Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas Eve.
IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE! I am so excited! I woke up at 7:00 I was so excited, and it isn't even Christmas Day. I didn't do a ton today, but it was still a really good day for me. We made some of the food for tomorrow, I finished my cards and wrapping last minute gifts, and other things too! We are a lovely lunch all together (including la nonna). Then after we all hung out and watch the soccer game! I listened to a TON of Christmas music also. I am just totally in the Christmas spirit. I love it. I am trying to make the best out of it because I am really missing my family and friends right now during the holidays. So far everything has been fantastic. I have enjoyed every second of the holidays here, and I cannot wait for tomorrow! I also skype with my family and then my aunt, uncle, and cousins! It was awesome. I am really happy I got to talk to them, and they really cheered me up a lot. They always make me laugh! Then at around 5:00 pm I hung out with my friend Caterina and it was fun! We went to a bar and got some appetizers and this delicious mandarine smoothie. It was so delicious. We then went around and said "Merry Christmas" to some of her friends and relatives. It was fun because I got to meet some new people! They were all so nice to me! At around 7:00 pm I returned home, and then at around 9:00 pm we walked across the hall to nonna's home to have Christmas Eve dinner! It was so yummy. We ate these yummy fried breads with meat and cheese (I don't recall the name of them) and then fried fish! SO GOOD. We then ate typical Christmas desserts like panettone, torrone, nuts. dates. raisins, chocolate (lindt), and breads! I was STUFFED. Then we opened some presents! The way they do it here is they open some presents on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day. It is like two days of presents! I opened a journal for my italian recipes, an italian purse, and this wrap around scarf I have wanted for forever! I was so happy. Then I gave them the card I wrote the them in italian, and they loved it. They also said I wrote really well which made me feel pretty boss about my life haha. After that I skyped my sister for about an hour. I cannot tell you how much this girl cracks me up, I miss her so much. I don't know what I would do without her in my life. LOVE YOU JULIE. Then I talked to my dad and mom, which was amazing. I love and appreciate my family so much. It makes you realize it even more (by like 123837058575 times) when you are away from them for such a long time and especially during the holidays. I love them so much. I hope their holidays are amazing too (: I am so happy here in Italy, and I thought I should let you all know that so you wouldn't have to worry about how I am doing (: TUTTO BENE (everything's okay)! Now I am going to sleep, and when I wake up it will be Christmas Day! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Monday, December 24, 2012
December.
WOW GUYS. This month has been so busy for me, I didn't write anything for almost the whole month. I am just going to say everything that I did, it probably won't be in order, but I do not remember so well now!
So today is Christmas Eve, and right now my host parents aren't home so I have some time to write! Here goes nothing!
The first weekend of December there were a lot of dinners and luncheons that I went to with Fabiola and Francesco. They were so much fun too! We went to Zio Pippi's home for lunch on a Sunday, and it was delicious. We did fondue dipping! Then that night for dinner we went to their friend's home for a birthday party! We made a toast with champagne (which was really good) and we ate a ton of appetizers and desserts! I was STUFFED. I couldn't stand up completely straight without my stomach hurting... yeah. I slept really well that night!
In the beginning of December I went to Cerreto (ski resort) with my second host family! Fabiola and Francesco went to Budapest, so I got to stay with them for the weekend! It was so much fun. Apparently all three of my host families have a home up in the mountains, so I will get to go there a lot! I didn't ski this time because it was really icey, but I still want to try! I have never done it before so they told me the next time I can do it! The houses are so cute and small, I loved it. It really felt like the Christmas season to me. We drank cappuccinos and hot chocolate and ate sweets, it was delicious! We also ate pizza from their favorite pizza place there. Everyone knows everyone and I think that is so cool! Everywhere we walked (because it is really small and quaint) they introduced me to someone! I also went inside the house of Daniel's boyfriend and it is gorgeous. It truly looks like an italian home. They said that's what the mountain homes normally look like, and I might get to see more if we go to the Alps (I hope we go haha). I also taught them how to play the card game "rumy" and they LOVED it! They said they want to play it again! It was funny because my host dad didn't understand AT ALL, yet he won every single time we played (I think he was bluffing haha). That night for dinner we stayed in the home, and it was lovely. We ate polenta and sausage. I love polenta so much! We also watched Balto and Happy Feet, so it was a really good weekend for getting me in the Christmas mood! There were lights everywhere! I cannot wait to go back!
