Final post=tears

*Note.  I've been writing this post for over month now, so I'm sorry if it's kind of a mess.  I made a conscious decision to only focus on being with my family for the last few weeks I have here, and that included cutting my computer out of my life.

Alright.  Not many excuses for waiting so long to write this one.  I've had a pretty crazy month and a half(arguably best month of my life truth be told).  My exchange is coming to an end, and there are a lot of conflicting feelings going on in my head.  I try to keep busy so I don't have to think about leaving, so I haven't had much time to write.  I have subconsciously become so accustomed to living here, that I can't really remember what my life was before I came here.  The parts I do remember make me cringe a little.  I have changed so much, and I think trying to adjust to my old life will be impossible.  This is both terrifying and exciting.  In the past 6 months, I've abandoned one life to start a new one, and now I have to do it again in less than a month.... Scary thought.

ANYWAY, we'll save the emotional stuff for later.  For now, I'll catch you up on what I've been up to.  (I'll warn you now, my English has taken a turn for the worse.  Writing clear thoughts is kinda difficult, so bear with me).

In the beginning of May, I got to go on an excursion for the day in a huge national park in Abruzzo (the region I live in).  My friends Eleonora, Pieffe, and I went with a small group on a day hike in the part of the park near L'Aquila.  It was really the first time I got to experience being immersed in the environment of Abruzzo, since I live in a pretty big city.  Most of Abruzzo is in the Apennines, so some of the hike was quite steep, but most of it was in the valley between two mountains.  I will post pictures below, but it is hard to capture the beauty in a photo.  It was really cool, because some of the flowers and vegetation are only found in Italy, so I've never seen them before.

The rest of May was pretty quiet.  Somewhere in the middle, however, my family took me to a party in a castle near Pescara.  It was such a beautiful day, and the castle was perched on a mountain over-looking a really old city, so the view was incredible.  I still don't know entirely what the party was for, but that was a really fun night.  I got to have some quality time with my family, and also show them how Americans dance (terribly).  Being there really made me feel like I was 100% part of the family, and a member of their social group.  There were people I recognized and was able to have conversations with.  More importantly, the "host family outing" awkwardness was gone.  This awkwardness is very prominent in the first month, and then kind of makes an appearance around three months again.  It's that feeling that you have to prove something to your family, even though they don't expect anything from you.  Hard to explain. Go on exchange and you'll get it.

It's also worth noting that I went to Milan, and spent a week with my two best friends.  That trip holds a special place in my heart, and therefore I would rather not tell all of the details.  Long story short: AFS friends will change your life, Lake Como is as beautiful as everybody says it is, and Milan has some pretty good American cafes.



Now I'm in June, and have never been more confused.  I just returned from my end of stay camp in San Severa, and I'm feeling a mixture of utter happiness, confusion, nostalgia, and love.  I've met the most incredible people here, and now that time is coming when we have to say our goodbyes, uncertain of whether or not we will see each other again.  I can make all the promises of returning that I want, but most of them will be empty.  Regardless of if I return here in the future, my experience ends the minute I get on that plane.  As depressing as it sounds, the life you build on exchange ends when the program does.  It's not possible to continue the relationships you've developed in the same way.  That doesn't mean I won't stay in contact, but odds are I'm never going to live in Pescara again, much less with my family. The friends I've made here may or may not keep in contact, but I'll never be able to go on a spur of the moment coffee trip with them again.

My point is that my experience is coming to an end, and I'm having a hard time accepting it.  Coming here was hard, but not nearly as hard as this.  I think it is because when you leave your host country, you are leaving all of the memories and stories you've made here.  I'll never forget my time in Como with my best friends, but I know that it isn't possible to experience anything like again, and that stings.

On the bright side, the language isn't the only thing I've picked up here.  Because of this experience, I am not able to imagine a life in where I stop traveling.  My world has been flipped upside down because of moving to another country, and it doesn't have to stop, which is comforting.  My college visions no longer include staying in the US.  I've been opened to a whole other world of options.  Exchange has made me re-examine the way I live my life, and also the way I want to continue to live it.  This means more adventures; more memories; more friendships; more blog posts.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for me, and I have exchange to thank for that.  One of the most important things I learned on exchange, although my Mom has been saying it for years,  "If it is meant to happen, it will."  Although, exchange has made me revise it a little...

