Okay so as you can tell from the title this weekend I had my first real holiday that wasnt spent in Duxbury, MA with my family and friends. Over the weekend was Halloween, one of my favorite holidays; who doesnt love dressing up, eating candy, watching movies that are so scary you almost pee yourself, making carmel covered apples, carving pumkins and did i mention eatting candy?? Well here in Italy Halloween is well... a lame holiday to say it bluntly. They only celebrate it every three or four years. Luckily they decided to celebrate it this year or I would have been wicked bummed. Alright so let me give you the run down of my Halloween.
Saturday morning I woke up and went to school and half the class was either studying or blowing there noses becuase there very studius here and the cold/flu is spreading like wild fire! All my friends and classmates asked me a bunch of questions on saturday about what halloween was like in America. I told them it depended on your age- that little kids dress up and trick or treat, teens usually get together watch movies, go to parties, maybe get into a little mischief and how adults tend to manage the door for trick or treaters.
Anways since my good friends were sick with a bad cold they werent going out so I went out with some new friends. My mama made a lot of her delicious home made pizzas then my family carved pumpkins. My brother got a fat round one and did the traditional charlie brown pumkin face. I got a tall skinny one and did a scaried face. It was funny to see my papa scooping out the inside of the pumpkin and prettending it was real guts. Gotta love him!
After I met up with some friends who I met last week at a birthday party. It was one of the guys birthdays and he was turning 16 which is like turing 21 in the US. And my town has more bars than houses so there you go. Later that night I went to this I dont even know how to describe it... it was a bar/restuartant/disco. Its in Bergamo- a mini city about 20 minutes from my town. I went with my friend/neighbor and her sister and friend and they were all dressed up with devil and bat headbands, super high heels, and about of pound of makeup. The reason they were wearing headbands was becuase if you wore it you got free lollipops at this bar/restaurant/disco place we were going to. Anyways I was wearing a black thin headband with a black sparkley rose on it, ballet flats, and natural looking makeup. The second I got to my friends house she tried to put red lipstick, more mascara and eye liner on me... I tried to dodge it but sort of failed...
When we got to this place in Bergamo I quickly realized I was going to stuck out like a sore thumb yet again. First of all there were all these crazy people dressed up in their gothic halloween costumes. I was also probably the youngest person there, the only blond, blue eyed, and pale girl. Also I was speaking mainly english with a mix of broken italian and I was one of the only girls dancing because I wasnt wearing feet crunching pumps. I got home pretty late that night and overall had a really fun halloween!
Sunday was a day of sleeping in, eatting, and shopping.
Monday was a national holiday so I didnt have school which was good becuase I woke up with a big old fever, achey body, sore/scatchy throat, cough, and a lovey headache. Yupp the common cold. Normally I just go into the medicine draw take 2 teaspoons for nyquil am and pm for 4 days and Im good as new. But they dont have a medicine draw here so I had to wait til mama got home. It was also raining cats and dogs all day so me, Ale and Otty were stuck at home while our parents were out for the day. My sibs studied all day while I watched dvds from home on my laptop. Luckily my mama is mary popins and the second she saw me she told me I looked aweful. Grazie Mama! = p She is very into the whole organic, all natural stuff so she has been giving me uncommon meds, and making my drink home made juices that are actually good.... after you dump a couple table spoons of sugar into them.
Tuesday (today) mama check my temperature and said it had gone down but I should stay in bed today and rest. She has her cute little mama, Gina who doesnt speak a word of english checking on my every hour and making sure Im okay. Mama said if I get worse today then she will take me to the Docs. Doubt I will have to go becuase I feel better and should be okay for school tomorrow. If I do have to go to the Docs I hope he knows english otherwise ill have to point to my head and throat and say Owww! = p
Nothing else much to report so until next time...
Arriverderci!
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Thats right I got a lucky break and had a week of vacation from my italian life and got to go see Roma, Florence, and Naples for a week! Now I wasnt all that lucky, I had to drive to these cities with my aunt, uncle and there 1, 3, and 4 year old kids. And we didnt really see much of the cities just some of their parks and playgrounds becuase the kids couldnt tour around the city. Their car didnt have a dvd player and the kids didnt have any of those fisher price games that are specificly designed to entertain kids in the car. So it was up to them and the others in the car to keep them under control. As many of you know I love kids, I work with them during the summer at a kids camp. The problem wasnt really dealing with the kids, it was being able to communicate with them because of course they dont know english and my itlian is well.... it is what it is.
So on Sunday evening I got home from Aprica and was really tired. And when I got the news that I was leaving Monday evening for Florence I didnt even bother unpacking my suitcase from Aprica, I just added a few clothes and called it a night. I know that was very lazy of me but very convenient. Monday I went to school then left the house with my cousins for Florence. I got my own hotel room the entire trip which was very nice of my family and very strange for me for I have always had to share a room with someone when ever I travel. Anways Tuesday morning my uncle left for work so it was up to me and my aunt Nora to get the kids out the door and explore Florence. Now I have already been to Florence with my school back in Febuaury so I had already seen all the big touristy spots. My aunt didnt know the city so we ended up taking a lot of cabs and walking around with a map glued to our hands. Florence was really pretty and over all a nice city.