The third weekend in December Mie and I were planning on going to Genova for a day to see our friend Jamie and do Christmas things! At the end of the day we decided we probably were not meant to go to Genova, and here is why:
-Our train to Genova was an hour late, so we told Jamie (our friend) but she didn't respond. We just hoped she saw it!
-Once we got to Genova we could not get a hold of Jamie and we couldn't find her at the station! So we just decided to go walk to a restaurant and eat until we heard from her.
-Two hours pasted, nothing from Jamie. We went shopping haha.
-At around 5 we noticed that BOTH of our phones died. This might have been why we didn't hear from her for an hour or so (they were still charged until about 3:30 or so). Then we worried that she was trying to get a hold of us, and that we couldn't respond! Also we didn't write her number down so we couldn't call her on the payphone to tell her our situation.
-We really needed to get a hold of our host parents to tell them our phones were dead so that they would not worry about us, so we tried many tactics. Tactic number 1: We went to a gelato shop and I bought some gelato thinking "oh, if I buy something maybe they will let me use their telephone" and this was so not true. I asked nicely and told them we were exchange students and that we don't live in Genova. They didn't care. They just said "sorry that's a shame, but you can't use it" UGH. Not cool. Tactic number 2: We went to a convenient shop and bought me a 10 euro phone card that I could use because I didn't have any more money on my phone (it turned out my phone was almost dead, but I needed to pay for the next month to use it). We tried 4 times to get the card to work, it didn't, and then my phone died. Luckily we memorized Fabiola's number right before it died (we didn't have pen or paper, obviously with our luck). We went to a payphone then and decided to call her. THE STUPID PAYPHONE WOULDN'T WORK. We were getting really frustrated at this point haha. Tactic number 3: I remembered that I brought my iPad, so if we went to a coffee shop with free wifi I could use it! This worked! We wrote 5 people, none of them answered. Then I decided to try Andrea (host brother) and he answered! PRAISE THE LORD! He told Fabiola, so everything was fine on my end. Mie still needed to get a hold of someone in her family though. The last possible thing we could think to do was to go to a TIM store (like Verizon or Sprint) and asked them if we could use a phone charger just for 5 minutes. They gladly said yes! We were so grateful and happy! She told her host parents and everything was okay. This took up the last 2 hours of our time and we never met up with our friend. We headed back to the train station and waited, only to wait and wait and wait because our train back was an hour late. Yupp. Then the train itself changed so we would have to be super attentive on the way home for our stop. We were thinking "okay so it's been like 50 minutes we should almost be there" and we looked out the window in the dark hoping to see a sign that said "La Spezia," then once we did we jumped up and ran to the door as to not miss our stop! We were so happy to make it back alive. Oh, but our interesting day wasn't quite over... the door to let us off was stuck. We were freaking out at this point thinking that we would have to wait until the next stop, and who knew when that was! There was another guy with us trying to get off so he ran to the other side of the train car and we followed. We BARELY made it out the door. When I hit the ground I was literally the happiest person alive. THANK YOU JESUS FOR BRINGING US BACK HOME! At that point we just started cracking up from everything that had happened. Then we ate pizza, so it was all good.
The 16th of December I went to Florence! IT IS BEAUTIFUL. I love it, I want to go again so badly (which I am with Mie!). We went with Zio Pippi and his wife, and we walked around Florence seeing all the sights. It was so beautiful with all of the Christmas lights and decorations! Also music was playing everywhere. It was amazing. We also got a cappuccino at one of the cafe's that is known throughout the world, and of course I don't remember the name of it. It began with a "P" and that is all I remember! We also met up with Zio Pippi's brother because he lives there! We ate well, and I saw Florence for the first (and hopefully not the last) time!
