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!

Alright so this last week has been all about Christmas. Which was really different from Christmas back home in Duxbury, MA. For starters my Christmas vacation in Italy is from the 21st til January 7th = O yes a very long break! Back home its only from the 23rd til January 3rd or something short like that. Anyways my vacation even started a day earlier than planned. On the evening of monday the 20th my brother came into my room and announced that there will be no school tomorrow due to snow. I looked out my window and saw lagit 5 inches of snow. I asked him if he was serious and he said yes, that Italy will cancel things due to small amounts of snow... Wow. Back home I heard there was 3 feet and my town was the only one that didnt have a cancelation or delay. So it was really nice sleeping in that Tuesday morning... and every morning so far = )

Some of the big downsides living in Italy is that they dont like using a lot of heat, dryers, dish washers, big cars or even using real christmas trees. They are very green here! So Ive been noticing that Ive been doing some serious layers up... a lot. Just hanging out in the house I wear two pairs of socks, leggings under my jeans, sweater, cardigan and scarf. Simply because they hardly even turn on the heat and the heaters are really small and there arent many in the house. My family also leave this small side door open so the cats can come in and out of the house. Brrr.
Then with the hole dryer thing... they just dont have them. Everything is washed with a washing machine then they pick an area in the house to hang dry the clothes. For me its our massive size bathroom. Ive learned that I have to be careful on what I put into the hamper becuase I wont be seeing it for a week or more. And then when my clothes are clean and dry that are cold, stiff and dont have the right fit... its hard to explain. You know when you take a shirt out of the dryer and it smells spring time fresh, its soft, warm and clings to your body perfectly? Well sadly this doesnt happen here = (
With the dish washers they will pile all the dirty dished on the counter (not in the sink) and wait until there is enough for a full load. Other wise they will wash them by hand. No half full dish washing loads here!
In Italy there arent any big cars... You will not see any soccer mom style suburbans that fit 8 people. They just simply dont exsist. Its all these tiny look a like cars that fit 5 sometimes only 2 people. Its probably because gas is super expensive here- about 7 dollars for a gallon! Also families are really small- most Italians only have 1 or 2 kids so theres no need for the big cars.
Finally with the fake Christmas tree... yeah its just sad. I rememeber my host parents said to me a few weeks ago that they wanted me to help them with the tree. I said okay lets go and buy one, and they said that they had already bought one. I asked where it was and they said it was in this box and the needed help assembling it. = O It was a total Charlie Brown tree but thankfully my mom has passed down a small amount of her interior decorating skills to me so I was able to spruce it up. We bought some very full cranberry garners and small sparkley red ball oriements. Then the final touch was stringed popcorn. For a tree thats on a budget it looked good to me!

Okay so onto my first Christmas in Italy. So the days before the 25th I mainly did some serious lounging around the house and hanging out with friends. In Italy Christmas time doesnt really mean family time... more like friend time. Very strange but true. Even on the 24th its normal for teens to go out late at night and then again on the 25th. For me this is just so weird, and that Christmas eve and day should really only be celebrated with family and very close friends.
So Christmas Eve I video skyed home which was really awesome to see my mom, brother and sisters, even my cat Jamal. It was weird seeing my house all decorated for Christmas and everyone just chilling out... I felt like there was something that was missing... me. After my lovley skype session, my sister and I saw the movie The Priness and the Frog which I loved and was able to follow along in Italian without any problems = ) Then for dinner me, my papa and sister got McDonalds. Normally Im happy with Mickey Dees for dinner but on Christmas Eve.... not so much.

