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!