If it is meant to happen, it will, as long as you let it. 

My experience would not have been nearly as life changing if I just decided to continue the status quo.  This comes with trying new things, and exploring the world around you.  Unfortunately this took me a while to grasp.  If I could say anything the myself from 4 months ago it would be this:

     Try that squid looking thing your family gave you. It's really good.

     Get off your phone. Put the computer away.  Talk to people.

     America will still be there in five months.  I promise.  Quit worrying.

     Quit with the English.  It's hard, but worth it.

     For the love of god, don't correct your English teacher.  She doesn't take it well.

     You have no idea what this exchange will mean to you.

As I sit here writing my last blog post, I'm in tears.  I finished reading all my blog posts while here, and looking at pictures of my exchange.  This is so bittersweet.  I'm going to end my lost blog post with a quote.  It's been in my head since the minute I read it, and I think it is particularly relevant right about now.

So dawn goes to day, nothing gold can stay.

Thank you to everyone who made this the best 6 months of my life.  Words cannot express my thanks.  I hope I see you soon, and I hope you realize the impact you've had on my life.

Grazie a tutti che hanno fatto questi sei mesi i migliori mesi della mia vita.  Non ci sono parole per esprimere la mia gratitudine.  Ci vediamo tra poco, e spero che voi sapete l'impato avete fatto nella mia vita.  Grazie. Vi voglio bene.

April was cool

I'll save you the usual reasons why I didn't update this month.  Long story short, April was a really good month, and I've been really busy.  Now that we got that out of the way, here's what I've been up to...

First of all, in the beginning of April, I was finally reunited with my other AFS America kids in Florence (shoutout to Bear/Rory/Sam even though you weren't there).  The trip started at about 1:00am on the morning of the 3rd.  I took a night train to Bologna, and there I met up with my host brother, who had already arrived the day before, to take another train to Florence.  Or at least that was the plan.  I ended up missing the connecting train, but Giorgio (my host brother) managed to get on the right train.  It was frustrating trying to find the next train and buy a new ticket, but I really got to put my language skills to the test.  It was really satisfying having them understand my Italian.  After only an hour of waiting for the next train, I was on my way to Florence.

Once I arrived, I met Giorgio at the station and we went to get breakfast.  We met up with my friend Bear at the station afterwards and waited for Rory to arrive.  Once we were all together, we headed to see the Duomo in the center of Florence.  I'll post a picture of it at the end, but it doesn't really do it justice.  It was so big and detailed.  Really cool to see.  We spent the rest of the day walking around Florence and just enjoying being together.  If you are or were an exchange student, you understand the weird bond you get with other students.  We had seen each other a total of about 36 hours before Florence, but we became really good friends quickly.

For the sake of time, I'll just summarize the last day of Florence:  I didn't miss my train back to Pescara. Facile.

The day after I got back from Florence, we had Easter day to celebrate.  I spent the morning and early afternoon going around to different families who I had never met.  I couldn't really converse with them that well, but they were really good cooks so I liked them.  For dinner, our family (which includes close friends for us) came over for a big meal.  We had lasagna, which was surprisingly the first time I had it in Italy. It lived up to my expectations to say the least.  Also, I'm not really sure what I did with myself in America without Kinder Chocolate.  My host mom got my host brother and I these HUGE Kinder eggs that were, no joke, the size of my head. I feel bad about this, but they were gone in 2 days. (Kinder chocolate+Italian coffee=paradise).  I didn't really notice a big difference between Easter here and Easter in America.  The Easter bunny didn't make an appearance in any mall here, but that's about it.  The day was spent with family, just like in America.  It's also worth noting that the day after Easter is called "Pasqua".  To put it bluntly, it's where people go out to the countryside and drink a bunch of wine.  My family choose not to participate, which I wasn't opposed to.

This month, the weather is starting to get warmer, so I've been at my family's restaurant a lot, (it's on beach if you didn't know).  I don't do much other than sit out on the beach and study.  By study I mean bury my feet in the sand.  It's productive.

This month was full of concerts for me as well.  I went to my first "concert" with my liason.  One of her friends from uni was playing a gig at a bar, and I went with her and her boyfriend to see it.  I had forgotten how much I loved concerts, so it was nice to hear live music again.  A few weeks after that, we went to a real show at club in Pescara.  It was a little strange seeing a band with only Italian songs, but an experience nonetheless.  I also got to see one of my friend's band play.  If you're interested in what really good Italian rock sounds like, check them out on youtube.  They are called Therapy 14's.

