Okay so as we all know Valentines Day was on Sunday. Its sort of a day that you either are completly looking forward to or completly dreading. Luckily for me these last three Valentines Days have been great becuause I got to celebrate them with my boyfriend Federico. Our first date ever was on Valentines Day two years ago. I had only known Fed for about a week and he asked me to dinner with him and his host parents. We went to a restaurant that was filled with older couples. I was pretty sure we were the youngest people there! That night I got to know him, and he got to know me a lot better. I remember the food was Italian style so of course it was yummy and for dessert we had Terimisu, which basically turned into our dessert every time we went out for dinner.
Last year I was in Rome on a school trip during Valentines Day. I told Federico that I would be there and he took a 6 hour train ride to see me for the weekend. He picked me up and took me to a little restaurant were we shared a big plate of spaghetti. After we went to the Trevi Fountain and he bought me some red roses. After we walked around the streets of Rome hold hands. After we met up with the other Americans from my school and the Italian students hosting us. We all went to this really famous disco and danced all night.
This year I took a train after school on Saturday and headed off to Verona for 24 hours. The day before my mom had sent a very sweet Valentines Day box to me. It was filled with all sorts of goodies from mini chocolate boxes, to heart shaped lollipops, to swedish fish. She even stuck in a box of brownie and cake mix with a giant can of frosting and festive sprinkles. Thanks Mom!!
Federico picked me up at the train station and we had a picnic in a park overlooking all of Verona. After we had tea and cake with his family. I have to say I really stick out compared to Federicos family. They are all tan, dark hair, dark eyes and just an overall incredibly good looking family. After we went to the top of this hill to watch the sun set over the city. That night Feds parents, his older sister, her boyfriend, me and Fed went to the opera. They played all these romantic love songs, and a good chunk of them were in English = ) After the opera me and Fed went to a new restaurant that had just opened. They made pizza Naples stlye so it was wicked good! After dinner Fed took me on his motor bike to see the city all light up at night and we stopped by at Juilets house that was completly packed. We went back to his house and woke up early that Sunday morning. Federicos dad had bought tickets for Fed and himself to see Federicos favorite soccer team play in Torino. To get to Torino by car it takes a very long time- a solid three hours. So we ate breakfast and were out the door by 10am. They dropped me off at my house since I was on the way. We kissed goodbye and were thinking wow, another great Valentines Day! = )

So for me you could say that Ive been really lucky with Valentines Day so far!!

Other news- With school Im doing good, not as great as I hoped but I cant complain considering Im at an extremely competive school. I just found out in Gym class that dont grade you on effort but your actual talent in the sports were playing. So for the past month we have been playing volleyball. Back home its not a school sport, we play it in gym for a couple of weeks but its not very intense. Here all the girls play so they were all wicked good. During class we were running drills instead of playing for fun. So my grade was a 6+... not the best grade but considering that my class is super intense at volleyball I just had to shrug this one off.
One of my teacher asked me last week to do this big presentation for the entire school. I have to talk in English about why learning English and other languages is important. Also talk about why we should try watching movies in English as well. Luckily Ill be making this presentation with two of my classmates who speak great English so I wont be alone. Only thing is I dont really know what exactly Im going to say.

This Saturday is my boyfriend Federicos 20th birthday. To celebrate all his friends that he grow up with are throwing him a big birthday bash in Torino- the city he lived most of his life in. Im going to ask my host parents and afs today if I can go for the weekend. Ill be taking the train from Treviglio to Milano with Fed then we will change trains and head to Torino where his friends will pick us up. Luckily Ive already met a few of them, and the whole weekend sounds like its going to be a lot of fun. So fingers crossed that I get to go!!

Thats all for now, so Until Next Time...

Arriverderci!

