So, this past week was my first week at school. It was definitely hard to sit until 2:00 PM every day, listening to people talk in Italian. It made it even more difficult that they spoke so fast. Because they spoke so fast, I could not understand a lot of what was said. My comprehension of Italian is really quite marvelous for being here only two weeks. When people talk fast though, that is another story.
I have been placed in the 4E class. That means that I am in the 4th level (somewhat equivalent to 11th grade) and in class E. They have classes arranged by letters. Each letter focuses on a slightly different thing. My class in particular is more of a linguistic focus. I am going to a science oriented school. As a result, I could not escape the dreaded science. In my class, we are studying both Chemistry and Physics. I already studied Chemistry and it was such a pain. Physics in a different language though is...horrible. I also have Math. I think that we are doing some hardcore trigonometry/geometry stuff. I have already done geometry, but I definitely didn't like that class or do well in it. The subject here is completely foreign to me...no pun intended. They teach things so differently than teachers do in the United States. First of all, they use the Greek letters Alpha and Beta in their equations. That has me completely confused. We are also studying Philosophy, History, French, English, Italian Literature, Latin, Physical Education, and Design (drawing). I like every subject above, minus design. The French teacher is letting me use a beginning book since I have no knowledge of the language, the Italian/Latin teacher is giving me special homework to help me learn Italian. It is her wish that I take the big exams in the spring. They are in Italian. Philosophy and History are fun to listen to because I can actually grasp most of what he is saying. Physical education is not hard; it is just in Italian. I am not too keen on desgin because I can't draw. This class is focused upon drawing precise pictures with measurements and geometrical designs. I have never done this in my life. The school also has a choir which I plan on becoming a part of. :)
On the otherhand, my classmates are great. The entire class consists of 21 people, myself included. They are all so nice and helpful. For the past two weekends, we have all been meaning to get together to go around the city, but they have been cancelled both times. The first time was because not enough of the class could make it and this time because I am going out of town with my family. I really like all of them. Two girls in particular, Claudia and Lucy, have been incredibly helpful in helping me to become situated in the classroom. I think that they are all very happy to have me there. I have also made another friend. She happens to be the girl who I met in the airport in Rome. She is incredibly nice and outgoing. On the subject of friends, last weekend, I went out with my sister and her friends. I had a crepe with them and then we went to a bar to hang out. It was really fun and I am glad that I was included. :)
The food here is still amazing! I have some new favorites. I love melon, cantaloupe to be precise, wrapped up in prociutto. It is so amazingly delicious. I also love every single one of their past dishes. Every single one! My family makes these tomato salads with olive oil that are to die for. You can either eat them plain or you can put them in bread like a sandwich. They are so, so good. The tomatoes here have so much more flavor! So does the olive oil for that matter. Yesterday, I ate lunch with a few of my classmates. We went for authentic Arabic kabob. They had the meat standing upright and they really did just shave it off. It was so great! I also saw the largest Nutella container of my life. It must have been at least as big as my head, if not bigger. Also yesterday, my family and I went out for pizza. :) It was my first pizza dining out while here in Italy. I had a Bufalo pizza. It has pomodori fresci (fresh tomatoes), bufalo (mozzarella), rugula (arugula), basilica (basil), and maybe something else. It was amazing! Here in Italy, they really do serve you an entire pizza to eat by yourself. I managed to down half of the pizza before I had to stop. It was so good that I didn't want to, but I had no choice. As for the desserts, I am still totally in love with gelato. My brother introduced me to a new form of gelato. First, you have a brioche, then it is cut in half. The whole thing is then stuffed with gelato and panna (cream) is put on top. It is huge, amazing, and totally worth eating the whole thing. :)
This weekend, my family and I are going to Taormina and to another place. I don't remember the name because it had more than one word in it. We are going to Taormina because Federico has a tennis match to play in. I don't know if Agnese is coming with us. She has made it very clear that she absolutely does not want to go. Whether she comes or not is her decision, but either way it will be a lot of fun.
One last thing. Italians really can not go out with wet hair. My mother freaks out if I have wet hair. I must absolutely dry my hair if it gets wet. A few nights ago, she saw that I hadn't dried my hair after showering. She then proceeded to tell me that I was going to get a headache and a fever during the night. I wanted to laugh because I found it funny, but at the same time I thought that it was sweet.
