8 months and Italianization

It's been just past 8 months here. In beautiful Italy. Where everywhere you go, there's old buildings and something ancient. Something magical with a little bit of story behind it.

We are 80% through. Only 20% more to go.. I can't even explain how i feel. I had been told before, that at this point i would feel torn. Between wanting to go back home, and how i would love this place so much.. Yeah i guess a little bit of that is true, but i didnt really imagine how it would feel. Obviously i miss things about America, driving, school, family, friends, my bed. But I've created a life here, it's so hard to think about the fact that i've been living here for 8 months, with a new life, and just like that, in a 10 hour flight in 2 months i will be back in America, back to my "normal" life. I don't know how im going to go through that, i dont know how I'm going to just drop everything here, end it. When i first signed up for this year i knew it would be a year, of learning, a language, a culture, meeting new people and learning so much more about the world. I had never thought out completely what would happen, how i would feel, and how life would lead me up to here, how it would turn out. I knew i loved Italy, but being here i didnt know that i would fall in love with Italy. It's my home. So yes, i am torn. I miss some things, but this is where my life is now, i dont want to leave, and i know leaving here will be one of the hardest things i will ever have to do.

My first 5 months were really quite difficult, but i learned a lot, and i became really independent. I felt like i had no one, and i did everything on my own. I was given freedom, and no one questioned me with anything i did. I just had to take care of myself. I guess i hadnt really been living the culture, i just grew as a person.

Now, with my second (absolutly amazing, and to whom i absolutly owe everything to. they saved me and they provide for me and i know they are always there for me and i love them so much!) i've been so much more immersed in the culture. I feel so loved and an actual part of this family. Now i do so many things italians do, and i have to say it's really weird. If i looked back at myself being who i am now and seeing the things i do, i would be a little weirded out.
I've adjusted so well to this culture. Even in the beginning, i was never shocked by the culture, i eased right into it. I dont know why i didnt experience the culture shock, but i know im going to experience the culture shock RETURNING to America, which is strange..

Italian things:
I say things that italians say, things that in english makes no sense, but i just say it. (can't think of examples right now)
I bike around my village, in italy everyone bikes, i think its kind of cute
I use my hands when i speak, which i have to admit when i do, i feel very italian xD
I blow my nose like im an elephant, and it's absolutly disgusting.(i think its because of my horrible allergies here in italy) I will probably have to change that habit when I get back to America.
I walk around the house wearing slippers
I eat fries (and pretty much everything else) with mayonaise. Which in the beginning i thought was pretty nasty and i missed barbeque sauce, but now i think its really good and it's kind of grown on me.

BUT one italian thing i will NEVER do, is use the bide. No. Not going there.

I am forgetting english.
This worries me a little bit considering when i get back to America i will have to take the SATs ( a major exam for college entrance). Starting i think about 3 months ago, i started writing in my journal in italian, completly in italian. I'm speaking italian everyday all the time, I've just loss the use of needing to speak english, or write it, using it at all in general really. I think in italian, and english words just havent been coming to me. My italian friends and host family correct me sometimes with my english and it's actually really quite embarassing. It feels like i dont even know my own langauge anymore. I know thats not true, but it's just really kind of sad to forget some of even just YOUR own language. My vocabulary in italian has grown a lot, and is continuing to grow. Meanwhile my spelling and vocabulary, and grammar in english is getting worse.. I've forgotten many words, forgotten how to spell, or sometimes i spell with italian pronunciation, and correct myself, or when i try to read something in english i read it out with an italian pronunciation and wonder why it doesnt make sense until i give it more time and correct myself or someone else helps me. The other day when i was in the train returning home, i said : "I've never arriven from this direction" i dont know about you but that sounds right to me. But i was told i was wrong, it's i've never arrived from this direction. You tell me. But either way that's still embarassing. At least we can look at one posotive thing, one thing on the bright side. My italian is improving. Good. That's all. In the beginning i was forgetting my english while not learning italian. thats just a negative and a negative. at least if i lose some english i gain something else. I just hope when i return, giving it a little time my english will come back to me. Or not just hope, i NEED it to come back to me, SATs are on the line.. xD

ok, peace for now.
ciao ciao
a presto

xoxo Rachael

Long time no post.

It's been awhile.. I think I've just been so caught up with life here. I'm so happy with my family! theyve taken me everywhere and provide me with everything, and helped me learn so much more about this country, this culture. I've begun speaking with my hands, and walking around the house with slippers like an italian, I've begun to eat fruit after meals, and so many other things! I'm soooo grateful i am with this family now. I feel like im living the full on italian expereince with them. And i love it! i never want to leave!

My italian is coming along pretty well, though im still really dissappointed that my first family always spoke only english to me, and i was hardly ever able to go to italian class. Like my italian should be WAYYYYY better than it is now, but i guess it's ok. Like now Everyday is italian(well its been like this for a long time, but i forgot to mention it). Before in the beginning with this family, I could speak at home, but i still wouldnt speak it with people at school, i guess because we started speaking in english at school, and so i wasnt comfortable speaking italian with them. But since i have been with this family, i have always been able to speak only italian when i go out and do things, or around in the house or with the family in general.

But now im speaking in italian all the time. At school, home, around. Speaking with my hands now. And i've recently been getting a lot of comments on my vocabulary, which has been making me real happy :) I also think study/translating my entire book of science has helped me. Ive been studying A LOT recently, and i think its helped me learn a lot of random terms, and also a lot of difficult terms and terms that maybe arent used so often. so im really proud of myself for that :)

Whats up been up?

Went to Lago D'Orta  few weeks ago:

Apparently its really famous, there were quite a few people there!