The next day we left for Roma! My favorite city in the whole wide world! Tuesday night we checked into another hotel. This time I stayed at my old host families house and got to see my old host sister, Silvia and her family which was really lovley. The second I stepped into the house it felt like home. I got warm greetings from everyone in the house, it felt so good to be back in Roma. Tuesday night me and Silvia went to a pub with some of our friends and hung out that night. It was nice break away from watching the kids. I slept at Silvias house and early Wednesday morning we were back at the hotel ready to start the day. Silvia came with me, my aunt and cousins that day and showed us the city. We not really the city, we just went to more parks and playgrounds that were some what close to the hotel. That night I said goodbye to Silvia and we all piled back into the car and headed to Naples.
Okay so Naples was by far my least favorite city out of the three. It was just so old, dirty and run down looking. It also rained the two days we were there so we were stuck in this huge buisness hotel. Nora and I attempted to venture out Thursday morning but we only got so far when mother nature decided to have a big down pour of rain. Getting three little Italian kids from one point to another is not, easy esp in rain!! Overall Naples wasnt to lovley, there were lots of police men everywhere, many buisness men who acted like they had never seen a blond hair blue eyed girl before, and there was lots of trash... everywhere. Definatly not one of Italys finer cities!
Friday night we all headed back home, and I was ready to go back and sleep in my own bed again. The drive from Naples to Castel Rozzone was anything but short... Luckily I had my laptop and ipod for when we hit some serious traffic. If only they had ever lasting batteries.... We finally made it home at 2:30 am Saturday morning. I crashed into my bed literally becuase I didnt want to turn on the light and wake up my sister Ottavia.
I learned a lot over this little trip of mine. For instance when I get older and have kids I want my car to have a dvd player, and my kids will know english and anothe language like italian. They will also be very well behaved and there will probably be only two of them. After this trip I give any parents who raised three or more kids serious props. Esp my mom and grandma, I dont know how you two did it!! Kudos to both of you!!
Saturday I slept all morning and skipped school and had a "me day" of relaxing while everyone was at school or work. I did have a very special surprise when I got home- the package my mom sent me had finally arrived and had a bunch of goodies from home = ) Saturday night was my very good friend Cates 16th birthday so everyone from our class went out to a nice restaurant and got pizza and yummy drinks. Very great day for me!! Sunday I slept in which my host parents find odd when I sleep past 10am. To me its totally normal to sleep until noon on sundays if your not going anywhere that morning. My host dad had to explain to me that today was day light savings and the clocks had gone back... in italian. Took a solid 10 minutes for me to figuare that one out! Not much else happened Sunday, I got Mcdonalds with my brother and papa, I hadnt had a real cheeseburger for a while which is very strange and different for me. I basically have pasta and pizza coming out of my ears here!!
Now Im back at school and into my regular schedual. Oh by the way Ive got a new schedual, one that is official and everything! I basically created it with my school english teacher/advisor. The only classes I have to get credit in are english literature and gym. It so perfect! Im now in all 5 years of high school ( in italy they pull a post grad and have 5 years instead of 4). So now I have a more American senior like schedual. I have about 5 different english classes, 2 different spanish classes, 2 different german classes, 2 different gym classes, italian lessons and library time. I have a few blanks in my schedual where in the future I will take italian and art literature. Currently Im not ready for those classes. Im glad to be moving around a lot more. It helps me met new people and actually do something during the day and not just pretending to listen and understand my philosphy and history teachers endless lectures.
Right now some of my schools teacher are on strike so some days I will be starting school 1-3 hours late depending on my classes. Unfortuntely I had school at regular time and my brother starts 3 hours later. Totally fair right? Oh well... Ill write about my Halloween weekened next week. Until next time...
Arriverderci!
So on Sunday evening I got home from Aprica and was really tired. And when I got the news that I was leaving Monday evening for Florence I didnt even bother unpacking my suitcase from Aprica, I just added a few clothes and called it a night. I know that was very lazy of me but very convenient. Monday I went to school then left the house with my cousins for Florence. I got my own hotel room the entire trip which was very nice of my family and very strange for me for I have always had to share a room with someone when ever I travel. Anways Tuesday morning my uncle left for work so it was up to me and my aunt Nora to get the kids out the door and explore Florence. Now I have already been to Florence with my school back in Febuaury so I had already seen all the big touristy spots. My aunt didnt know the city so we ended up taking a lot of cabs and walking around with a map glued to our hands. Florence was really pretty and over all a nice city.