This past weekend was so much fun. On Saturday we went to school because it was the Christmas party! We ate food, took pictures, danced, sang songs in the hallways, and said Merry Christmas to lots of classrooms! We were just party hopping! It was such a joyful day at school, and also my favorite day so far at school (haha because we did nothing). Then after we stayed for a little bit at the Christmas party for the people who had just recently graduated. Our italian tutor asked us to come, so we did! Then we went back to my house and ate lunch (lasagna, mmm) and then got all my things ready to go to her home. Then her family came to visit her (her family family, in Denmark!)! It was so awesome to meet her parents and brother! They are here until the 2nd of January, so I will get to see them again! We all ate dinner together (pizza and farinata) at her host family's home, and then got ready for the night. We were going to go to Seven Apples for the first time (discoteca)! We were so excited because we had heard it was a lot of fun. We rode on a bus there (because it is 40 minutes away more or less) and they played music the whole time which was cool! I thought it was funny because they said "NO SMOKING" and then about ten minutes later we all started to smell smoke. Haha, typical. When I say almost everyone smokes, I mean almost EVERYONE. I only know a handful of people that don't! Once we got there we told them our names (you have to prenote to say that you are coming) and then went to check our bags and coats. THEN IT WAS TIME TO DANCE! It was so much fun. It was also a really nice establishment. I enjoyed myself very much! Also a lot of people from my school were there! We got home at 5:00 am and I was exhausted. I am pretty sure I was sleep walking from the car to my house. I crashed. Then I woke up at 3:00 pm! Yesterday was a sleepy day for me!
Now it is Christmas Eve! TIME TO CELEBRATE! I am so excited for these next few days! I wish you all Merry Christmas!
Oh and most importantly, we all survived the Mayan Apocalypse. DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING!
So today is Christmas Eve, and right now my host parents aren't home so I have some time to write! Here goes nothing!
The first weekend of December there were a lot of dinners and luncheons that I went to with Fabiola and Francesco. They were so much fun too! We went to Zio Pippi's home for lunch on a Sunday, and it was delicious. We did fondue dipping! Then that night for dinner we went to their friend's home for a birthday party! We made a toast with champagne (which was really good) and we ate a ton of appetizers and desserts! I was STUFFED. I couldn't stand up completely straight without my stomach hurting... yeah. I slept really well that night!
In the beginning of December I went to Cerreto (ski resort) with my second host family! Fabiola and Francesco went to Budapest, so I got to stay with them for the weekend! It was so much fun. Apparently all three of my host families have a home up in the mountains, so I will get to go there a lot! I didn't ski this time because it was really icey, but I still want to try! I have never done it before so they told me the next time I can do it! The houses are so cute and small, I loved it. It really felt like the Christmas season to me. We drank cappuccinos and hot chocolate and ate sweets, it was delicious! We also ate pizza from their favorite pizza place there. Everyone knows everyone and I think that is so cool! Everywhere we walked (because it is really small and quaint) they introduced me to someone! I also went inside the house of Daniel's boyfriend and it is gorgeous. It truly looks like an italian home. They said that's what the mountain homes normally look like, and I might get to see more if we go to the Alps (I hope we go haha). I also taught them how to play the card game "rumy" and they LOVED it! They said they want to play it again! It was funny because my host dad didn't understand AT ALL, yet he won every single time we played (I think he was bluffing haha). That night for dinner we stayed in the home, and it was lovely. We ate polenta and sausage. I love polenta so much! We also watched Balto and Happy Feet, so it was a really good weekend for getting me in the Christmas mood! There were lights everywhere! I cannot wait to go back!
The third weekend in December Mie and I were planning on going to Genova for a day to see our friend Jamie and do Christmas things! At the end of the day we decided we probably were not meant to go to Genova, and here is why:
-Our train to Genova was an hour late, so we told Jamie (our friend) but she didn't respond. We just hoped she saw it!
-Once we got to Genova we could not get a hold of Jamie and we couldn't find her at the station! So we just decided to go walk to a restaurant and eat until we heard from her.
-Two hours pasted, nothing from Jamie. We went shopping haha.
-At around 5 we noticed that BOTH of our phones died. This might have been why we didn't hear from her for an hour or so (they were still charged until about 3:30 or so). Then we worried that she was trying to get a hold of us, and that we couldn't respond! Also we didn't write her number down so we couldn't call her on the payphone to tell her our situation.