I also got to go to Rome again one Sunday.  I met up with Rory there as well.  I had already seen most of the main attractions, but that was the first time I got to go into St. Peter's Basilica.  Probably sick of hearing this, but pictures do not do this place justice.  Ever since I went there, I have been obsessed with Bramante and Michelangelo.  You definitely get a new appreciation/understanding of their genius when you visit these places.

That's about it for traveling.  As for me personally, I am still taking everything in.  Things that used to strike me as differences are now things I think are normal.  For example, I was talking with my Dad the other day, and I could not for the life of me remember is the word Catholic was pronounced "cAtholic" or "cathOlic".  Here in Italy, they stress the "o".  I'm still not sure which one of them is right honestly.

School is still really boring, because I don't understand 100% of the lessons, but it is getting better.  I have learned how to study independently, which was really new to me when I first got here.  My main mission during class is to pick up on the main topic of the lecture, and then I research it on my phone.  Not all teachers like this, but I didn't pay that much money to not learn anything. Sorry.

My language is improving, I think.  It is hard to tell, because something come out completely fine, but others are a real struggle.  My Italian course is finished, so I don't learn as much new material.  Most of my progress will have to come from actually speaking to people.  Terrifying.

As of right now, I only have one big plan for May, so I'm not sure when I will update next.  I'll post some pictures at the bottom, but until next time, thanks for reading.  A dopo!

The area near my family's restuarant

Il duomo in Florence

Easter dinner

That cup behind the first half of the egg is a normal sized cup.  That chocolate egg was huge.

Front row at L'orso.

Outside St. Peter's Basilica

View of Saint Peter's square from the top of the Basilica.

Therapy 14's live at Temple Bar.

I've also been really into biking lately.  No idea why, but my calves are thanking me.

Update + A Day in the Life

Ciao a tutti.  So a few things have happened since I last posted, but most of this month was just was just normal for me.  I have a solid routine that I do everyday, and I am living a normal life here (other than not speaking Italian of course).  Let's just jump right in.

Update

In the beginning of March, I got to go to Rome for the weekend with my brother.  We left Saturday morning, on what was supposed to be a 2 hour train ride.  BUT, of course, stuff went wrong.  We rode for about 30 minutes on the train, and were told to get off in a random town.  There, they had a bus waiting for the people going to Rome.  Apparently, something was wrong with the rail, and it couldn't go any further on that line.  So bus it was.  We though that would be it, but then our bus broke down... twice.  Luckily, the driver got it started each time, and we arrived in Rome at around 2:00 p.m.  Giorgio and I navigated the subway system, and went to our hotel.

Some cool town on our way to Rome

Our hotel was just outside of the Vatican, so it was somewhat easy to find.  We got checked in, and then immediately went to the Piazza San Pietro in the Vatican.  We decided the lines were too long to actually go inside, so we just saw the outside.  It was incredibly beautiful.  It is weird to think that that building had been standing since the 1600's.  You certainly get a new perspective on history when you are actually standing in front of these things.

View of St. Peter's basilica from St. Peter's square

From there, we spent the night roaming around Rome (see what I did there?), seeing some of the sights.  We went to see the Piazza di Spagna first, and that was really cool.  Then we went to the Pantheon, but it was closed by the time we arrived there.  Giorgio knew of a really good gelato place near the Pantheon, so we went there.  It had to have had at least 50 flavors of gelato to choose from.  I can't remember what I got, but I remember it being really good.

Piazza di Spagna stairs

The monument in Piazza di Spagna

The front of the Pantheon

After the Pantheon, we went to see Fontana di Trevi, but it was under construction so it there wasn't much to see.  By then it was around midnight, so we went back to our hotel to sleep.  The next morning, we got up early and went to Piazza San Pietro to see the Pope.  He does a little speech (only about 15 minutes long) every Sunday, and the Piazza is packed with people to see him.  I'm not a Catholic, but I think everyone should experience this at some point in their lives.  He was so enticing and down to earth that it was easy to listen to him, and not feel like he was superior.  You get a certain vibe being in the crowd that's indescribable.  Very weird, but very cool.

