Udine

Udine: "Ooh-dee-nay". It's in the north-east, not far from Slovenia and Austria. In all my travels I'd never been there.

I was nervous about Udine. I was nervous that my friends whom I'd convinced to come here for this "really cool way to see Italy" wouldn't like it and that I, who really could have chosen to take them anywhere, ended up taking them to Udine. What is in Udine? The train ride there was less than inspiring. We escaped our hot-box sauna of a train car to hang out with Kieren & Co.

Kieren is a returning tutor who's very gay, loves drama (not in the theater sense) and somehow knows the dirt on anyone at any camp and any place in Italy at any time. My introduction to Kieren was sitting in a train car last year as he bursts in and says to my friend Jackie "Sooooo, Jackie Browwwwwn, IIIIII heard about you and this guy Justin..." to which I replied "Hi, I'm Justin."

We were supposed to work together this year for a month, but some last minute camp swapping changed that, for better or for worse. I really like the guy, but maybe a week at a time is a better dose.

We said goodbye to Kieren and the other Treviso camp tutors and made it to Udine. A first time camp, the families were eagerly awaiting our arrival at the train station, excited and unsure about this whole cultural exchange experience.

more to come, gotta add some pictures as well