First of all Happy Columbus Day to all back home! Enjoy your day of sleeping in and shopping sales. I had to go to school today, which actually wasnt that bad of a day. When I told some friends of mine that it was Columbus Day back home, and that everybody has that day off they told me that Columbus is actually Italian. In the US they teach us that he might have been Italian but no one has proved it for sure. Here they have huge stataus of the guy, go figuare.

Okay so over the weekend my family surprised me and took me to a city in northern Italy called Padova. So on friday night I was doing my english homework which was to write about my dream wedding when my mama came into the room. She had a big smile on her face and told me that my aunt and uncle were taking me to Padova for the weekend. I was so happy- going to Padova for the weekend ment first of all no saturday school, getting out of my tiny town and seeing a cool new city. Now I have never heard of Padova before so if your reading this I suggest you google it. Basicly in one sentance Padova is near Verona and Venice and is known for its art.


So saturday morning I got to sleep in and it felt great!! I got to take my sweet time getting ready that morning which I noramly never have the chance to do here. Its always a race for me to get up, dressed, and ready before the bus comes. So saturday morning my aunt, unlce, and three little cousins all piled into our mercades mini van and drove two hours to this mystery Padova. We arrived at my uncles parents house where grandparents and more aunts were waiting for us. We had a big lunch- something im not used to cuz back home lunches consist of a sandwhich, water, and some chips for me. Any ways it was crummy weather and was raining on and off so we all went to these warm pools. I dont know the correct name for them so I just called them the big hot tub pools which they basically were. This leads me to part of the title of this post- speedos. Thats right there were lots of men there, not cute italian boys but old european men with big bellys strutting around in their little speedos. Not a pretty picture!! The pools were really nice and relaxing so iI enjoyed that a lot. The only down side was that you had to wear a swimming cap. Personally ive never done the whole intense swim team thing so I dont own a swimming cap, so my aunt lent me her extra. Here every pool you have to wear one. I dont really like this, and it doesnt really make sense to me but what ever.
The next morning my mama and papa met us at the house and were supposed to bring my brother and sister with them. Unfotuntely my italian siblings used the "to much homework to go out" card so they got to sleep in and stay at home- not cool gys! So my mama, papa, and I spent the morning exploring Padova which was actually a really cool city. We went to this famous church that was painted by a man named Giocco. There were also lots of parks, street markets and yummy gelato places. We also had another HUGE lunch where I discovered capuchinos. Coffee here are really, really strong little shots. Its like a slap in the face. So I told that its to strong for me so they ordered a different drink for me. Back home I like a big cup of hot french vanilla coffee with cream and sugar. So a capuchino is the next best thing, it taste good and gets me thru the afternoons. I have been having a huge problem with sleeping. Most exchange students get headachs from learning a new language. For me I just get really, really tired like all the time. When I get home from school I sometimes have to take a 2 hour nap so I dont fall asleep during dinner. Now thanks to this coffee drink Im sure to okay for the furture (thankyou aunt noara!)
The weather that day was so nice, I was only wearing a t-shirt and I was plenty warm. The weather has been so great here, its the warmest fall they have had in years. = ) So my parents and I headed back home to Castel Rozzone later that afternoon. We had a little surprise though about a mile and 1/2 away from home we ran out of gas. This situation has never happened to me cuz my mom has that little alarm that goes off when she gets past the empty line. My familys car here doesnt have that so we got to do an interesting method to get home. My papa would hit the gas and we would go a few feet then stop and repeat. At one point we all just burst into laughter. It was one of those "oh man this is crazy/ i cant believe this is happening" kind of moments. We did make it home okay, but running out of gas on a narrow road, surrouded by fields and at night time isnt the best situation. But were good and hopefully its another lesson learned.

No curent news, just the same old things so onto furture news. This thursday Im going to Aprika, a place in the moutains for my AFS orientation camp! YEAH = ) Ill be gone thursday-sunday so no school for me at the end of the week. And ill get to see all my friends from NYC and Rome orientation that I havent seen for a month. AFS orientation is basically a mini camp where you bring kids from a certain region and we all talk about our expiernces so far and do games, and talk and what not. Its really a retreat for us exchange students. Then come the following week im leaving Tuesday to go to Florence, Rome and Naples for a week!! = ) I leave Tuesday and come home Saturday, and the trip is totally free! The only downside is that I have to drive down with my little cousins who arent always happy campers and can cry for a record amount of time for no reason. So im all little worried about that. But Im so excited to go back to those cities. Esp Rome, its probably my favorite city in the whole world. So ill try to write a new post on sunday when I come home from Aprika. So until next time...

Arriverderci!