Lucera and first host families

Ahh - Lucera! Lucera is a small town that lies outside the city of Foggia. We arrived on May 3rd, and left on May 7th. What a wonderful town, and just fantastic host families!!! We already miss our mama's and papa's! Jean stayed with Titina and Romeo; Kristin stayed with Marisa and Sebatiano; Christina stayed with Angela and Angelo; and Matt and Brian stayed with Mafalda and Peppino.

Mostly, we met at Brian and Matt's house. Their host parents have a bed and breakfast there, a restaurant (where the Rotary meeting was held), and a few rooms they have preserved to host an art show. It was just gorgeous. Jean's family hosted a dinner for us the last night that was superb. Everyone had brought something...bruschetta, corn and artichoke salad, marinated olives, Titiana made veal, a few tortes and chocolate cakes, etc. And, over the course of the visit, Christina and Kristin were able to visit a friend of our Mama's, who had these gorgeous painted ceilings! Unbelievablly artistic - they have even been photographed and published in some books.

In Lucera, we toured the fortress or castle in town, as well as a few cathedrals. We had our first vocational day, too. Matt went to a middle school, answered questions from the kids, and took lots of pictures. Christina/Jean/ Brian went to visit this $2 million (?) massive church in the countryside with gorgeous architecture (they'll have to share more). And Kristin went to a hospital in Lucera, where she spent time with the head pediatric physical therapist. It was great to find out about all the similarities and differences between our cultures and our occupations.