The next day we left for Roma! My favorite city in the whole wide world! Tuesday night we checked into another hotel. This time I stayed at my old host families house and got to see my old host sister, Silvia and her family which was really lovley. The second I stepped into the house it felt like home. I got warm greetings from everyone in the house, it felt so good to be back in Roma. Tuesday night me and Silvia went to a pub with some of our friends and hung out that night. It was nice break away from watching the kids. I slept at Silvias house and early Wednesday morning we were back at the hotel ready to start the day. Silvia came with me, my aunt and cousins that day and showed us the city. We not really the city, we just went to more parks and playgrounds that were some what close to the hotel. That night I said goodbye to Silvia and we all piled back into the car and headed to Naples.
Okay so Naples was by far my least favorite city out of the three. It was just so old, dirty and run down looking. It also rained the two days we were there so we were stuck in this huge buisness hotel. Nora and I attempted to venture out Thursday morning but we only got so far when mother nature decided to have a big down pour of rain. Getting three little Italian kids from one point to another is not, easy esp in rain!! Overall Naples wasnt to lovley, there were lots of police men everywhere, many buisness men who acted like they had never seen a blond hair blue eyed girl before, and there was lots of trash... everywhere. Definatly not one of Italys finer cities!
Friday night we all headed back home, and I was ready to go back and sleep in my own bed again. The drive from Naples to Castel Rozzone was anything but short... Luckily I had my laptop and ipod for when we hit some serious traffic. If only they had ever lasting batteries.... We finally made it home at 2:30 am Saturday morning. I crashed into my bed literally becuase I didnt want to turn on the light and wake up my sister Ottavia.
I learned a lot over this little trip of mine. For instance when I get older and have kids I want my car to have a dvd player, and my kids will know english and anothe language like italian. They will also be very well behaved and there will probably be only two of them. After this trip I give any parents who raised three or more kids serious props. Esp my mom and grandma, I dont know how you two did it!! Kudos to both of you!!
Saturday I slept all morning and skipped school and had a "me day" of relaxing while everyone was at school or work. I did have a very special surprise when I got home- the package my mom sent me had finally arrived and had a bunch of goodies from home = ) Saturday night was my very good friend Cates 16th birthday so everyone from our class went out to a nice restaurant and got pizza and yummy drinks. Very great day for me!! Sunday I slept in which my host parents find odd when I sleep past 10am. To me its totally normal to sleep until noon on sundays if your not going anywhere that morning. My host dad had to explain to me that today was day light savings and the clocks had gone back... in italian. Took a solid 10 minutes for me to figuare that one out! Not much else happened Sunday, I got Mcdonalds with my brother and papa, I hadnt had a real cheeseburger for a while which is very strange and different for me. I basically have pasta and pizza coming out of my ears here!!
Now Im back at school and into my regular schedual. Oh by the way Ive got a new schedual, one that is official and everything! I basically created it with my school english teacher/advisor. The only classes I have to get credit in are english literature and gym. It so perfect! Im now in all 5 years of high school ( in italy they pull a post grad and have 5 years instead of 4). So now I have a more American senior like schedual. I have about 5 different english classes, 2 different spanish classes, 2 different german classes, 2 different gym classes, italian lessons and library time. I have a few blanks in my schedual where in the future I will take italian and art literature. Currently Im not ready for those classes. Im glad to be moving around a lot more. It helps me met new people and actually do something during the day and not just pretending to listen and understand my philosphy and history teachers endless lectures.
Right now some of my schools teacher are on strike so some days I will be starting school 1-3 hours late depending on my classes. Unfortuntely I had school at regular time and my brother starts 3 hours later. Totally fair right? Oh well... Ill write about my Halloween weekened next week. Until next time...
Arriverderci!
So over this weekend I had my one month afs orientation weekend in Aprica! = )
So when we arrived we all piled off the bus, got room assignments- i roomed with a girl from Denmark and a girl from Thialand, they were really sweet girls! Luckily for me my afs advisor was on the trip so I got extra attention from her, esp since her room was about 2 feet away from mine.
During the orientation we played lots of lets just say touchy/feely/kissy type games. Its true that Italians are into that sort of stuff. We played a lot of ice breaker type games where we quickly got to know each other! The main point of the weekend was to talk about our expierence so far. I realized after talking to everyone that my expiernce has been really great so far, and that I dont have any problems. A lot of kids have problems with their families, school, or friends. For me Im not having any difficulites, I just wish I could learn Italian faster!