Fontana di Trevi and some happy girls taking selfies

There's a pope there. I promise.

Piazza San Pietro and all the people who went to see the Pope that day.

After the Pope left to do whatever Popes do, we went to Colosseum for a tour.  Yet another thing that everyone should see in their lifetimes.  The Vatican was weird to see, but the Colosseum was even weirder.  It is almost 2000 years old!  I can't even comprehend that much time.  It was built just over 100 years after Cleopatra, maybe 50 years after Jesus.  Once again, standing in front of something that old made me think differently about history.  Once our tour of the Colosseum was finished, we took another tour through the Roman Forums.  I got really annoyed with the tour guide (super pretentious history major), so Giorgio and I went off on our own.  It was cool to see what was left of ancient Rome.  Mussolini destroyed most of the Forums when he was in power, so very little of it still stands.  But still, it was very cool.  Some of these structures date back to the 8th century B.C.; 800 years before Christ.  Even now as I write this I am still amazed at how old that is, and the fact the I got to touch it.  Absolutely incredible.

Giant building in the Roman Forum.  No idea what it is.  I ditched the obnoxious tour guide long before this.

Panorama of the inside of the Colosseum

Outside the Roman Forums

From the Colosseum, we went back to the Pantheon to look inside.  I don't know much about the history of the building, but I know it is really old (go figure),  There wasn't much to see inside the building other than Raphael's tomb.  This building was built about 100 years before Christ I think, so about as old as the Colosseum, but 700 years away from the Forums.  This was more or less the last thing we saw before we got on a bus back to Pescara.

The giant ceiling inside the Pantheon

Raphael's tomb

Other than Rome, the month was pretty quite.  However, on St. Patrick's Day, I went to an Irish festival with some friends.  You have not lived until you have heard Italians covering Flogging Molly.  So many accents.  The festival was a lot of fun, but super crowded, so we didn't stay very long.

So that's what I've been up to this month.  I am going to Florence in a few days over Easter break, so I'll tell you about that next time.  But, some people have asked what my daily routine is on exchange, so I will tell you!

Day in the Life

6:20-  Try to wake up.

6:40-  Try to wake up again.

6:50-  Actually wake up.

This is my dirty room.  It only looks like this 60% of the time.

7:00-  Get ready for the day, assuming there is hot water.  Recently, I've been taking ice showers, but I don't know the words to tell my family, so I've just been going with it.  Exchange in a nutshell.

7:20-  Maybe eat some breakfast.  Usually, I just eat a few biscotti (cookie things) with a glass of milk.  Big change from the big American breakfasts I'm used to.

7:45-  Catch the bus to school.  I wish I could post a picture of the bus, but I think it would be kinda creepy to take a picture of everyone on the bus... so I'll pass.  Imagine a bus so full of people that your face is pushed up against the window, and then more people get on.  That's my morning.

8:15-  School starts.  Usually Italians stay in one class all day, but I rotate to a bunch of different classes, so classes depend on the day.  I think I've talked about Italian school before, but I'll talk about it in the next post again maybe.

My school schedule.

1:15- School ends.  On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Satudays, I just catch the bus from school to home.  On Wednesdays and Fridays, I walk into Pescara Centro to my Italian course.  I have an Italian tutor that helps me with all of the grammar and other stuff I don't understand.  Lesson usually go for about two hours.  I will usually go to my favorite Pizzeria on the way for a quick lunch.  I like that place a lot, because it's not very popular, so I'm usually the only one in there.  At this point, the owner know me, and we try to have conversations where I speak Italian, and he speaks English.

My "home-base" class room.

Italian verbs

2:00-  When I don't have my course, I go home for lunch with my family.  Lunch is equally as important as dinner here, although we don't usually have guests for lunch.  We eat a lot of seafood and pasta.  I've only had real seafood one before I came here, and I've been missing out.  The stuff looks weird, but 99% of the time it is delicious.  If we don't have seafood, we usually just eat pasta with tomato sauce.  They think it's simple, but it is probably my favorite meal.  Put some shaved Parmesan on top... ohhhh.

2:30-8:00-  Free time.  Usually, I take a nap during some of this time.  School is really tiring when you have to work to understand anything.  If I don't do that, I will watch a movie, read a book, surf the web, or study.  I want to study more, but unfortunately I don't understand Italian well enough to really grasp the concepts yet.  I've just been studying Italian really.  Sometimes, during the night, I will go into Pescara alone or with some friends.  We usually just grab a coffee or something and talk.  Some of them help me study as well.