-We really needed to get a hold of our host parents to tell them our phones were dead so that they would not worry about us, so we tried many tactics. Tactic number 1: We went to a gelato shop and I bought some gelato thinking "oh, if I buy something maybe they will let me use their telephone" and this was so not true. I asked nicely and told them we were exchange students and that we don't live in Genova. They didn't care. They just said "sorry that's a shame, but you can't use it" UGH. Not cool. Tactic number 2: We went to a convenient shop and bought me a 10 euro phone card that I could use because I didn't have any more money on my phone (it turned out my phone was almost dead, but I needed to pay for the next month to use it). We tried 4 times to get the card to work, it didn't, and then my phone died. Luckily we memorized Fabiola's number right before it died (we didn't have pen or paper, obviously with our luck). We went to a payphone then and decided to call her. THE STUPID PAYPHONE WOULDN'T WORK. We were getting really frustrated at this point haha. Tactic number 3: I remembered that I brought my iPad, so if we went to a coffee shop with free wifi I could use it! This worked! We wrote 5 people, none of them answered. Then I decided to try Andrea (host brother) and he answered! PRAISE THE LORD! He told Fabiola, so everything was fine on my end. Mie still needed to get a hold of someone in her family though. The last possible thing we could think to do was to go to a TIM store (like Verizon or Sprint) and asked them if we could use a phone charger just for 5 minutes. They gladly said yes! We were so grateful and happy! She told her host parents and everything was okay. This took up the last 2 hours of our time and we never met up with our friend. We headed back to the train station and waited, only to wait and wait and wait because our train back was an hour late. Yupp. Then the train itself changed so we would have to be super attentive on the way home for our stop. We were thinking "okay so it's been like 50 minutes we should almost be there" and we looked out the window in the dark hoping to see a sign that said "La Spezia," then once we did we jumped up and ran to the door as to not miss our stop! We were so happy to make it back alive. Oh, but our interesting day wasn't quite over... the door to let us off was stuck. We were freaking out at this point thinking that we would have to wait until the next stop, and who knew when that was! There was another guy with us trying to get off so he ran to the other side of the train car and we followed. We BARELY made it out the door. When I hit the ground I was literally the happiest person alive. THANK YOU JESUS FOR BRINGING US BACK HOME! At that point we just started cracking up from everything that had happened. Then we ate pizza, so it was all good.
The 16th of December I went to Florence! IT IS BEAUTIFUL. I love it, I want to go again so badly (which I am with Mie!). We went with Zio Pippi and his wife, and we walked around Florence seeing all the sights. It was so beautiful with all of the Christmas lights and decorations! Also music was playing everywhere. It was amazing. We also got a cappuccino at one of the cafe's that is known throughout the world, and of course I don't remember the name of it. It began with a "P" and that is all I remember! We also met up with Zio Pippi's brother because he lives there! We ate well, and I saw Florence for the first (and hopefully not the last) time!
This past weekend was so much fun. On Saturday we went to school because it was the Christmas party! We ate food, took pictures, danced, sang songs in the hallways, and said Merry Christmas to lots of classrooms! We were just party hopping! It was such a joyful day at school, and also my favorite day so far at school (haha because we did nothing). Then after we stayed for a little bit at the Christmas party for the people who had just recently graduated. Our italian tutor asked us to come, so we did! Then we went back to my house and ate lunch (lasagna, mmm) and then got all my things ready to go to her home. Then her family came to visit her (her family family, in Denmark!)! It was so awesome to meet her parents and brother! They are here until the 2nd of January, so I will get to see them again! We all ate dinner together (pizza and farinata) at her host family's home, and then got ready for the night. We were going to go to Seven Apples for the first time (discoteca)! We were so excited because we had heard it was a lot of fun. We rode on a bus there (because it is 40 minutes away more or less) and they played music the whole time which was cool! I thought it was funny because they said "NO SMOKING" and then about ten minutes later we all started to smell smoke. Haha, typical. When I say almost everyone smokes, I mean almost EVERYONE. I only know a handful of people that don't! Once we got there we told them our names (you have to prenote to say that you are coming) and then went to check our bags and coats. THEN IT WAS TIME TO DANCE! It was so much fun. It was also a really nice establishment. I enjoyed myself very much! Also a lot of people from my school were there! We got home at 5:00 am and I was exhausted. I am pretty sure I was sleep walking from the car to my house. I crashed. Then I woke up at 3:00 pm! Yesterday was a sleepy day for me!
Now it is Christmas Eve! TIME TO CELEBRATE! I am so excited for these next few days! I wish you all Merry Christmas!
Oh and most importantly, we all survived the Mayan Apocalypse. DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING!
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