One activity we did was to get a big piece of paper and write our countries name on it. Then everyone would write down their impressions of that country. For the US people wrote down things like Hollywood, mcdconalds, new york city, fat people, fake blondes, stupid people, disney world, fast food, plastic surgery, big houses, big cars, celebirites, gossip girl, the oc, melting pot, lots of races, american dream... when we had finished writting we had to go to our piece of paper and say what was true and false about the comments. It was hard to explain to everyone that yes those things do exisist in the US but its not all common everywhere in the US. And a lot of it is around the world as well. A lot of people had comments for the US, Italy, Germany and China. And not much to say about Thailand, Norway, Finland and Chile. In another group there was a girl from Bosnia and a girl from Serbia . Now I have never heard of these countries let alone know where they are. So when they were speaking about their country not that many people wrote comments for them. Their piece of paper mainly said small european countries, near Italy, near Croatia, unkown to most people... It was kind of awkquard when I first asked them where they were from. When they told me and I told them I didnt know where their countries where they asked me if I was American. Sad I know. I asked some of the Europeans about these two countries and they said there kind of the lame countries of Europe becuase there so small and nothing really famous about them. Oh well...
One of the big high lights of the weekend was the talent show. I know it sounds lame but it was actually really fun! For my group it was a few americans, a guy from Belgium and a guy from China. Since America doesnt really have just one tradition we decided to show some American culture but dancing thru the decades. Cheesy I know. We did cotton eye joe, swing, souja boy, crumping, macariana.... and a bunch of other American dance moves. The whole dance went well, and the talent show itself was wicked long cuz there was so many of us. We ended with a dance party where I learned that the brazilians and americans are the best when it come to dancing. When you put over 50 teenagers from around the world in one hotel for 4 days you are gauranteed to have fun and some craziness.....
Overall it was a really great weekend. It was awesome seeing everyone one again and meeting new friends. I realized during the trip that the Americans are by far the loudest and biggest group with afs. We are constantly talking and together. Out of the 50 kids 8 of us were American. We mainly hung out with kids from Norway, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Finland and Belgium. They were the most outgoing and American like I think. Most of them didnt have that strong of an accent and were a lot of fun! Its sad to think that Im probably not going to see some of them again since they are only staying in italy for a trimester or half year and some live a good 2 hours away from me. I miss Aprica and the afs ppl, it was a very fun trip and was great to get away for a few days.
Now I have to go pack for my trip to Florence, Rome and Naples! My aunt and uncle told me a couple days ago that they wanted to surprise me and take me away for a trip. I love Rome so much, its probably my favorite city. And I get to see my old host sister and her family for a day! I guess this is two weeks of traveling and no school for me = ) I didnt even unpack last night when I got home, I just threw a few more tops and an extra pair of pants into my suitcase for this week. Very lazy I know... oh well. Ill write a new post at the end of the week when I get home. Until next time...
Arriverderci
Now I have to go pack for my trip to Florence, Rome and Naples! My aunt and uncle told me a couple days ago that they wanted to surprise me and take me away for a trip. I love Rome so much, its probably my favorite city. And I get to see my old host sister and her family for a day! I guess this is two weeks of traveling and no school for me = ) I didnt even unpack last night when I got home, I just threw a few more tops and an extra pair of pants into my suitcase for this week. Very lazy I know... oh well. Ill write a new post at the end of the week when I get home. Until next time...
Arriverderci
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.
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!
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!
Okays so during my last three weeks here in Italy Im discovering some of my talents. Actually make that talent. Ive discovered that I really like baking American desserts... a lot. Last week I wanted to bring some American culture to my Italian family and what better way to warm the heart than with food. So I started off easy and made brownies and they were gone that night. So then I thought mmmm whats a classic American dessert? And one answer came to mind- apple pie. I asked my mama how many pies she wanted and she replied "Oh I dont know 6, 7, or 8. As many as you can" Now im thinking that A LOT of pie!! So I went to the grocery store with my papa to buy ingredients. It takes about 7 apples to make one pie so 7 x 5 is 35. So buying 35 apples is kind of a lot... and cashier was looking at my like "crazy american..."
So when I got home my mama saw all the apples so she asked me why I bought so many. I told her that she asked me to make 6 pies. It wasnt til my host brother (thank goodness hes fluent in english) explained to me that she really ment that she wanted 6-8 apples in one pie. Yup thats right she only wanted one pie!!! Now im stucking with over 30 apples!! Mama mia... so far ive made 4 pies. And we still have about a dozen apples left over which ive been eatting for breakfast and afternoon snack. Three for my very large family (ive got a lot of relatives in this big house) and one for my afs dinner. Making pie from scratch takes about an hour to make and and hour to bake. So its takes a while and the pies disappear rather quickly.
