Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate Christmas!!! If you don't no worries, I hope your day was a good one. Christmas for me was really different and new. As I have mentioned before it didn't feel like Christmas, not even on Christmas Day, or opening presents or anything. Well it didn't feel like Christmas normally does for me, but for everyone else here it felt like Christmas. As you know we finally came back from Milan Christmas Eve morning, about 2am, from then we slept and got up around 11. I ate a small breakfast and later was lunch, pesto, one of my favorites. After lunch I was able to talk with my mom and then I took a nap. I woke up around 7 and then it was time to get ready and go to Nonna's house for Christmas Eve Dinner.
Before the first main dish there was this broccoli salad, then there was about 5 different types of seafood. There were two other types of broccoli salads, artichokes, shrimp (two kinds) fried, breaded meat, and something else to help digest all the food. And of yes there was bread and wine, I stuck to Coca Cola. After everyone finished eating we just sat around the table and watched a movie, Benvenuti al Sud. (I had seen this in the theatre when it first came out and talked more about it in another post) After dinner and the movie it was time for dessert. We had the classic Christmas cakes and there was another type of wine to go along with it.
Around 11:50pm, Christmas Eve we went back to the house to open presents. The tradition is to wait until midnight to open them. While we were waiting for midnight to come I went online and Skyped with my mom at my Aunts house so I got to see some of my family then. We talked for a few minutes, but then it was time to open presents. My host mom and dad were tired so they went to bed earlier so it was my host brother and sister, and my host sister's boyfriend. They had already opened their gifts because I was talking online with my parents. I passed out the presents I bought for them and opened the gifts from them. From my host family I received two purses, an Italia soccer jersey, an Italia hat, a box of my favorite pens :D and then from my host sisters boyfriend he gave me this little Vespa which had a snow globe on it of the Colosseum. From my host Nonna she gave all the grandkids a Chocolate Santa. From one host aunt and uncle perfume, and from another a mug with a cute little guy on it. My host sister's friend's family came over and gave us each presents too, mine was a pink backpack.
Once we were done with presents I taught my host siblings to play a card game I play with my cousins back in New York. When we had enough of that and they were eating I called back home to show everyone my gifts and just to talk some more. I finally got to bed around 3am and then we woke up around 9am to go to mass. When we got up we ate breakfast and just hung around the house, didn't get to mass. I then gave my host parents the gifts I bought for them and I am glad they liked them. We went out to see my other host nonna. From there we drove around for a little while and returned around 12 to go to my host nonna's for Christmas lunch. We ate with the family and I played cards with my host cousins. Around 5pm I went back to the house to Skype with my Aunt and Uncle for about two hours. When I was finishing up talking with them, my other Aunt came on skype. I called her and talked to the rest of my family; cousins, aunt, uncle, Grammie, Poppie, Grandma, brother, mom, dad, brother's girlfriend, I even got to see my cousin's cat Lucy. It was nice talking to them all and seeing everyone.
After this Skype session with my family I went back over to my host nonna's house where everyone was playing cards. The game was called In Morto and it used Napoletano cards, which are different then your average cards. They have different symbols and different values. I point of the game was to not have the lowest card so you didn't have to pay into the pot. If you made it to the end of all the rounds and still had money, you one the pot. After playing we went back home and I called home to talk for a few more minutes and then it was off to bed.
Now I have a stomach ache, not sure why, maybe because of all the different foods, and being run down nothing really agreeing with me. Tonight we might be going to the movies and tomorrow hopefully I can go the post office to see if my package is there. The packages from my aunts have been over a month, almost two, what the heck man!!!!!!!! I just hope I will get them before I leave.
Talk to you all and see you soon!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Milano a Napoli
On Tuesday, December 21st I left with my host sister to go to Milan and visit her boyfriend. We woke up around 5am and left shortly after. Our flight went well and we arrived in Milan with no troubles, and our luggage was all there. I had a window seat and the view was wonderful; however, my camera was in my bag in to over head compartment. Next time I will remember to take it out so I can take some pictures to show you all.
My host sister's boyfriend picked us up and took us to this caffe` bar for breakfast. I had hot chocolate and a giant cookie :D From there we went back to his house and stayed there for a little while. After lunch time he drove us and his sisters to Switzerland!!! It was snowing the farther north in Italy we went and in Switzerland too. We went to this shopping center called FoxTown. You couldn't tell it was Switzerland because it was the Italian-Swiss part of Switzerland. They did have another currency, but luckily they accepted the Euro too. We spent a few hours there and then we headed back to Italy. Before we crossed the border we stopped at a gas station and I bought some chocolate. I also managed to break a container with chocolate in it too, so there for I had to buy it. The worst part was that the container was filled with American chocolates, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way. My host sister's boyfriend was nice enough to buy it and shared with his sisters.
The next day we woke up rather late, 12:30pm. After breakfast we were off to Milan. My host sister's boyfriend's cousin came with us to Milan. We parked outside the city center and took the subway to the Duomo. From there we walked around and looked at some of the shops. For lunch we ate at McDonalds. (Random fact: I have had more McDonalds in Italy in three months, then I would have had back at home in New York) After the Duomo we took the subway to another street for more shopping. Here I finished my host family Christmas shopping which made me rather happy. We took another subway trip to the castel in Milan and from there we walked back to the Duomo to take another subway ride back to parking. For all of the rides on the subway, it was only 2.50 Euro.
In the piazza Duomo there was a Christmas tree with lights and decorations. When we first arrived it was sunny and the lights were off, but by the time we came back it was dark and cloudy and the tree looked wonderful with all the lights and the Duomo behind it. The Duomo's stained glass windows had lights on them and the surrounding buildings had Christmas lights too. And the best part of being there later, around 8pm, there was very few people in the piazza. Near the Duomo was a presepe (Christmas village) with moving parts, running water, and just really well put together.
The next day we woke up at 4:30 am and headed down to San Nicola. When we got around Florence there as a lot of traffic, about three hours for Florence alone. Then we arrived in Rome around 5:30pm. We went to the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. At the Spanish steps they were doing a reading of "A Christmas Carol", then we ate gelato by the Trevi fountain, and then rain to the Colosseum in the rain! Over all it was a fun time and a nice break from riding in the car.
Normally the trip to Rome to Naples is two hours, but it took us eight hours!!!!! It was a rather long trip and we finally got home around 2am. From then I got ready for bed, Skyped with my mom and dad for about ten minutes and then enjoyed my sleep.
My host sister's boyfriend picked us up and took us to this caffe` bar for breakfast. I had hot chocolate and a giant cookie :D From there we went back to his house and stayed there for a little while. After lunch time he drove us and his sisters to Switzerland!!! It was snowing the farther north in Italy we went and in Switzerland too. We went to this shopping center called FoxTown. You couldn't tell it was Switzerland because it was the Italian-Swiss part of Switzerland. They did have another currency, but luckily they accepted the Euro too. We spent a few hours there and then we headed back to Italy. Before we crossed the border we stopped at a gas station and I bought some chocolate. I also managed to break a container with chocolate in it too, so there for I had to buy it. The worst part was that the container was filled with American chocolates, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way. My host sister's boyfriend was nice enough to buy it and shared with his sisters.
The next day we woke up rather late, 12:30pm. After breakfast we were off to Milan. My host sister's boyfriend's cousin came with us to Milan. We parked outside the city center and took the subway to the Duomo. From there we walked around and looked at some of the shops. For lunch we ate at McDonalds. (Random fact: I have had more McDonalds in Italy in three months, then I would have had back at home in New York) After the Duomo we took the subway to another street for more shopping. Here I finished my host family Christmas shopping which made me rather happy. We took another subway trip to the castel in Milan and from there we walked back to the Duomo to take another subway ride back to parking. For all of the rides on the subway, it was only 2.50 Euro.
In the piazza Duomo there was a Christmas tree with lights and decorations. When we first arrived it was sunny and the lights were off, but by the time we came back it was dark and cloudy and the tree looked wonderful with all the lights and the Duomo behind it. The Duomo's stained glass windows had lights on them and the surrounding buildings had Christmas lights too. And the best part of being there later, around 8pm, there was very few people in the piazza. Near the Duomo was a presepe (Christmas village) with moving parts, running water, and just really well put together.
The next day we woke up at 4:30 am and headed down to San Nicola. When we got around Florence there as a lot of traffic, about three hours for Florence alone. Then we arrived in Rome around 5:30pm. We went to the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. At the Spanish steps they were doing a reading of "A Christmas Carol", then we ate gelato by the Trevi fountain, and then rain to the Colosseum in the rain! Over all it was a fun time and a nice break from riding in the car.
Normally the trip to Rome to Naples is two hours, but it took us eight hours!!!!! It was a rather long trip and we finally got home around 2am. From then I got ready for bed, Skyped with my mom and dad for about ten minutes and then enjoyed my sleep.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Hello Everyone!!!
Not much going over here in Italy. I might be going shopping tonight which will be fun. I have to do some Christmas shopping for my host family and buy some more presents or my family back in New York and my friends. It is getting pretty cold where I am, not normal weather. There is snow in Milan and seeing as I will be there in 6 days I am pretty excited!!!! I have four more days of school before I leave for Milan on the 21st!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was a pretty normal school day, not doing much, listening, reading, day dreaming.... The German teacher passed back our tests today!! I received a 9.5 out of 10!!!!!!!!!! I am rather thrilled about this because this is only month two of German classes in Italy lol.
I have started looking into college again...when i mean looking into, I mean looking at one main college. I really want to go to University of Liverpool. I don't know my major yet, but I think something with history. I am not going to worry about college until I get home so I can relax and enjoy my time here.
I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Christmas vacation/Winter break, which ever you prefer. Love you all!!!!
Today was a pretty normal school day, not doing much, listening, reading, day dreaming.... The German teacher passed back our tests today!! I received a 9.5 out of 10!!!!!!!!!! I am rather thrilled about this because this is only month two of German classes in Italy lol.
I have started looking into college again...when i mean looking into, I mean looking at one main college. I really want to go to University of Liverpool. I don't know my major yet, but I think something with history. I am not going to worry about college until I get home so I can relax and enjoy my time here.
I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Christmas vacation/Winter break, which ever you prefer. Love you all!!!!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Footloose
This spring my school is doing a production of Footloose. Auditions were this past weekend and I would just like to say congrats to everyone who made the play and give credit to everyone who tried out. Many of my friends are part of the drama club-Masque and Mime either on stage or off. I have not be able to take part in a theatre club here in Italy and I miss it quite a bit. There is just something about theatre and for the past three year Masque and Mime has been my life. I know everyone will do a wonderful job with the show and I can't wait to hear some funny rehearsal stories :D
This makes the start of my last full week of school for this year!!!!! Six more days of school until I go to Milan!!!!! I am so excited and I can't wait to go, plus there is snow in Milan!!!! It is getting cold here in southern Italy, around freezing, which is not normal weather for this region. 2010 is coming to an end and I will be celebrating the New Year in Italy!!! My first year away from home for Christmas and New Years, and not the last either, but I will take it one year at a time. You can tell Christmas is coming soon and yet I have not heard that many Italian Christmas songs. Many of the old familiar tunes as background music for commercials. I am kind of glad they do, something to remind me of home, but I would like to hear some Italian songs. Another thing I have noticed, many of the Christmas decorations say 'Merry Christmas' and not 'Buon Natale' which is Italian. I wanted to buy some things for Christmases to come, but it is proving harder than I thought. I will not stop looking until I find them, don't worry!!!!
Here is something else really random, I have started looking at colleges again. For those of you who don't know my 'plan' I am going to community college on a full scholarship because of my class rank, within the top 10% :D and then transferring two years later. Where is still a mystery, but I am a 'dream school'. On school that has caught my eye would be the University of Liverpool, but with the recent news in England about college, the cost, distance, a some other factors, I am not sure weather this will happen, but then again, Italy was a dream two years ago and here I am.....
:D Buon Natale!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!! Happy Hanukkah!!!! Happy Holidays!!!!
This makes the start of my last full week of school for this year!!!!! Six more days of school until I go to Milan!!!!! I am so excited and I can't wait to go, plus there is snow in Milan!!!! It is getting cold here in southern Italy, around freezing, which is not normal weather for this region. 2010 is coming to an end and I will be celebrating the New Year in Italy!!! My first year away from home for Christmas and New Years, and not the last either, but I will take it one year at a time. You can tell Christmas is coming soon and yet I have not heard that many Italian Christmas songs. Many of the old familiar tunes as background music for commercials. I am kind of glad they do, something to remind me of home, but I would like to hear some Italian songs. Another thing I have noticed, many of the Christmas decorations say 'Merry Christmas' and not 'Buon Natale' which is Italian. I wanted to buy some things for Christmases to come, but it is proving harder than I thought. I will not stop looking until I find them, don't worry!!!!
Here is something else really random, I have started looking at colleges again. For those of you who don't know my 'plan' I am going to community college on a full scholarship because of my class rank, within the top 10% :D and then transferring two years later. Where is still a mystery, but I am a 'dream school'. On school that has caught my eye would be the University of Liverpool, but with the recent news in England about college, the cost, distance, a some other factors, I am not sure weather this will happen, but then again, Italy was a dream two years ago and here I am.....
