Okay so I know that the title of this blog is rather... sad but its really true. This whole week Ive been finding out one after another that my friends are leaving Italy. That is my Afs/Sts exchange student friends. Over the week my friend Akiralie from Australia went home because shes only here for her summer. Also my friend Fred from Canada left on Saturday because he is here for first semester. Akiralie was part of my area, but we lived on polar opposite ends so we really didnt get to see each other. Fred I saw almost everyday since Ive been in Italy because we live on the same street, go to the same school and have a lot of classes together. Even though me and Akiralie got along really well where as my and Fred constantly bickered about whose country was better ill really miss them both! Ive noticed being an exchange student, you sort of are drawn to other exchange students esp ones that speak English.

Another one of my really good friend Erin is going all the way back to Oregon, USA this week. = ( She told me it was because she wasnt going to enough classes and didnt get her host parents permission for all the missed days. Since Afs has a lot of rules- one of the being you must attend school reguarly so she is being sent home 6 months early. Me and Erin have grown rather close over the last 4 months mainly because she lives in Bergamo- only 20 minutes away by train, were both American and we have a lot in common. Ive also heard that they may be some other Afs students going home early due to unhappiness. = ( Why are we all dropping like flies??
Ive noticed a lot in these past few months that I feel like Im saying goodbye more than Im saying hello. In the sense that back home when I say goodbye its goodbye for now, see you another day. But here, sometimes when I saw goodbye to someone its goodbye forever. When Im with a group of my friends Italian or exchange student I think wow... I might not ever see these people again or were probably never going to be here with the same people. Really sad thoughts. Anyways...

Im happy to report that I will not planning on coming home eary. My goal is to making until July 10th (my departure date) and I know I can do it. I have a really kind host family who shows me a lot of love and support. I have some really nice Italian and exchange students friends and I have my boyfriend in Verona who I couldnt imagine leaving so early after waiting so long to see him. So overall Im really happy here, thing are definatly not at all perfect but I think Im doing a-okay. Its a very different enviorment than Duxbury, Ma but I think Ive adapted rather well. The only thing that I havent gotten adjusted to is the language. Im kind of struggling with that. Probably because I speak English at school, sometimes at home and with friends. After talking with my American Afs friends Ive noticed that my Italian is really crumy compared to theirs. I dont want to give the impression that Im not trying or that I dont care about learning the language. Its just really hard when your constantly surrounded by people speaking English instead of Italian. I think my friends Italian is so much better than mine is because they take normal classes like (science, history, philosphy math), and their host families and friends dont speak English. Im hoping in the next few months my Italian will improve a lot more!



So onto the latest news- I went to Lake Como yesterday! Sunday morning when I woke up I had no idea I would be going to Lake Como. Originally my American Afs friends and I had all planned to meet in Milan train station where we would take a connecting train to Genova. Sadly Italians havent learned the concept of being on time so my train from Treviglio to Milan was 30 minutes late. I was supposed to meet me friends at 8:35 when my train came in, get a coffee, buy our tickets and be stress free. The train for Genova left at 9:05 and of course my train came in at 9:07. I did learn however that I officially have my moms genes of being really annxious and get worked up about little things. While I was on my train to Milan I was totally freaking out that I wouldnt get there on time. I was even talking to one of the conductors to see if there was a delay to the Genova train. When I finally did arrive in Milan I did a full on sprint to the new platform only to see the Genova train moving into the distance. Rats. It turns out my friend Erins train from Bergamo was even more late so we ended up canceling our trip to Genova since the next train didnt leave for another 4 hours.

Since we had all been in Milan a lot we wanted to see something different. So we looked at the giant annoucement board listing all the cities and train times and we all came to the decision of Lake Como. Now Lake Como is about 1 hour north of Milan so the train ride wasnt as long or expensive as the Genova train. When we arrived we all looked at the giant lake and said wow this is pretty... now what...?? The weather was kinda crummy- really cloudy, foggy and cold! There werent any tourists there but us, the entire town seemed so dead. I bet in spring and summer its a really beautiful place and is bursting with people.

We basically spent the day taking lots of pictures, making movies of us feeding these Huge swans bread, eatting a lot and looking for George Clooneys house. Sadly my camera was completly out of battery so I didnt get any good shots = ( I did however eat my first canolie in Italy. I have to say it kicks the North End in Boston canolies butt! For lunch we all ate a huge plate of lasagna and every hour we would be drinking a cappicino, or eatting gelato or a pastry. We tried to find George Clooneys house but none of us knew where in Lake Como he lives or what his house looks like so it was a failed attempt.

The day ended with all of us taking a train back to Milan and another train with Erin to Treviglio. When my host dad picked me up in Treviglio he said I looked really tired lol. I was, it was a very long day of traveling around so I pretty much crashed into bed early last night. Now Im at my schools library typing this after two very long hours of 5th year English. Today we talked in depth about the life and works of John Keats. Rather heavy writting pieces for so early in the morning!

Last week nothing really happened... just school, people leaving for the home countries....

I did however get some baking done = ) I made a batch of fudgy brownies that were deeeelish! I even sprinkled some vanilla flavored powered sugar and put some mini chocolate chips in the batter. Then the other day I made some chocolate chip cookies for the train rides on Sunday since every American loves them. I must say that baking things from scatch is a huge pain in the bum esp when you realise that your missing ingredients. And having to continuesly run back to the market only to find out they have no idea what brown sugar is.

This week I have school but Ive been invited to go to Crema or Cremona with my friends Ray and Michelle on Saturday. They dont have school that day so maybe my hosts will let me skip and go with them. I only have one class on Saturday and its Spanish so it doesnt really count for me. I dont think ill be going out late Saturday night like I usually do since ill be leaving at the crack of dawn on Sunday to go skiing with my host family all day. Luckily the package with my ski clothes has finally arrived so I will no longer look like a barbie. = p

Happy Birthday Meredith! Sorry Im not home to celebrate with you. And Im also sorry I didnt get you anything! Im completly broke right now = (

So Until Next Time...

Arriverderci!