Oh, wait. Last night, I was actually able to help my sister with her English homework. She had to translate pages of English into Italian and I was able to help her do it. :) I was so proud of myself because my knowledge of the language is increasing so much!
I will keep updating, but for now this is all I can think of to write. I haven't been able to put pictures up because of internet connection speed. I have loaded some onto Facebook though. I'm sorry to all of you who can't see them. I really meant for you to be able to. I'll write soon!
Ciao a tutti,
Rebecca
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Messina!!!!
Ciao a tutti!! Hello to everyone!
I am now in Messina. It is my third full day here and I am having a wonderful time. :) I officially left home last Tuesday, so I suppose that this is my one week update. The flight to New York from Portland was rather boring. I was sitting by myself by the window. I did like looking out of it and seeing Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Manhattan Island. That was really fun. I have never seen the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge from the air before. At the airport, I managed to find my bag and get myself to the courtesy car pick up area. The van came and picked me and at whisked me off to my hotel. Fortunately for me, the hotel I stayed at was the same one that I had my orientation at. I did not, therefore, have to switch hotels. It was incredibly boring sitting around my room. All I did was sit on the computer, watch TV, and call my mom. I was kind of afraid to leave my room because I kept having different male staff members hit on me. I'm sorry, but I wasn't in the mood for older men, from New York, to pay attention to me. Plus, I missed home. It wasn't that bad, but I didn't really enjoy being alone.
Orientation in New York was not my favorite. They kept asking if we were nervous and tell us stories to try to warn us of what could happen. The stories only made us more nervous. I made a few friends, none of whom are anywhere near me here in Italy.
When we left New York on Thursday, we took an overnight flight to Zurich, Swizerland. Let me tell you, I didn't sleep a wink. I was wide awake. I even took really bad pictures of Irish cities as we passed over them. My excitement was my own form of caffiene. I watched a movie and talked to people on the way there. When we finally landed in Zurich, at about 8:00 AM (their time), my excitement was literally bursting. I took pictures of Zurich out of the window. We had a four hour layover there, so we all found a spot to hang out. Mind you, there were forty-three of us and two or three chaperones. That was a lot of people to fit into one area. Laura, a friend from Idaho, and I walked around the entire Zurich airport, at least the parts we could without leaving the secure area. Most of the places were chocolate stores, but they also had stores like Armani and Prada. Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of glass. Anyway, that's not why I am writing. We boarded our plane to Roma and set off. A couple hours later, we landed in Roma. The first thing that hit us was the heat. Rome was hot! We all got our bags, went through customs (which was us walking through doors), and met the Intercultura personnel waiting for us. There, they split us up into two groups the first group left with some students from China, while the second group waited for the group from the Dominican Republic. I was in the second group. We were waiting for a really long time, only to find out that they had missed their flight. Then, we had to wait until a bus came to pick us up. All in all, we were late to the orientation in Roma. The 30 minute drive to get to the hotel took us 2 hours. I didn't really mind though. I was happy taking pictures out of the window of the bus. :) :) I saw my first pomegrante tree! At the hotel, we unloaded our baggage and checked into our room. I had two roommates; one was from Wisconson and her name was Manda, while the other one was from Alaska and her name was Katie. All three of us took showers before dinner. Before dinner, there was some time for us to mill around a meet some other students from all over the globe. I met so many people. During dinner, I sat with Americans and Germans. It was really great being able to talk to them. For our first meal in Italy, we had lasagne! :) I love lasagne! Actually, I love Italy and everything that has to do with it. After dinner, we all congregated inside of a behemouth white tent for a big welcome get together. Then, they split everyone into groups depending upon where they were staying. The Americans had to stay together, though, because we were late. We had our own little orientation. It wasn't much. That night was...interesting. My roommate, Katie, left our room to go smoke. As it turned out, she was also drinking...a lot. So, a girl from the room she was in came and slept on her bed.