Its true, I have officially been living in Italy for 5 months now! I can't at all tell if its flown by or not... Its the strangest feeling, I feel like I just left my house back in September yet I feel like Ive been here for a very long time! All I know is that I'm very proud of myself for making it thru this far with very few problems. I rememeber the last few days before I left the US... just wondering what my stay in Italy would be like. Would I get along with my family, will I make friends, will I be able to speak Italian, will I be crying all the time from homesickness?? I must say that things turned out a lot better than I had hoped. I fit in nicely with my Italian family, I have many group of friends, my Italian... well... thats something I could definatly work on! I miss home of course but in the last 5 months I think Ive cried a total of 3 times. My first week I was an emotional wreck... I rememeber my first few days in Italy and thinking "what the heck am I doing here?! I'm on the other side of the world for the next ten months, I know hardly anyone, I wont see any of my friends or family for how long??" I rememeber my first call home, and that I put it off for a couple of days just because I knew I would start crying the moment I heard my moms voice. As much as tried I couldnt help but to shed a few tears after we hung up. The other two times I have cried were on Thanksgiving and Christmas... I was so homesick those two days and couldnt really do anything about it. Other than that I have honestly been really happy here.

So Afs has asked me to take some time to reflect on my stay so far. Weigh in the pros and cons of the last 5 months in Italy. If I had to give you a number on my stay so far on a scale of 1-10 I probably give it an 8. Somedays I feel so incredibly low and just want to be at home again. Other times I feel like I could live here forever. I remember I had an Afs meeting before I left and they told us that this expierence would be a huge rollercoaster. We would have many ups, downs, loops and turns during our stay abroad. I can honestly say they were really right on this one. Everyday isnt at all perfect but there's days that are that make up for it.

The things that I miss most about home is of course my family. I miss everyone so much esp my mom. It wasnt until I got to Italy that I learned how much I took them for granit and how lucky I am to have them. And of course I really miss all my friends back home too... I cant wait for this summer to be reunited with everyone! Another thing I miss is the food. As sad as it is I really miss it! I know that your thinking "how could she miss the food when shes in Italy??" If you come to Italy for a week or two you will say its the best, but after 5 months you will be craving American food like no other. The last thing that I really miss is my town... I really took living on the water for granite! Im in the middle of northern Italy... to see the ocean you would have to take a train about 3 hours either east or west.

I do think however in the last 5 months I have grown up... a lot! I feel like when I come home I willl no longer be seen to my parents as their "little lizzy". Ive learned in the last 5 months that the only person you can rely on is yourself. Its up to you to be the person you want to be, and how you want to live your life. I know that when I come home I won't be relying on my parents as much as I did in the past. The other big thing that Ive learned is that not everything in life is going to happen as expected. And that when life hands you unexpexcted things you have to accecpt the challange and make the most of it. Like the famous quote "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade".

If I had to change anything in the last 5 months I would probably would had learned more Italian before I came. It defintaly would have made things a lot easier the first month! I rememeber my first day of school was only 2 days after my arrival in Italy- I couldnt even introduce myself to people. I quickly learned that smiling will get you far when your abroad!Other than learning Italian before I came there really nothing I would have done differently.

Ive been told that the next 5 months will be better than the first half. That the second half of my stay will fly by, and that my relationship with my friends and family will become stronger, my knowledge of the language will become better(fingers crossed) and that I will overall have a better time. I have a lot to look forward to:
February-
This Saturday I'm going to Verona for Valentine's Day. Ill be celebrating it with Federico and will stay over night at his house with his family. It will also be the mark of our first date two years ago. = )
Monday and Tuesday I have no school becuase it will be carnivale in Italy. Basicly the entire country goes crazy with parties in all the cities. They celebrate carnivale 40 days before Easter so you sort of do all the things your going to give up for lent.
Next week there will be a new exchnage student arriving in Treviglio. Shes from Canada and will be here for 3 months. Always happy to have a new exchange student!
In two weeks it will be Federicos birthday and were hoping to go to Torino to celebrate with all his friends for the weekend.

March-
From the 6th-12th ill be in Edinburgh, Scotland!
From the 21st-28th ill be in Gela, Sicily!
= D lots of traveling!!

April-
My my, sister and my moms's boyfriend will be coming to Italy for a few days to see me the third week of the month!! = D Super happy about that one!!