Oh and your probably wonder about the coke floats. Now I really love rootbeer floats, but they dont have rootbeer here in italy... at least I dont think they do. (If anyone in Italy see rootbeer let me know!) so I opted for the next best thing- coke. So one night for dessert my family and I were eatting vanilla gelato and they were putting alcohol and coffee in their bowls. So I decided to put coke in my bowl, my family all thought it was wicked disgusting, that is until they tried it and thought it was very good. Oh and I made grilled cheese sandwhiches last night. Throw some ham in there maybe with a couple tomatoes and BAM you got a quick and easy dinner (thxs mom for teaching me). My family thought they were yummy and easy to make. I guess Im intoducing a lot of American traditions over here = )
And now onto other news, like school. As many of you know school here is really hard, a lot harder than your average public high school. So me being me, and knowing basiclly no italian Im not doing so hot in my classes. I think I would be fine if I spoke the language but unfortunetly I dont... yet. So with my English teacher and I sorted out my schedual. We talked about my classes that I dislike and seriously struggle in. I dont even think the word struggle works for my situation becuase to struggle is to be not very good at something because your having difficulties understanding. In my case I dont understand at all, in most classes all the info goes into one ear and out the other. Anyways my teacher and I decided that I should drop my math, science, philosphy and history class. Back home Ive already met all the requirements for science, math and history, and no one really takes philosphy at my old school except for the really smart kids. Im also taking 5th year english (im so good at english here that im skipping two grades! = p) and im pulling a true Duxbury senior move and taking two gym classes. Here we only have gym once a week for two hours. And during my blank classes I can go to the library to read, study, use the comptures and one the teacher will help me with one on one italian tutoring. Overall my new schedual looks great!!
A lesson that Ive learned this week is that if you need help, just ask for it. A lot of time while bring here I try to figuare things out on my own, like finding the right bus, or what my philosphy teacher is writting on the board or even where the sugar is in the kitchen to put in my wicked strong coffee. Im realizing that yes, its good to be independent and what not, but asking for help solves the problem a lot faster and easier. I wish I had known that earlier, then I wouldnt have walked 5 or 6 blocks instead of just turing the corner, or that I wasnt in philosphy, I was in history class or that the sugar in the the cabinet to the right of the stove.
Other news that has happened in the last week... honestly not very much. My family is really great, im so happy to be apart of their family. Some one told me they wish they could switch their family for a different one. I thought to myself I would never switch families, Im way to happy and comfortable with mine. I really have no complaints with them. Im making good friends, the girls from my class are super sweet and nice to me. Im really lucky to have me them so early in the game!
Onto future news, next weekend I have my first AFS weekend orientation! Im wicked excited its from thursday til saturday or maybe sunday. Yup, three days of no school! = ) And its up in the mountains and I get to see all my friends that I met in New York and Rome. I havent seen any of them for a month now. Its hard for me to get together with them becuase I live a solid hour away from Milan, where most of them are so its hard to commute there. The letter from AFS said that Im supposed to dress in my countries traditional clothes... so jeans and a t-shirt it is then! Also I have to preform a talent... mmmm i can make a mean apple pie lol. I dont know, ill probably end up doing a skit with a bunch of other americans.
A lot of people have asked me to tell them about some of my crazy adventures and expirence here in Italy. Unfortunetly I dont have any, yet. But the second something really out of the ordianary happens ill be sure to write a new blog post about it. Until next time...
Arriverderci!
So when I got home my mama saw all the apples so she asked me why I bought so many. I told her that she asked me to make 6 pies. It wasnt til my host brother (thank goodness hes fluent in english) explained to me that she really ment that she wanted 6-8 apples in one pie. Yup thats right she only wanted one pie!!! Now im stucking with over 30 apples!! Mama mia... so far ive made 4 pies. And we still have about a dozen apples left over which ive been eatting for breakfast and afternoon snack. Three for my very large family (ive got a lot of relatives in this big house) and one for my afs dinner. Making pie from scratch takes about an hour to make and and hour to bake. So its takes a while and the pies disappear rather quickly.
Oh and your probably wonder about the coke floats. Now I really love rootbeer floats, but they dont have rootbeer here in italy... at least I dont think they do. (If anyone in Italy see rootbeer let me know!) so I opted for the next best thing- coke. So one night for dessert my family and I were eatting vanilla gelato and they were putting alcohol and coffee in their bowls. So I decided to put coke in my bowl, my family all thought it was wicked disgusting, that is until they tried it and thought it was very good. Oh and I made grilled cheese sandwhiches last night. Throw some ham in there maybe with a couple tomatoes and BAM you got a quick and easy dinner (thxs mom for teaching me). My family thought they were yummy and easy to make. I guess Im intoducing a lot of American traditions over here = )
And now onto other news, like school. As many of you know school here is really hard, a lot harder than your average public high school. So me being me, and knowing basiclly no italian Im not doing so hot in my classes. I think I would be fine if I spoke the language but unfortunetly I dont... yet. So with my English teacher and I sorted out my schedual. We talked about my classes that I dislike and seriously struggle in. I dont even think the word struggle works for my situation becuase to struggle is to be not very good at something because your having difficulties understanding. In my case I dont understand at all, in most classes all the info goes into one ear and out the other. Anyways my teacher and I decided that I should drop my math, science, philosphy and history class. Back home Ive already met all the requirements for science, math and history, and no one really takes philosphy at my old school except for the really smart kids. Im also taking 5th year english (im so good at english here that im skipping two grades! = p) and im pulling a true Duxbury senior move and taking two gym classes. Here we only have gym once a week for two hours. And during my blank classes I can go to the library to read, study, use the comptures and one the teacher will help me with one on one italian tutoring. Overall my new schedual looks great!!
