I know totally crazy right? Its mid November, why are there already Christmas decorations?? I thought it was an unwritten rule that you cant decorate or have a decent Christmas commercial until they have finished showing the Macys day parade on tv on Thanksgiving Day. Well in Italy they dont have Thanksgiving because they dont have pilgrims or the mayflower. My mama told me that Italy starts decortating for Christmas the day after Halloween. Really Italy? Jumping the gun dont you think??



Okay so over this week I baked chocolate chip cookies for my family and they were all gone in 24 hours. I forgot how long it takes to make them from scratch. Normally I just by the betty crocked package and just add water and an egg. Or if Im really lazy I buy the premade dough were you just put them on the cookie sheet and bake til golden brown. But I went old school this time and did everything myself and I have to say that cookies from scratch and premade dough cookies basically taste almost the same... to me at least. Most people will totally disagree with me on this one but for me I dont really tatse the difference.



Anyways the rest of the week I had school... blah. My tutor cancled lessons this week because she was out of town or something so that ment two extra afternoons of napping = ) This week I have a meeting with my school advisor and teachers to talk about me going to Scotland with my school in March. The trip is pricey so Im hoping for a scholarship since coming to Italy alone is very expensive. So my school adivsor told me I have to write a letter to the school basiclly saying who I am and what I want... in Italian. This is where my lovley brother Alessandro comes in with his great knowledge of English and Italian = )



Oh and in my last blog I mentioned I was going to either Verona or Torino. Turns out I didnt go to either. Yeah huge bummer! So my friend Michelle from Hong Kong invited me to Verona, but my mama invited me to Torino as well. I decided I wanted to go to Torino since my good friend Julia lives there and I hadnt seen her since AFS-NYC orientation. So while my mama had her yoga retreat I would hang with her. So I told Michelle to go to Verona without me so she left Friday night. Then on Saturday evening my mama told me we would have to leave the house at 5:30 am!! Seriously?? 5:30 am?! She said that her yoga started at 8 am and it was a very long train ride so we would have to leave early. Normally on Saturday nights im out til 2:30 am... so I would only get 2 1/2 hours of sleep. So I didnt go to Torino on Sunday like I planned. = (

Sunday morning it was raining and my brother Ale thought it would be "funny" to wake me and my sister Ottavia up at 8:30am. To the normal person waking up means saying "hey wake up" and maybe giving the person a nudge. But to Alessandro Spreafico it means swinging the bedroom door open shouting "WAKE UP!!" then opening the windows so this nice freezing cold breeze fills the toasty warm room. Then turning all the lights on to full blast. Ottavia and I just looked at each other like what the heck?!? We asked him why he was waking us up, was there an emergancy or something?? And replied with a simple no and said that we had slept long enough and it was time to wake up. I was simply flabbergasted. He then procceded by jumping on our beds while we were still in them and then taking off our blankets. I procceded by kicking with impressive force him off my bed and ripped my blanekts out of his hands. Then he marched into the living and blasted heavy rock music at its full volume. I raced to the bedroom door, slammed it shut, and locked it. Ottavia and I tried desperatly to go back to sleep but it was impossible when your house has paper thin walls.
So Sunday morning I was cranky, tired and we were out of cocoa puffs ceral so I was also hungry. Great way to start off your one day off from school!! Luckily my friend Roberto took me Christmas shopping at this wicked big shopping mall. For those of you reading this that are from the Boston area, this mall was the size of the prudential/copley shopping center and had south shore type stores. It was actually Robertos idea to go shopping there. I know weird right? Most guys only go shopping when forced by their mothers. This guy drove me, followed me into any store I wanted to go in, knew all the stores like the back of his hand, insisted on carrying my shopping bags, bought me a mcflurry, and didnt complain once. Hes a keeper! Im sorry but you can only find those kind of guys when they are seriously whipped by their girlfriends; other wise its rare to find them in America or at least in Duxbury, MA.
This amazing shopping center is probably my new favorite place to shop, its also where I saw all the amazing Christmas decorations. I must say that I have to give myself a pat on the back because I was able to get something just right for all 5 memebers of my family by mid Novemeber. The only reason I shopped so early for them is because it take about a month for large packages to get from Italy to America. So kudos to me = p

No other new to report here, I think Im going to try to make some banana bread when I get home from school. When the weather is crummy like it is today and I dont have Italian tutoring or yoga I like to bake. Almost every exchange student tends to have a hard time filling their afternoons. Esp. when your host country has never heard of your sports like lacrosse and field hockey. So for me baking is relaxing, enjoyable, I can watch mtv while doing it and it makes my Italian family happy which is always a plus. So until next time...

Arriverderci!