May-
Its my birthday the 25th... also my mama's, host sisters, host aunt, and my new baby cousin thats on the way!

June-
Finish school the second week and will be Freeeeee!

July-
I have 10 days to do anything and everything before my flight home

So as you can see Ive got a lot of things coming up in the next 5 months! Some things that happened in the last week is that I got my report card and got all 8 in my classes and 10 in conduct/particaption in class = ) solid grades! My host parents were really proud. Yesterday (sunday) I had my last day of skiing. Im feeling bittersweet aboout that one. The expierence was amazing and Im really happy that I had the chance to do it! I am however excited to have my saturday nights going out late and sunday morning of sleeping in!

So Until Next Time...

Arriverderci!

Okay so in this post I want to talk about more than just my life, but about people's lives around the world. Everyday on tv they show the victims of Haiti, everyday I wish I could do more than just see their helpless faces. Since I'm not a millionaire and can't donate money to the cause I think its best to use any talents we may posess. For me, I think its writting in this blog.
When ever I watch tv at home I always see different clips of Haiti, and the incredible amount of trouble the country is in. Before the earthquake Haiti wasn't exactly the richest island in the Carribean, but now they seem to be in the worst economic crisis. Thanks to the big help of the US, we seem be doing some relieve by sending army soliders, food, medicine, construction supplies and overall help. I know that other countries are doing their part as well. For example my host country Italy. Their main aim is to raise awareness of the natural disaster since were rather far away. They constantly play commercials showing the resolts after the earthquake and ask to donate money. There are even facebook groups promoting awareness. The earthquake has been an international crisis, I think we all wish we could do something to help.

I got an email the other day from my grandma marylou. The first part talked about my uncles safe trip to Hatiti since he films around the world. Luckily he made it back A-Okay = ) The other part of the email listed a bunch of things that you should try to rememeber during your day. One of the things that was listed that really stuck out to me. The quote was "if we all threw our problems into a pile, we would probably take ours back." This statement to me is very relateable. From time to time we all think that our lives are going completly horribly, that we have so many problems, and just want to have a break down. After reading this quote it really hit that my personal problems seem practicly nonexistant compared to the problems of the victims in Haiti. The general problems in the US is keeping a good job, paying the bills, making sure everyone in your family is happy, healthy and safe. If you compare these problems to people of Haiti's problems you might have some second thoughts on how problamatic they really are. People there basically have nothing, almost all they had has been destroyed. Its strange how something terrible has to happen for people to unite together to help and support others in need.


Onto other news:
Three Americans left for home 6 months earlier than planned. All with different reasons why they left. One was my close friend Erin, however Im sorry to see all of them leave. On the other hand Im really determined to make it to the end of this adventure of mine.
A new exchange student is coming to my local chapter from Canada, she will be here sometime in February = )
We had a snow fall the other day, my town looked so beautiful covered in the white blanket! Sadly the next day it was washed away by rain. = (
Sunday I went skiing for the second time, although things were a little different. This time it was 10 degrees outside, no sun and kind of windy. BURR! Since it was so cold not as many people were there. Also some of the slopes were icy resulting in my first wipe out while skiing. Ii started with me going down the mountain a lot faster than I should had... Suddenly was on a very icy and steep slope, when I tried to stop I just kept sliding downward and eventually starting tumbling. When I looked up one ski was at the top of the slope and my host dad was handing my one of my poles and asking if I was okay. Luckily the fall didnt leave a mark on me, I laughed it off espcially when a bunch of snow was down my pants. It was mainly my family that was on the slope so very few people saw my very ungraceful fall. After that I took the more difficult slopes a lot slower! The rest of the day skiing went smoothly and eventually the sun did come out... right as we were leaving. = p
This morning was the first sunny morning since October I think. My bus for school came a lot later than it normally does. Usually it super dark when Im waiting for it to come, and the ride to school as well. Today however I got to see the sun rising over the mountains... it was such a beautiful site! I hadn't seen the mountains for a very long time since its always cloudy and dark in the mornings. So I was very pleasantly surprised this morning = )

I know this blog is a lot shorter than what I normally write but there isnt a lot of exciting news in the dead of winter in my tiny little town. So Until Next Time...