Then next day was just everyone heading off to their host families. I left at 2:30 in the afternoon, so I had to sit around and say goodbye to most everyone else. I met a girl from India who was interesting to talk to and a few people who are also here in Messina. The plane ride to Catania, Sicily took less than an hour. During that time, I became friends with a couple of girls from New Zealand, tried Finnish candy (disgusting!!!!like licorice, but stronger), and tried Italian candy (delicious!). When we grabbed our bags and were heading out of the door to meet our host families, I was so nervous. I was literally shaking and thinking that I really couldn't do this. I was wrong though. When I got out of the doors, I recognized Maurizio, my host father, immediately. He was standing there waiting for me. :) He said ciao and did the double kiss greeting thing that all Italians do and told me that the rest of the family was waiting further on. When I got to them, Federico (brother) was holding up a sign with my name on it. Roberta (mother) and Agnese (sister) were standing there too. I knew that I would love being with them the second that I saw them. They are so warm and friendly. They barely had to do a thing before I felt at home.
There was an hour long drive from Catania to Messina, so I got to see part of Sicily by night. That didn't do much. I did get to witness Italian driving first hand though. They must have a secret death wish. They drive so fast. At one point, we were driving 140 km/h. That is fast. Also, no one in my family wears seat belts. It is unheard of. When I got here, they gave me a tour of their house. We immediately went out for dinner. We had foccacia, which is like pizza but on foccacia bread. It was DELICIOUS!!!! Then, we walked in front and into the Duomo. It is an absolutely gorgeous cathedral. Federico and I then bought gelato. OH MY GOODNESS! I AM IN HEAVEN! We had the speciality from Messina. It tasted just like Nutella, but better and it had panna (Italian cream). That was the end of my small bit in Messina.
Day 1: Sunday
On Sunday, we all went out for granitas for breakfast. They are my new favorite breakfast foods. My favorite so far is granita di limone con brioche. Basically, it is a lemon flavored water ice, in which you dip your brioche into. YUMM! My mouth is actually watering as I think about that. I just ate lunch too. Then, we went to the tennis club. There, Agnese, Federico, and I swam in the pool. After that, Federico and I went to the sea and swam there. He was literally immediately stung by a jellyfish, so we headed back to shore. We came back home to eat lunch. Every day after lunch, we all have a quiet time for a few hours. During this time, we can do anything. We can sleep, we can study, we can watch TV...you get the idea. Later that evening, we went to a birhtday party. It was their cousins third birthday. I got to meet the entire family. Their nonna (grandmother) kept saying to me "Bella, Bella, Bella" :) It was acutally a fun party. I enjoyed it. I made a bracelet there.
Day 2: Monday
Monday was Agnese's first day of school. She left early in the morning. Roberta also left because she had to go to her school. Maurizio was on the computer here in the house and Federico was still asleep. I spent a lot of time reading my Italian grammar book. Maurizio came and found me and tried to get me to eat. He also woke Federico up. Instead, Federico and I left and had granita at the bar again. After that, we came back home, grabbed their cat, Crash, and got into the car with Roberta, who had returned. We drove across the city to the vet where Crash had to get a shot. That took a little while. After that, we drove back to the house and dropped the cat off. Federico and I walked to Agnese's school to say hi. I met a few of her friends, which was nice. All we did was say hello. Federico and I walked a ways until we got to a good vantage point for me to take a picture of the Liberty Statue. To my utter dismay, he then forced me to find my way home again without his help. I am proud to say that I did it with only one hint from him. When we got home, it was lunch time and Agnese returned from school. We had our quiet break and then headed off to the tennis club. Federico played tennis, while I hung out with another exchange student (Tobias, from Germany) and his host mother and brother. We played some ping pong. My skills have gone way downhill. We were at the club for a very long time. I think it was until about 9 PM. I watched people play. Suddenly, Federico asked me to play. I was playing tennis on clay courts in jeans. I actually didn't do that bad for wearing jeans and not playing for a couple of weeks. Then, Federico, his friend Christian, and I hit a tennis ball around between the three of us. Maurizio pulled me away and took me home. He took me home on his motorbike. That was my first time on one and let me tell you, it was so much fun. I'm technically not covered by insurance by riding one, but we didn't find that out until today. Oh well! :) For dinner, Maurizio showed me how to make pizza. It was great fun learning how to do it properly. :) It was delicious too!
