I'm fifteen (i'll be sixteen when i go this summer..oh yes!) and i'm going to italy with a school group for the first time ever. It's actually my first time overseas so i'm really excited! We're going to Rome, Florence,Venice,Pompeii,and Capri. I think..i might have forgotten some places. But i just was wondering if there is anything that i should know that will benefit me? Any special tips?
Thanx!
p.s. How are the italian guys??

You'll have a great time. I did a trip like yours when I was younger, and my only advice is to make some time for yourself, or just you and one of your good friends, to explore. Being part of the group is fun, but you really get to know then area when you are wandering in small groups.

As for Italian guys... careful. I bet you'll have your share of guys who are 15 years older than you trying to hit on you.

Oh i forgot! i'm going to Venice and Piza also.

Be respectful and courteous all the time. Learn a little of the language. Por favore, prego, grazie, scusi, etc., go a long way to having people warm up to you and help you out.
Spend some time reading before you get there. Learn a little about several of the towns and/or sites you'll visit; don't wait to get there to do that.
Eat lots of gelato!

Another vote for eating gelato (ice cream).

Besides, be curious. Be interested in the places they show you, in anything new. Among many kids it seems ultra-cool not to show any interest in anything a teacher/parent/any other adult suggests, no matter what it is and no matter if they know anything about it or not. That's so silly. They are missing so much.

Hi B,

Lucky you.

>Any special tips? <

Italian for "No" is "No".

Do not be friendly with strange men. Not even a smile.

You have plenty of time to go off to the library and get guidebooks to all of the places you will visit, as well as to do some research on the internet.

What tour company is arranging this?

ira wrote: "Do not be friendly with strange men. Not even a smile."

Hey! I'm a strange man, and I love being smiled at by girls aged about sixteen. I'm perfectly harmless.

Seriously, blueinspiration (may I call you blue, or is that being too familiar?) do take the warning about predatory men to heart. Be careful about your schoolmates who travel with you. You have the good sense to do a bit of research by coming here, and I imagine that some of them might just be looking at this project in other ways.

I'm Irish, and I'm not looking for young women (my wife won't allow me to) but I have enough experience to know that Italians have the same hormones as the rest of us.

Take quokka's advice: don't play the them-and-us game with your group leaders. They are there to make the experience good for you.

Have fun!

You don't get free refills for soda/softdrinks/coke at restaurants. Get your soda fix somewhere else.

Bring the two-pin plug adapter for all your chargers.

Keep notice of where your passport, credit/debit card are. Don't bring too much cash.

Hang on to your purse.

Backpacks are not advised. But if you have to use them, tell each other in your group to look out for each others'.

Buy some more memory cards for your camera and take lots of pictures.

Have a notebook and keep a journal.

Go with an open mind expecting things to be different than they are in the States and learn to appreciate those differences. You have a wonderful opportunity to grow as a human being by experiencing a new culture.

Expect that your preconceptions will be blown away if you open your heart and allow them to be.

Slow down, buy a gelato and while you are enjoying it, walk slowly through the square and observe everything around you, the ladies with their shopping baskets, the old men playing boules, the children playing soccer in the streets, that's what you will learn from as well as the history of the paintings hanging in a museum.

Many adults visit Europe without ever experiencing the culture because they are so busy trying to check off a list of "must sees" that they never stop to look around to see the way people live, and how the community fits together. Please don't make that mistake.

Good luck I hope you have a wonderful time.

Try a different gelato flavor every day. My daughter and I kept a list of the flavors we tried (we managed about 25).

Thanks for all the advice! As for the group thing, i'm going with a smaller group (about ten) and we're doing it with EF tours. My mom is going with me and a really cool teacher, so you won't see me being disrespectful or anything. I've got the italian books covered. Okay..i'll watch out for stalker italian guys..I can't wait to bring a journal because i love to write! Anyother tips?

Hey, my warning wasn't about being disrespectful or anything like that, but about something different. I've seen too many people among my own schoolmates, fellow students, and in groups who found everything boring because they decided to find it boring. They yawned from the very beginning in order to appear "cool" without even having a closer look at, for example, the museum and its contents. Of course, they didn't enjoy the trip.

So stay curious, interested and be open to all the many new things, places, habits, people you'll see, and you'll have a wonderful time.

A little reading in advance can't be wrong. You'll find some guidebooks, coffee-table books and textbooks about Italy in your local library for sure. Besides, there is this board (and there are other travel boards) where a lot of Italy questions are discussed.

P.S. The greatest gelateria I came across (hope it still exists, that was a couple of years ago) was the Gelateria del Corso in Florence, Via del Corso. They had 90 different ice cream flavours on display.

You said you like to write? Take lots of notes in your journal and lots of photos. Save ticket stubs (some of the museum ones are really cool) and pick up business cards in restaurants. When you get home, you can put the photos and momentos in your journal, or make a larger scrapbook and copy pages from your journal into it.
Trust me, when you're older (or an "ancient" 38 like me ;-) ), you'll relish looking back at those pages from your first trip to Europe.

Oh, and buy a cool pair of shoes in Italy (they are fantastico!). When you get home, you can say, "Oh these? I bought them in this little shop in Florence...."