Oh and we ate the best gelato in the world, everytime i eat gelato reminds me even more why i love italy. good food. good gelato. gusto! xD

This is a picture of the lake. Isnt it beautiful? It's actually the prettiest lake I've ever seen. My host sister told me that when it gets warmer, we'll go there to swim or in italian (faremmo bagno). I usually don't swim in any body of water other than a pool, i know I'm weird. But this year, just becuase I'm in italy, im going to swim, and im REALLY EXCITED! I mean who wouldnt be? I'm in Italy! and look how pretty it is!



United States, Norway, Bolivia =)



I also went to Torino within the past month, i met with two other girls of intercultura, from Norway, and Bolivia. It was really nice to see other exchange students. Being in Novara (A province newer to afs) we are only 2, and its sometimes lonely. Like obviously i have my family, but to have other exchange students is awesome. Sometimes i envy the other guys like in Ivrea or Torino, where theres like more than 10 of them and they are eachothers best friends. I kind of wish i had that sometimes, because it's so much easier to get along with other exchange students, and on the other hand, here where i live, being one of only two, it's really hard to make friends!

Anyways, we had a lot of fun, we shopped, they complimented me on my italian (knowing 3 months ago i couldnt say anything) and talked, talked about all of our problems, doesnt matter what country we are from, where we live in italy, we all have the same problems and are going through the same things. We're like always there for each other :)

Then there was Vacation, Vacanze. for easter! it's called Pasqua. and also in Italy, the day after easter, the monday is called pasquetta. it's also celebrated here. So no work until tuesday! i had break from april 20th until may 1st. I had an abnormally long break, which was awesome!

What did I do during break?

FLORENCE! The city where i think the pinocchio story originated, and the city where arts, and skin is famous. skin as in leather.. just random facts..

My host mom and I wednesday evening took the train to milan, stayed the night there with one of my host sisters(the train for florence was really early the next morning). Thursday we took off! took a massive fancy fast train to florence, and the tourism began. Our hotel was perfectly in the center, and we were able to walk around everywhere, it was amazing! Florence is seriously one of the most beautiful cities in Italy, Second to Rome. Rome will always be magical. but Florence is really interesting, a different kind of interesting. Its famous for the renaissance, and the feeling of this city was different. it's just a different kind of magic from Rome. I dont know how to word it though.. either way Florence was magical :)

Ponte Vecchio. Old Bridge

Since Florence is famous for the renaissance and the Arts, art is EVERYWHERE. People on the streets paint giant famous masterpieces.

This is a view of Florence from the top of the tower which we climbed. over 400 steps. It was tallllll

me, host sister vale, host mom

In the Garden. Nel Giardino

The famous Duomo and Tower.



Love locks. A major Tourist thing. But i thought it was pretty cute. They are absolutly everywhere in Florence

Oh yeah, and in Florence, there's amazing food. I had my host sister choose my food for me everytime we went out, it was always amazing. just saying, since im like obsessed with food. Oh and there's amazing gelato there too! We went to one place called vivoli. It used to be the best gelato place in all of italy a few years ago, now i dont know. but still, it's pretty good. If you go, you should all go there and buy all the ice cream you can eat. 

Host grandma, uncle, cousins, dad, sisters, mom everyone :)



We came back Saturday, right before Pasqua. Sunday morning, Easter day, we got ready and family came over to our house for a massive lunch. We had the whole family from my host moms side of the family over, and we had about 4 or 5 rounds. we all got fat xD Then on top of that, there's the colombo. It's a sweet dessert thing for only easter. It was kind of like the special dessert only for christmas, but in a different shape. It was weird, but good! Then later in the evening, we didnt eat dinner, because we were so full, instead we ate chocolate bunnies and eggs! Here in Italy, they have chocolate everywhere, and especially giant eggs for easter. i didnt eat one of the GIANT GIANT ones, but i had one, and it was sooo gooood.



My chocolate bunny is the one on the right with the white collar :)



Have you ever seen a egg this big? Woww



The next day was Pasquetta (i dont know the translation because it doesn't really exist in america, but the monday after easter) and my family and i went up to the mountains to the grandparents house. Everyone was there, except this time everyone on my host dads side of the family. My host grandparents celebrated 50 years together, which was really cute. I have a friend who is also a part of intercultura who lives there. So we met up, it had been about 5 months that we'd seen eachother. Last time was in milan for that one holiday in november, and i couldnt speak italian. Now, she complimented me, and was in awe. Everyone's in awe, everyone who spoke with me when i was with the first family, and spoke with me now. they see the change. i speak completly normal now. Thanks to my new family, i love them so much! they practically worked magic on me :P

 

On the top of a really tall bridge.









In the village eating some random food only made in
this town in all of italy. With sofiane! From canada.

There were still a few days of break, so i went to Milan and stayed with my sister. I went out and met up with one of my Intercultura friends whom I hadnt seen for 8 months, or since rome. So we hung out and caught up on a lot of stuff, it was really great to see him!
We also ate a lot, i dont know why, but everytime im in Milan(where all these restaurants of diverse food/cultures exist, which is a thing i miss about america. becuase here in italy, most food is all.. italian.)i have this need to eat a lot, like eveyrthing. We ate japanese one night. and the next day the best pizza in the entire world, fried pizza :) oh yeahhhh
I also went to Genova for a day trip. It was this big Intercultura event for the people of my regione, Aosta, and Liguria. We were all invited to go and see the Aquarium. I had already been to Genova 3 years ago, and had already seen the Aquarium, but i went to see one of my best friends Lauren who lives there. But her region Liguria, is really stupid(like in terms of intercultura) and shes never allowed to leave that region. So i went to go see her! Practically one of the only times i'd be able to see her here in Italy.