Day 3: Today
Today has been kind of long. I woke up this morning and had to go to the immegration office with Maurizio to get my living permit. That took a long time. We were there with all the other students in Messina. There is me, Tobias, Tannelli (Finland), and a girl from Norway. We all went to a bar nearby and had granitas. That was my second breakfast of the morning. :) I have eaten so much food here. It is all so good! Then, Maurizio and I had to go the post office to fill some other things out for my permit. I have to go back on the October 2nd to get the official one. We then drove to an open air market where we bought a whole bunch of fruit. Good thing that I positively adore fruit. Then we drove to the bakery, where we bought bread for today's lunch. When we got home, Maurizio made lunch. It was delicious. Pasta with pesto sauce. We also ate some of the fruit. I now officially love figs. They are so much better here in Messina than they were in Corvallis. Also, I tried another kind of fruit which I think if the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. It is delicious too! Later today, Federico is playing in a tennis tournament and I am going to go watch. For dinner, we are meeting all of the other AFS students and their families and our liasion for pizza. :) Basically, I eat everything and anything. My family loves that I am not afraid to try foods.
So far, I am loving everything about Messina. I have gotten used to the fact that there are cars screaming by our house every hour of the day and night. It doesn't bother me anymore. I love that each morning I wake up the smell of freshly baked sweet breads because there is a bakery pretty much directly below our house. I love the way of life. I love...Italy. I am trying to get the language, but I am nervous to speak it because I don't like making mistakes. It is geting better though, believe me. My family and I get along beautifully and I love them very much. The initial homesickness is wearing off now. I'll keep everyone updated and I will put pictures on soon. I am having a little trouble because the internet connection is somewhat iffy. I never know how long it will last. Anyway, I hope everyone is well. Oh, I almost forgot. I went to my school today because it starts on the 18th. I met some of the staff and I met the principal. They all seemed very nice and happy to have me there. I don't know what level class I will be in, but I am sure that it will be the right one. Another thing that I love about Messina, the Sicilian sun beating down upon me.
Love,
Rebecca
I am now in Messina. It is my third full day here and I am having a wonderful time. :) I officially left home last Tuesday, so I suppose that this is my one week update. The flight to New York from Portland was rather boring. I was sitting by myself by the window. I did like looking out of it and seeing Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Manhattan Island. That was really fun. I have never seen the Empire State Building or the Brooklyn Bridge from the air before. At the airport, I managed to find my bag and get myself to the courtesy car pick up area. The van came and picked me and at whisked me off to my hotel. Fortunately for me, the hotel I stayed at was the same one that I had my orientation at. I did not, therefore, have to switch hotels. It was incredibly boring sitting around my room. All I did was sit on the computer, watch TV, and call my mom. I was kind of afraid to leave my room because I kept having different male staff members hit on me. I'm sorry, but I wasn't in the mood for older men, from New York, to pay attention to me. Plus, I missed home. It wasn't that bad, but I didn't really enjoy being alone.
Orientation in New York was not my favorite. They kept asking if we were nervous and tell us stories to try to warn us of what could happen. The stories only made us more nervous. I made a few friends, none of whom are anywhere near me here in Italy.
When we left New York on Thursday, we took an overnight flight to Zurich, Swizerland. Let me tell you, I didn't sleep a wink. I was wide awake. I even took really bad pictures of Irish cities as we passed over them. My excitement was my own form of caffiene. I watched a movie and talked to people on the way there. When we finally landed in Zurich, at about 8:00 AM (their time), my excitement was literally bursting. I took pictures of Zurich out of the window. We had a four hour layover there, so we all found a spot to hang out. Mind you, there were forty-three of us and two or three chaperones. That was a lot of people to fit into one area. Laura, a friend from Idaho, and I walked around the entire Zurich airport, at least the parts we could without leaving the secure area. Most of the places were chocolate stores, but they also had stores like Armani and Prada. Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of glass. Anyway, that's not why I am writing. We boarded our plane to Roma and set off. A couple hours later, we landed in Roma. The first thing that hit us was the heat. Rome was hot! We all got our bags, went through customs (which was us walking through doors), and met the Intercultura personnel waiting for us. There, they split us up into two groups the first group left with some students from China, while the second group waited for the group from the Dominican Republic. I was in the second group. We were waiting for a really long time, only to find out that they had missed their flight. Then, we had to wait until a bus came to pick us up. All in all, we were late to the orientation in Roma. The 30 minute drive to get to the hotel took us 2 hours. I didn't really mind though. I was happy taking pictures out of the window of the bus. :) :) I saw my first pomegrante tree! At the hotel, we unloaded our baggage and checked into our room. I had two roommates; one was from Wisconson and her name was Manda, while the other one was from Alaska and her name was Katie. All three of us took showers before dinner. Before dinner, there was some time for us to mill around a meet some other students from all over the globe. I met so many people. During dinner, I sat with Americans and Germans. It was really great being able to talk to them. For our first meal in Italy, we had lasagne! :) I love lasagne! Actually, I love Italy and everything that has to do with it. After dinner, we all congregated inside of a behemouth white tent for a big welcome get together. Then, they split everyone into groups depending upon where they were staying. The Americans had to stay together, though, because we were late. We had our own little orientation. It wasn't much. That night was...interesting. My roommate, Katie, left our room to go smoke. As it turned out, she was also drinking...a lot. So, a girl from the room she was in came and slept on her bed.