Then the next morning was Chistmas Day, I was actually really excited that night and didnt sleep much. I had no idea what to expect for the day since my family didnt really tell me what the game plan was. So I woke up early (9 am) to my little cousins loudly talking and running around the house. I went into the living room and was wished a buon natale (merry christmas) by my mama and aunt nora. My little cousins were already ripping open the gifts my mom had sent them which they totally loved. When I looked at the tree I only saw the presents my mom had sent me from America... Turns out my family doesnt do the whole present thing. So my mama told me to open my presents which honestly was a bit awquard. Opening a huge pile of presents alone is kind of... sad in a way. Back home we open presents all together after church on the evening of the 24th. We all gather in our living home with holiday music playing, something that smells really good cooking in the oven and all of us tearing open the presents under the tree and showing each other what we all get in our new pajamas. (its a tradition to buy new pajamas for christmas eve) This year I was basically opening all my presents alone on Christmas morning in pajamas I hadnt worn in a while so they sort of felt new = p
While opening gifts my mama gave me a very cute pair of earrings that she said were from her and my papa. Their gift to me for Christmas was 5 sundays worth of skiing lessons! = D I dont really know how to skii or have anything for skiiing so this should be very interesting! I start after the first week of January and Ill be leaving the house at 5:30 am and hit the mountains with my brother and papa. Goodbye late saturday nights out and sunday mornings of sleeping in!! But Im really excited to learn how to ski, I know its going to be a really big challange but I know ill enjoy it!
So for Chistmas my mom did a totally amazing job at picking out things for me. I really think that I got the best Chistmas gifts out of all the years. The fact alone that Im in Italy is an amazing gift itself!! My mom and my sisters pick out some really cute clothes, shoes and jewlery which I was in despret need for! On Christmas eve I got a small package from Verona. Thats right, a gift from Federico = ) He sent me a gorgeous pair of swarovski diamond earrings which I really love; what girl doesnt love getting nice jewlery?? So overall the presents and ski lesson in Italy are an A+ in my book!! = )

So Christmas day in Italy includes of eatting, eatting, drinking, sleeping and eatting some more. Thats basically sums it all up right there. Christmas lunch is huge... like Thanksgiving times 3! After we ate I started to clear my plate and my family told me that we had only eatten the first course = O I was already so full... I dont know how Italians do it. Im almost 100% sure they have two stomachs or something. And there all so skinny, its uncommon to see a person of size over here.
The only down side of the lunch was that it basically was all seafood. Those who know me, know I am not at all a seafood fan. My host family knows that I dont like it since day one. So I tried everything, most I didnt like but I put a smile on and said that it wasnt bad even if I wanted to spit it out that second. In Italy Im trying really hard to try new food. Some things look really weird and gross but I try them anyways, sometimes they are surprisingly good other times its worse then I expected. Im thinking that I have a taste of a 5 years old since I prefer a cheeseburger or chicken finger and fries over some fancy seafood meal.
The rest of Christmas day included me, my brother and sister taking a really long nap after lunch, waking up eatting some more then playing board games with the family then going to bed.

The next day was Saturday so I video skyped to my cousins house in Wahsington D.C. where my family goes to from the 25th til the 29th. So I got so see my family again as well as my cousins, auntie and uncle. I really miss everyone back home a lot!! It seemed like total chaos in the house but Ive been noticing I prefer total craziness to a rather quiet home = p
Saturday night I went out with my friends to a local bar then we all piled into cars to head to a new bar that just opened. On our way there we went over a pot hole that gave us not just one flat tire but two flat tires. And we were in the ghetto of Italy around 12 am. Luckily I was mainly with males who look like they can take a punch so we didnt have any creepers bother us. We did have to wait an hour however for a tow truck. By the time the truck came we ended up going back to the local bar for an hour since the new one was too far away to go to at that hour.

