Visa and Famiglia

Time is moving so fast. I still have trouble believing that it is already July 5. In about two months, probably a little less, I will be leaving my home in order to fly to New York. Not only have I never been to a big city by myself, I have never flown on an airplane by myself. I have, however, flown on so many airplanes over the years that there will be absolutely no problem. I have couple of things that I want to write about. One of them is the entire visa process. The other is about my host family, but I will get to that later.

So, the visa process was kind of a pain. For me, however, it was not nearly as difficult as some other exchangers have it. Where I live, I am under the jurisdiction of San Francisco and AFS was able to do everything for me. All I had to do was gather everything that was needed. Most of it was easy: getting passport photos for my visa, filling out forms, etc... The hard part was getting the bank statement. We had to have a letter from the bank saying that we had $900 available, completely free for every month that I would be in Italy. Over all, that is $9000. That is so much money! Anyway, we figured it out. We had the bank set my parents and I up with a notary in order to get everything notarized that needed to be. Over all, and a few extra trips down to the bank, the entire process took about three or four hours. We didn't have to drive any great distance in order to go to a consulate or anything like that. All we had to do was go to Kinko's and mail all of it (including my passport) to the New York visa office. We don't know that they actually received it, but if there was a problem, I am positive that we would have heard about it already.

As for my family, I have some bittersweet news. Last night, I was up into the wee hours of the morning due to the fact that it was Independence Day. I decided to spontaneously Facebook my host brother at about one in the morning our time. Then, I went to sleep. In the morning, I checked Facebook to see if he had written back and he had. I did not check it though. I went about my day until about three o'clock this afternoon. It seemed like the perfect time then. It was great hearing from him, however, he also gave me news that they could no longer host me. What?! I was in complete and utter shock. Apparently, AFS called them last Friday and informed them that I have to go to a different family because they did not a have a school in the vicinity that was able to take me. As a result, I am now going to be living with a family in Messina, Sicily. I am still somewhat disappointed. For months now, I have been really excited to be living in a small beach side town. I really liked talking to my brother. My sister and I had only talked a minute amount and I had had zero contact with the parents. I can't be too disappointed though. I am still going to Italy, Sicily for that matter. My brother also said that I would still be coming there for a weekend to see them.

So, my new family lives in Messina. I have my host father and my host mother. Their names are Mario and Roberta. I also have a host sister and a host brother, just like before. Except this time, both of them are younger than I am. My sister, Agnese, and I have the exact same birthday. She will turn sixteen the same day that I turn seventeen. How cool is that? Of all the days in the year, my host sister was born on the same day as me. Before, my first host sister was older than me by a year, almost to the day. My new host brother is named Federico. He is thirteen right now and is only about a month and a half younger than my youngest brother here in the United States. That is all I know about the family besides their street address and their telephone number. AFS will, hopefully, send me more information about them soon. I am dying to know more. I am excited about my new family. It is kinda strange though that I have already had to change host families and I have not even step foot into Italy yet. I have an incredibly strong feeling that I will fit in marvelously with my family. :) I can't wait!!! :)

Ciao! :)