Genova is really pretty, prettier than i remembered it to be(i had been there before 3 years ago)




Australia. america. america(me) turkey, america, australia, america. and sideways dude, denmark.

  It was really nice to see Lauren :)

Perfect ending to break/Vacanze

Bologna and other AFSers :)

Me and my host mom on top of duomo

Today's monday. a week from this past weekend, i guess about 10 days ago, my fam and i went to Bologna. Friday right after school i went home and ate and my host mom and i were on our way (by train and only train) to bologna. We took the train from ghemme(my new village, which by the way i love, for some reason that no one understands haha) to novara, novara to milan. There we had about 2 hours until our massive fast train from milan to bologna goes(actually the end of the line goes to salerno, all the way near napoli!) Also here in milan my host sister Vale met with us. but she waas finishing up school stuff when we arrived, so we went around centro and ate panzerotti, the famous folded pizza thingies. they are amazing, heaven in my mouth.. :)

went on the top of duomo(i go to milan a lot, been to centro a lot, but never been to the top before) and it was beautiful! took lots of pics(which i will put up hopefully tomorrow) Took lots of pictures! and it was absolutely a beautiful day!

Me and other Seattlite

Little did i know it was the week of an exchange week for a post near milan. one of my fellow Seattle friends also through afs(who now lives in rome for the exchange) was there for his exchange week(remember mine was in sardegna) and he happened to be on the top of duomo that same hour that same day(the exchange weeks have programs of activities to do everyday of that week) and we ran into each other! it was rreally good to catch up and itt was really cool to just run into someone like that that i know from seattle! what a coincidence!

Rushed back to the station, met my sister, took the train. I slept.. i love sleep. italy makes me tired. Got to Bologna, it was about 6 in the afternoon. walked around a bit(beautiful city!) found the hot and washed up. out and met with my host dad(thereason we went to bologna is because my host dad has a business meeting type thing there. and my family decided it'd be a awesome idea to go since also they havent ever seen or been to bologna!

Had dinner(also with other people who work in the same field as my host dad, as far as im aware. but they are like from norway. but they live in italy, and they work here. i dont know it sort of confuses me, i just go with it) and we went to this restaurant, and i ate lasagne. but not normal lasagne, BOLOGNA lasagne! bologna is famous for its meat, and the lasagne was the best lasagne ive ever had! (oh and the restaurant had a hole in the floor, covered with glass. and through it you could see ruins of ancient italy under, nothing big but still. EVERTHING IS ANCIENT AND BEAUTIFUL IN ITALY!) its especially interesting to me since im a hsitory freak. but yeah this gives another point. these ruins are justn everywhere like its normal.

aka good night, good dinner, bologna is awesome.

Walked back home, the streets were live with university students(bologna is also famous and full of universities, i think i want to come back here for university) It was relly lively and lights everywhere :)

i think we would have stayed out but we were all dead tired. went back to the hotel and i immediatly fell asleep.

The next day, out and about. saw all the tourist sites, checked everything off our list! wandered the street markets(which are everywhere in italy, and are seriously the best things ever) and the markets in bologna are the best ive ever seen and been to. like seriously everything was so cheap... wooo shopping!

 <-------------- two famous towers, most famous thing in bologna. the one more to the left is crooked if you cant tell.. I think its famous for that xD

Me and my host sister Vale at the towers

After lunch, I met up with one of my friends. I have an american friend(the only other chinese american) who is now living in bologna. I got to meet up with her and that was really fun! (and another afser who i hadnt met before, a girl from finland) we wandered the streets, and caught up, and well really not much else becuase we had so little time, like one hour or an hour and a half. But it was just really nice to see her. Basically This weekend was another really cool weekend with my host fam :) i love them so much! they take me to see all these things, we get a long so well, they know i enjoy history and travelling. I dont know im just so happy with them! i like being with them, i like doing things with them. I'm so grateful im with this family now.

Seeing my seattle friend on the top of duomo, and being able to meet up with my friend in bologna was just icing on the cake :)

Prima Vera. 150 anniversario Unità di Italia!

150

So two weeks ago, It was the 150th anniversary of Italy. UNITED Italy that is. (All the different parts were not together, the north used to be under austrian power, and the south under spanish) Italy is like one of the oldest countries ever, or the area, you could seriously find ruins if you dig a hole anywhere.(It's apparently difficult to build new stuff because if you dig and find something, which they almost always do, you have to stop, youre not allowed to destroy it and build any further) but Italy the country itself is actually really young, WE celebrated 150 years! so we didnt have school thursday, and for my school we didnt have it friday either because, my school doesnt have school saturday. Make sense. In my regione, the main city is Torino, which was the first capital of Italy. Soooo In Torino there was a BIG festa! fireworks and everything in the streets from like 10pm until 3 in the morning. But i couldnt go because it was a bit far, and it rained so.. since its a party in the streets.. idk. Just saying, think thats a bit interesting though, since its in my region. haha

Car made and desgined just for this occasion. saw in in a shoe store at mantova

Most of my schoolmates went to the disco since there wasnt any school. I instead went to a small concert, My friends host brother is in a band, and him and his friends are all music people. so we went to their small band concert thing. It was pretty chill

Anyways, point is, Italy is 150 years old now! And there are Italian flags everywhere! Now is the time where theres the most italian pride like ever everywhere. And now is also the time (for a number of people) to protest. my friend explained to me a group that dont want italy to be united, they go around and protest how different region should be apart, or how at least the south and north should be divided, as far as i understand. The south and north really dont like each other, its like a sort of competion i think. (The cultures and everything are SO different! I still wont get over how different my experience in sardegna was, for only one week there, verses my life here. ) But yeah they protest in this period on purpose, becuase they dont support it being united.