:D Buon Natale!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!! Happy Hanukkah!!!! Happy Holidays!!!!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
December
Thanksgiving was a week away and a lot has happened. The major this is that I have switched host families. I am now staying in San Nicola near Caserta, still in Southern Italy. I moved on Monday after school and things are going well. I am really excited to be with her and her family. She has a brother who is 17, her mom is a cook and her dad works in a pasta factory. They are all very nice and happy to have me.
Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of bad days. I was just crying so much, in school and at home. So many things going on, not know what I wanted, confused, many emotions. Today went much better and I am feeling better. Being with my friend helps to make me realize I want to spend time with her. This weekend we went to the local mall or shopping center and I bought a book in Italian. I am not really sure what it is about, but my host sister says its good and the writing is pretty simple so it should be a little easier to understand. Saturday night we went to a mexican restaurant and it was alright. I was hoping for some spicy taco or something, but I did not get that. I ordered nachos, which was just chips and 'salsa' but their salsa was more like tomato paste. Then I ordered a cheese thing, but the cheese was different and it was really thick and not that good. Either way I had fun with my host sister and her friends. Today I am not sure what we are going to do, but i am working on another video for youtube so I will post that later.
A few days before Christmas I will be going to Milan with my host sister!!!! Her boy friend lives near Milan and found air plane tickets for 25 Euros!!! We will be staying with him and his family for two days and then traveling back down by car. We will have a chance to stop in Florence for a few hours. Her boyfriend will then be staying with us until January 7th or so. I am really, really excited about that and I can't wait!!!
I was finally able to buy some stamps and I will be mailing some letters and postcards soon. I only have one out of the fifteen i bought and I need to buy some more. The mail here is really slow and I have not received the packages from my aunts or any letters, nothing. I am very sorry if you have mailed a letter and nothing has arrived. I am also sorry to all my friends whom I have not had the opertunity to talk to yet in the three months I have been here. I am thinking about you and I miss you!!!!
Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of bad days. I was just crying so much, in school and at home. So many things going on, not know what I wanted, confused, many emotions. Today went much better and I am feeling better. Being with my friend helps to make me realize I want to spend time with her. This weekend we went to the local mall or shopping center and I bought a book in Italian. I am not really sure what it is about, but my host sister says its good and the writing is pretty simple so it should be a little easier to understand. Saturday night we went to a mexican restaurant and it was alright. I was hoping for some spicy taco or something, but I did not get that. I ordered nachos, which was just chips and 'salsa' but their salsa was more like tomato paste. Then I ordered a cheese thing, but the cheese was different and it was really thick and not that good. Either way I had fun with my host sister and her friends. Today I am not sure what we are going to do, but i am working on another video for youtube so I will post that later.
A few days before Christmas I will be going to Milan with my host sister!!!! Her boy friend lives near Milan and found air plane tickets for 25 Euros!!! We will be staying with him and his family for two days and then traveling back down by car. We will have a chance to stop in Florence for a few hours. Her boyfriend will then be staying with us until January 7th or so. I am really, really excited about that and I can't wait!!!
I was finally able to buy some stamps and I will be mailing some letters and postcards soon. I only have one out of the fifteen i bought and I need to buy some more. The mail here is really slow and I have not received the packages from my aunts or any letters, nothing. I am very sorry if you have mailed a letter and nothing has arrived. I am also sorry to all my friends whom I have not had the opertunity to talk to yet in the three months I have been here. I am thinking about you and I miss you!!!!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving!!!
I have been home from school for the past three days, my host sister is not feeling well so we stayed home sick. I have been bored just as ever, but I did enjoy sleeping in. I woke up late today like I would normally do, and I didn't have to go to school on Thanksgiving. However, I went to the post office to buy stamps, came back, wrote letters, made another video for youtube, and now I am updating my blog and waiting to talk with my family. My video is almost 9 minutes long and I talk about Thanksgiving some and school, and other things so I hope you enjoy. I am sure to make another post about how calling home went.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W46215AxOac
Ciao!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W46215AxOac
Ciao!!!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Video Blog
Here is my second video on Youtube. There are other videos from my friends who are also in Italy as exchange students so watch their videos too!!!!! This video is rather long and I am not talking about anything in particular, sorry. It is pretty random, but I hope you like it!!!! And to my friend Michelle, Thank you so much for the video response :D It totally made my day and I love it!!!!! I hope you enjoy watching the video and hear me talking about really random things. http://www.youtube.com/user/AventuraInItalia?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/HhCY6IY_vtQ
I miss you all and I love you all!!!! <3
I miss you all and I love you all!!!! <3
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Billard
Thanksgiving is one week away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although it is mid November, it feels nothing like it should. Yes I am in Italy and Thanksgiving is an all American holiday, I still feel like something is missing. Next Thursday for the first time in my life I will be getting up and not going to school! I will not be going to my aunts to eat tons of food, watching a Christmas movie and going to bed early for Black Friday. Once Thanksgiving passes, in America its Christmas all the way!!! Christmas songs on the radio, Christmas sales, even more Christmas trees and Christmas decorations or no ABC Family for the 25 days of Christmas.
However, I hear that Christmas in Italy is pretty awesome. It will be a different style, but one I hope to enjoy. I do know that there school is closed for two weeks, which is wonderful!!! Also in Italy they have la befana, a which that comes and brings candy to the good kids and coal to the bad kids. December 8th is a religious holiday so there is no school then either!!!!!
Things have been going here in Italy. School is school, six days a week :( I am still enjoying German class and science. I am making friends at school, talking to people more and getting to know my friends here in Aversa too. Last night I went and played pool with a few of my friends and I was reminded just how bad I am at it. It was not a serious game which was good because I had a score of zero.
Last Friday I went home with my friend at school, she is also an exchange student who came over with ASSE so I knew her before from orientation. I spent the night at her house and I had so much fun!!!! I also made two new friends :D They wait everyday after school for my friend and her host sisters and walk with them after school, so while I am waiting for my host mom to pick me up I talk with them and enjoy their company. I have realized just how much I miss my friends and having friends and seeing them everyday. I hate being home doing nothing and just being alone. I hang out with my host sister and I have fun with her, but when we are just watching t.v. or something I become bored very easily. I enjoy the company of others and I always want to be surrounded by people and do something, even if its just a walk, it bets being home on Facebook.
Sorry its been a little while, but I become busy and just don't remember, but I shall try hard to remember about my blog and all me beloved readers!!! Thank you guys!!!!!!
However, I hear that Christmas in Italy is pretty awesome. It will be a different style, but one I hope to enjoy. I do know that there school is closed for two weeks, which is wonderful!!! Also in Italy they have la befana, a which that comes and brings candy to the good kids and coal to the bad kids. December 8th is a religious holiday so there is no school then either!!!!!
Things have been going here in Italy. School is school, six days a week :( I am still enjoying German class and science. I am making friends at school, talking to people more and getting to know my friends here in Aversa too. Last night I went and played pool with a few of my friends and I was reminded just how bad I am at it. It was not a serious game which was good because I had a score of zero.
Last Friday I went home with my friend at school, she is also an exchange student who came over with ASSE so I knew her before from orientation. I spent the night at her house and I had so much fun!!!! I also made two new friends :D They wait everyday after school for my friend and her host sisters and walk with them after school, so while I am waiting for my host mom to pick me up I talk with them and enjoy their company. I have realized just how much I miss my friends and having friends and seeing them everyday. I hate being home doing nothing and just being alone. I hang out with my host sister and I have fun with her, but when we are just watching t.v. or something I become bored very easily. I enjoy the company of others and I always want to be surrounded by people and do something, even if its just a walk, it bets being home on Facebook.
Sorry its been a little while, but I become busy and just don't remember, but I shall try hard to remember about my blog and all me beloved readers!!! Thank you guys!!!!!!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Video Blog
I was finally able to finish and upload my first video blog on YouTube!!! The other exchange students and I are trying to make videos every week or so to keep updated and just talk about whats going on with us in Italy. It is kind of boring, but watch the end!!! Hopefully the end makes up for the long and boring me talking about nothing in particular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPa378kQvrw
I hope the link works. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPa378kQvrw
I hope the link works. :D
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween!!!
Happy November Everyone!!! Yesterday was Halloween, Thanksgiving is in 25 days, and Christmas is 53 days away and I am in Italy living this holiday season a little differently. For the most part Halloween does not exist in Italy. In some of the elementary school there might be a party in the class, but I imagine it much different than those at home. Some of the stores carry Halloween things, like plastic pumpkins, ghosts, Halloween decorations, and even little kits for a costume (like devil horns and a tail), but each store carries the same things. I talked with my host family about getting pumpkins and on the 28th they arrived at the supermarket. Friday night I carved them with my host family. My host sister and cousin scooped out the insides and I scrapped the sides clean and carved them. One I carved a classic Jack, and the other was a spooky graveyard. Overall they came out really well. I then baked the pumpkin seeds with oil and salt. They came out all right, but not as good as mom's.
Hallow's Eve or mischief night I went out with my friends like it was any other Saturday night. We walked around the piazza and talked. A little bit into the evening I took out my camera and my friend asked to see it and the next thing I know he is running down the street asking to take pictures with random people!!!! This went on for the rest of the night. They ran after groups of people, couples, always asking first, to take pictures with them. We also had someone take a group picture which came out really nice. The next day was Halloween!
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. In New York the weather is cooler, leaves changing and littering the ground. In general Autumn is my favorite season and I love candy and dressing up so Halloween by default is a fun holiday for me. It did not really like Halloween at all. Yes I carved pumpkins, ate pumpkin seeds and candy corn (my mom mailed packages and they arrived on Friday the 29th, thank you mom) and I listened to some "Halloween" music, but there was still something missing. I ended up going shopping with my host sister and her friends. I bought some books; Alice in Wonderland (but in Italian-Le Avventure di Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie), Hamlet-Amleto, and Shakespeare's Sonnets-Sonnetti. Then we went to see a movie. Like before, I got the basic idea of the movie and I could pick out words and phrases, but it wasn't complete like English.
When we returned home I got ready for bed and watched the latest episode of The Big Bang The Theory and after that Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride. Before I closed my eyes to sleep I thought about what my friends were doing back in New York and other kids all over America. Going door from door asking for candy, running from house to house in their costumes and when it was done dumping their candy on the floor and sorting what they like and don't like and trading with their friends. I don't think there is an age limit for trick-or-treating because inside we are all kids so what better day than Halloween to have fun. Yes people don't want to give "grown-ups" candy and yes they should save it for the younger children, but its just so much fun!!!!!
November 1st and 2nd I was off from school for a reason I am not sure of, something like the day of the dead, maybe...anyway, it was nice to sleep in and not worry about going to school. Monday night, November 1st, some friends came over and we were going to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas in Italian, but we lost power. Once the power was back we played wii sports and then watched the Italian version of Big Brother, Grande Fratello. I had baked chocolate chip cookies for everyone, and they loved them!!!!!! I was so happy they enjoyed an American classic. I also shared sweet tarts, sour patch kids, and Reese's peanut butter cups with them; which they also loved. Overall it was a fun night seeing everyone and just hanging out.
With the holiday season coming I am starting to miss home a little more. I miss everyone, but I am enjoying my time here. I have met some amazing people and I still have eight months of fun and adventures!!!
Hallow's Eve or mischief night I went out with my friends like it was any other Saturday night. We walked around the piazza and talked. A little bit into the evening I took out my camera and my friend asked to see it and the next thing I know he is running down the street asking to take pictures with random people!!!! This went on for the rest of the night. They ran after groups of people, couples, always asking first, to take pictures with them. We also had someone take a group picture which came out really nice. The next day was Halloween!
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. In New York the weather is cooler, leaves changing and littering the ground. In general Autumn is my favorite season and I love candy and dressing up so Halloween by default is a fun holiday for me. It did not really like Halloween at all. Yes I carved pumpkins, ate pumpkin seeds and candy corn (my mom mailed packages and they arrived on Friday the 29th, thank you mom) and I listened to some "Halloween" music, but there was still something missing. I ended up going shopping with my host sister and her friends. I bought some books; Alice in Wonderland (but in Italian-Le Avventure di Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie), Hamlet-Amleto, and Shakespeare's Sonnets-Sonnetti. Then we went to see a movie. Like before, I got the basic idea of the movie and I could pick out words and phrases, but it wasn't complete like English.
When we returned home I got ready for bed and watched the latest episode of The Big Bang The Theory and after that Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride. Before I closed my eyes to sleep I thought about what my friends were doing back in New York and other kids all over America. Going door from door asking for candy, running from house to house in their costumes and when it was done dumping their candy on the floor and sorting what they like and don't like and trading with their friends. I don't think there is an age limit for trick-or-treating because inside we are all kids so what better day than Halloween to have fun. Yes people don't want to give "grown-ups" candy and yes they should save it for the younger children, but its just so much fun!!!!!