Then next day was just everyone heading off to their host families. I left at 2:30 in the afternoon, so I had to sit around and say goodbye to most everyone else. I met a girl from India who was interesting to talk to and a few people who are also here in Messina. The plane ride to Catania, Sicily took less than an hour. During that time, I became friends with a couple of girls from New Zealand, tried Finnish candy (disgusting!!!!like licorice, but stronger), and tried Italian candy (delicious!). When we grabbed our bags and were heading out of the door to meet our host families, I was so nervous. I was literally shaking and thinking that I really couldn't do this. I was wrong though. When I got out of the doors, I recognized Maurizio, my host father, immediately. He was standing there waiting for me. :) He said ciao and did the double kiss greeting thing that all Italians do and told me that the rest of the family was waiting further on. When I got to them, Federico (brother) was holding up a sign with my name on it. Roberta (mother) and Agnese (sister) were standing there too. I knew that I would love being with them the second that I saw them. They are so warm and friendly. They barely had to do a thing before I felt at home.
There was an hour long drive from Catania to Messina, so I got to see part of Sicily by night. That didn't do much. I did get to witness Italian driving first hand though. They must have a secret death wish. They drive so fast. At one point, we were driving 140 km/h. That is fast. Also, no one in my family wears seat belts. It is unheard of. When I got here, they gave me a tour of their house. We immediately went out for dinner. We had foccacia, which is like pizza but on foccacia bread. It was DELICIOUS!!!! Then, we walked in front and into the Duomo. It is an absolutely gorgeous cathedral. Federico and I then bought gelato. OH MY GOODNESS! I AM IN HEAVEN! We had the speciality from Messina. It tasted just like Nutella, but better and it had panna (Italian cream). That was the end of my small bit in Messina.
Day 1: Sunday
On Sunday, we all went out for granitas for breakfast. They are my new favorite breakfast foods. My favorite so far is granita di limone con brioche. Basically, it is a lemon flavored water ice, in which you dip your brioche into. YUMM! My mouth is actually watering as I think about that. I just ate lunch too. Then, we went to the tennis club. There, Agnese, Federico, and I swam in the pool. After that, Federico and I went to the sea and swam there. He was literally immediately stung by a jellyfish, so we headed back to shore. We came back home to eat lunch. Every day after lunch, we all have a quiet time for a few hours. During this time, we can do anything. We can sleep, we can study, we can watch TV...you get the idea. Later that evening, we went to a birhtday party. It was their cousins third birthday. I got to meet the entire family. Their nonna (grandmother) kept saying to me "Bella, Bella, Bella" :) It was acutally a fun party. I enjoyed it. I made a bracelet there.
Day 2: Monday
Monday was Agnese's first day of school. She left early in the morning. Roberta also left because she had to go to her school. Maurizio was on the computer here in the house and Federico was still asleep. I spent a lot of time reading my Italian grammar book. Maurizio came and found me and tried to get me to eat. He also woke Federico up. Instead, Federico and I left and had granita at the bar again. After that, we came back home, grabbed their cat, Crash, and got into the car with Roberta, who had returned. We drove across the city to the vet where Crash had to get a shot. That took a little while. After that, we drove back to the house and dropped the cat off. Federico and I walked to Agnese's school to say hi. I met a few of her friends, which was nice. All we did was say hello. Federico and I walked a ways until we got to a good vantage point for me to take a picture of the Liberty Statue. To my utter dismay, he then forced me to find my way home again without his help. I am proud to say that I did it with only one hint from him. When we got home, it was lunch time and Agnese returned from school. We had our quiet break and then headed off to the tennis club. Federico played tennis, while I hung out with another exchange student (Tobias, from Germany) and his host mother and brother. We played some ping pong. My skills have gone way downhill. We were at the club for a very long time. I think it was until about 9 PM. I watched people play. Suddenly, Federico asked me to play. I was playing tennis on clay courts in jeans. I actually didn't do that bad for wearing jeans and not playing for a couple of weeks. Then, Federico, his friend Christian, and I hit a tennis ball around between the three of us. Maurizio pulled me away and took me home. He took me home on his motorbike. That was my first time on one and let me tell you, it was so much fun. I'm technically not covered by insurance by riding one, but we didn't find that out until today. Oh well! :) For dinner, Maurizio showed me how to make pizza. It was great fun learning how to do it properly. :) It was delicious too!