MANTOVA(march 17th-18th)

Thursday (since we didnt have school, haha! only awesome thing about my school!) my family and i(one of my sisters Ari, because the other had to stay in milan to study) left for mantova and sabbionetta. These two places near each other in lombardia, like 2 hours away from where I live. We went for a day in sabbionetta, and the evening and next day in mantova. Both are REALLY PRETTY! .(mantova, where romeo in romeo and juliet was banished.) we saw a castle and palaces, and there is this one room with the most beautiful painting ive ever seen! it was on the ceilling, with cupids and like the heavens(i think it was gods looking over, i dont remember)looking over. I wanted to take pictures but we had to turn everything off when we went in :(

This is a picture of the painting, but i had to get it off the internet lol

Center of Mantova

Typical cakes of Mantova

Went back home friday night, stopped in milan to get my other sister vale, and we ate dinner there, the BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD, then returned home. On this trip i saw so many things that were history and beautiful. Trips like this really make me fall in love with italy so much more. every where you go, everything is old, and beautiful

VERONA ( march 19th-20th)

Following day, saturday i went to verona. I went to visit one of my friends who went to Seattle last year on exchange, she is an italian from verona. Anyways My host mommy took me to the station at novara(main city of local chapter) and then i took the train to verona. My friend was in school(yeah thats right, were in italy, saturday school. its funnn haha.. well i can only imagine cuz in this case, my school is awesome.) so her mom met me at the station and she drove me around. She showed me some of the city. Then we met my friend back at their house. Had a yummy lunch, and hit the town. My friend lives right in the center of Verona, so we walked around, they know i like archaeology, so they showed me the archaeology museum. actually theres a lot of ruins in verona. theres the Arena

There's stuff in the Arena because they were preparing for a concert

The ruins are seriously everywhere. Theres like random holes in the ground just so you can look down and see the ruins. It's actually really fascinating, to think about how old this place really is, and how you can just look down beneath you and see these ancient artifacts of the past. how often do you get a chance to just wander the streets and look down and see that?! Maybe its just abnormally interesting for me because i want to be an archaeologist xD Anyways. I actually went to see Juliets house, like in the movie Letters to Juliet, and took pictures of the famous statue and the love writing everywhere, I waited in line like all the other tourists and I TOUCHED JULIETS BOSOM! hahahhah. so yeah

Verona is sooo pretty! this was basically one of the best weekends ever! Cute trip with my family to mantova, and the next day went to visit one of my friends :) i got to see a lot of things and it was a beautiful weekend! the weather was absolutly perfect!

View from the top of a hill where there is an austrian castle. View of all of Verona :)

Ciaoo Rachael

A presto

Roots

Some people dont understand America. They dont understand that it seriously is like the world's largest melting pot. Like here, or all around the world I'm pretty sure people are aware that America is diverse, but they cant really get it in their head, or picture it. There are people from every country around the world, people of mixed races. It's a diverse country! That's what makes us America.

It's really strange and awkward for me, because in Italy, everything is Italian. I mean obviously, but very very italian, only italian. Only Italians food, people, culture, everything. I guess thats one of the biggest differences for me. Where I live in america, people of all races are accepted for the most part. But here, the culture is so strong in Italian-ness, that they view even people who are asian or african, but were born and raised in italy, who know everything only to be italian, as foreigners. they dont see them as italian.

People think America is one race, i guess it is. But Americans are made of all races mixed together. When i walk around, people look and stare at me, badly. Like as if im another one of the immigraters that Italians all seem to hate. Some people dont believe I'm American, as if its impossible. Like they dont realize that America is made of so many different cultures, that being american means you life the american life, the culture, but your roots are always something different.

No one questions other Americans, because they look normal, caucasion, what "Americans" are thought to be. But then they question me. I bet if you ask the other americans, they might not know their roots because their families came from wherever they came from a long long long time ago, or they might say that they are part norwegian, or part italian, or polish, or swedish, or french, the only reason no one asks though is because they are caucasion and look like a typical american, but Americans can be chinese, or indian, or ethiopian, algerian, taiwanese, japanese, columbian, mexican, and canadian too. you name it. We seriously are from all over the world, and we are still American.

I dont understand why people dont understand this. I know I'm repeating a lot, but does this make sense? or am i just rambling on.. I'm really cranky. Main point: People dont believe I am american, they think being chinese american(What i am) is somehow different from any other american. But really, all Americans are mixtures, i dont see how its any different. Some people are really close minded. It's just really difficult for me to be here, because no one believes me, or if they do, they think its still somehow different, like my life isnt really an american culture. Idk, in my opinion i think they see me as like a foreigner in my own country. Maybe they think like i belong in china. Like, i dont know why I'm just noticing all this now. I guess it's because i thought people didnt talk to me in the beginning because i didnt speak italian. ok fair enough. but now i speak it, and people still dont talk to me. Yes a few people started to talk to me more, but the rest, nope. I guess i thought that after i would be able to speak italian, life would magically get better, and id be considered more normal here. But i guess i will always be looked at as a foreigner here, but not just any other foreigner like an exchange student(italians for the most part love exchange students and are always really curious) but a chinese one. and Italians really dont like chinese or africans.

p.s. some people think all asians are only chinese......
oh and one time i was just out and about, and someone came up to me and said ni hao, and pulled their eyes back at me like making fun of asians, and then my friend(italian) established that im american. and THEN he apologized.. that's just not right. It's really awkward being a chinese american in a country that hates chinese but loves americans. Especially when i LOOK chinese. so for all the people that dont know me, for all they know i am chinese, so i feel like they hate me a lot more.