9:30-  Dinner time.  Favorite part of the day.  We almost always have at least one guest over.  Again, we eat a lot of seafood and pasta.  However, we also eat a lot of meat too.  The mains ones that we eat are chicken and beef, like America, but sometimes we eat lamb.  Sounds weird, but really good.  In Abruzzo (the region I live in), we have a thing called Arrosticini (ah-row-sti-chee-nee), which is like a lamb kabab type thing.  I think I posted a picture of it in a previous post, but sweet Jesus it's good.  We don't have it often because it's really expensive.  Every meal is accompanied by salad.  I've been told it's only in Abruzzo that we use Olive oil and salt as dressing, but I think all of Italy does that.  Very simplistic, but very good.

After dinner-12:00ish -  We usually talk with our guests and watch a movie after dinner.  Sometimes, people will be at the table for 2-3 hours after dinner talking or playing cards.  I am almost always the first one to go to bed.  I don't really even know how late everyone stays up.  Not sure if I want to.


Well that's my typical day.  Very different from my American life, but also very similar.  You learn when you go abroad that your life changes in a lot of little ways, not one big way.  Italian culture and American culture are not so different in the big picture, but small things, like the kind of coffee you get when you are with your friends, are different

If any of you want me to write about something specific, or have any questions, please tell me by commenting on my blog, facebook posts, or sending me an email. (colingran@gmail.com)

A dopo!

Update and Advice to Future AFS'ers

Ciao a tutti!  I have come to the conclusion that the only thing harder than going on exchange, is going on exchange an trying to keep a blog.  I am terrible at keeping this updated.  In my defense, this has been the craziest month of my life.  It has certainly been great… but crazy.  Anyway, I’ll try to update more often blah blah blah…  This post will be an update, but it came to my attention that this blog goes out to A LOT of people.  Like a lot.  Because of this, I will do an advice portion to any future AFS’er.

Many people claim that it’s around the six month period that you finally settle into you Italian home, but I think I’m an outlier.  I feel completely at home here, and I’ve only been here a month.  The language is still a barrier, but it’s something that has become a part of my daily routine, so I am not annoyed by it anymore.  Everything is just normal; I have a routine, I know the city well enough to take public transportation (which is confusing no matter where you go by the way), and I have a home here. 

The language is becoming way easier.  I have gotten to the point where I can understand 75% of what people say, but my speaking is still rough.  It’s very patchy for me.  One sentence will come out fantastically, and then the next will make me sound like a child.  I can live with that, as it provides some conversation starters with new people. 

Update

Since my last post, so much has happened.  It’s impossible to write it all, so I’ll just tell you two major highlights.

In late February, my brother Giorgio and I went to Teramo to visit one of my friends named Max.  A girl from Austria named Valerie also went with us.  We took the train from Pescara to Teramo, which only took about an hour.  Max met us at the train station, and we went to the city center to walk around for a little bit. (I’ll post some pictures at the bottom. Very beautiful city.)  After about an hour, we went to Max’s house for dinner with is family.  His house is pretty high up in the mountains, so the view was amazing.  We ate a really good dinner, and then spent the rest of the night talking around a fire (aesthetic). The next day, we ate lunch with Max’s family, and then took a train to Giulianova, where we walked around for a little while.  It is right on the coast, so it looked a lot like Pescara to me.  We caught a train going back to Pescara, and then got lost trying to get back home.  We eventually figured it out… 2 hours later.

Yesterday, I got to cross something of my bucket list.  I finally got to go skiing in on a notable mountain.  It wasn’t the Alps, but compared to Minnesota skiing, it sure seemed like it.  Giorgio, and family friend named Ana, and I went together.  It was exciting to actually be able to ski for more than 30 seconds before getting to the bottom.  I can’t really describe it in words, so I’ll just post some pictures at the bottom.

Advice for future AFS’ers

Here are some things I wish I would have known before I came here.  Granted, I have only been here for a month, so take these with a grain of salt.

1)      When you first arrive, you have about a two week window of being extremely interesting at school.  Everyone will want to talk to you, and you’ll be sort of famous.  Take advantage of this.  Invite people out, and don’t wait to be invited.  I did, and it took a lot longer to make friends.