Arriverderci!

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!

Okay so yesterday (sunday) I went skiing for the first time... in Sondrio! So Sondrio is a city in the mountains in northern Italy. Its near the city Aprica where I went for my AFS orientation camp back in october. So early Sunday morning about 5:45 am my papa come into my room to wake me up and tells me I have about 15 minutes to get up, dressed and ready to leave. Luckily I have the weird talent of being able to spring out of bed early in the morning but pulling myself completly together in 15 minutes is a slight challange for me.
So I went into the kitchen in my pjs and looked at the kitchen table and saw piles of ski clothes. My package with my ski clothes hadnt arrived yet so my mama had pulled clothes out the night before for me since I went out with friends. Anyways she had a salmon colored pink onesy snow suit for me. The pink suit would have looked cute on a girl of say 5 or 6 years old. But on me I just looked like the doll Barbie esp with my blonde hair. I hadnt gone skiing before so I was kind of a lost soul on what to wear under the ski suit. I ended up throwing on some leggings, yoga pants, long sleeve thermal, and a black lacrosse pullover that said Hofmaier on the back, black ski cap, aviator sun glasses and uggs.
The car ride to the mountain was a little over 2 hours. I slept majority of the way. When I woke up we were driving up a narrow widney road and were surrounded by mountains and snow. The view was amazing! As we were driving up I could see all the cute little snow covered towns. As we pulled up to the mountain I had some serious butterflies in my stomach. I was so nervous, scared and excited! While my host dad was strapping on my brick like snow boots onto my feet I was just staring at the slopes- they were huge and so steep! As we walked up to the slopes with skiies in hand I felt like a huge fish out of water. I struggled with the whole push youself while on skies using your polls thing. And with my pink onesy suit, blonde hair and strong american accent I also stuck out like a soar thumb. It felt like everyone was just staring at me like where the heck are you from and your definatly new at this.
Since we got there early (8:30am) there werent a lot of people. So my papa took my down the bunny slopes a few time. He said I was a real natural and that I was doing great! = ) After going down the baby slopes twice he took my to the more difficult slopes which I didnt really have a problem with. I didnt fall or feel like I was going to fall. It all just seemed so simple, easy and really fun!
When the clock struck 10 am all the sudden there was tons and tons of people on the slopes. Most were there for ski lessons like me. I was put in a beginners group where we went 5 feet up the bunny slope, went down and stopped and repeated. After about 10 minutes they moved me out of the group and put me in a more advanced group. I had two women and a man who were in their late 30s and were like "oh we never tried skiing so we might as well try now." My teacher or any one else in the group didnt know english- lovely, but was really nice to me and told me I was doing a really awesome job esp since it was my first day. They also didnt know the city of Boston so I just said it was near New York. They kept asking me if I lived in Manhattan lol.
After ski school my papa and I got lunch- spaghetti and meatballs with cokes. Yummy! I was super tired from my first day of skiing so we went home a couple hours early. Probably a good thing since the slopes were packed and it was going to rain later that afternoon. I slept all the way home. When we got back to the house my papa was boasting to the rest of the family on how great I did on my first day and how he was so proud of me. = )

Overall the day was great, I love skiing! It was really nice weather, the sun was out, and it wasnt to cold or windy. The view of the mountains was breathtaking and of course I forgot my camera... again. I will make a huge effort to rememeber it when we go skiing again in two weeks.

Nothing really big or exciting happened last week. Just school which Im doing really good at since I got back some exams from my English classes. I got a 10, 8, and 7+

On Saturday night I went out with my friends where we went out for pizza. Now every couple of streets you will see a pizzera and to me they all look the same. This one was very different. At this pizzera they made pizzas that were the size of an extra large pizza just for one person! They were HUGE! They didnt even fit on a large plate, they sides had about 4 inches hanging off. And the toppings you could get were crazy! For example my friend got a pizza that had sausage, pepperoine, ham, mushrooms, peppers, onions, mozzerla cheese, peas and two sunny side up eggs! And everyone but me was able to eat the monster size pizzas alone and had room for dessert! After that night Im almost 100% positive that Italians are born with two stomachs or maybe they have really fast metabolisms. I dont know how they can eat so much and stay so thin!