November 1st and 2nd I was off from school for a reason I am not sure of, something like the day of the dead, maybe...anyway, it was nice to sleep in and not worry about going to school. Monday night, November 1st, some friends came over and we were going to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas in Italian, but we lost power. Once the power was back we played wii sports and then watched the Italian version of Big Brother, Grande Fratello. I had baked chocolate chip cookies for everyone, and they loved them!!!!!! I was so happy they enjoyed an American classic. I also shared sweet tarts, sour patch kids, and Reese's peanut butter cups with them; which they also loved. Overall it was a fun night seeing everyone and just hanging out.
With the holiday season coming I am starting to miss home a little more. I miss everyone, but I am enjoying my time here. I have met some amazing people and I still have eight months of fun and adventures!!!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Aversa
Sorry I have not blogged in a little while. I have been a little busy. First of all, I am living in a new city. I now live in Aversa, so if you wish to write to me (hint hint) send me a message and I will send you my new address. I am still going to school in Maddaloni, but now I am going to a linguistic school. I am taking German and Arabic, in Italian!!!!! I am very excited about this new school. I have met so many nice people and my Italian is improving!!! I am still really bad and I have a hard time trying to express myself, but I can understand people better.
I don't want to get into details about why I switched families, but I will tell you that things are going much better. I feel so much more comfortable with this host family. I have a host sister who is 14 and my host brother is 9. My host mom is a teacher and my host dad is a doctor. I have met a lot of my host sister's friends and they are soooo nice!!!!! They are crazy, but so much fun to be with. Last Sunday I went to Naples with my host family. We went to the Port of Naples; beautiful!!!!!!!!! I had some amazing pasta there. It was penne with a spicy sauce and tomatoes. Sunday night was my host sister's best friend's birthday party. We went to this pizzeria with karaoke in the back. Everyone was yelling and singing going crazy and it was so funny to watch them. Later they started dancing, but I sat out this round and watched. I don't dance much at home and they dance a little differently here so I didn't know what they were doing.
Thursday we did not go to school, I am not sure why not, but we were able to sleep in. Tonight I am going out, even though there is school tomorrow. I really dislike having school on Saturday it messes up my system and I always forget what day it is. Tomorrow night I think we are going to the movies to see Step Up 3, I will let you know how it goes.
I don't want to get into details about why I switched families, but I will tell you that things are going much better. I feel so much more comfortable with this host family. I have a host sister who is 14 and my host brother is 9. My host mom is a teacher and my host dad is a doctor. I have met a lot of my host sister's friends and they are soooo nice!!!!! They are crazy, but so much fun to be with. Last Sunday I went to Naples with my host family. We went to the Port of Naples; beautiful!!!!!!!!! I had some amazing pasta there. It was penne with a spicy sauce and tomatoes. Sunday night was my host sister's best friend's birthday party. We went to this pizzeria with karaoke in the back. Everyone was yelling and singing going crazy and it was so funny to watch them. Later they started dancing, but I sat out this round and watched. I don't dance much at home and they dance a little differently here so I didn't know what they were doing.
Thursday we did not go to school, I am not sure why not, but we were able to sleep in. Tonight I am going out, even though there is school tomorrow. I really dislike having school on Saturday it messes up my system and I always forget what day it is. Tomorrow night I think we are going to the movies to see Step Up 3, I will let you know how it goes.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Vulcano Buono
Its been a little while since my last post, but not too long. It is now October, the start of my favorite time of the year, Halloween into Thanksgiving into Christmas, into winter and snow days. Today I went shopping to the Vulcano Buono, Good Volcano, and I bought a pillow. The one I had here was too hard and tall for my neck. I also bought slippers, but they are a little to small, but thats okay they work for now. At Vulcano Buono I had McDonald's. I ate french fries and a McFlurry. It tasted a little different, but similar to McDonald's.
Wednesday and Thursday school was closed because there was a celebration for Maddaloni, the town where my school is. On Wednesday I went to the Reggia, or royal palace. We went to the back garden, which is HUGE!!! From the every end of it you can not even see the palace and the palace was pretty big. I will try to add some pictures to show you how beautiful it was. It was so nice to walk outside and enjoy to fresh air. After the Reggia we had pizza, I had some with french fries on it and I added hot sauce to spice things up. That night I went to the festival in Maddaloni. I liked seeing the vendors and I really wanted to buy a hamster, but I decided that was not a good idea. Later I bought candy and my host sister and I listened to her cousin's band play in the little center.
Sorry I have not been able to upload pictures, but it takes so long to upload even one picture, but I will keep trying!!!
Love you all!!!
Wednesday and Thursday school was closed because there was a celebration for Maddaloni, the town where my school is. On Wednesday I went to the Reggia, or royal palace. We went to the back garden, which is HUGE!!! From the every end of it you can not even see the palace and the palace was pretty big. I will try to add some pictures to show you how beautiful it was. It was so nice to walk outside and enjoy to fresh air. After the Reggia we had pizza, I had some with french fries on it and I added hot sauce to spice things up. That night I went to the festival in Maddaloni. I liked seeing the vendors and I really wanted to buy a hamster, but I decided that was not a good idea. Later I bought candy and my host sister and I listened to her cousin's band play in the little center.
Sorry I have not been able to upload pictures, but it takes so long to upload even one picture, but I will keep trying!!!
Love you all!!!
Friday, September 24, 2010
For the past few days at school students have been talking about not entering the school as a sign of protest. They are protesting about the garbage all over the city. Yes the garbage is this bad!!!! There are mountains of garbage everywhere. People just pull up to the pile, open their trunks and toss their bag of trash on top of the pile. It is disgusting seeing trash everywhere and it smells so bad! Another thing I noticed is that they are not to big on recycling bottles, plastic, paper, or anything. Also its "okay" to just through your trash out the window if you are in the car. I hate seeing this because I try and recycle everything, ask my mom, every scrap of paper into the recycling bin with the news papers.
Yesterday most kids from my class (which there are only 21 of) did not attend class. In fact I think most did not enter the school. Five other kids in my class, myself and some others did enter school and went to our classes. There were only the six of us for that school day in our room. The first lesson I did some exercises in the Italian workbook BEC gave me. The next class was technical drawing or something like that and I participated in that because we were drawing lines. Although it was just drawing lines I was happy to do something. For the next two classes we did not have any teachers so we just sat in our classroom and talked. Today I went to another classroom and talked with them during their English literature class. Then I went and talked about my rep then rejoined that class for the last few minutes of gym. I really enjoyed being able to do something physical and get my body moving. Not having gym every other day is weird for me, I think they have it once every week or so. From there I went back to my host sister's class and sat through chemistry. I did not know what was going on, but the teacher tried telling me about this an that and how I should like chem because its not hard. I just sat there and stared at the periodic table trying to find the elements they were talking about and guess their names in English. After that class I went to another English class and they spent their lesson asking me questions and practicing their English.
On another note, last night I went out with my host mom and sister, Assunta, for dinner and then we went to Maddaloni and walked around. There was garbage everywhere and smelled gross. We then can to this candy shop and went in. And if you know me, you know how much I love candy :) I took only a few things because I didn't know how they tasted. I was really in the mood for something sour so I took what looked like they were sour. The candy was really cheep from what I could tell. I started eating some and they were not sour and I could not eat more than a few pieces before feeling sick to my stomach. Not eating much and then really sugary candy is not a good mix so I stopped.
The weather here has been really nice; cool in the mornings and warm in the day, cooling back down at night. Right now it is cloudy and it started raining on our way home. I don't mind rainy days to much because I love to read and watch the rain. Rainy days also tells me that sometimes mother nature needs to let it out and cry every now and then.
I know this picture is really gross, but this is the sight everywhere, sometimes even bigger!!! XP (<-yucky face)
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
New York How I Miss You...
Hey everyone!!!! Yet again another post, most likely to be rather long like the last few, sorry in advance. As you can imagine living in another country is very hard. I am feeling homesick and at times I want to go home, but I quickly push those feelings aside. I am very excited to be here in Italy and I cannot wait until I understand more of the language. School is very boring because I don't know what they are saying and I have no books to follow along in. I brought my Italian book that BEC gave me, but you need to listen to a CD to do most of the exercises so it never left me bag. Yesterday at school I became very upset, but today I did not cry in class. At the end of the first lesson, latin I think, I started coughing (have a cold and now I have a dry cough) and I could not stop coughing and I felt myself gaging. Cristina took me outside to get a drink and the English teacher was coming up to see me. I went with here and told here how I felt. I don't like the school system here, so everyone in Ketcham you have it made!!! You have no idea how boring it is. I could not tell the English teacher everything because I was too upset.
I have so many mixed emotions about being here. Like I said before I am super excited to be in Italy, but I am struggling with my host family. I am homesick which makes me sad all the time and I have a cold which doesn't help. I can hardly eat at meals and I become upset at meals. I just want to cry and sleep all the time, nothing else. I am having a hard time adjusting to my host family. I wish to tell them this, but I don't want to upset them. I feel uncomfortable around them, I feel like I have no real space to call my own and they seem to think I cannot be left alone because they tell me everything they are doing. I feel like a guest in their house and just sleeping and eating there, not really welcome for a long time.
I have been talking with my mom because I don't know who to talk to. I have asked other exchange students how they are adjusting and maybe they don't want to say how they really are, but I am having such a hard time. I did not expect this part to be easy, but I did expect to be loved and part of my host family. I have an uneasy feeling with them and I do want to leave. Please understand they have been very nice and have been paying for a few things like gelato and my school books, but I feel so out of place. Being homesick does not help this situation. I want to tell my host family how I feel, but I can't bring myself to tell them. I think about it and I become scared, worried and just start crying. I can't eat a meal without crying. I am scared all the time and always in the way. I know I can make it through this hard time because I have to and I don't want to give up. I feel like a failure for wanting to change families, for crying all the time, for not liking it here.
I am sorry if this post has upset you, but that is how I feel. I have dreamed about coming to Italy for so long and I have worked so hard to come and now I am here and this is how its going. I can only hope things get better and I hear from my rep very soon. I love you all so much and I miss you!!!! I am accepting the fact that you are all in New York, six hours away and I am here. It is hard to think this, but I know I will be coming back and I just need to be strong and believe in myself.
CIao :) Aly
Sorry for not posting pictures here, it takes a while so I will try again in another post.
I have so many mixed emotions about being here. Like I said before I am super excited to be in Italy, but I am struggling with my host family. I am homesick which makes me sad all the time and I have a cold which doesn't help. I can hardly eat at meals and I become upset at meals. I just want to cry and sleep all the time, nothing else. I am having a hard time adjusting to my host family. I wish to tell them this, but I don't want to upset them. I feel uncomfortable around them, I feel like I have no real space to call my own and they seem to think I cannot be left alone because they tell me everything they are doing. I feel like a guest in their house and just sleeping and eating there, not really welcome for a long time.
I have been talking with my mom because I don't know who to talk to. I have asked other exchange students how they are adjusting and maybe they don't want to say how they really are, but I am having such a hard time. I did not expect this part to be easy, but I did expect to be loved and part of my host family. I have an uneasy feeling with them and I do want to leave. Please understand they have been very nice and have been paying for a few things like gelato and my school books, but I feel so out of place. Being homesick does not help this situation. I want to tell my host family how I feel, but I can't bring myself to tell them. I think about it and I become scared, worried and just start crying. I can't eat a meal without crying. I am scared all the time and always in the way. I know I can make it through this hard time because I have to and I don't want to give up. I feel like a failure for wanting to change families, for crying all the time, for not liking it here.
I am sorry if this post has upset you, but that is how I feel. I have dreamed about coming to Italy for so long and I have worked so hard to come and now I am here and this is how its going. I can only hope things get better and I hear from my rep very soon. I love you all so much and I miss you!!!! I am accepting the fact that you are all in New York, six hours away and I am here. It is hard to think this, but I know I will be coming back and I just need to be strong and believe in myself.
CIao :) Aly
Sorry for not posting pictures here, it takes a while so I will try again in another post.
Monday, September 20, 2010
The First Few Days
The first day in Valle di Maddaloni we stopped in a store in Maddaloni for some school supplies. From there we went to a little super market and bought some things there too. We then headed to Valle di Maddaloni and arrived at my host family's house. Once there we brought my bags inside and brought them to my room, which I am sharing with Cristina. I then asked for the box I shipped over and handed out my host family gifts. I got Assunta and Cristina each a t-shirt, nail polish, and eyeliner. I gave my host mom a cook book with some of my favorite recipes, measuring cups and letters. I made a bandana for my host dog Rocky and also brought him a Greenie dog treat. I also brought over a frisbee, a book about New York and some U.S.A window clings. That night we ate pizza and one had french fries and hot dogs on it and it was not that bad.
The next day was Saturday, Cristina and Assunta had to go to school and I stayed home and slept in. I woke up around 8:30 and ate breakfast. I had a croissant with nutella. After I unpacked my suit case and put away my things. After I had nothing to do so I started practicing my Italian and then it hit me. I will be living in Italy, half way around the world from New York, for ten months!! I know no one except my host family, no friends or anything. Everything I knew was back in New York and here I was in Italy alone. I was sad all day and could not stop thinking about home. I was able to talk with some of my friends which did not help the situation, but by the evening I was finally able to stop crying. I went out with Cristina and her friends and we went and got ice cream. We returned home and stayed her for a little bit then we went out again to Sant'Agata, a near by town and walked around. I got to meet some more of their friends and started to enjoy my time there. I could not understand them because they talked too fast and I did not know everything they were telling me.