Life is great.. Italy has made me a lot more independent, but a lot more self conscious and in a difficult position with who I am, conflicted. I've Never been uncomfortable in my own skin before. I guess obstacles like this make you stronger! However. I am Chinese American. Deal with it. Even though obviously not everyone in italy is like this, it's just a lot more of this behavior than in America. obviously.. Anyways, I hate prejudices, and I hate racism. Now i kind of miss America.

6 mesi. Sardegna. Carnevale

Heyyy so It's six months today. in italy. wowwww!!! only 4 more months left :(
So today i just got back from Sardegna. I went for my exchange week. and I was also there during carnival. Today has been a really busy day, and i actually have to go. But I will update and write lots more sometime within the next 3 days. I'll put up pics and write about sardegna and stuff.  :)

thanks readers! check back here sunday!

____________________________________________________________________________________

Ok. Life. Life in Italy, i guess everyday is the same, or school days at least. days go by, I've established a normal routine. Actually it ws sort of established right away with the new family. WOO!! two months with them :) sono contenta

Tonight I went out to dinner with a girl who will go on exchange next year, to argentina. She's from Novara province. I met with her because my host mom is an afs volunteer, and she wanted to meet with me. It was really cool that someone wanted to meet me, i dont know why but it just was. anyways i explained to her things that i never really thought to write here before. or maybe i did write(seeing as i write a lot) and forgot and its somewhere wayyyy down low in my old posts idk. buttt here it is:

>going on exchange, Is the most difficult challenge ever. Things you once thought were once so simple, everyday things have become some of the biggest challenges. like i used to think going to school was normal. Yeah i know in america i had life good, walking across the street. but even if i didnt have that, normally youd drive ten minutes at maximum to go to school. Thats just how the school system is in america, they are all the same and theres one in like every town. But in italy, since there are diffiernet kinds of schools, you have to travel to go to the kind of school you want to go to, and in italy everything is like small villages. (like my first family, was in a forest in a village of 3,900 people give or take. and this new family in GHEMME famous for wine, has about the same number of people) anyways here in italy every morning i have to take the bus at 6:55 in the morning just so that i can get to school on time. But get this, even though school starts at 8, i get there at 7:20 or sometimes 7:16 and i have to wait outside until it opens at 7:30. then i wait inside where its warm. I have to do this because its the only bus that goes to the town of my school in the morning, the next bus that goes there is like 1 in the afternoon and thats when i finish school.. But the point is, life is just different here. The culture. like i wrote before in my 5months post, there are things that are normal, the same, yeah theres cars, schools etc. but the culture. the way its done or gone about. its so weird for me to have to do this in the morning every day.. but whatever, its become routine.
> another big thing was making friends. I guess i used to take having friends for granted. but now i really miss my friends, and here its so hard to make friends. Only because the school system is a little bit different, or just, everything in general. like becuase everyone lives in small little towns, generally theyve lived there their whole lives. soooo they have their own little group of their own village friends. then at school since in high school you stay in the same class with the same group for all 5 years of high school, they already have their groups established. its so hard to break into it. its hard to make friends :\

Overall I just told this girl that When you go on exchange, its the most difficult experience of your life. But you will grow so much. You will always be tired, because everything is always new, there is something new everyday. And you will be tired from having to focus on trying to understand and listen to the language. (like me, i fall asleep everytime we watch a movie in all italian with no subtitles or anything) Things that were once simple, might not be anymore. A culture shock will hit you, maybe not right away, but it will. You will miss things you never thought you would. Stupid little things might point out to you. And you will have to try your hardest, so hard to do everything. To understand, speak, make friends, everything, because you have to start and establish your own life
(yeah a lot of that is actually repeated.. my bad.. and some of that stuff i listed i didnt tell the girl.. i guess i forgot but i hope shes reading this :) )

in conclusion of 6 months: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO only 4 months left :'(

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La settimana di scambio(the exchange week) in SARDEGNA!! (sardenia)

I left for Sardegna Wednesday morning, March 2nd. Arrived in Cagliari, the main city of Sardegna. I was the only one for the exchange week, but it was all good because i got to hangout with all the other exchange students of Sardegna.

At first I didnt want to go, like i really wanted to participate in the exchange week, but there weren't many other posts left. A lot of people were like omg sardegna! you get to go there! yeah it was really pretty, i was excited for a week of a whole new culture(p.s. in sardegna they consider themselves sardo, not italian, and they speak another language, which i learned some words of the language. called "Sardo" obviously haha) I had originally looked into doing exchange week in puglia, or a place near napoli, becuase then id be able to see pompei. Im a really big history freak.

I dont know, Sardegna turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. I honestly don't really enjoy beaches much, or the sun for that fact, like ill only stand being in the sun if its like worth it, like for example if i go to Egypt and its burning hot, but its ok cuz im seeing something awesome.

Anyways, I didn't think Sardegna would suck, i thought itd be pretty, and interesting because there was lots of stuff to do on the program(but initially didnt like the idea of sardegna at all because what its mostly famous for is beaches..)

I get there and EVERYONE is so nice! We did see some beaches, which were really pretty, and they took me to see some historical things, and Carnival was amazing. It was FESTA FESTA FESTA always! carnival was a big famous thing in the city i stayed at. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

The first few days I went to school with my host sister in Oristano. and we went to see the Nuraghi, ancient buildings, like villages:

one of them, they are all over sardegna, theyre famous in sardegna. oh, and sheep and cacti are everywhere too



Inside a nuraghi

Throughout the week we were also taken to see the beach and other archaeological sites, the beaches were beautiful!!! the weather, sometimes it was REALLY hot because the sun was almost always out, only except for that one day we went to see the nuraghi (pic above) but we couldn't swim because sometimes there was wind, and when theres wind, its freezing. It was really annoying because you would be wearing a jacket when theres wind, then when it goes away it was really hot, then wind would come back. So the whole day youd be taking your jacket on and off.