2)      Stop talking in English.  It’s incredibly hard, but learning Italian is 100% harder if you talk in English all the time.  If your family speaks no English, consider yourself lucky.  It forces you to learn the language quickly, and it will make assimilation into the culture much easier.

3)      Download Quizlet now.  This is the best way to study Italian.  I have learned tons of verbs thanks to this app, and it was actually fun to learn them.

4)      Be open.  Everyone will tell you this, but it’s true.  I live on the coast, so some of the food is very strange looking. But, I always at least try it, and 9/10 times it’s fantastic.  This also goes for making friends.  The people you will meet are so different then the people you know in your home country.  You can’t expect them to act the same as your friends do.

5)      Learn what to call your host parents quickly.  There is nothing more awkward than not knowing what to call the people you live with.  I didn’t do this, and now I just casually start talking to the person hoping I get their attention.  It’s very strange.

6)      Be active, and drink a lot of water.  This is good no matter where you go, but it’s especially true in the beginning of your exchange.  You’re going to be tired all the time. If you try to combat your sleepiness (is that a word?) with exercise, you will feel a lot better.

7)      Be prepared to learn a lot about our country.  Exchange isn’t just designed to learn a new culture.  It’s also made so you can recognize your own cultural habits.  This one is hard to describe, but things you never thought about before you left are now the things you miss most.  The first few weeks are very reflective, so you will understand what I mean.

8)      Get close with other AFS’ers.  They are really the only ones who know what you are experiencing, which makes them the greatest people to talk to when you have had a bad day.  Which brings me to my next point.

9)      Download some super emotional songs.  Life is too short to keep pretending you don’t need Spotify Premium.  Get some super sad songs in a playlist, and feel those feelings away.  I highly recommend Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour”.  Had some great group feels sessions to that one.

10)   Put the phone down.  This one, in my opinion, is the hardest.  When I am in an awkward situation, I immediately reach for my phone.  Unfortunately, every situation here is awkward to some extent, so I am constantly on my phone.  This is really stunting my relationship with my family, so just get into the habit of leaving your phone at home when you go out.  Nothing important is going to happen. I promise.

11)   You will question everything you do.  I don’t mean this in some philosophical way, I mean it literally.  For example, during the first dinner I had here, I had absolutely no idea what to do with my hands.  Like not even a clue.  I didn’t know if anything was rude or not, so I was just constantly changing hand positions to make sure I wasn’t being disrespectful. 

12)   Pick up on hints.  This is really important.  Something that I have noticed with my family is that they don’t take problems directly to you.  For example, I have an extension cord strip thing in my room.  I always leave it on in the mornings, but when I come home from school, it is shut off.  Obviously, my host mom keeps turning it off during the day, so now I know to shut off before I leave.  You need to be conscious of these things, no matter how small they are.

I hope those help.  I’ll keep posting more when I think of them.  If you are reading this and thinking about going on exchange, quit thinking and just apply.  You will not have any regrets.  If you are having problems deciding if it is right for you, please feel free to email me.  I would be more than happy to help!  My email is colingran@gmail.com.  Ci vediamo!

PS. So my computer is only letting me upload these two pictures... I don't know why, but I know I hate technology sometimes.

School and Other Things I Don't Understand.

Hey all. Sorry it's been awhile since my last post, I've been very busy this past week.  I'll give you a run down of my past 2 weeks.

I started school last Monday, and it is by far the most boring thing I have ever experienced.  I don't understand anything the teachers say, so most of the day I am just studying Italian by myself.  Some of the classes that I am supposed to be paying attention in include: Italian (I don't even understand the language, how am I supposed to understand the literature?), Math (I have absolutely no idea what we are studying), English (the only class that I understand), Art History (even though I don't understand what she is saying, this class is pretty interesting), Physical Education (this class is an absolute joke.  I run maybe 3 minutes, then do whatever I want.  Side note, basketball is not a thing here, so when I made a 3 pointer, they thought I was Michael Jordan), Italian History (again, don't understand, but very interesting), and finally Physics (my least favorite of all the classes).  I study each of these subjects for a total of 3 hours week, so my schedule varies depending on what day it is. It may sound like a lot, but they also give me 3 hours of independent study on Monday mornings, and 2 hours on Friday, where I usually study Italian. (That's a lie, I just sleep).