We retuned home around midnight and then went to bed. The next morning my host mom's parents came and I got to meet them. After breakfast we walked around Valle di Maddaloni and I met some more of Cristina's friends. Meeting new people and doing things keep my mind away from home and I started to enjoy myself more. We then met up with their uncle Alex, who took us out to get some gelato. We returned home and had lunch and at that time I was not hungry, but I still at some gnocchi which my host mom made by hand. After lunch Cristina's friends came over and they did some homework and I went online. Once they left we took a nap and got up at 8 and ate dinner. We then got ready and went to Caserta to listen to Cristina's cousin who was playing in a band. Once again we returned home around midnight and went to sleep.
The next day was monday and my first day of school. I am in the same class as Cristina so she was able to translate somethings for me. I had no idea what they were talking about!!!! I would catch a word here and there, but not enough to understand completely. With time things will get easier and living in Italy will become more natural and comfortable.
Sorry for such long posts, I just need to keep everyone updated. Love you all!!! :D
The next day was Saturday, Cristina and Assunta had to go to school and I stayed home and slept in. I woke up around 8:30 and ate breakfast. I had a croissant with nutella. After I unpacked my suit case and put away my things. After I had nothing to do so I started practicing my Italian and then it hit me. I will be living in Italy, half way around the world from New York, for ten months!! I know no one except my host family, no friends or anything. Everything I knew was back in New York and here I was in Italy alone. I was sad all day and could not stop thinking about home. I was able to talk with some of my friends which did not help the situation, but by the evening I was finally able to stop crying. I went out with Cristina and her friends and we went and got ice cream. We returned home and stayed her for a little bit then we went out again to Sant'Agata, a near by town and walked around. I got to meet some more of their friends and started to enjoy my time there. I could not understand them because they talked too fast and I did not know everything they were telling me.
We retuned home around midnight and then went to bed. The next morning my host mom's parents came and I got to meet them. After breakfast we walked around Valle di Maddaloni and I met some more of Cristina's friends. Meeting new people and doing things keep my mind away from home and I started to enjoy myself more. We then met up with their uncle Alex, who took us out to get some gelato. We returned home and had lunch and at that time I was not hungry, but I still at some gnocchi which my host mom made by hand. After lunch Cristina's friends came over and they did some homework and I went online. Once they left we took a nap and got up at 8 and ate dinner. We then got ready and went to Caserta to listen to Cristina's cousin who was playing in a band. Once again we returned home around midnight and went to sleep.
The next day was monday and my first day of school. I am in the same class as Cristina so she was able to translate somethings for me. I had no idea what they were talking about!!!! I would catch a word here and there, but not enough to understand completely. With time things will get easier and living in Italy will become more natural and comfortable.
Sorry for such long posts, I just need to keep everyone updated. Love you all!!! :D
Orientation
I spent three days in Milan with other students from across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. We stayed at a Hostel a little ways from the Duomo of Milan. For every meal we would walk to the same restaurant; which would have only been bad if the food was terrible, and it was not!! In fact, the food was AMAZING!! There were so many things I wanted to try and so little time. Of what I can remember this is what I ate over the three days in no particular order: 4 cheese pizza, lasagna, croissant with custard/creme, gnocchi, salad, and or corse gelato!!! We spent the mornings at the hostel talking about the BEC rules, the program, our host families and some general things about Italy. The first day after lunch we walked to the duomo where we then got onto a double decker bus and took a little tour around Milan. Once that was over we returned to the duomo and walked to this castle not far from there. We had and hour to walk around the castle and return with the group. There was not much to see unless you went on a tour of the inside or went in the museum. We did not have much time so we walked through the court yards of the castle and walked back to the front. The second afternoon we walked around some more and found Vittorio Emanuele II gallery, a very famous place in Milan right next to the duomo. Once we walked through Vittorio Emanuele II gallery and got to the duomo we had three hours to walk around, shop, and do whatever. I stayed with Stephanie and Edith for our free time and we set on an adventure!! We wanted to get gelato, but not just any gelato, gelato from Grom!!! We heard Grom was the best in all of Milan so we just had to go. We could not remember where it was so we asked about ten people along the way and finally we found it. We walked so much and in a circle, but we found it!!! That was the first time I had gelato in Italy on this trip and it was delicious. We walked back the way we went and once we reached the duomo we just sat and rested our tried feet.
Our next task was to find Stephanie a scarf from Milan. We went back into Vittorio Emanuele II gallery and started looking around. We went in maybe two or three shops before Stephanie found one she liked, that was not over 100 Euros. From that store we stopped in an AutoGrill, which sells drinks and snack. There I bought a Gatorade, and yes it tasted different, but not in a bad way. We walked back to the duomo and found others from our group and just sat there. Others started to arrive and then our reps from BEC arrived; Valentina and Claudia. We walked back to the hostel and then went out for our last dinner in Milan. The next morning we woke around 7:30. We had to be ready by 8:30 for breakfast, except one girl Samantha who had to leave at 8:30 to catch her plane to Sardinia. After breakfast we had a few minutes to gather our things and then we were off to the train station. Luckily the only thing I forgot in the hostel was my shampoo.
At the train station we sat as a group and waited around till the first group had to leave. I was part of the first group, the Naples group. There were 9 of us, 7 going to Naples, 2 going to Rome. We walked to platform 15 and then to car 9. The train had a small isle and I had a hard time getting through with my luggage not to mention people were trying to pass me, but there was no room!! Jonathon helped by putting our things in the above compartments and we finally took our seats. Only one person had to sit by himself. The woman wanted to trade seats so she could sit with her friends and the guy from our group did not mind switching with her.
The train ride was very fun talking and laughing with the other students going to Naples. There was one girl, Lani, who was going to stay in Maddaloni, which is only one town over from mine. Everyone else was not too far. I tried to take some pictures while on the train because the scenery was so beautiful. We went right through Tuscany and the rolling hills, farms, old Italian buildings; truly something amazing. We finally arrived in Naples four hours later and now came the big event, meeting our host families!!! We all unloaded from the train and started walking to the station, one by one families came and meet their exchange students. My family had a big yellow sign with my name on it :) I said goodbye to my friends and went with my host family to their car and headed to Valle di Maddaloni.
Our next task was to find Stephanie a scarf from Milan. We went back into Vittorio Emanuele II gallery and started looking around. We went in maybe two or three shops before Stephanie found one she liked, that was not over 100 Euros. From that store we stopped in an AutoGrill, which sells drinks and snack. There I bought a Gatorade, and yes it tasted different, but not in a bad way. We walked back to the duomo and found others from our group and just sat there. Others started to arrive and then our reps from BEC arrived; Valentina and Claudia. We walked back to the hostel and then went out for our last dinner in Milan. The next morning we woke around 7:30. We had to be ready by 8:30 for breakfast, except one girl Samantha who had to leave at 8:30 to catch her plane to Sardinia. After breakfast we had a few minutes to gather our things and then we were off to the train station. Luckily the only thing I forgot in the hostel was my shampoo.
At the train station we sat as a group and waited around till the first group had to leave. I was part of the first group, the Naples group. There were 9 of us, 7 going to Naples, 2 going to Rome. We walked to platform 15 and then to car 9. The train had a small isle and I had a hard time getting through with my luggage not to mention people were trying to pass me, but there was no room!! Jonathon helped by putting our things in the above compartments and we finally took our seats. Only one person had to sit by himself. The woman wanted to trade seats so she could sit with her friends and the guy from our group did not mind switching with her.
The train ride was very fun talking and laughing with the other students going to Naples. There was one girl, Lani, who was going to stay in Maddaloni, which is only one town over from mine. Everyone else was not too far. I tried to take some pictures while on the train because the scenery was so beautiful. We went right through Tuscany and the rolling hills, farms, old Italian buildings; truly something amazing. We finally arrived in Naples four hours later and now came the big event, meeting our host families!!! We all unloaded from the train and started walking to the station, one by one families came and meet their exchange students. My family had a big yellow sign with my name on it :) I said goodbye to my friends and went with my host family to their car and headed to Valle di Maddaloni.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
ITALIA!!!!
Today is the first full day of orientation. Last night we arrived at the hostel and brought our bags to our rooms and picked out our beds. We then walked a block or two and went to this cute little Italian cafe`. I shared a pizza with another girl, Stephanie who is from California. It was wonderful!!!!! After dinner we headed back to the hostel and started getting ready for bed. Taking a shower was amazing!!!! Although it was like a day or so, it still felt nice to get out of the clothes I was wearing and freshen up. Sleeping in a bed was really nice, I had no problem getting to sleep. This morning I woke up a minute or two before Loni woke us all up. We walked back the the cafe from last night and we ate breakfast there. I picked out this pastry with creme in the middle, not to much and I ordered orange juice.
I don't know what we are going to do today because I cannot get onto my email! Italy is beautiful and I can not wait till we to go sight seeing and free time to walk around. Ciao a tutti!!
I don't know what we are going to do today because I cannot get onto my email! Italy is beautiful and I can not wait till we to go sight seeing and free time to walk around. Ciao a tutti!!
Friday, September 10, 2010
My Student Visa
Last week I went down to New York City with my mom to apply for my student visa. We get to the visa office early to confirm its location and make sure we were in the right area. Once we found the visa office we checked our maps to see where we were and what we could do in the city before my appointment. We were only two blocks from Central Park so we walked over there and found a nice little place to rest our feet and get something to drink. Once rested we headed back to the park entrance. After checking the time, we still had plenty of time so we waited some more on a central park bench. When the time was right we walked back to the visa office and arrived outside the door around 11:10. On the email they sent to me it said only the applicant can go to the appointment and one should arrive 15 minutes early to go through security. We were there promptly and I rang the buzzer. A man came out and asked for my name and information. I told him I had an 11:30 appointment, but he simply gave me a paper with the order my documents needed to be in and said he would let me in at exactly 11:30.
We were not allowed into the visa office so my mom and I were on 69th street with all my paperwork looking for a spot to sort them. I found this little post outside another building and set to work there. Luckily it was not too windy so my very important paperwork did not fly away. We went to work and soon the papers were all organized. When I first made my appointment I printed out the student visa web page with all the documents needed to apply for the visa. I brought the paper with me and as my mom and I were checking off the paperwork with the list from the web site. I had ever document they listed on the web site and I was ready to get my visa!
11:30 comes and the man comes back to the door and takes me inside. The door leads into an enclosed ally way. I walk down the stairs and there is this little security check point where the man goes, takes my passport and enters my information. He gives me a pass, returns my passport and gives me the okay to go inside. The first door is rather heavy for the look and size of the door; you could tell the door was bullet proof. From the doors I walked into this dark, depressing feeling room. There were three rows of six chairs. The chairs were all connected and like sets at a baseball game, but smaller and farther apart. In front of the room were three teller windows (also bullet proof), but in front of the windows where the visa workers were they had placed partitions. While I waited (for a little over an hour) there was nothing in the room to look at. The walls were bare, the room echoed and I could do was think to worse.
Finally my name was called so I walked up to window number two and faced my nightmare. The women takes my application, looks at my passports, then she heads to a bulletin board and takes a packet. She searches for my name and says, "I am sorry I don't think I can accept your application, your name is not on the list." NOT ON THE LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY NAME IS NOT ON THE LIST!!!!!!!! I had no idea what to think when she said that. She talked with another women then she checked another list and found me. She then tells me my parents need to be there because I am a minor so I run out and get my mom who was waiting outside on 69th street for an hour and take her in with me. The security guard had to check her id and enter her into the system. We get in there and the women asks for my dad, who was not there because we did not know he needed to be there too. Then she goes on saying we do not have enough money to send me to Italy!!! They were asking for 30 euros a day, which is a lot for a high school student who does not spend that much money normally everyday, the 30 Euro a day equals out to about 10,000 euro for my entire year which is a lot, A LOT, of money!! She then recalculated it and I was fine, but I was still missing several papers. If you know me you know that I would not have gone down there unless I had all my paperwork copied at least twice! The paperwork I was missing was not on the web site so I had no idea I needed it. Once they women gave us a paper saying we could come back again and a list of everything I needed my mom and I left to office and once we were outside I stared to cry, again. The whole thing was very stressful, scary and just a terrible experience. We went back to Grand Central and took the next train home.
Once we were home I gathered up the paperwork I needed and headed to the bank to get everything notarized! And I mean EVERYTHING!!! The next day, Thursday, my mom and I went back down to the visa office and we arrived around 8:45. I needed to be there between 9 and 10 to deal with my missing paperwork. Some of the same people who were there yesterday were there again with their missing paperwork. The security guard came out and called us in with our receipts we got yesterday. My mom had to come with my because I am a minor and I needed her so I had to wait till everyone was already in the room so the man could check her passport into the computer. We waited some more and they called my name once again. We walked up with our folder with everything they asked for. She started asking for paperwork and my mom just keep pulling them out one after another and the women was so happy we had everything notarized and organized. We had everything and the greatest thing I heard that day was when she said, "You can come back Thursday the 9th between 2 and 3:30." I left the visa office much happier that day.