Archaeological site: Tharros :) took pics but it wont let me put it here right now.. dont know why maybe later. but you can google it!

Then CARNIVAL! Sardegna was the only regione that did a camp for carnival, i guess because its such a big deal there. So there was a camp in Terrabla (I stayed in the city of Oristano about 20 minutres away by car) where all the ragazzi of sardegna stayed.Iit was one week long, the same week I was there. So Saturday night, there was a festa of intercultura, we all decided to go (took a lot of effort, because the two girls of Oristano should have gone to the camp, but they stayed with me, but Oristano Intercultura was stupid and made it difficult for us to go. but we managed!)

There I got to see all the other ragazzi of intercultura of Sardegna! it was awesome! I never get to see other exchange students! because in my local chapter its only me and the australian girl Brittany. (which by the way, since i changed families, AND she changed families, we now live 10 minutes away bar car. its friggin awesome! ) But it was so fun to see everyone else! and since its been past 5 months, it was cool because we were speaking to each other in italian, not english this time :) haha I actually had one friend from Russia who lost her english really bad because in Sardegna no one speaks english. only Italian and Sardo. (paragraph on language later) Anyways, Its just always really fun when you are with other exchange students, always! like i mentioned before, you just have a bond, and you all get along so well, i love it! oh, and I got to see my other american friends, and one of my friends who is also from seattle :) from all of United States, there are 60 of us in Italy now, for the year program. Im not sure about 6 months.. more came. and just from Seattle, we are 6.

Carneval sunday, we saw the parade of the SARTIGLIA:

It was really cool! and really pretty! I dont know but im really into like everything "typical" and historical. Like i feel the need to take a picture of every single thing typical, and when i chose my exchange week, i saw this and immediatly wanted it because it had "The Sartiglia". Anyways, there are like 120 horses and horse riders all masked, and women and children dressed up.


One of the many different groups of masked men. They decorate the horses too.

The traditional clothing and costumes



This design on these horses are of the flag of Sardenia (Bandierra di Sardegna)



I didnt really understand the significance of this dude, but hee's the main dude and waves the green flower stick in the shape of a cross.

So what do these people do? there is like a whole street covered in dirt, and hay (sort of a problem for me because im allergic to hay and horses.. i died a little bit, but i didnt touch anything :) ) and in the middle between two trees a string with a silver star hangs. the star has a hole, and the masked men on the horses have to run through the course with a sword like stick. I forgot the name. like lancing.. lancing stick? lancing sword? So they have to run through on the horse through the whole street and charge at the star, and get the sword through the hole in the star. its a game! they do this over and over again for many many of the masked men. I don't think all of them go.. i didnt count. I couldnt get good pictures of it because i sat all the way at the top of the bleachers, but you can google "sartiglia". Then later in the evening they do acrobatics on the horses! that event was too crowded i couldn't go to see it, but i watched it on the screen, it looks like this:

Yeah they do this while the horses are running.. thats right

So this is what happens during the day. and all day long there are people running around in their costumes, normally more children during the day. Then at night there in the center was a band that played traditional sardenian music, and everyone gathered around in the center piazza to dance! I took a video but i cant put it here. Then in sardegna, particularly oristano, There is a typical wine called Vernacia. People everywhere at night drinking it, there were actually a lot of drunk people, but it was ok. We tried some of it, for the "culture", it was good. But at night just the vernacia, costumes, and dancing! It doesn't sound like much, but the city was so alive! I dont know how to explain how fun it was!

It was like this for three days, and no school. :)

I dont know, Maybe it doesnt sound like much, maybe it sounds like a lot, but it was so fun! and i found that people in sardegna(or at least in my opinion) are so much friendlier! in the one week i was in sardegna, i went out with italians more than i had in m entire 5 months here.. thats so sad. but maybe not because of the culture, but because of my first family, where i couldnt really go out.. but the point is they were really friendly.
(i stayed 8 days, not one week, because from sardegna, there werent any planes flying out until the next day)

Sardegna Culture: Its so different. They speak Sardo. Everyone seems to be more open, so much more friendly. Their accent is stronger, much like the italian i imagined all italians would speak like.They are more laid back. And they smoke, A LOT! The culture in sardegna is considered south, yet sardegna is completly different from the rest of italy.

But the culture there, it's a lot more like how i imaged typical italy, its strange. The weather, the people, the behavior of people, everything!

Language: Like i was saying before, It was really cool that when i was with all the other exchange students, we spoke with eachother in italian. In sardegna, i was always really tired, even more than i am with this new family(with this family i speak only italian, and im always tired) because nooo one in sardegna speaks english! I as more tiredf than normal becuase normally at school or something, i have at least a little of english in my everyday life! i know its not good, but thats just how it is. and so in sardegna, nothing.. everyday, all the time, italian. and sardo.. Soooooo During this week, My vocabulary might not have grown, but i learned to understand better, i understood before, but now i understand even when people talk faster, and with accents(other exchange students speaking italian) and i can speak more fluidly, i dont have to think so much now when i speak, it just comes. but my vocabulary still isnt very good. I want to know everyword in the dictionary! i know its not realistic but its a noble goal xD my friend alice in class(also my table partner) and i are making lists at school of all the random words we can think of. it helps a lot! a lot more than youd think.
so overall, my italian has gotten a lot better, in only one week! lesson learned, being absolutly surrounded with the language, 24/7 seriously helps.