Sunday was a total lazy day, I ended up watching a bunch of old school disney movies like little mermaid, lion king, alladin, and robin hood in Italian with my brother and sister. Then that evening I went to a really nice bar for happy hour with some friends. = )

Then today (monday) I took a train from Treviglio to Bergamo were I met some AFS friends like Michelle from Hong Kong, Ray from Canada, Erin from Oregeon, Katie from Alaska and Tonje from Norway. We all hung around Bergamo for a few hours, seeing the little city all lit up with christmas lights. We also went ice skating which I hadnt done in years. I knew that ice skating was like riding a bike, it just comes back to you. Well I put on the skates and took one glide and an untentional spin and did a lagit belly flop. Very embarassing but we all just burst into laughter when it happened. In the course of half an hour we all had our fair share of wabbles and falls. Luckily that was my only fall and after 10 minutes I finally got the hang of it = )

Tomorrow I think Im going back to Bergamo with the same people and going shopping since everyone but me has Christmas money burning a hole thru their pockets. = p
The the rest of the week Im not sure whats in store for me. For new years eve I was invited to Federicos house in Verona but I have to get special permission from my advisor so finger crossed everybody! If the trip to Verona is a no go ill be spending it with my brother and our friends at our house then probably after midnight hit the disco. So two very promising evening of fun!

Ill write again next week about the rest of my vacation. Theres also another holiday that comes after new years. I dont know to much about it, only that supposely a kind old women comes to peoples houses on a broom stick and bring presents to all the little children. I really dont know much about this holiday but when it does happen ill give you the full scoop! Until Next Time...

Arriverderci!

Only two more days til Christmas vacation! Im so looking forward to my last day of school tomorrow, you have no idea! I think that we are all feeling this way, when Christmas is just around the corner we all start to get ants in our pants and just want to be done with work or school. And while were all at school or work during those last few days before the 25th no one can keep focus on anything for a long period of time. Our minds simply drift away and all you can think about is how much you want your vacation to start. Then reality hits and you suddenly rememeber that your exams are less than 24 hours away and you havent cracked your books open.

In Italy they dont use letter grades instead they give you a number 1-10. In northern Italy school is a lot harder than it is in the south. Im also at one of the hardest schools in my region. Ive been told that is extremely rare for someone to get a perfect 10. Its basically like someone getting an A++... practicly impossible. I rememeber one of my friend took a math test and got everything right and the teacher would only give her a 9. Weird but true. To pass you must get a 5 or better. If you fail here its kind of a big deal. Getting below a 5 can ruin your class average and you have to study a lot to bring it back up.

Anyways my exams all went really well! Since Im only taking three subjects (english, spanish and gym) I didnt have to study my bum off like I would have to back home. Here my gym final included me doing this fairy-like dance routine on a balance beam. All of us looked rather silly doing the routine and trying are hardest to look poise and graceful.... easier said than done! I got an 8/10 on my dance which my friends say is really good! In Italy an 8/10 is equal to a B+/A- back home, so not bad! For my Spanish final I though I was going to take a written exam with the rest of my class but at the last minute my super nice teacher thought it would be better for my to have a short oral exam. = ) All I had to do was describe the memebers of my American family in Spanish which would have been a snap... about 3 months ago. Ive been noticing that the more Italian I learn the lass Spanish I rememeber. So during my oral exam I keeped mixing up the two languages but my teacher was very understanding and have me a 7/10 which is equal to a B-.

Now I have three English exams- writting, grammer and literature. The writting exam I got a 9+/10 which is about an A+ so I was super happy when I found out my grade!! Then I had my grammer exam which I got back this morning and got a 7/10. It was actually kind of difficult considering the exam was on British grammer, so it was a slight challange. Today I finally had my literature test which I had to talk for what seemed like forever about 5th century to 15th century settlement in England. Now I dont know squat about that so I actually had to study for this exam. I got a 7+/10 which is a solid B. I probably would have gotten a higher score if she hadnt asked me about the two types of ballods becuase I thought there was only one type of ballods = p

Now Im finally done with all my exams! Haaa Zaaa! Odd thing about exams in Italy is that majority of them are done orally. Something Im totally not used to since almost all test are written. Another difference is that there are never an exact date for these exams. The teacher will say to the class that they will be tested for example sometime between Tuesday-Thursday... for me I wasnt actually tested until today (monday) almost a full week later! It was a huge pain in the bum studying every night and not being tested! I definatly like American school systems more than Italian ones!