I went back down on the 9th, early again and waited in line to get into the visa office. When 2pm came the security guard came out took us down and we had to wait again for him to put my moms passport into the computer. We get in, sit down and wait about 10 minutes. They call my name, we walk to window number three, and he handed me back my passport and with my visa inside. We walked out and there is nothing holding me back from going to Italy now!!!!
Sorry for the long post, but they were long trips and an experience I do not want to have again anytime soon.
We were not allowed into the visa office so my mom and I were on 69th street with all my paperwork looking for a spot to sort them. I found this little post outside another building and set to work there. Luckily it was not too windy so my very important paperwork did not fly away. We went to work and soon the papers were all organized. When I first made my appointment I printed out the student visa web page with all the documents needed to apply for the visa. I brought the paper with me and as my mom and I were checking off the paperwork with the list from the web site. I had ever document they listed on the web site and I was ready to get my visa!
11:30 comes and the man comes back to the door and takes me inside. The door leads into an enclosed ally way. I walk down the stairs and there is this little security check point where the man goes, takes my passport and enters my information. He gives me a pass, returns my passport and gives me the okay to go inside. The first door is rather heavy for the look and size of the door; you could tell the door was bullet proof. From the doors I walked into this dark, depressing feeling room. There were three rows of six chairs. The chairs were all connected and like sets at a baseball game, but smaller and farther apart. In front of the room were three teller windows (also bullet proof), but in front of the windows where the visa workers were they had placed partitions. While I waited (for a little over an hour) there was nothing in the room to look at. The walls were bare, the room echoed and I could do was think to worse.
Finally my name was called so I walked up to window number two and faced my nightmare. The women takes my application, looks at my passports, then she heads to a bulletin board and takes a packet. She searches for my name and says, "I am sorry I don't think I can accept your application, your name is not on the list." NOT ON THE LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY NAME IS NOT ON THE LIST!!!!!!!! I had no idea what to think when she said that. She talked with another women then she checked another list and found me. She then tells me my parents need to be there because I am a minor so I run out and get my mom who was waiting outside on 69th street for an hour and take her in with me. The security guard had to check her id and enter her into the system. We get in there and the women asks for my dad, who was not there because we did not know he needed to be there too. Then she goes on saying we do not have enough money to send me to Italy!!! They were asking for 30 euros a day, which is a lot for a high school student who does not spend that much money normally everyday, the 30 Euro a day equals out to about 10,000 euro for my entire year which is a lot, A LOT, of money!! She then recalculated it and I was fine, but I was still missing several papers. If you know me you know that I would not have gone down there unless I had all my paperwork copied at least twice! The paperwork I was missing was not on the web site so I had no idea I needed it. Once they women gave us a paper saying we could come back again and a list of everything I needed my mom and I left to office and once we were outside I stared to cry, again. The whole thing was very stressful, scary and just a terrible experience. We went back to Grand Central and took the next train home.
Once we were home I gathered up the paperwork I needed and headed to the bank to get everything notarized! And I mean EVERYTHING!!! The next day, Thursday, my mom and I went back down to the visa office and we arrived around 8:45. I needed to be there between 9 and 10 to deal with my missing paperwork. Some of the same people who were there yesterday were there again with their missing paperwork. The security guard came out and called us in with our receipts we got yesterday. My mom had to come with my because I am a minor and I needed her so I had to wait till everyone was already in the room so the man could check her passport into the computer. We waited some more and they called my name once again. We walked up with our folder with everything they asked for. She started asking for paperwork and my mom just keep pulling them out one after another and the women was so happy we had everything notarized and organized. We had everything and the greatest thing I heard that day was when she said, "You can come back Thursday the 9th between 2 and 3:30." I left the visa office much happier that day.
I went back down on the 9th, early again and waited in line to get into the visa office. When 2pm came the security guard came out took us down and we had to wait again for him to put my moms passport into the computer. We get in, sit down and wait about 10 minutes. They call my name, we walk to window number three, and he handed me back my passport and with my visa inside. We walked out and there is nothing holding me back from going to Italy now!!!!
Sorry for the long post, but they were long trips and an experience I do not want to have again anytime soon.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Dutchess County Fair
This week is the Dutchess County Fair in New York and this goes on every year for one week in the summer. Vendors come and try selling their crafts, food, supplies, equipment, livestock and a lot of other things. I cannot remember the last time I went, but I was younger. This was also the first year going without my family. I did go with my brother and his girlfriend, but I was able to go on my own and look around at what I thought was interesting. The first thing we did when we got into the fair was go to the 4-H booth and buy milkshakes! When you go to the fair it is a tradition and a must to buy a milkshake form the 4-H club. After milkshakes we headed up to see the farm animals. There were piglets, huge pigs, dairy cows, another kind of cow and the cows that were destined to become hamburgers and steaks :( Goats, horses and sheep filled the other pens. In another set of pavilions were chickens, ducks and rabbits. I did not go into that pavilion this year, but I have in the past. After livestock hill we headed into the food area and walked among the rides. I do not typically go on fair or carnival rides, not my thing.
My brother and I split ways after the ride section and I was on my own! The first place I went were to the craft pavilions, and I stopped at the first vendor who was selling candles he made himself. We started talking about different things and he explained about the wax he used and the difference between his candles and soy and the health differences. Between them there are not that many differences. I bought four little candles :) From there I walked to the next pavilion where I then bought hot sauce!! The man also made his own hot sauce with peppers they grew themselves. I ran into my brother and his girlfriend and took them to see the hot sauce guy. A little while later I meet up with a friend and we talked about my upcoming trip and walked around a little. He had to eat and get back to work so I went off into a different direction and found more vendors. I found this one booth called Dancing Bear. In that booth I bought a Fair Trade bag and a Beatles poster :). Once I was done spending all my money I headed back up to livestock hill to waste some more time before 2:30. When I was walking past the cows I found my brother again and we stayed together and went to see Strawberry Fields "Tribute to The Beatles" who were playing at the event tent. The show was not that long and rather entertaining. The men dressed like The Beatles and even had wigs to look like them. They sang Beatles songs, of corse they were not as wonderful as The Beatles, but almost as close as I am going to get. As I sat there thinking the only way I could get closer to a Beatles concert would be to see Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr, but that won't be soon, then I thought that some of these people might have seen The Beatles in concert when they were younger. Can you imagine!!! I would have been one of those girls crying in the stands of Shea Stadium who then became a hippie fighting for world peace! I will still fight for world peace, without the drugs and flower power lol.
All in all the day was great!! I had so much fun. This was one of the first days of the summer where I went some where all day and just got to do what I wanted to do. There were so many cute animals I just wanted to scoop them up and take them home with me :)
I received another email from ASSE and it was kind of confusing. It talks about asking for permission of stay from my host family and I need to pay them 80,00 Euro. I know host families are not paid and should not ask for money from the student for hosting them, but thats what this sounds like. I asked my friend who went to Italy last year with ASSE and he said that the permission of stay is like a student visa and the money goes to the government to allow me to stay. It is a little different than here, but Italy is its own country. Wednesday I am going down to the city with my mom to hand in my student visa application. I have only two things left I need for my visa; passport pictures, which I can do at home. The pictures need to be a certain size and have a white background, not that difficult. Lastly I need a letter from my parents notarized saying they are finically responsible for me in Italy and I will be all set to get my visa at last.
Sorry if this post is rather long. I like to keep them short because no one likes to read forever. The pictures are of Strawberry Fields "Tribute to The Beatles", part of the fair with rides in the background and piglets from one of the pavilions on livestock hill. Enjoy, Ciao a tutti!!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
August Already?!?!?!
Hey everyone! Summer is half over if you like it or not, and for me, I am a little excited to go to school this year. I have 26 days before I depart for Italy and I cannot wait!! This weekend I am having another party/get together/shindig before I leave. Although my friends planed one for me already, I had talked with my mom about having one myself. I have been working and my last weekend that I will be working will be August 5th. I go down to apply for my visa on the 1st, and hopefully go to the U.S. Open on the 2nd with my best friend :D.
I have emailed my local rep. about my pre-departure orientation, no answer yet. I did receive a rough layout of my orientation in Milan. I will post it on here so you can see it. Very exciting stuff. I also received my very last informational letter from ASSE. This letter talked about "Your International Flight", "Arrival", "Are You The Same Person", "Documents", and "Bon Voyage!" (or in Italian, Buon Viaggio!). The letter also included my E-Ticket Confirmation and a sheet with a check list of things I should do before going to the airport, at the airport, in flight, arrival and listed some numbers to call if I had an "Emergency During Normal Business Hours (Mon-Fri 0900-17.30)" or if I had an "Emergency Outside of Normal Business Hours" lol. I have also solved the problem of my little ASSE "must use" carry one bag. I will be using the ASSE bag for my computer and some personal things like wallet and such and then using a small rolling bag for my extra pair of clothes, travel size shampoo and such, and some other carry-on things (I am not quite sure what those are yet). Anyway, back to my orientation in Milan:
14 Sep-Welcom students at the airport and then go to the Hostel- Ostello La Cordata
15 Sep- 9AM Breakfast, BEC Presentation, student presentation,
1pm Lunch than sightseeing tour of Milan
7 pm Dinner
16 Sep- 9AM Breakfast, Permission of stay, Doctor, Insurance
13.00 Lunch, Visit Duomo, Free time for shopping :)
19.00 Dinner and walk in Navigi area (nice picturesque area of Milan)
17 Sep- Breakfast, taxi to airport/railway station to catch plane/train to final destination
I will most likely be taking a train to Naples and meeting my host family there. I have also uploaded a picture of the bags I will be bringing with me to Italy. (Sorry its at the very top of the post and not at the bottom with the caption)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Electric Windows!!
I spent to weekend at my aunt's house for a little birthday dinner and some cake. I spent the night and had a lot of time just hanging out with her. In Beacon there was this event called Electric Windows where local artists painted canvases and the next day they put them in to windows of this old electric blanket factory. I thought it was going to be a little different, but it was still really cool watching them paint and looking at the art work.
Last weekend I received another letter from ASSE!!!! It was acually a package :) In the package was another informational letter about culture shock, ASSE flight package and luggage. After scimming the paper I looked into the package to find a backpack. It is blue with ASSE written on the front. In the letter is says, "The ASSE Flight Bag must be used as a carry-on bag for the trip. The ASSE bag is a draw string backpack and smaller than what I was going to use. Along with the backpack there were two luggage tags with my information and ASSE's information. There was also a name tag in the package which I must also wear "at the airport and while your are traveling with the group." I can understand the name tag so we know each other's names, but the bag, really? Oh well, at least you get to bring a carry on and a personal item/bag.
Today I started packing a box to mail to Italy before I get there. I packed host family gifts, the gifts I got to hand out to future friends and some other things so I can pack more in my suitcase. I still have to mail the box of things back to my old host sister Kristin. Right now her box of things is sitting under my bed, but when I go to get my box weighed I will bring hers and send it on its way.
I told myself I did not want to buy new cloths and if I did buy something I would not buy that many. I just started looking for new clothes to buy for Italy. I shopped the sales and found a few new things. Jeans were the only things I knew I wanted to buy here in the States because they are much more expensive in Europe. So far I have bought a few (4) new, plan shirts, a cardigan, 2 new pairs of jeans, sandals, a new pair of black flats, a new bathing suit, black skirt, a new belt, slippers and sleeping shorts. I would like to pick up a few more things before I leave so i have them and not have to worry about buying them right away in Italy. Shorts, skirts, and dress(s) are pretty much the only things left to buy, besides socks and all those things. The weather will be different then New York so I will just buy a jacket in Italy for their winter. Knowing myself, I will want to buy a million things in Italy, so the less I buy here, the more I can buy in Italy!!!
My summer is going pretty well. Not doing much, but I did go "camping" the other night. I slept in a tent in my friends backyard. I also went swimming for the first time this summer with my aunt. I got bored one day and cleaned my room as well as rearranged my room. And tomorrow I should be spending some time with my best friend. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer too.
Ciao!!
Today I started packing a box to mail to Italy before I get there. I packed host family gifts, the gifts I got to hand out to future friends and some other things so I can pack more in my suitcase. I still have to mail the box of things back to my old host sister Kristin. Right now her box of things is sitting under my bed, but when I go to get my box weighed I will bring hers and send it on its way.
I told myself I did not want to buy new cloths and if I did buy something I would not buy that many. I just started looking for new clothes to buy for Italy. I shopped the sales and found a few new things. Jeans were the only things I knew I wanted to buy here in the States because they are much more expensive in Europe. So far I have bought a few (4) new, plan shirts, a cardigan, 2 new pairs of jeans, sandals, a new pair of black flats, a new bathing suit, black skirt, a new belt, slippers and sleeping shorts. I would like to pick up a few more things before I leave so i have them and not have to worry about buying them right away in Italy. Shorts, skirts, and dress(s) are pretty much the only things left to buy, besides socks and all those things. The weather will be different then New York so I will just buy a jacket in Italy for their winter. Knowing myself, I will want to buy a million things in Italy, so the less I buy here, the more I can buy in Italy!!!