Italian schools are so much different than American schools.  They have five classes a day, each for an hour.  The class is basically ran by the students, and the teachers are simply there to guide their learning.  Nearly all of their grades are determined by oral interrogations.  By this I mean one student gets up to the board and talks about the material for about 25 minutes.  Every week.  I don't know how they do it, but they can.  Their "presentations" are graded on a scale of 1-10; the lowest possible score being 2, and the highest is a 10, but this is impossible.  The average score is a 5, but you need an average of 6 to pass the course, otherwise you have to retake the entire year over.  Insane standards, but these kids are brilliant.

My Italian is definitely coming along nicely.  I still don't know enough to uphold a productive conversation without speaking a little English, but I'm getting there. Hopefully by the end of March I will be able to communicate more than the basics.  Most of my day is spent conjugating verbs, and trying memorize new vocabulary.  I have an Italian course 2 days a week, and that helps a lot.  The tutor asked me today if I wanted to help teach his English course next month, so I think that will be fun!

 I'm starting to settle into my new life here.  I just recently started taking the public transportation alone, and I usually only miss my stop by a kilometer, which is progressive. (The first day I took the bus, I had to walk almost 3 kilometers, almost a mile and a half, in the cold because I missed my stop...).  I'm starting to go out with friends more, but all they do it study, so it's hard.  I have nothing to study, so I mostly just sleep...  I think that I am going for pizza tomorrow with my class, but I'm really never sure what they are saying so I'll find out tomorrow.

I know this blog is a little all over the place, but I am trying to write this while guests are over, so it's hard.  I'll post some pictures at the bottom to show you what it's like here.  Thanks for reading.  Not sure when I'll post again, Time is flying by here, so it could be awhile.

First few days

Well, I'm finally here with my host family.  I arrived in Pescara on Sunday the 1st, but was quite a journey to get there.  I've had some unforgettable experiences, and met some of the greatest people I've ever met in my life.  It's a weird friendship with AFS students.  You really only get to see each other for a few days before you don't see them for months, but they become some of your greatest friends in that short span of time.  This could be a long post; brace yourselves.

On Thursday the 29th, I got out of bed at 7:00 for the rest of the New York orientation.  I wish I would have slept longer. (I'll explain that in a minute...).  I don't remember that day very well, but I remember a lot of sitting around.  Our flight from New York to Zurich left at 6:30pm, so we left our hotel at about 2:30 to head for the airport.  While there, I walked around with a girl Jasmine', who went to France.  She was very fun to talk to.  After waiting for what felt like days, we finally got to board our flight.  On my flight from Minneapolis to New York, I got an entire row of seats to myself, so I felt pretty spoiled.  But that did not compare to this plane.  The seats were incredibly comfortable, and we all had movie screens with all of the new movies on it to watch.  It was only a 7 hour flight, but it was overnight, so it seemed longer. Jasmine' and I watched Boyhood together (it's terrible), and then we jammed out to Hairspray cause how can you not?  We stayed up the entire flight talking, which in hindsight was a terrible idea.  When we landed at 7:00 local time, we had been awake for 19 hours.

This is where the story gets fun.  Pre-read warning - this experience does not represent AFS as a company in anyway. They are incredible.  So when we landed, we went to go through customs and security.  This would be the last time we saw our chaperon, who was supposed to stay with us until we boarded our final flight.  She left us, but we didn't think anything of it.  How hard could this be? (pretty damn hard).  When we got to a splitting point between terminals, the Italy and the France kids said goodbye to each other.  That kinda sucked, but we were all too tired to really care.  We went and found our gate, and began the four hours of waiting.  Our flight was supposed to leave Zurich at 12:30pm, but at around 11:00am, we saw that it had been delayed until 1:30.  Ok, and extra hour isn't that bad, so we waited some more.  I was trying to contact AFS Italy/AFS USA to tell them that our flight was delayed, because there were volunteers waiting for us in Rome.  Well, the only number that our group could come up with definitely not the right number to call.  I think it was the the orientation department or something.  After that, I tried the emergency hotline, even though this really wasn't an emergency, and he told me not to call that number with these kind of things. Alright guy, thanks.  So, at this point, we have 15 overtired and irritated AFS kids with no chaperon trying to figure out who to call.  Then worst case scenario happened; our flight got cancelled.  Crap.  I stopped caring who I was calling then, so I tried the orientation department again.  They put me through to the travel and logistic department (why didn't they do that first?), and I talked to Jodi.  She was at the New York orientation, so I knew that I was talking to the right person.  I acted as a communicator for her and the airline trying to re-book a flight.  By the way, shout out to all the AFSUSA kids.  We da bomb.  I followed her instructions, and about 4 hours and 27 phones calls later, we finally had a flight to Rome.  Buuuuutt is was the next day at 5:30 pm.  The airline put us up in a hotel for the night, and gave us a bunch of free meal vouchers.  We got lunch/dinner at the airport while they transferred our luggage to baggage claim.  (30 francs for a pizza?  Whatever...).  We got our bags, and finally met our "chaperon", who we were all quite fed up with.  We took the shuttle to the hotel, and each got our rooms.  By the time we arrived in our rooms, it was about 7:00pm local time...  We had been awake for about 28 hours.  We were all asleep within an hour...