So basically this last week has been all about school as boring as that is. My host parents got a kick out of watching me studying the same subject for a week and asking me every evening if I had been tested yet. I also finished reading Pride and Prejudice and now have to write two essays on the novel over Christmas break. Ive also been assigned to read A Christmas Carol as well. Lovely.

Apart from school Italy had its first snow fall over this week! I rememeber getting ready for school and looking out my window and seeing what I thought was a layer of frost everywhere. It was really a half inch of snow. = ) So not nearly as much as Boston but Im happy with the white blanket. All the Italians were freaking out that morning. They were all amazed at the snow and thought a half inch was a lot. And they all drive super slow esp since majority of cars dont have 4 wheel drive. This week the bus takes 40 minutes to get to school instead of the usual 20. Ive also had to start layering up since Italian dont like to use heat. Ever. The school has these tiny vents near the window so classrooms are cold, stairscases you can easily see your breath and at night im wearing leggings under my pajama pants. Ive also been wearing two pairs of socks everyday because I didnt bring any Uggs with me in Septemeber. So now I have to wait until Christmas day to wear them since they are all wrapped up. My fall boots caved out the other day so Ive been wearing converse. They are not water proof, snow proof and struggle to keep your toes warm. Oh well Christmas is in a few days so ill just have to suck it up until then.

Yesterday (sunday) I had the most fantastic surprise. My American brother's very good college friends Mark and Andrew were in Milan! So they sent me a facebook message asking me to meet them. They had spent semesters abroad and were going back home soon. Luckily I was able to take a train and hang out with them in Milan for the whole day! It was so amazing to see both of them! My train to Milan was delayed and so were all the other trains in my region due to the very small amount of snow. Oh Italians and snow.... Anways the three of us had a great day, it was the coldest day of the year but we were all having so much fun we hardly noticed. = ) Mark and Andrew had the whole day planned out for us so we did a lot of sightseeing and everything was so magical looking with the snow. The boys were super nice to me, they paid for my metro ticket, lunch and dinner!

The only down side to our day was that every train was delayed some were even cancelled. So I planned to leave Milan around 6pm and arrive home before 7 so I could go out and celebrate one of my friends birthdays. Very sadly the train from Milan to Treviglio (my area) was delayed then delayed again then finally cancled. Whamp whamp whaaaamp. Since it isnt safe for me to travel alone after 9pm I took a train to Brescia where my friend Frederick from Canada was taking a train from Venice. So the two of us met in Brescia (a city an hour away) then took a train to Bergamo (our mini city) which of course was delayed by an hour. We finally made it to Bergamo at midnight where Fredrick's host dad picked us up and drove us home. We arrived in Castel Rozzone around 12:30 am and I dropped into bed and fell asleep in seconds. Overall it was an amazing day in Milan with Mark and Andrew but the whole train situation was an absolute nightmare! I was so glad that I had Mark and Andrew with me in Milan. If I had to figuare out the whole train thing by myself I probably would of had a nervous breakdown since Im a total hyper with that kind of stuff!

Tomorrow is my last day of school before Christmas break = ) And tomorrow night I have an AFS dinner with my advisors, volunteers and with the two other exchange students Michelle and Akiralie and our families. Then I can finally have two weeks of relaxing, sleeping in, eatting yummy Itlian food and hang out with friends = ) A lot of people have asked me if I can go home for Christmas but sadly Im not allowed to with my exchange program. Its going to be really hard to be away from them this year but I have a great host family who will make Christmas extra special. I dont believe my family and I are going anywhere for Christmas, I think its going to be a low key vacation. They havent really given me the details about our vacation so we shall see soon! Ill write more about my first Italian Christmas sometime before the new year. So Until Next Time....

Arriverderci!