A lesson that Ive learned this week is that if you need help, just ask for it. A lot of time while bring here I try to figuare things out on my own, like finding the right bus, or what my philosphy teacher is writting on the board or even where the sugar is in the kitchen to put in my wicked strong coffee. Im realizing that yes, its good to be independent and what not, but asking for help solves the problem a lot faster and easier. I wish I had known that earlier, then I wouldnt have walked 5 or 6 blocks instead of just turing the corner, or that I wasnt in philosphy, I was in history class or that the sugar in the the cabinet to the right of the stove.
Other news that has happened in the last week... honestly not very much. My family is really great, im so happy to be apart of their family. Some one told me they wish they could switch their family for a different one. I thought to myself I would never switch families, Im way to happy and comfortable with mine. I really have no complaints with them. Im making good friends, the girls from my class are super sweet and nice to me. Im really lucky to have me them so early in the game!
Onto future news, next weekend I have my first AFS weekend orientation! Im wicked excited its from thursday til saturday or maybe sunday. Yup, three days of no school! = ) And its up in the mountains and I get to see all my friends that I met in New York and Rome. I havent seen any of them for a month now. Its hard for me to get together with them becuase I live a solid hour away from Milan, where most of them are so its hard to commute there. The letter from AFS said that Im supposed to dress in my countries traditional clothes... so jeans and a t-shirt it is then! Also I have to preform a talent... mmmm i can make a mean apple pie lol. I dont know, ill probably end up doing a skit with a bunch of other americans.
A lot of people have asked me to tell them about some of my crazy adventures and expirence here in Italy. Unfortunetly I dont have any, yet. But the second something really out of the ordianary happens ill be sure to write a new blog post about it. Until next time...
Arriverderci!
Okay so I have been in Italy a little longer than two weeks but all the days are starting to blend together that it wasnt until today when I met with my adivsor that she asked me "so how have your first two weeks been??" Wow okay so time here has mushed togther into this big blob of new expiernces and repeated ones. Good thing I have this blog to keep everything in order.
Okay so lets see here... Not much new to report becuase monday-saturday grr saturday i have school and guess what?? I know have an extra hour of school. YEAH!!! hahaha i was wicked bumbed when i looked at my phone and was wondering why the last bell hadnt rung yet. Turns out that they start of slowly here with school and sneak in an extra hour or more each week. School is well.. hard and boring. Im hoping it will get better in time... if not oh well im in Italy so I really shouldnt be complaining at all. Im really starting to realise how much more advanced Italian schools are compared to ones in the US. I dropped down a grade so im in my third year and the students are a lot smarter than me. Hmm but the US does have better colleges and universities. School here compared to US schools pretty much have nothing in common. Except they both have a buliding, teachers and students. Everything else is very different. Im writting a list that is constantly being added of differences with school. Its only been two weeks so ill have a later post about my difference list. Its actually kinda interesting and funny.
In other news I had met with my afs advisor today! Also a girl named Michelle from Hong Kong who lives near my town. We met with our new Italian teacher who we will have lessons with on tuesdays and fridays for an hour and a half. After we met with the teacher, my advisor Chiara showed us around Trevilgio which has a bunch of really expensive outdoor outlits. Good for window shopping and gelato. Im finding that gelato places are everywhere. Its worse than McDonalds in the US- you cant escape them!! Oh and big yet patheltic news for me- I took a city bus all the way home by myself = 0 hahaha! In Duxbury, MA there really isnt any buses to take, you simply drive everywhere all the time. So when I go to italian tutoring I will walk to the teachers house from school and get lunch. then take a bus to a town. walk a block and hope on another bus to my town, and walk to my house. And when I say walk I mean 2 minutes of it. I love having buses to take me places, having sidewalks and gelato places. I makes me feel more independent. Im so tired of saying "mom... can you drive me to this place and can we stop at far fars" (a local ice cream place in my town)
I had a fun weekend, Federico picked me up after school on saturday and we went to Bergamo which is a mini city with great shopping and beautiful view of the mountains. He could only stay for the afternoon so Saturday night I went out with some friends from school. Very fun saturday = ) then sunday slept in, ate another huge lunch and went to island with the family. This island was so beautiful with this giant castel over looking the water, great little boutiques and shops. Oh and it has sulfur beaches which stink like rotten eggs but the water is soooo warm. In certain areas the water is naturally bubbling and steaming. Its very dfifferent for me to see older men wearing spedos and older women wearing thong binkies. Very European... ! I went with my papa, aunt, uncle and three little cousins. When ever we go out as a family ive noticed we kind of cause a lot of attention. First of all were a big group (10 people), three very adorable and loud little kids, half of us speaking in English, and me who looks completly opposite with my annoying light features. (why cant I be tan??) Anyways I had another great weekend in Italy!