Day 3: Today
Today has been kind of long. I woke up this morning and had to go to the immegration office with Maurizio to get my living permit. That took a long time. We were there with all the other students in Messina. There is me, Tobias, Tannelli (Finland), and a girl from Norway. We all went to a bar nearby and had granitas. That was my second breakfast of the morning. :) I have eaten so much food here. It is all so good! Then, Maurizio and I had to go the post office to fill some other things out for my permit. I have to go back on the October 2nd to get the official one. We then drove to an open air market where we bought a whole bunch of fruit. Good thing that I positively adore fruit. Then we drove to the bakery, where we bought bread for today's lunch. When we got home, Maurizio made lunch. It was delicious. Pasta with pesto sauce. We also ate some of the fruit. I now officially love figs. They are so much better here in Messina than they were in Corvallis. Also, I tried another kind of fruit which I think if the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. It is delicious too! Later today, Federico is playing in a tennis tournament and I am going to go watch. For dinner, we are meeting all of the other AFS students and their families and our liasion for pizza. :) Basically, I eat everything and anything. My family loves that I am not afraid to try foods.
So far, I am loving everything about Messina. I have gotten used to the fact that there are cars screaming by our house every hour of the day and night. It doesn't bother me anymore. I love that each morning I wake up the smell of freshly baked sweet breads because there is a bakery pretty much directly below our house. I love the way of life. I love...Italy. I am trying to get the language, but I am nervous to speak it because I don't like making mistakes. It is geting better though, believe me. My family and I get along beautifully and I love them very much. The initial homesickness is wearing off now. I'll keep everyone updated and I will put pictures on soon. I am having a little trouble because the internet connection is somewhat iffy. I never know how long it will last. Anyway, I hope everyone is well. Oh, I almost forgot. I went to my school today because it starts on the 18th. I met some of the staff and I met the principal. They all seemed very nice and happy to have me there. I don't know what level class I will be in, but I am sure that it will be the right one. Another thing that I love about Messina, the Sicilian sun beating down upon me.
Love,
Rebecca
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
And I'm Off!
So, as I write this I am lying on my bed in my hotel room in New York City. Yeah, you heard that right...New York City. I have now officially began my foreign exchange to Italy. Cool, huh?! :) Today has been such a hectic and exhausting day. I haven't had a day like this in so long. Not since...last summer actually. Technically, it all kind of began yesterday, so I will start there.
Yesterday, I barely had anything packed. I had most of my clothes but it is so much more than that. You need your bathroom supplies, your host family gifts, and all the other stuff that you want to take. As a result, I was actually packing the entire day yesterday. Believe me, it was not the ideal last day with my family. I had to pack though. My grandparents showed up on Sunday, so it became a bit more distracting. Anyway, the reason that it took all day was because we were continuously interrupted and we just had trouble focusing. By we, I mean my mom and I. She helped me to pack. By the way, thank you for that mom. :) So, after I had finished packing, it was about six in the evening. Six in the evening! I had like zero time with my family. I finished everything up, had dinner (salad and popcorn; some of my favorites), and then watched Gilmore Girls with my mom and brothers. Because it was my last day, it ended up being my whole family plus my grandparents. Gilmore Girls is my favorite show because my mom and I literally have the exact same relationship that the two main characters, a mother and a daughter, share. Anyway, by the time that finished it was 10 PM or somewhere around there. Then, it was time to sleep. That didn't work to well. I started sobbing. Complete debilitating sobs. My mom and I talked and I felt somewhat better. I managed to turn out the lights and relax by about 11 PM. Surprise!!! Three hours later, at 2 AM, my mother comes into my room and wakes me up. It was time to get ready to go. I didn't start crying then. I was just trying to focus on getting out the door. We managed to do that and we drove away at 3. Almost the entire way to Portland, I was crying. In my head, I kept repeating "What in the world was I thinking doing this?" I was experiencing literal physical pain. My brother fell asleep on me and that is when I really lost it. I love him so much and it was so hard to leave him.
