trip. We're halfway through day three of workshops now, today I am at one about gender-based violence and discrimination. So far it has been super interesting, but I'll write more about it tomorrow.

It still seems pretty crazy that I am actually here in Italy, in Solferino on the same battle field where the movement was inspired 150 years ago. It is great meeting everyone, Aaron and I have been talking heaps with the other Pacific reps, there are people here from Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. It's great sharing ideas and we are planning to reactivate the Pacific Youth Network so that we can stay in touch once we get home.

(Pacific Youth Reps at dinner)

I finally had a spare moment (at 7am) yesterday to wander into Solferino town. It was absolutely gorgeous, like something out of a picture book with it's cobblestone streets, and Nonnas with their head scarves riding bicycles - there were even two nuns!! I even braved the language barrier to buy some postcards and brioche. I have expanded my vocabularly now to include bonjourno 'hello', graci 'thank you', brego 'you're welcome' and that's about it. When they speak slowly I can kind of understand the Italian - it's a little bit like Spanish, the only problem is that they never speak slowly, so I really can't understand much.

(Pictures from Solferino Town)

Last night we had a culture share and compare where we had stands about our cultures and what we do in our national society. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of the cultural night as I had a media interview with a radio station back in NZ which unfortunately didn't end up happening, and I was so tired last night that staying up past 11pm seemed way to hard.

(Me at the cultural night with our display stand)

Anyway, that's about it from me. I'll be back with more thoughts later.