My summer is going pretty well. Not doing much, but I did go "camping" the other night. I slept in a tent in my friends backyard. I also went swimming for the first time this summer with my aunt. I got bored one day and cleaned my room as well as rearranged my room. And tomorrow I should be spending some time with my best friend. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer too.
Ciao!!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
After looking at my last post I decided I should update my blog for all you avid readers. This past Tuesday was my birthday for starters. The day started like the day before, I got up and helped my brother and Poppie split wood, then I scrubbed our new tile floors to clean them. After that I did nothing till about 3:45 then I got ready for work. I worked till 8:15 and from there I went to meet up with some of my friends to see Robin Hood for $1! And honestly, I would not pay more than $1 to see it. It was long and I could not focus on the movie. It was entertaining, but really there were so much going on all the time I had little idea what was going on. When the movie finally finished, I went home and went to bed. I have not been doing anything awesome this summer like going on vacation or day trips any where. I have been seeing my friends which is always a plus!! Other than spending time with my friends, doing nothing at home, and getting "ready" for Italy, I have been working. I am glad I have a job because I have started buying new clothes and gifts for my trip and my pay checks have allowed me to buy them on my own.
If there is anything I want to do this summer before I go to Italy and summer "ends" (I won't be going back to school like the rest of my friends so I have a few more days of summer :D) would be to go to New York City at least once, Six Flags, Woodstock, My Poppie's camp in northern New York and with that trip I want to go to Canada, and the beach! I mean a real beach with sand and an ocean! But those are just ideas and things I want to do, hopefully I can do some of them.
Now onto the exchange portion of my post. I called the Italian consulate in New York City to try and make an appointment to drop off my application and get my visa. At first I thought it was going to be a little hard with their ridiculous hours and working out with my schedule and my mom's, but I guessed wrong! I called and asked about applying for a student visa and the man on the phone said they were booked for like seven weeks or something and I started feeling a little panicked. I told him I was leaving the 13th of September and he said that was fine and so I set up the appointment on the earliest day they had. The earliest day was September 1st!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me!! He says it takes about 7 to 10 tens, what if it takes more than that?? What will I do then?? After making the appointment I emailed the woman I have been talking to from ASSE and my area representative about how soon the appointment was to my departure date and the woman from ASSE said, "That is too close to your departure date, but I think you will be able to get your visa." Well lets hope so. As for any new news from ASSE there is nothing. I am hoping some new letters or something will come because I have 46 days before I leave and I feel that I am not ready and equipped with the right amount of information and support from ASSE. I want to know what we will do in Milan and how I am getting to my host family and just some over all "lets get ready for life in Italy" stuff. Oh well, I will wait and see if anything new comes in the mail.
If there is anything I want to do this summer before I go to Italy and summer "ends" (I won't be going back to school like the rest of my friends so I have a few more days of summer :D) would be to go to New York City at least once, Six Flags, Woodstock, My Poppie's camp in northern New York and with that trip I want to go to Canada, and the beach! I mean a real beach with sand and an ocean! But those are just ideas and things I want to do, hopefully I can do some of them.
Now onto the exchange portion of my post. I called the Italian consulate in New York City to try and make an appointment to drop off my application and get my visa. At first I thought it was going to be a little hard with their ridiculous hours and working out with my schedule and my mom's, but I guessed wrong! I called and asked about applying for a student visa and the man on the phone said they were booked for like seven weeks or something and I started feeling a little panicked. I told him I was leaving the 13th of September and he said that was fine and so I set up the appointment on the earliest day they had. The earliest day was September 1st!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me!! He says it takes about 7 to 10 tens, what if it takes more than that?? What will I do then?? After making the appointment I emailed the woman I have been talking to from ASSE and my area representative about how soon the appointment was to my departure date and the woman from ASSE said, "That is too close to your departure date, but I think you will be able to get your visa." Well lets hope so. As for any new news from ASSE there is nothing. I am hoping some new letters or something will come because I have 46 days before I leave and I feel that I am not ready and equipped with the right amount of information and support from ASSE. I want to know what we will do in Milan and how I am getting to my host family and just some over all "lets get ready for life in Italy" stuff. Oh well, I will wait and see if anything new comes in the mail.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I LOVE YOU!!!
This is a special little thank you post to all of my friends!! This past Sunday I thought I was going to some random girls party with one of my best friends, but it turned out to be my own surprise party!!! It was the greatest thing! I got there and all my friends were there (well the ones that could go that is) and seeing everyone made me so happy! I had talked to my mom about planing my own in August (which I am still doing), but my friends have been planing this before school even ended!! And I had no idea. Thinking back it is funny because I would see them all the time in school and I have seen them before this and they knew this whole time....Even my mom! There were times she would be texting my friends about the party while I was in the next room...Oh mom I do love you.
My friends are truly amazing people and deserve a big round of applause. They rented this cabin type place, made food and one of my friends was the DJ, DJB!ROCK! Two of my friends even played some songs, and they sounded great for missing half the band. It was a great night and I had so much fun!! They all signed this amazing notebook (which had The Beatles on it) and wrote wonderful little letters to me, which I read when I got home at one in the morning! People were generous with gifts and money, but all I could have asked for was their support. Thinking about what they did for me makes we want to hug each and everyone of them a thousand times!
I honestly had no idea about the party and I am so glad no one told me or posted it on Facebook, "going to Aly's surprise party." This post is to thank everyone who came to the party, kept the party a wonderful surprise, planned the party, and thank them for just being an incredible friend!! Thank you so much, I love you all!!!!
My friends are truly amazing people and deserve a big round of applause. They rented this cabin type place, made food and one of my friends was the DJ, DJB!ROCK! Two of my friends even played some songs, and they sounded great for missing half the band. It was a great night and I had so much fun!! They all signed this amazing notebook (which had The Beatles on it) and wrote wonderful little letters to me, which I read when I got home at one in the morning! People were generous with gifts and money, but all I could have asked for was their support. Thinking about what they did for me makes we want to hug each and everyone of them a thousand times!
I honestly had no idea about the party and I am so glad no one told me or posted it on Facebook, "going to Aly's surprise party." This post is to thank everyone who came to the party, kept the party a wonderful surprise, planned the party, and thank them for just being an incredible friend!! Thank you so much, I love you all!!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
VISA!!!!
This past week I have been relaxing and working (not at the same time or corse) and waiting for the mail. I called ASSE with some questions and asked about my visa and if I had already received the paperwork, and at that time, I had not. A few days pasted and then the magical day was here! I received another letter from ASSE and in side a little packet of about six papers. I read every single one, to my best ability (one was in Italian and I understood most of it :D) and once I read the papers, quickly I fired up my mac and went onto the Italian consulate's website for New York and found their contact information. I emailed them, the first time I entered the email wrong, and the second, I am still waiting for a reply. The website is a little confusing and not that clear, hence the email. I do not know which application I need to fill out, but I think I found it so I just need to fill it out and deliver it in person! The consulate has weird hours for dropping off applications and to pick up your visa you have to do it on either Tuesday or Thursday between 2 and 3:30pm!!! Thats it!! And to make an appointment you have to call a number and it costs almost $3 a minute! I was aware the getting my visa might be difficult and there would be fee, but I didn't think it would happen like this. Tomorrow I will print my application and work on it with my mom. It should not take long to fill out and then we will plan a day to go to the city and deliver it in person, because you have to.
I have also found another ASSE soon to be exchange student also going to Italy. We have exchanged emails and found each other on Face Book and have been talking about our up coming trips. I am excited to know someone else who is going with ASSE, not to mention Italy as well.
I have officially started counting down and you may know already. At this point in time, 59 days, but because there is only 1 hour till tomorrow, 58 days!!!
I have also found another ASSE soon to be exchange student also going to Italy. We have exchanged emails and found each other on Face Book and have been talking about our up coming trips. I am excited to know someone else who is going with ASSE, not to mention Italy as well.
I have officially started counting down and you may know already. At this point in time, 59 days, but because there is only 1 hour till tomorrow, 58 days!!!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
"The Best Kind of Prize is a SURprise." - Willy Wonka
I received a letter a few days ago from ASSE about my health insurance, nothing exciting really. It talked about what was covered by ASSE, an insurance card and two ASSE ID card, which are really simple and not that exciting either. The really exciting letter fell into my hands yesterday after I saw Toy Story 3 (which was wonderful, reminded me of my childhood) with two of my best friends. One letter was for my parents congratulating them for allowing me to spend a year in Italy :) Thank you mom and dad!! And the second letter was for me! I thought it was just some more information about my exchange program like what to expect, but to my surprise I was wrong! After opening the envelope, pulling out the letter and unfolding the paper, my eyes scanned the letter. On the front sheet was my flight information!! My last day in America for the next 10 months will be September 13th and I will arrive in Milan on September 14th. I was very happy to finally have confirmation and begin the official countdown (which is 68) but a little upset and annoyed because my school will be starting on the 15th so most likely I will not be there for the first day of school, or second. Once again my emotions are all over the place from happy, to sad, to disbelief, to wonder. Although I have my flight information and know I will be going to Italy in 68 days there is still a feeling that this is not real. I don't know if it ever will. At points yes and when I leave my family and friends I will feel it the most, but once I arrive in Italy it will be a dream come true, something way to good to me true. I can only hope for the best and make to most out of everything.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Insomnia
As the title implies.....
I cannot sleep and I don't know why, well kind-of. Although I woke up rather "early" for teenage summer mode (8:20am) I should be tired and ready for bed, but I am not. I received some more information from ASSE today! Just a few days ago I was worried about not receiving anything new and just how few days I have (64). Today I went up to Poughkeepsie to the jail with my mom for some more ASSE business. We went to get a form filled out and signed to state I do not have a criminal record. And after the wonderful ride up, creepy coffee truck outside the sherif's office and the ride back, I DON'T NEED IT! (The whole thing was not that bad really, plus on the way home we stopped at Borders and picked up some new books.) I called ASSE (not knowing new info was on its way in the mail) and asked if they wanted the hard copy mailed in or if I could fax it. The form really needed to be filled out if I was going to Germany, which I am not, but Hanna from ASSE said it might be handy when I go to the Italian Consulate. I am still unsure what to do about my student visa. ASSE said they will send me information about my visa and how to apply and with today's new info there was some info for visa's, but it is still unclear. I guess Italy needs to send ASSE some more information. Nothing else exciting about my trip though....but soon. :)
As I mentioned above, my mom and I went to Borders and bought books!!! I found two gifts for my host family, which I won't say just in case they read my blog before I give the gifts to them. I also got this book called A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. I have heard a lot about this book and seems really interesting and something I would enjoy* reading.
*When I say enjoy I mean a sense of fascination, interest, and a way to expand my knowledge and understanding of what is happening in the world through the eyes of others and not that I enjoy war or child soldier like I enjoy shopping or something.
Another note, U.S. is out of the World Cup. :( Not much to say about that. They had a great run and I am still proud to be an American and I still enjoy soccer. And yes Mom I would like a jersey, something American to bring over and represent my country. :p
Thanks to the world having different time zones and talking to my friend across the world about spaghettification (Google it!), and this blog, perhaps I will be able to sleep and dream sweet dreams once more...
For now, Buona notte! Or should I say Buon giorno!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
GO TEAM USA!!!!!!
This is a really random note that I did not want to add to my most recent post. I just want to comment on the USA team and the game they played today against Algeria in the World Cup. It was unbelievable!!! The game was so intense and kept my heart racing! There were many attempts to get a goal and earlier in the game they did score, but the referee called it and did not allow the goal, but they should of had it. On ESPN 2 England was also playing and they had scored earlier in their game. With this one point if the US did not score, they would be done with the World Cup. The game just went back and forth between Algeria and the US shooting trying to score. The game went into overtime and there was four minutes left and in the 91st minute US tries to score but the Algerian goal keeper blocks it but gets out of his hands and Landon Donovan kicks the rebound and gets it in!!!!!!! Making the score 1-0 allowing the US team to win and advance in the World Cup with England. Not only did they advance, they won top of their group!! The game was amazing and nerve wracking! If you didn't watch the game, you missed a wonderful match! At the end I was filled with pride and joy to be an American, not that I wasn't already :) Definitely go to ESPN and watch the goal!
WAY OVERDUE UPDATE
Sorry it has taken me about 3 months to update my blog again. My life has been a little busy with school and work and parties. First we shall start with school. ITS OVER!!!!!!!!! Not only is the last day over, but so are all of my tests!!! The only huge test I had was the U.S. History Regents, which I beasted on and got a 99, sooo close, but oh well. Monday was the last final for math and I am sure I did fine on that. Recently I just got a job as a cashier at a local grociey store (not saying which cause if creepers) and I have been working here and there. I did recieve my first pay check and all I thought about was Italy!!! As for my other job while school was in session, selling candy, I raised a little over $2500!!! Which is over half of what my goal was at the begining of the year way back in August. I have also been selling subscriptions to my newsletter which not that many signed up, but thats okay its still some more money.