Oh and i learned sardo. Aio=andiamo/dai=let's go/c'mon. eia=si=yeahh
and other words, but they arent very appropriate hahah le parolace!

ok so sardegna was awesome, Though at the same time i was a little bummed for two reasons. I missed out on the big costume party at the discoteca for carnival with my host sisters, they dressed up in really cute funny costumes and everyone else did too! it's like halloween i guess, but the cotumes are crazier! Second reason im bummed, i couldnt be with the other ragazzi of my own regione piemonte for carnival. I dont know, im at a crossing with this one, because im happy i got to be with everyone in sardegna, im happy i went to sardegna, it was beautful! and i learned so much, but i still miss my friends from my own regione(live to far from me but still my own regione) and i wish i could have gone to the carnival in ivrea also. I guess we cant have everything! xD

Everyone from my regione, or almost everyone went to Ivrea for carnival. something typical here, Its the battle of oranges! La Battaglia delle Arance!! so yeah these pictures below are of The carnival in ivrea, the thing everyone from my regione was invited to, and i should have gone to, but instead i went to sardegna! ma vabbé sono conteta che ho scelto per andare in sardegna! :) it was so fun!!

but yeah if im missing anything, ill add more later. peace

p.s. scrivero qualcosa piu in italiano piu tardi quando ho piu tempo

It Ain't a Leap Year. Darn, wanted to have another day in Italy.

Lame title. But its end of February and that's all i could think of.

Life is soooooooooo good.

February Summary:

AUTOGESTIONE
there was autogestione. i dont think i mentioned it before. but there was like 2 days the second week of february as i recall, where only students teach lessons. it kind of reminded me of school back in america, not that students teach the lessons. but because it was like a fun activity, everyone got to pick what subjects and classes they wanted to go to. just like in america.

Being the only exchange student at my school, i guess thats the reason i dont know. i was asked to teach a lesson on "Slang"
i didnt really feel like i could say no, i figured itd be kind of fun. But for like two weeks i flipped out, really nervous. im kind of a shy person when it comes to having to do soemthing in front of a group of people.

My friends and classmates were really supportive. They helped me, and they were all like excited to sign up for my lesson. I honestly hoped they were the only ones who would choose to sign up for my lesson, because im comfortable around them, and if there is like no one to talk i front of, im not scared.

I had friends come oveR(italian friends) to help me prepare. that sounds seriously retarded, but I had a list of slang words, then they helped me translate it. and make handouts for my lessons
We later found out that like 100 people igned up for it, and that it was full. 100 people is a lot. like, i got really scared. Anyways, we prepared the lesson. And two of my friends fabio and alice(who both speak english really well, and were the ones who helped me transalte) They were SOOOO nice. they made sure one of them was with me for my lesson the first day, and the other with me the second day. so i wouldnt have to be alone. they were both so helpful. so if you guys are reading this, GRAZIE MILLE!!! non potevo farlo senza voi!

The Slang lessons went fairly well, well the first one kind of sucked. There were WAY too many people in the first one, and they were a younger group so i think they were more shy to speak english since maybe they didnt know it as well. im not sure. but the second lesson with alice went much much better :)
and it did help to see some of my friends in my class

Autogestione was fun, well not like really fun actually, for me mostly stressful. but fun considering italian school standards. i hate school. i always have. but italy made me hate it more. just saying.. so basically when we all signed up for what classes we wanted to do, you have everyones name on the list of each class and you write down what clas syou want to do. im a special person.. and my name doesnt exist on the paper. you can look at it as a bad thing, and feel excluded, but i look at it like a magical thing. because since i change classes, i can kind of leave whenever i want, and no one knows where im supposed to be (which class) and like, heck, im not even sure if some teachers know my name. since its never written anywhere. no attendance for me :)
so yeah i got to go to whatever lesson i wanted during autogestione. even if it was "full" because i could just slip in and no one would know. id like to think im invisible and i can do whatever xD lol not really im not that retarded , but i really like that my name isnt on the attendance :)

I ended up following my friends from my main class around, going to lessons that they chose. and we did design and photography, then my lesson the first day. then the second day we did chinese(yeah, thats right, i already knew everything the dude was teaching) and mafia or something, wasnt really sure. then my lesson.
________________________________________________________________________________
hmmm what else?

in these past rough ten days or so snice i last updated, Things have gotten better. not that it was bad before, but like, things have gotten GOOOOOOODDD!!! :)
My friend Alice had her 18th BDAY PARTY two weekends ago. MASSIVE party! in italy, 18 is THE age to be. like, its when you can drive, drink, and youre a legal adult. like everything at once. but in america its sort of split, driving at age 16, then the adulthoodness at age 18, then drinking at age 21. i think thats kind of stupid,but ok. so yeah, anyways for us in america, its like, yeah big parties for each of those 3 massive years. but in italy, since its everything at once, its friggin massive!

btw. this was my first 18th birthday party in italy. i had been to birthday parties but not 18th birthday parties.

so for her birthday, there was a massive group of people, we all went to dinner together, and had pizza, and after we ALL went to the disco. discos are really common, normal and popular in italy. but the thing about italy, is that events start really late. and its normal to go home at like 4 i think. in america, as far as im concerned, or as far as i know, midnight or 1 is pretty late....