At the airport, we breezed through checking my bag and got ourselves into the line for security. My dad left so he could go find me something that I had forgotten. The security line went so fast that before I knew it I was at the front of the line with security people telling family members to leave the line. I freaked out then. Mind you, this whole time, I am crying or about to start crying. We eventually just got out of line and walked back to the end where my dad met us. I literally had to say my goodbyes right then, the line was moving that fast. It was so hard!! Security was easy and I went to my gate and waited. It didn't take long before the boarded the plane.
On the plane, I slept and woke up and slept and woke up. Looking out the window was great. The only things that I remember were flying over Lake Michigan, flying over Lake Erie, and flying over Manhattan Island. It was great seeing Manhattan from the air. I could see all of the major buildings plus Brooklyn Bridge. I managed to get my bag, follow the directions from AFS on how to get to my hotel, and here I am. When I checked in, they gave me a fresh chocolate chip cookie (HUGE!), an apple, and a granola bar. It is really a very nice hotel.
I am feeling a lot better about leaving my family. I know that my relationships with my family members will not change while I am gone. It was also insanely empowering to come here to New York by myself and find my way to my hotel, in New York by myself. I actually feel great right now! I am so excited!!! When I left my room to break a $10 bill, the staff sort of automatically knew that I was here for AFS. I really liked that because then they weren't questioning why a 16 year old girl is in a hotel in New York by herself.
Tomorrow, I will check out at the latest possible time and meet up with AFS people. Then, we will have our orientation, stay one more night, and then leave on Thursday. So, Italy is coming up really very quickly
Ciao!!
Rebecca
Yesterday, I barely had anything packed. I had most of my clothes but it is so much more than that. You need your bathroom supplies, your host family gifts, and all the other stuff that you want to take. As a result, I was actually packing the entire day yesterday. Believe me, it was not the ideal last day with my family. I had to pack though. My grandparents showed up on Sunday, so it became a bit more distracting. Anyway, the reason that it took all day was because we were continuously interrupted and we just had trouble focusing. By we, I mean my mom and I. She helped me to pack. By the way, thank you for that mom. :) So, after I had finished packing, it was about six in the evening. Six in the evening! I had like zero time with my family. I finished everything up, had dinner (salad and popcorn; some of my favorites), and then watched Gilmore Girls with my mom and brothers. Because it was my last day, it ended up being my whole family plus my grandparents. Gilmore Girls is my favorite show because my mom and I literally have the exact same relationship that the two main characters, a mother and a daughter, share. Anyway, by the time that finished it was 10 PM or somewhere around there. Then, it was time to sleep. That didn't work to well. I started sobbing. Complete debilitating sobs. My mom and I talked and I felt somewhat better. I managed to turn out the lights and relax by about 11 PM. Surprise!!! Three hours later, at 2 AM, my mother comes into my room and wakes me up. It was time to get ready to go. I didn't start crying then. I was just trying to focus on getting out the door. We managed to do that and we drove away at 3. Almost the entire way to Portland, I was crying. In my head, I kept repeating "What in the world was I thinking doing this?" I was experiencing literal physical pain. My brother fell asleep on me and that is when I really lost it. I love him so much and it was so hard to leave him.
At the airport, we breezed through checking my bag and got ourselves into the line for security. My dad left so he could go find me something that I had forgotten. The security line went so fast that before I knew it I was at the front of the line with security people telling family members to leave the line. I freaked out then. Mind you, this whole time, I am crying or about to start crying. We eventually just got out of line and walked back to the end where my dad met us. I literally had to say my goodbyes right then, the line was moving that fast. It was so hard!! Security was easy and I went to my gate and waited. It didn't take long before the boarded the plane.
On the plane, I slept and woke up and slept and woke up. Looking out the window was great. The only things that I remember were flying over Lake Michigan, flying over Lake Erie, and flying over Manhattan Island. It was great seeing Manhattan from the air. I could see all of the major buildings plus Brooklyn Bridge. I managed to get my bag, follow the directions from AFS on how to get to my hotel, and here I am. When I checked in, they gave me a fresh chocolate chip cookie (HUGE!), an apple, and a granola bar. It is really a very nice hotel.