I finally feel like im getting into a beat here. I have a daily schedual which tends to change when i dont expect it. Being an exchange student means going with the flow... Overall Im happy, and now healthy (my little cold had gone away) So im all good here. = ) Until next time...
Arrivederci!
Okay so lets see here... Not much new to report becuase monday-saturday grr saturday i have school and guess what?? I know have an extra hour of school. YEAH!!! hahaha i was wicked bumbed when i looked at my phone and was wondering why the last bell hadnt rung yet. Turns out that they start of slowly here with school and sneak in an extra hour or more each week. School is well.. hard and boring. Im hoping it will get better in time... if not oh well im in Italy so I really shouldnt be complaining at all. Im really starting to realise how much more advanced Italian schools are compared to ones in the US. I dropped down a grade so im in my third year and the students are a lot smarter than me. Hmm but the US does have better colleges and universities. School here compared to US schools pretty much have nothing in common. Except they both have a buliding, teachers and students. Everything else is very different. Im writting a list that is constantly being added of differences with school. Its only been two weeks so ill have a later post about my difference list. Its actually kinda interesting and funny.
In other news I had met with my afs advisor today! Also a girl named Michelle from Hong Kong who lives near my town. We met with our new Italian teacher who we will have lessons with on tuesdays and fridays for an hour and a half. After we met with the teacher, my advisor Chiara showed us around Trevilgio which has a bunch of really expensive outdoor outlits. Good for window shopping and gelato. Im finding that gelato places are everywhere. Its worse than McDonalds in the US- you cant escape them!! Oh and big yet patheltic news for me- I took a city bus all the way home by myself = 0 hahaha! In Duxbury, MA there really isnt any buses to take, you simply drive everywhere all the time. So when I go to italian tutoring I will walk to the teachers house from school and get lunch. then take a bus to a town. walk a block and hope on another bus to my town, and walk to my house. And when I say walk I mean 2 minutes of it. I love having buses to take me places, having sidewalks and gelato places. I makes me feel more independent. Im so tired of saying "mom... can you drive me to this place and can we stop at far fars" (a local ice cream place in my town)
I had a fun weekend, Federico picked me up after school on saturday and we went to Bergamo which is a mini city with great shopping and beautiful view of the mountains. He could only stay for the afternoon so Saturday night I went out with some friends from school. Very fun saturday = ) then sunday slept in, ate another huge lunch and went to island with the family. This island was so beautiful with this giant castel over looking the water, great little boutiques and shops. Oh and it has sulfur beaches which stink like rotten eggs but the water is soooo warm. In certain areas the water is naturally bubbling and steaming. Its very dfifferent for me to see older men wearing spedos and older women wearing thong binkies. Very European... ! I went with my papa, aunt, uncle and three little cousins. When ever we go out as a family ive noticed we kind of cause a lot of attention. First of all were a big group (10 people), three very adorable and loud little kids, half of us speaking in English, and me who looks completly opposite with my annoying light features. (why cant I be tan??) Anyways I had another great weekend in Italy!
I finally feel like im getting into a beat here. I have a daily schedual which tends to change when i dont expect it. Being an exchange student means going with the flow... Overall Im happy, and now healthy (my little cold had gone away) So im all good here. = ) Until next time...
Arrivederci!
Okay so here in Italy we have very shortweekends compared to weekends in the United States! Here we have a little thing called saturday school. Yes saturday school, as in you loose a full friday night of going out and a full saturday morning of sleeping in. Two things I really enjoy! Now I would like to know who came up with the idea of having saturday school. Seriously I want a name becuase this isnt right! Italy is known for many great things like its amazing architecture, yummy food, great shopping... the list goes on and on but one thing that is not so awesome is saturday school. I know that Im really lucky to be here in Italy and I usually dont complaine but this really isnt floating my boat. School is very hard here, esp when you dont know italian. I come home everyday so tired, not becuase Im doing anything physical but that Im learning so much! I constantly feel tired and drained during the day. Today in school I almost fell asleep so I had to use the pinching myself method to stay awake!
Anyways Im writting very quickly today to talk about my first full weekend here. Okay so friday, I went to school, went to McDonalds for dinner with my papa and sister. And the people that worked there thought it was cool that I was an American eatting at a Mcondalds in Italy lol. So I was craving a cheeseburger and fries after eatting lots of pasta and pizza. The thing very different about McDonalds is that its more of a restaurant, and people arent ashamed to be eatting there. There are less choices, fries are more salty, they put a weird sauce on the burgers and charge you 30 cents for ketchup. Thats right, no more taking a bunch of free ketchup packets. After McDonalds we went to a town near my house and went window shopping cuz all the stores were closed.