Ok so this is part of my class at dinner.(Alice's Bday)Not everyone is here, and this is only one of the tables at dinner. Im the only one with black hair on the right, turned around obviously because im retarded. But yeah.

but yeah, we danced the night awayy

during dinner i talked a lot more(all my classmates were there too, and others) like, people didnt know i could speak italian, but seriously guys, i can! I hadnt really seen most of my classmates outside of school(my main 4c class) and it was really kind of weird. thigns are different. but i think im making more friends now. Some of them told me they wanted to tal to me from the beginning, but didnt know how to. but now, they know i can speak italian, and we talk :) everything has gotten so magically better with this family. even though i didnt leave novara when i changed families, i didn t change schools, i kind of feel as if i did. Like, everything is so different now. and ive learned so much italian in just one month. in the household now we speak practically only italian all the time. and since ive been able to speak italian, i think im making more friends. and because of my new location, i live closer to my italian friends, so i can actually go out with them. and this family, they dont mind driving me. lately, everything is getting so much better,i know i keep saing that, but really.. Im always invited out now, and i can actually go! te family doesnt mind to drive me. idk its jut reallllyyy gooood. haha my family jokes about how i am too social and i have to choose because i cant do both things xD
anyways, alices birthday party was saturday night about two weeks ago

the following day, sunday. was my host sister VALE'S BDAY. 22.
I woke up "early" like at 10 or 11 to ATTEMPT to make pancakes for her. we had a brunch, an americanized meal! (aw its so cute im always cooking and stuff with this family)
anyways, my pancakes kind of, well acutally, really failled. but my family for some reason liked them. i told them no no, americans would not eat these they are so crappy. and they said since they had never had them before, they dont know how they are really supposed to be, so like this, they were good to them. its funny because they ate all of them.. wow O.0

Monday i went to milan and met with my host sister Vale, and we went to ALL TIME LOW concert together, which was really fun! i love them! but i felt bad because when we returned home she had to continue her project for school. :(

Alex Gaskarth lead vocalist

Me and Vale at the concert

throughout the week, i talked more with my classmates( i think) like, my class is special.. theyre really divided. theyre really groupy.. so i kind of talk to only some of them. and others we dont really even say ciao. and others only ciao. but now i talk with them much more, i think theyre happy they are now able to talk with me, and im really happy im finally learning the language already. jeez, after 5 months, c'mon!!
then this last weekend friday night i went to the movie theater with one of my host sisters and my host mom. we watched some new movie with ann hathaway in it. this is the first full movie ive seen in theaters with this family (as i recall, idk i forget a lot of things) and i actually understood almost all of it! in all italian baby! wooooooo!

 ROAD TRIP! AL MARE(Liguria):

Last saturday we went to liguria for the day. We got up early and drove down south. Only about an hour or two car ride. Its like going to canada! but it was crazy because liguria has mountains everywhere. you could be standing at one part and be at the beach, and look over and across the mountains and see the snow. Its crazy!
It was a really nice day, and my family took me
 around a bunch of places. it was sooo pretty!

My host sisters, my host mom and I at the beach

So pretty and colorful!

last saturday night there was another birthday party, a classmate had an 18th birthday party, the class threw her a surprise dinner which was really sweet. :)

sunday was carnivale of ghemme. it was mostly for little kids, running around throwing confetti everywhere, and dressed up in costumes(non c'e carnevale in america) it was really cute. my family said though that this year there really werent as many people like other years. oh well. btu yeah, in ghemme(which is where i now live) for carnival they have giant pots and cook a mixture of lots of beans and other stuff that im not really quite sure what, but everyone lines up to get some. i tried it, it was really gooood.

NOW. its monday. monday night. last day of february. its been short over a month with this new family. i think one week over a month. i speak and understand italian so much better now. Im really satisfied with everything. oh, except for the fact that im now fat.
i dont know, i look back and think about the times i wanted to go home, despite how much i hated the idea of returning back to stupid high school and everything. but now, im so abnormally happy, it isnt enough time. (hence the title of this post) i wish it was leap year, then id have at least one more day here in this beautiful country.

Italy really is the best country. im so in love. cobblestones, the history, the beautiful language. the way of life, people are laid back and just chill out. i love italy.

XOXO
Rachael

P.S. Mercoledi 2 di marzo, parto per sardegna. c'e una settimana di scambio, tutti i ragazzi di intercultura che fanno un anno in italia, vanno. ci sono tante settimane che possiamo scegliere, per esempio c'e un posto in udine, rieti, latina, parma, arezzo, livorno, bari, napoli, calabria, taranto, trani, siracusa, marsala, enne, cagliari, oristano etc. ci sono tanti!!
normalmente i ragazzi del sud vengono al nord, e noi del nord andiamo al sud. io ero in ritardo a scegliere la mia settimana di scambio, quindi c'era solo pochi posti. ma quasi tutti nel nord. non volevo andare in qualche parte nel nord, perche, vivo nel nord xD c'era solo un posto nel sud, oristano, sardegna. quindi ho scelto oristano, sardegna. mi piace questo programma tanto, un bel programma, ma non mi piace questa settimana(se non vado per questa settimana, non faccio la settimana di scambio. perche non voglio pagare o andare in un altro posto dove sono gia stata come roma o venezia o milano xD
cmq, non mi piace questa settimana perche, e la settimana di carnevale. volevo stare qui per carnevale, cosi potevo andare ad Ivrea con gli altri ragazzi di intercultura(non ho visto loro per 5 mesi...). ma nooo invece vado in sardegna. si belllooo, pero, ivrea ha un grande carnevale. sono un po triste perche non posso andare ad ivrea, anche a incontrare gli altri ragazzi, i miei amici. anche le mie sorelle vanno in una discoteca, una grande festa solo per carnevale! loro mi hanno invitato, anche abbiamo preparato i vestiti.. :\ ma vabbe. sardegna.bel posto, bel programma, ma non mi piace questa settimana. (le settimane dipende dove vai, la mia è la prima settimana.) il prossimo post metto le foto qui. di ivrea(che cosa avrei visto) e anche di oristano sardegna carnevale(che cosa vedrò). sto scrivendo questo adesso perche parto fra 2 giorni, anche in sardegna forse non ho internet. quindi, il prossimo post è quando torno.