I am feeling a lot better about leaving my family. I know that my relationships with my family members will not change while I am gone. It was also insanely empowering to come here to New York by myself and find my way to my hotel, in New York by myself. I actually feel great right now! I am so excited!!! When I left my room to break a $10 bill, the staff sort of automatically knew that I was here for AFS. I really liked that because then they weren't questioning why a 16 year old girl is in a hotel in New York by herself.
Tomorrow, I will check out at the latest possible time and meet up with AFS people. Then, we will have our orientation, stay one more night, and then leave on Thursday. So, Italy is coming up really very quickly
Ciao!!
Rebecca
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Six days and counting
So, I am only going to be here in Oregon for about another six days. That is, after today is finished. These past few days have been exhilarating, overwhelming, frightening, exciting... I have been trying to figure out what all I need to bring. Now, I do believe that I have everything in order. Currently, I have two suitcases laying open on my floor beckoning for me to begin filling them. I have, technically, but with random stuff that I have thought of. None of it has really been planned. Tonight, I am going to empty everything out of the big suitcase that I have and load it into a different large suitcase. Unfortunately, my tennis racket does not fit in this one and I must, therefore, take a larger, heavier suitcase. Oh well. It will definitely be worth it considering that I will be playing tennis with my siblings during the entire duration of my exchange.
I have been stressing like no other. I have been trying to cram so much stuff into these last days that I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Between trying to eat my favorite foods that I know I will miss and hanging out with my family, I haven't gotten anywhere on packing or studying Italian. This will be the biggest thing that I have ever done in my life. It will also be one of the things that will impact it the most. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited....ecstatic to be precise! :)
I have tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday just here with my family. I'm not 100% sure what all we will be doing, but it will just be us. Then, on Sunday, my grandparents are coming to say their goodbye's and see me off to the airport on Tuesday. I'm hoping that by the time that arrive I will have everything in order and be living in the clothes that I am leaving behind (not that I know what clothes those are yet).
The thing that I wanted to touch base on the most right now was communication. From this end, the end where you are constantly waiting to hear from your host family each time you e-mail, it can be kind of stressful. When there are long stretches of time between messages, I begin to think "Gosh, do they still want to have me there?...Are they as excited as I am?" Then, suddenly, you open your e-mail or your Facebook inbox and there is a message. It is so exciting and relieving to hear from them because you know that all of your worrying was for naught (Excuse the vocabulary, that is just how I write). I love hearing from my host family. :) The last time that I talked to my host sister, she told me that they might be bringing me to Malta in April next year. When they returned home on Sunday, they were going to buy me a bed. I'm going to be sharing a room with Agnese, which is beyond belief amazing!!!!! :))))
Anyway, it was high time for me to touch in here and there are only six more days!
Ciao,
Rebecca
I have been stressing like no other. I have been trying to cram so much stuff into these last days that I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Between trying to eat my favorite foods that I know I will miss and hanging out with my family, I haven't gotten anywhere on packing or studying Italian. This will be the biggest thing that I have ever done in my life. It will also be one of the things that will impact it the most. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited....ecstatic to be precise! :)
I have tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday just here with my family. I'm not 100% sure what all we will be doing, but it will just be us. Then, on Sunday, my grandparents are coming to say their goodbye's and see me off to the airport on Tuesday. I'm hoping that by the time that arrive I will have everything in order and be living in the clothes that I am leaving behind (not that I know what clothes those are yet).
The thing that I wanted to touch base on the most right now was communication. From this end, the end where you are constantly waiting to hear from your host family each time you e-mail, it can be kind of stressful. When there are long stretches of time between messages, I begin to think "Gosh, do they still want to have me there?...Are they as excited as I am?" Then, suddenly, you open your e-mail or your Facebook inbox and there is a message. It is so exciting and relieving to hear from them because you know that all of your worrying was for naught (Excuse the vocabulary, that is just how I write). I love hearing from my host family. :) The last time that I talked to my host sister, she told me that they might be bringing me to Malta in April next year. When they returned home on Sunday, they were going to buy me a bed. I'm going to be sharing a room with Agnese, which is beyond belief amazing!!!!! :))))
Anyway, it was high time for me to touch in here and there are only six more days!
Ciao,
Rebecca
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