Before I go any further, I would like to thank a couple of people. I would like to give a HUGE thank you to all of Masque and Mime because although I am not a senior, they allowed and treated me as if I were. With this they nonminated me to win a scholarship to go towards my trip! Thank you everyone you have no idea how much that is going to help.
I also was awarded the Dennis J. Hannan English Award!! This was a complete shock and wonderful surprise. Many of my English teachers nominated me for the award. As you know I have doubled up on classes, including English. I would like to thank my two English teachers from this year, Mr. Guay and Ms. Sutton. I have had so much fun in their classes and learned a lot. Their gifts were more than I could have expected. Thanks to Ms. Murray and Mrs. Cooke for also nominating me for the award. And yes Mr. Foxhall I know that you would have been among them if they let you. We do have a special bond from Masque and Mime and I will always remember the English teacher who opened my eyes to Poe and Shakespeare and for the first time really like English class.
Another personal shout out to my wonderful Italian teacher Signora DeSorrento!!!!! She has been my Italian teacher for three years now and just as excited as I am about my trip. She is sad; however, this trip means I will leave her one year earlier and miss out on Italian 5. I am not that worried about missing a year of Italian class because in 69ish days everyday will be Italian class times 1000000000! Her generous gift and kind words hit close to home and as I read what she wrote tears filled my eyes and I just stood before her and cried. I am excited to continue to talk with her throughout my exchange and talk to her more and more in Italian. I do feel that just having her has opened my eyes to the true beauty of the Italian language and culture.
I am super excited for summer and no more school, but there is a pain that it is my last year of American high school. I don't think I will miss Ketcham that much, but Masque and Mime and my friends..... it is hard to think of life without them. At the Masque and Mime banquet, which was wonderful, I had a whole bunch of my friends sign my yearbook. That night the first one I read was from my best friend Liam and I cried. As I continued to read my eyes would water and tears would drip. Part from what they wrote, our memeories together, and the thought of leaving them. I know at first it will be hard, but we will talk and stay in touch and time will fly. Even now I think about it and joy fills me, but along with it is sadness. I will be coming back and going to a local college so I'll see many of them, but others, I know I won't. I haven't even thought about leaving my family! Yes I talk about gong, but in a dream like fashion. It has not hit home that in less than 70 days I will be leaving my family for 10 months! Truly this will be one of the hardest things I will have to do not to mention one of the craziest things I will do.
Although I talk about how sad it will all be, I need to think how amazing it will be. Everyone is happy I am going and going to have the time of my life, and I should be thinking that way than leaving everyone and everything I know behind. For over two years I have dreamed about this trip and what it would be like and here it is!! I have a host family who seem wonderful and nice, a beautiful town in Southern Italy that I will be living in, and the support of my friends and family! I just wish they could all come with me, but they can't so I will do my best to bring it to them. Through this blog, pictures, my newsletter and possible website people will be kept updated and experience only half of the adventure because I know that there will be somethings that are undescripbale.
I can wish that everything goes smoothly and make the best out of everything, and remember that I have a crowd of people who love me and are cheering me on every step of the way and to those I would like to say thank you because you are the ones who believe in me and make me believe I can do anything.
Before I go any further, I would like to thank a couple of people. I would like to give a HUGE thank you to all of Masque and Mime because although I am not a senior, they allowed and treated me as if I were. With this they nonminated me to win a scholarship to go towards my trip! Thank you everyone you have no idea how much that is going to help.
I also was awarded the Dennis J. Hannan English Award!! This was a complete shock and wonderful surprise. Many of my English teachers nominated me for the award. As you know I have doubled up on classes, including English. I would like to thank my two English teachers from this year, Mr. Guay and Ms. Sutton. I have had so much fun in their classes and learned a lot. Their gifts were more than I could have expected. Thanks to Ms. Murray and Mrs. Cooke for also nominating me for the award. And yes Mr. Foxhall I know that you would have been among them if they let you. We do have a special bond from Masque and Mime and I will always remember the English teacher who opened my eyes to Poe and Shakespeare and for the first time really like English class.
Another personal shout out to my wonderful Italian teacher Signora DeSorrento!!!!! She has been my Italian teacher for three years now and just as excited as I am about my trip. She is sad; however, this trip means I will leave her one year earlier and miss out on Italian 5. I am not that worried about missing a year of Italian class because in 69ish days everyday will be Italian class times 1000000000! Her generous gift and kind words hit close to home and as I read what she wrote tears filled my eyes and I just stood before her and cried. I am excited to continue to talk with her throughout my exchange and talk to her more and more in Italian. I do feel that just having her has opened my eyes to the true beauty of the Italian language and culture.
I am super excited for summer and no more school, but there is a pain that it is my last year of American high school. I don't think I will miss Ketcham that much, but Masque and Mime and my friends..... it is hard to think of life without them. At the Masque and Mime banquet, which was wonderful, I had a whole bunch of my friends sign my yearbook. That night the first one I read was from my best friend Liam and I cried. As I continued to read my eyes would water and tears would drip. Part from what they wrote, our memeories together, and the thought of leaving them. I know at first it will be hard, but we will talk and stay in touch and time will fly. Even now I think about it and joy fills me, but along with it is sadness. I will be coming back and going to a local college so I'll see many of them, but others, I know I won't. I haven't even thought about leaving my family! Yes I talk about gong, but in a dream like fashion. It has not hit home that in less than 70 days I will be leaving my family for 10 months! Truly this will be one of the hardest things I will have to do not to mention one of the craziest things I will do.
Although I talk about how sad it will all be, I need to think how amazing it will be. Everyone is happy I am going and going to have the time of my life, and I should be thinking that way than leaving everyone and everything I know behind. For over two years I have dreamed about this trip and what it would be like and here it is!! I have a host family who seem wonderful and nice, a beautiful town in Southern Italy that I will be living in, and the support of my friends and family! I just wish they could all come with me, but they can't so I will do my best to bring it to them. Through this blog, pictures, my newsletter and possible website people will be kept updated and experience only half of the adventure because I know that there will be somethings that are undescripbale.
I can wish that everything goes smoothly and make the best out of everything, and remember that I have a crowd of people who love me and are cheering me on every step of the way and to those I would like to say thank you because you are the ones who believe in me and make me believe I can do anything.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
News
I want to start off by telling you something about my exchange trip. (the real reason for this blog) I got a call from ASSE about a week or so ago saying I didn't get the scholarship, and that's all they said. So after the women hung up, I just cried and then did something else to stop thinking about it. I was really bummed about not getting it, but i just said whatever and talked with my Italian teacher about writing letters asking for scholarships, which we are doing Friday.
Today after the Masque and Mime meeting, I went to check my email to respond to the limo guy for prom (more on that later) and I see this email from the ASSE lady, Nancy, for my area. I open the email and click the attachment, and guess what, I HAVE A HOST FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am super excited and I have so many questions for them and I am going to write them an email soon. Its a weird feeling cause I have a host family and its sooo real now!! In a few months I will be living in Italy!!!!
La Mia Famiglia:
Mamma-Cinzia Ciervo
Sorelle- Cristina 17
Assunata 14
my papa has past away, I don't know when/how long ago
They have outside pets. I am going to a scientific school, which I'm going to suck at cause chem and physics here is hard, but in Italian, kill me know!! (not really because I have a host family!!!) I will be living in Valle di Maddaloni in southern Italy near Naples. I will be sharing a room with Cristina and I going to email them, and try not sucking at Italian too much.
PROM:
Prom is May 14th, I am going with one of my best friends whom I will miss soooo much when I go to live with my host family. The dress I thought I was going to get, broke so I'm sending it back. I ordered a new one from this local bridal shop, its sky blue. I ordered my shoes today. And I am trying to arrange a limo.
Nothing really exciting going on in my life, except my host family.
Ciao Ciao
Today after the Masque and Mime meeting, I went to check my email to respond to the limo guy for prom (more on that later) and I see this email from the ASSE lady, Nancy, for my area. I open the email and click the attachment, and guess what, I HAVE A HOST FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am super excited and I have so many questions for them and I am going to write them an email soon. Its a weird feeling cause I have a host family and its sooo real now!! In a few months I will be living in Italy!!!!
La Mia Famiglia:
Mamma-Cinzia Ciervo
Sorelle- Cristina 17
Assunata 14
my papa has past away, I don't know when/how long ago
They have outside pets. I am going to a scientific school, which I'm going to suck at cause chem and physics here is hard, but in Italian, kill me know!! (not really because I have a host family!!!) I will be living in Valle di Maddaloni in southern Italy near Naples. I will be sharing a room with Cristina and I going to email them, and try not sucking at Italian too much.
PROM:
Prom is May 14th, I am going with one of my best friends whom I will miss soooo much when I go to live with my host family. The dress I thought I was going to get, broke so I'm sending it back. I ordered a new one from this local bridal shop, its sky blue. I ordered my shoes today. And I am trying to arrange a limo.
Nothing really exciting going on in my life, except my host family.
Ciao Ciao
Friday, February 26, 2010
SNOW DAY?!?!?
Today is our third snow day in a row!! Normally we don't have three, maybe two snow days like this. It has been snowing where I live in New York for the past two days non stop and the snow has been adding up and up to a whole bunch of snow!!! Last night I shoveled my back deck, then the front, then I went up to my grandparent's house to shovel them out, and the snow was really wet (yes I know its snow and it should be) but it was one for those wet and heavy snows. It was snowing faster than I could shovel it!!! It was so annoying, you couldn't tell I shoveled at all!! It was nice having a snow day, the second one was nice as well cause it was really bad, but I kind of wanted to go to school and not use a snow day, but we needed to stay home. Even though today was bad and many people had no power, I was kind of sad we had another snow day. Yesterday was our last given snow day so today's will come from spring break which is not fun!!! It was quite a relaxing week and I enjoyed it but I am starting to get bored because I don't have anything to do or anywheres to go.
On another note, graduation?!?!?!?! At the end of this year I will have 22 1/2 credits and you only need 22 to graduate, so I was thinking I might graduate this year. I called ASSE if I could still go on the exchange to Italy next year if I already graduated and I can!!! The only thing that concerns me is college. Most likely I will be going to the community college then transferring to somewhere else (possibly University of Liverpool :P) so thats no big deal. The top 10% of my grade has the option of going to Dutchess for free and I am almost positive I am in that 10%, up if I graduate and go to Italy for a year, will I still be able to go for free? I kinda want to go through the whole process, but I still want to graduate with my class and go to the community college. I emailed my guidance counselor but seeing as we had a snow day today, I won't know till maybe Monday/Tuesday. I'll make an appointment to see her maybe and talk to her in person.
A huge negative to these snow days, we have lost at lost of rehearsal time and time for working on sets and lights and everything!! We might not have rehearsal tomorrow and push it till Sunday because of people without power and not having people clear the school. As of today we have TWO WEEKS!! till Bye Bye Birdie!! Thats crazy!!!! I am really excited to do this play and I enjoy the music and the play in general, but I am so ready for it to be over!! I am a little sick with some of the people in Masque and Mime, although I love almost everyone, I'm just ready for it to be over. My emotions are also being pulled in another direction, this will be my last musical with Masque and Mime!! This is like my senior year of high school (in America) when ever I talk people about it some say, "What are you talking about there's next year.....ohhhh that's right, your going to Italy" and yeah I know I am going hello I'm counting down the days!!! (158 btw) I am still going to miss it so much and I think I am even going to miss my high school, maybe not the people in it or some of the teachers, but the school system and a five day school week. All I know is, next year (really this year, but next school year) is going to be so strange and weird, yet unbelievable!!!
The picture is not from the most recent snow storm, but the one a few weeks ago, but it looks the same after I shoveled. If you are reading my other blog on vox.com, sorry but its the same as this one. Thanks for reading- Aly
Monday, February 22, 2010
February
This short little month is almost over!! Just a few days left and we start the longest month of the entire year! MARCH!! Although my mom's birthday and my host sister, Kristin's birthday are in this month, as well as many of my friends, this month is soooo long. There are five full weeks of school and my school's play is this month as well. We are doing Bye Bye Birdie and we have about three weeks left! If you didn't know I am stage manager and honestly, I am kind of ready for this play to be over. I don't really want it to be over because I like Masque and Mime (the drama club) and this is going to be my last spring musical with Masque and Mime in high school. FOREVER!! Which is really scary and sad when you think about it. :( But hey I'm moving on with my life in a good way and although I have made so many friends, I know we will stay in contact via email, facebook, skype and letters.