The next day, I woke up at 4:00am for some reason. Stupid jetlag.  I tried to watch TV, but it was all in German.  PS, if you ever get the chance to watch German Simpsons, take it.  It's hilarious.  I went down to breakfast and ran into our chaperon.  She said that someone from AFS Switzerland offered to give us a tour of Zurich, but we had to be ready to go in like an hour.  I think that I was the only one up, so I woke some other people up, and we scrambled to get everyone out the door.  We ended up leaving some kids behind (sorry) because we were in such a rush.  We met the Swiss volunteers at the train station, and we took a short train ride to downtown Zurich.  We only got to walk around for like an hour, but it was incredible.  If you ever get the chance, hang out in Zurich.  It's really beautiful.  I'll post some pictures at the bottom.

After our tour, we met up with all of the other kids at the airport, and waited for our flight.  Luckily, this one was on time, but we still had to wait for like 5 hours.  I started hanging out with some girls named Rory and Bear (coolest names ever), and a guy named Sam.  We wondered the airport until we had to board, and I realized how incredible they were.  They are so funny.  If any of you are reading this, I had an orange for breakfast this morning.  At 5:00, we boarded our flight to Rome.  It was only an hour long, so I just plugged in some headphones and tuned out.

When we arrived in Rome, we were greeted by AFS Italy volunteers.  They took us from the airport to our hotel about 30 minutes away.  That drive was the only bit of Rome that we got to see.  It was really cool.  When we got to the hotel, we met all of the other kids from around the world.  That marked the first time that I felt like an outsider.  There were 15 Americans, but 62 other kids from all over.  Most of them spoke English, as well as there home language, which made me feel stupid.  Why doesn't America learn other languages?  Sam, Rory, Bear, and I went out on our own and wondered the grounds.  They are seriously the greatest. #wildlemonsforlife.

The next day was the day (Sunday), we got to go to our host families. Rory and I got to go to the bus station together, but had to say goodbye there.  I had a 2 hour bus ride to Pescara.  I just slept most of the way.  That drive was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  We drove through the mountains and got to see all of the tiny villages in the hills.  It was really cool.

When I got off the bus, I was greeted by my family, some volunteers, and some of the other AFS kids.  I was excited to meet them, but really tired.  My family was excited to see me, but it got awkward quick.  In Italy, they do the cheek kiss thing, and I have never done that.  I wish I recorded the first time I had to do it.  I was so lost.  We got in their tiny car, and drove to Francavilla, where we live.  They helped me get my bags up, and then I took a nap.  They woke me up at 8:00pm, and told me the family was here for dinner.  Crap.  Next thing I new I was sitting at a table with all of the extended family talking at me in Italian.  I just smiled and nodded a lot.  They were really nice to me, so I wish I knew what they were saying so I could have conversed with them.

The past few days have been exhausting.  It's a constant flow of new things, and it really breaks you down.  I don't want to get all philosophical, but this is the best way I can explain it.  It's like my entire life was a puzzle, and coming here knocked all of the pieces out of place.  Now I have to try to fit them all back in place, but it's really emotionally and physically tiring.  That sounds negative, but it's not.  It definitely sucks, but I know that I am going to come out stronger on the other side.

I start school on Monday, so I'm sure I'll update sometime next week.  Sorry this was so long, but a lot has happened.  Grazie!