The next day was Saturday and as usual I got up at 630 am and got ready for school against my own will. I kept thinking this isnt right, this isnt right... School was boring, but was only 4 hours so I got home, had a huge home made lunch and watched tv with my brother. Me, my brother, sisters and some of my sisters friend all decided to go to the local pool for a swim. The pool was wicked crowded with kids doing lessons. so there was only two lanes for free swim where intense older people were taking laps. After an hour of laps we took a break and went in the little kid pool. My brother decided to be funny and tell me all about how little kids pee and spit in the pool. Lets just say he went into such detail that I doubt ill be swimming in public pools ever again. Saturday night I went out with some new friends from school. We went to one of the girls town where they were having a festival. So there were music bands playing, people dancing, fancy cars for display, bars, pubs, and ice cream places were open. It was a lot of fun!!
Sunday morning my sister and I got to sleep in (YEAH!) til 10 and we quickly got ready to go out with the family for the day. We got chocolate pastries and orange juice to go becuase everyone else was up and ready. We drove about an hour to this town that was on a lake, a very very big lake! From the town we took a boat to this cute little island that had old churches and the most amazing view of mountains that had houses on the coast. If only we had rememebered to bring a camera. The island wasnt to big so we decided to walk around it, which was a lot more walking than we had planned or wanted. It was about 7 miles, and was over 80 out. And all of us were wearing jeans and t shirts. It was a very long walk and very warm weather with lots of hills but thank goodness for the view lol. After the walk we all got big ice creams and headed home to celebrate my aunt noras birthday with very yummy pastries = )
All in all it was a very fun weekend, I just wish it wasnt so short! Oh well life isnt always perfect so you have to make the most of it. Now I have to go and have italian tutoring. Oh and for future notice when I say brother, sister, aunt I mean host brother sister or aunt... it takes to long to say or write it that way and sounds silly. And I dont have any natural family here so its just easier this way.
My first week here was really cool, crazy and totally different than I imagined it would be! This has been the fullest week of change that I have ever had. Until next time...
Arriverderci!
Anyways Im writting very quickly today to talk about my first full weekend here. Okay so friday, I went to school, went to McDonalds for dinner with my papa and sister. And the people that worked there thought it was cool that I was an American eatting at a Mcondalds in Italy lol. So I was craving a cheeseburger and fries after eatting lots of pasta and pizza. The thing very different about McDonalds is that its more of a restaurant, and people arent ashamed to be eatting there. There are less choices, fries are more salty, they put a weird sauce on the burgers and charge you 30 cents for ketchup. Thats right, no more taking a bunch of free ketchup packets. After McDonalds we went to a town near my house and went window shopping cuz all the stores were closed.
The next day was Saturday and as usual I got up at 630 am and got ready for school against my own will. I kept thinking this isnt right, this isnt right... School was boring, but was only 4 hours so I got home, had a huge home made lunch and watched tv with my brother. Me, my brother, sisters and some of my sisters friend all decided to go to the local pool for a swim. The pool was wicked crowded with kids doing lessons. so there was only two lanes for free swim where intense older people were taking laps. After an hour of laps we took a break and went in the little kid pool. My brother decided to be funny and tell me all about how little kids pee and spit in the pool. Lets just say he went into such detail that I doubt ill be swimming in public pools ever again. Saturday night I went out with some new friends from school. We went to one of the girls town where they were having a festival. So there were music bands playing, people dancing, fancy cars for display, bars, pubs, and ice cream places were open. It was a lot of fun!!
Sunday morning my sister and I got to sleep in (YEAH!) til 10 and we quickly got ready to go out with the family for the day. We got chocolate pastries and orange juice to go becuase everyone else was up and ready. We drove about an hour to this town that was on a lake, a very very big lake! From the town we took a boat to this cute little island that had old churches and the most amazing view of mountains that had houses on the coast. If only we had rememebered to bring a camera. The island wasnt to big so we decided to walk around it, which was a lot more walking than we had planned or wanted. It was about 7 miles, and was over 80 out. And all of us were wearing jeans and t shirts. It was a very long walk and very warm weather with lots of hills but thank goodness for the view lol. After the walk we all got big ice creams and headed home to celebrate my aunt noras birthday with very yummy pastries = )
All in all it was a very fun weekend, I just wish it wasnt so short! Oh well life isnt always perfect so you have to make the most of it. Now I have to go and have italian tutoring. Oh and for future notice when I say brother, sister, aunt I mean host brother sister or aunt... it takes to long to say or write it that way and sounds silly. And I dont have any natural family here so its just easier this way.
My first week here was really cool, crazy and totally different than I imagined it would be! This has been the fullest week of change that I have ever had. Until next time...
Arriverderci!