This next week is kind of a sad week for me. My good friend Fred from Canada is going back home because hes only here for first semester. Also my friend Akiralie is going back to Australia since shes here only for her summer. Im really sad that my frieds are leaving. When Fred leaves ill be the only exchange student in my town and at school. Im really going to miss him even though he sometimes gets annoying. I wish Akiralie lived closer to Treviglio and was staying longer so I could have gotten to know her better! Theres nothing big to look forward to this week, just school really. Maybe ill get some baking done since I havent made anything for a while Even my family says they miss my brownies and cookies. Were not going skiing this sunday but the one after and next time my brother and sister will come too. Hopefully my ski clothes will arrive by then so I wont have to wear the barbie snow suit again! Until Next Time....

Arriverderci!

Okay so I have offically been living in Castel Rozzone, Italy for 4 months now. I really cant tell if it has flown by or not. I feel very settled and everything seems fimilar and normal now. Its strange how the first semester and winter stay kids will be leaving soon. To think of going back home in a few weeks seems totally crazy to me. Im not at all ready to leave my Italian life but to go home for a few weeks would be amazing. All the year long exchange students are starting to feel it. Were all sort of going down hill on this emtional rollercoaster. Yes we all made it thru our first Christmas and New Years away from home but now the excitement of the holidays has died and were all back at school. The school days now seem longer as the teachers endlessly lecture in Italian because we can now get the gist of what their saying. When we leave home and come home its generally dark and very cold! I am offically in the two long most dreaded months of my stay- Janaury and February. And I have kicked off this month with yet another nasty cold. Lovley.

Now I was planning on writting this week about my first expierence skiing in the Alps with my papa and brother. Sadly Im sick with this cold that is very mysterious. It came on very quickly and likes to make my body feel like its a dead fish one day then normal the next day, over and over for more than week. So on Sunday I had to cancel my ski lessons and stay home all weekend. Yesterday I went to school but came home with a fever so now Im currently in my pjs writting this blog feverless and feeling relatively fine. Dang cold! So instead I really want to talk about the culture difference here. Ive past the three month mark which is the longest a tourist can stay in a foreign country and I am now at the temporary residence stage. So I think Im qualified to talk about what it is like living in Italy.

Before I start I must note that all the observation are from my own personal view points. Another exchange student may or may not agree with all that is written. These are simply my opinions and thoughts.

Alrighty so the highlight of my week has been new years which basically was the best new years of my life so far. Originally I was supposed to stay at home with my brother while my mama, papa and sister went to the mountains. My brother was planning on inviting a few of our friends over then hitting the disco after midnight. Which sounded totally cool to me but turns out I had a surprise invite to my boyfriend Federico's house in Verona to celebrate the New Year.
Now Im not supposed to see Federico for the first 6 months of my stay. Its a strange AFS rule, but they believe that interaction with friends and family that you knew before your exchange will disrupt your new life. I really dislike this rule and was completely unaware of it before I left Boston. So the last time I had seen Federico was two weeks before Halloween. After I saw him back in October my host parents and AFS made it clear that they didnt want me to see him because they thought he was distracting me and I wasnt settling into my new life properly. So I had to tell Fed that I couldnt see him for a long time and luckily he understood since he had been an AFS exchange student two years ago.
Anyways the 23rd I asked my papa if he could take me to the post office to send Federico's Christmas gift and he said that I could give it to him myself. I was so surprised! I asked if I could really go to Verona after Christmas and he said it wouldnt be a problem. = 0 So my host mama called my advisor who gave my trip a thumbs up. I was wicked shocked that I could see Federico earlier than we had planned and I was allowed to go to Verona for New Years Eve! = )