I have also been starting to look at colleges!! Fun and kind of scary. I know my family does not have a whole bunch of money to go to an extremely expensive college for four years so I am trying to look at some local or New York colleges. I also hope I can get scholarships due to my brains and the wonderful person I am :). On school which I am in love with (although it is not local lol) would be the University of Liverpool. Yes in Liverpool, England. I know your thinking, "Wow she's going to Italy and then she wants to go the college in England?" Yeah I know it will cost a lot of money but I will work hard and try for as many scholarships as I can. I think I am going to a community college for a year or two when I come back from Italy and then just transfer somewhere else. You see tuition and board at Liverpool is around $30,000 which is $10,000 less then most of the schools I was looking at. At Liverpool I would double major in History and Italian and Liverpool is one of the better schools in England and the city itself has lower living costs than most Britain cities. Another college that sparked my interest was the American University of Rome! There I would either do Italian studies or International Relations. Another one is Western New England College where I might major in either history or international studies. As you can tell, I really have no idea where I want to go or what I want to do. I want to do something with the Italian I will gain with my year abroad, just what is the problem.
School itself is going pretty well. My classes are getting really boring and I am tired of doing the work. I can not wait for spring to come and then summer!!!! I have around 162 days till September and I will be leaving some time in September. I have not received any thing from ASSE yet about my acceptance or host family. I did talk to my Friend about passing the word onto her family in Northern Italy about hosting me. It doesn't really matter where I get placed because I know I will love anywhere, but I think if I had to choose I would like to be placed in Northern Italy, ideally Milan. I am really excited about my exchange and I have been reading people's blogs, but they are going with another group, AFS and I have also been watching their video blogs. I have been trying to do the same thing with people who went with ASSE, but I can't really find anything because they are not as big as AFS I think and all my attempts have failed. On Facebook, however, I have been talking to this boy who is in Italy now and he has been a big help with my questions.
If anything really exciting happens in my life I will try to make a post and fill you in, but for now, life is going and I'm taking it one day at a time. Ciao ciao- Aly-Oh!
I have also been starting to look at colleges!! Fun and kind of scary. I know my family does not have a whole bunch of money to go to an extremely expensive college for four years so I am trying to look at some local or New York colleges. I also hope I can get scholarships due to my brains and the wonderful person I am :). On school which I am in love with (although it is not local lol) would be the University of Liverpool. Yes in Liverpool, England. I know your thinking, "Wow she's going to Italy and then she wants to go the college in England?" Yeah I know it will cost a lot of money but I will work hard and try for as many scholarships as I can. I think I am going to a community college for a year or two when I come back from Italy and then just transfer somewhere else. You see tuition and board at Liverpool is around $30,000 which is $10,000 less then most of the schools I was looking at. At Liverpool I would double major in History and Italian and Liverpool is one of the better schools in England and the city itself has lower living costs than most Britain cities. Another college that sparked my interest was the American University of Rome! There I would either do Italian studies or International Relations. Another one is Western New England College where I might major in either history or international studies. As you can tell, I really have no idea where I want to go or what I want to do. I want to do something with the Italian I will gain with my year abroad, just what is the problem.
School itself is going pretty well. My classes are getting really boring and I am tired of doing the work. I can not wait for spring to come and then summer!!!! I have around 162 days till September and I will be leaving some time in September. I have not received any thing from ASSE yet about my acceptance or host family. I did talk to my Friend about passing the word onto her family in Northern Italy about hosting me. It doesn't really matter where I get placed because I know I will love anywhere, but I think if I had to choose I would like to be placed in Northern Italy, ideally Milan. I am really excited about my exchange and I have been reading people's blogs, but they are going with another group, AFS and I have also been watching their video blogs. I have been trying to do the same thing with people who went with ASSE, but I can't really find anything because they are not as big as AFS I think and all my attempts have failed. On Facebook, however, I have been talking to this boy who is in Italy now and he has been a big help with my questions.
If anything really exciting happens in my life I will try to make a post and fill you in, but for now, life is going and I'm taking it one day at a time. Ciao ciao- Aly-Oh!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Regents Week
For all of you not living in New York, you are lucky!!! Here in New York we have these state wide tests, normally taken in June, for almost every subject in every grade. The last week of the second quarter, this week, we go to school on Monday, then Tuesday through Friday are mid-terms, regents and other tests. Yesterday I had math in the morning, then at 11 I went in for part I of the English 11 regents. It was three hours long!!!!! In that time we had to listen to this passage about park systems, and answer 6 multiple choice questions then write an essay! About Park Systems!!! Who really cares! The second part was a reading about organic foods followed by 10 multiple choice questions and you guessed it! An essay on organic foods and the job opportunities it has created. This whole thing is ridiculous, but at least in June I won't have to take it. Due to my exciting exchange next year, I need to take the regents in January, so just in case I fail it then, I can take it again in June, but I won't fail, so by the end of the year when the rest of my class is reviewing i won't be to bothered or stress, just really bored. Today I am going in again at 11 for part II of the regents, again three hours to write two more essays!!! I can't wait!
I have not heard anything from ASSE about my application. I do know it was sent to Italy a little over two weeks ago, but I really want to here if I am accepted and they are looking for a host family for me! I am really excited and wish these days would go by a little faster, but having school then rehearsal for Bye Bye Birdie till 5 then homework, my days just seem to go on for ever! Luckily this week there was little school, a few tests, and rehearsals seem to be going faster then normal. Another exciting thing is that when I go back to school on Monday, it will be the Third Quarter!!!!! Although this quarter seems to be the longest, it still is 10 weeks, makes the half way point of my finial high school year (at least at Ketcham/America) then starting in September is school Monday through Saturday!! I can't wait :/ I am excited to go, but school on Saturday sucks, and I will get over it real quick. I know it.
I added a picture of this canal in Bologna. I did not take it, but a wonderful person on flickr did. Wait about 189ish days and I'll start up loading my first pictures from Italy and I'll post the links. Remember I do have a Flickr account (I don't have any pictures on there now, so don't look, but once I start loading them on I'll let you know :P)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Rehearsal!!
Today we had seven hours of rehearsal for Bye Bye Birdie! End of post!
I'm just kidding, but really we did have seven hours of rehearsal, which needs little explanation. We started at 9am and got out at 4pm! It was a long day and seemed to go on forever!! Today we even had a fire drill!!! on a Saturday how does this happen lol. Well it was a good break and it was really nice and once we got back in it was time to eat lunch!!! although the day was really long and it has only been one week of rehearsal and we have eight weeks left (OMFG!!!) we have gotten a lot done. I am really excited to do this show, but the songs will get really annoying really quick like week two. We also got our packets for writing who's who and all this other stuff and its my last play which makes me a little sad, but yet I'm so excited!!! 200 days :)!!! Hopefully in a month I will get an email telling me I'm accepted into ASSE Italy and they are looking for my host family! Tomorrow we are hopefully going to the Palisades mall and go shopping!!!! and Monday to respect MLK I'm going to do hw!!! yeah!!! i can't wait!
I'm just kidding, but really we did have seven hours of rehearsal, which needs little explanation. We started at 9am and got out at 4pm! It was a long day and seemed to go on forever!! Today we even had a fire drill!!! on a Saturday how does this happen lol. Well it was a good break and it was really nice and once we got back in it was time to eat lunch!!! although the day was really long and it has only been one week of rehearsal and we have eight weeks left (OMFG!!!) we have gotten a lot done. I am really excited to do this show, but the songs will get really annoying really quick like week two. We also got our packets for writing who's who and all this other stuff and its my last play which makes me a little sad, but yet I'm so excited!!! 200 days :)!!! Hopefully in a month I will get an email telling me I'm accepted into ASSE Italy and they are looking for my host family! Tomorrow we are hopefully going to the Palisades mall and go shopping!!!! and Monday to respect MLK I'm going to do hw!!! yeah!!! i can't wait!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Hey school update :)
I still am trying out my other blog, but I'm not sure if I'm going to us it because my mom could not view it at work (she works for the school) because of "adult content" which is really weird!!! Anyways, I added a count down clock till September, my departure month and it says I have 229 days, which doesn't match up to my numbers :( but i guess we will find out in a few months. I have already made over another $100 in candy money and have been handing out newsletter subscription sheets and many of my friends are very excited. I also started making a list of items I need to remember, some things i know i won't forget like jeans, socks lol, but some other things like lint roller, germ-x (they don't have these things in Europe I hear) and another list for host family gift ideas, list of people i need to send post cards to. I mailed in my health form to ASSE, they got it, but my parents forgot to sign the agreement part, but Hanna faxed it over and my mom is going to fax it back over tomorrow after work. Once all this paperwork over here is done and completed, maybe now they can send it to Italy!
Rehearsals have started and it is so weird being stage manager, having no one to ask questions to and be in charge, its me!! I'm watching closely and trying to block the dance numbers and blocking dancing is way harder then the stuff in the fall drama where people cross here, sit, stand up, exit, enter, but with Bye Bye Birdie there are spins and jumps, kick ball change and all this other stuff Mr. Peter (choreographer lol) has them doing. My script has a whole bunch of initials and circles, arrows, numbers, drawings, and mythical symbols. Ill have to scan a page into the computer and show you its quite a sight to see. I think I'm doing okay so far, but as time goes on ill get better. rehearsals are Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturdays, this Saturday is 9am to 4pm which is really long, but the last day with Mr. Peter. Tuesday/Wednesday I have Italian Honor Society, and I am in the process of filling out paperwork for Nation Honor Society!!! yay!!!! I need to finish that paper work this weekend and read Macbeth and write my own abridged version of Act IV, so as you can tell I don't have a lot of time to think about Italy, but i still do in my spare daydreaming time which is dwindling and dwindling lol
My next post will hopefully bring good news in some sort of form, maybe from Italy! but that might be in a post next month.
Rehearsals have started and it is so weird being stage manager, having no one to ask questions to and be in charge, its me!! I'm watching closely and trying to block the dance numbers and blocking dancing is way harder then the stuff in the fall drama where people cross here, sit, stand up, exit, enter, but with Bye Bye Birdie there are spins and jumps, kick ball change and all this other stuff Mr. Peter (choreographer lol) has them doing. My script has a whole bunch of initials and circles, arrows, numbers, drawings, and mythical symbols. Ill have to scan a page into the computer and show you its quite a sight to see. I think I'm doing okay so far, but as time goes on ill get better. rehearsals are Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturdays, this Saturday is 9am to 4pm which is really long, but the last day with Mr. Peter. Tuesday/Wednesday I have Italian Honor Society, and I am in the process of filling out paperwork for Nation Honor Society!!! yay!!!! I need to finish that paper work this weekend and read Macbeth and write my own abridged version of Act IV, so as you can tell I don't have a lot of time to think about Italy, but i still do in my spare daydreaming time which is dwindling and dwindling lol
My next post will hopefully bring good news in some sort of form, maybe from Italy! but that might be in a post next month.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Another blog
I was messing around on the web, creating my flickr account for Italy photos (207 days) and I came across another bloging website. This one might be a little easier to you when I try to upload my picutres and videos from Italy, but I don't know if I'm going to be using it for sure. I'm going to do a few test runs by posting and uploading photos, but I wont know for sure which one I will be using till I get there and start up loading photos and everything. I posted some new things on my other blog so read them there and post on either telling me which one you like better. Thank you :)
www.alyoliva.vox.com
www.alyoliva.vox.com
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Real Life
The first week back from break is almost done and this weekend is going to be way to short!! Monday I went to the doctors to drop off the new paperwork and today I picked them up after masque and mime. Today was call backs and congrats for everyone who auditioned, you all did a great job. I can not wait for rehearsals although I might say how much time they take up. Masque and Mime is a major part of my life, almost all of my life. And anyone in Masque and Mime knows this! Over break I became really bored by the end and started reading people's blogs who have gone to Italy or are there now with AFS. I know I'm going with ASSE, but they do not have the same style as AFS. On the ASSE facebook page I posted that I was going to Italy and if anyone there now would message me back because I had some questions. I have been in contact with this one kid who is staying in southern Italy, and a kid in Spain. But by reading these blogs my re-excitement for Italy came back and the countdown began (as you may have read in my earlier blog lol). Today, 209 days till September, when I would be leaving. Hopefully I will find out if I am accepted either this month or next. I would love to find out about my host family maybe March/April, and in April scholarships are awarded and staying positive, I will receive one. Tomorrow I am mailing my papers back to ASSE so they can hopefully send them to Italy!!!!!
I hope this post was not to all over for you all, I am just having a hard time keeping focused and my thoughts are all over the place.
The other day I typed up a little letter to print and hand to my friends. It is an informal letter asking for donations to my trip and subscriptions to my newsletter. Hopefully I will earn some more money through that as well. Candy sales are going great, in fact, today I sold 37 candy bars. Two days ago I went to the back and deposited the candy money I earned over the last two months and the bills totaled $333 including some from my old iPod and Christmas (both totalling $80, so almost all was candy $) and then over $40 in coins!!!! I got to use the little coin star machine they have at my bank and it was really fun lol.
I hope this post was not to all over for you all, I am just having a hard time keeping focused and my thoughts are all over the place.
The other day I typed up a little letter to print and hand to my friends. It is an informal letter asking for donations to my trip and subscriptions to my newsletter. Hopefully I will earn some more money through that as well. Candy sales are going great, in fact, today I sold 37 candy bars. Two days ago I went to the back and deposited the candy money I earned over the last two months and the bills totaled $333 including some from my old iPod and Christmas (both totalling $80, so almost all was candy $) and then over $40 in coins!!!! I got to use the little coin star machine they have at my bank and it was really fun lol.
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