So on the 31st I took a 10am train from Treviglio and arrived in Verona around 11:30 am where Fed met me right on the platform and gave me the biggest hug. Then we drove in his cute little car to his good friend Umbertos house. I had met Umberto over the summer when he came to Boston with Fed for a couple weeks. Anyways the three of us hit the streets of Verona. We went to the house of Juliet and saw the famous balcony which was really romantic and there was even a couple getting married there! Next we did a little shopping and saw the Arena of Verona and this giant model shooting star. After we went back to Federicos house which is a gorgeous house on top of the hills of Verona so it had an amazing view of the city. Sadly it was supposed to down pour rain the two days I was there. Luckily it didnt rain but was just really cloudy and foggy.
Something I discovered about Federico is that he can cook, really well. Not from a recipe but just naturally throwing in ingredients. So he made some yummy pasta for lunch. I also got to meet his family and they were really kind and loving people = )
After we had to go back to the train station to meet his two friends that were coming in from Torino and Padova. The one from Torino was super fun and crazy but spoke basically no English, he was a rather entertaining character. Him and Fed had been really good friends for a long time since Fed used to live in Torino but moved to Verona when he came back from the US. Then the one from Padova was super kind to me and knew really good English so it was really nice having a decent convos with him. He had met Federico this year since they go to the same University in Padova.
So once they arrived when spent a lot of time walking around in Verona. When night time came we went to happy hour in the center of the city. After we wanted to go bowling but it was closed so we just walked around until our dinner reservation at 10:30. After dinner we joined the hundreds of people gathered in the main square and toasted with champagne the new year. There was tons of fire works going off over the arena. It was so loud and crazy but it was awesome to spend it with Federico = )
After midnight the four of us wanted to go to a disco for a few hours. The first disco had an age limit of 25 so they wouldnt let us in. The second disco you had to buy a ticket before hand so that one was a no go. The third disco was 35 euro a head with an open bar. The disco was really big... with not a lot of people in it. So we decided not to pay a lot of money for a lame place. The fourth and final disco we got in for free since it was 2:30am. It was more of a bar than a disco so we all got drinks, danced a little, and hung out and returned to Feds house around 4am. I was incredibly tired to I hit the hay while the boys played poker until who knows when.
We all slept in late that morning and Feds family had left early to go to the mountains so I really didnt see much of them since we were hardly ever home. But Im sure the next time I go to his house ill hopefully get some quality time to get to know them better. The rest of the day we vedged at the house. Fed made this really good chicken and yummy pasta. Around 5pm we all took our seperate ways. Luckily I didnt have to take the train home alone from Verona because Feds friend was taking the same train to Torino and Treviglio stops on the way there. When I came home I was extremely tired! I dropped into bed at 9:30 and didnt wake up til noon.

When ever I have fun trips with Fed or with my AFS friends I always come home and just feel so tired, sluggish and sad. These expiernces with them are always a lot of fun so when Im with them Im on an emtional high. Then when I come home reality hits and then just sort of crash down. Being an exchange student is exactly like an rollercoaster. There are lots of ups, downs, loops, and eventually you find your smooth sailing. So Im constantly feeling emtionally unstable but I have new friends and a family in Italy who are watching out for me and I have family and friends back home who are there waiting for my return. So overall everything is going a-o-kay for me = )

So apart from my amazing new years in verona ive been doing a lot of hanging out with my exchange student friends during the day like going to Milano, Bergamo or just hanging in Treviglio. And sometimes going out to bars and discos at night with other friends. Im finding that the more I keep busy the less home sick I am esp during the holiday season. Also staying at house I can only do for so long before I feel like Im going to bust out since theres nothing in my town!

Tonight we are all celebrating my brother 19th birthday. My family and me/Ale's friends will all go to a pizzaera together. So it should be fun! Then tomorrow is my last day of vacation so it will be a day of sleeping in and doing my english assignments that I have been pushing off all vacation. So this Christmas vacation has had its ups and downs but overall it was a good Christmas vacation. Very different from my traditional holidays in America but it was interesting to expierence it in a new way! I will post next week about my first ski lesson that is happening this Sunday! So until next time...

Arriverderci!