Venice, Christmas, and other hoopla

Aaaaw yeah mission accomplished! Took three months to get to it but I did!

I went to Venice.

It was cool! <3 And beautiful. :D

These wonderful friends took me.

Upon arrival there were also some people who were giving out free hugs. I ran up to them yelling "I want free hugs!" And I got a nice picture too. Haha Apparently it's not normal for people to get free hugs in Venice.

We walked around a lot and there were many crazy pigeons. They flew lower than normal, or they would land on you and demand your remaining food. :O Demons!

It took us a while to navigate the weird alleys to find Piazza San Marco but it was worth it!

We went into the St. Mark's Basilica  where you weren't supposed to take pictures and talk but people still did anyways.

There were so many gondolas and stores of masks!

After more walking  we went into a nice restuarant where I wasn't expecting them to be playing the most ghetto playlist you would only here in an American club. It was hilarious to me. They were literally blasting anything from Waka Flocka Flame to Soulja Boy in an elegant restuarant. Wut...? The waitresses seemed to be enjoying themselves because they were singing along with the words.

You do a lot of walking in Venice...

It was an interesting day. :)
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Cute Christmas yesterday! I received a nice bubble like coat from my parents. :)

I had to wake up at 7AM because my little sister barged in my room screaming," ZAKIYYA, SANTA DROPPED OFF OUR PRESENTS!!!"

I haven't been around children who believe in Santa for so long... my sisters in the US are all older than me so we just don't have that jolly ole' spirit anymore. Marta made me write a letter too because she didn't want Santa to forget I was apart of the family. How cute!

I asked for some cool stuff like a rocket and a bicycle for flying! Then she told me Santa wouldn't be delivering my presents if I had a ridiculous list like that. D: I was dissed by a child. lol

Then my father's brother and sister came over with their kids and we had a good ole' time. Mainly my siblings though... the cousins were more so around their age (7-10 years old) so I wasn't really that interested. But they had a puppy that arrived for them Christmas morning!

Haha cute thing, snapped at everyone's fingers.

Ofcourse there was also delicious food! This dish is only known in a certain northern  part of Italy. It's only eaten once a year because it's very heavy on people with frail stomachs. The cup like shap with a candle is heating a mixture of oils and some anchovies. You dip the vegetables in when the mixture is warm and it tastes good. :D

We even Skyped my host sister in Costa Rica. She was feeling a bit homesick so she watched as the family opened presents together.

The AFS Christmas party was last Sunday and I gave all my friends cute gifts. Alice in Wonderland themed cards I drew (I love Alice in Wonderland a lot!) which said what I thought was special about them. I really am going to miss them when this experience is over but I shouldn't think about that at the moment! Plus little Christmas anime themed hangers I drew for them.

The cards :)

One of the Christmas hangers.

A few minutes before the party, one of our coordinators came up to us foreign exchangers and said we had to do a presentation of our country's Christmas celebration for 5 minutes. ugh. Our Italian is still lame, so it was everyone looking at us like "Aaaaw how cute, they're trying to explain things to us in poor Italian." =|

I also gave my teachers special cards written to them. They seemed so surprise and happy, but I guess none of the students ever give them anything for the Holidays...
My class had Secret Santa going on for a month and they gave me an adorable coffee mug plastered with hearts. They are so awesome. :D

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Finally on break from school. Two weeks to be a bum never felt so great.

It was nice until I caught The Italian Epidemic. Also known as the common cold. At least 5 times worse though. Hacking, coughing, and other info that is unneeded but you can use your imagination.

Why couldn't I have caught the cold when school was still in so I could miss it? Only the day when school closes do I become sick. Lame timing.

I was always so careful. :( I carried hand sanitizer where ever I went! Unfortunately, I drunk some coffee after my friend Alyce who was already sick for days. Fail! The next I was pretty much dead. Quarantined in my room sleeping.

It was only a matter of time before I caught it I guess. Italians have a tendency to sneeze in their hands and then touch everything around them as if nothing happened.

Now to a normal person, they're probably like "Ok, wow, germs, big deal."

NO. To me, I. can't. stand. germs. They are terrible! And it's probably one of the reasons why I'm a neat freak now.

So you can only imagine how much of a nightmare Italy is to me on this subject. The buses, the freaking bathrooms that are squaty potties, and of course when people sneeze in their hands.

I've really tried to ignore these things to adapt but my goodness, come on.

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My computer hates everyone else's blogs now. It won't let me comment or even see them anymore. =|

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McDonald's in Treviso is the biggest rip off ever! For 4 Chicken Nuggets and a Medium Sprite you pay 4.10 Euros. In US Dollars ofcourse it's more.  Without fries, too. That's just wrong. D:

I guess it's Italy's way of keeping everyone from getting fat. xD

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I keep having dreams about zombie apocalypses getting sent back to the US. Not because I've done something wrong in the dreams to get me sent back, it's because my tutors say my trip has ended early for no reason. I don't care if it's three months early or two days I don't want to go back to the US yet! I'm having a good time and so many people worked hard for me to be here. The dreams are so real though! I wake up in a panic and when I see I'm still in my Italian bedroom, then, I am happy. Phew.

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Last week I lost my bus card.

In Treviso, they pull surprise trips where coordinators get on the bus and check everyone for their tickets to make sure no one is cheating the system. Sometimes you think you get through the bus ride safe but then you're about to get off and they're there standing at the doors waiting for you, too.
(They're so strict about the tickets but they don't care enough to get their buses to stops on the exact time. Fair enough yes. =/)

Anyways, it just so happens the week I accidentally lose my bus ticket they crank up the security for the buses hard. ಠ_ಠ So instead of being able to sneak on the buses, I had to buy 2,50 Euro tickets each time I got on the bus until I found my card. My wallet is still crying.

So after waiting for a couple of days to find my ticket I lost hope and just bought a 10 Euro duplicate. But the same night someone found my old bus card on the ground after skating practice. What a waste of 10 Euros! I'll just think of it as a donation to the douche bus company.

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now i need to find something to do for new years'

Adventures away! zooooooom ciao <3

Sono ancora viva!

My brain is so fried from this week.

While my class was being hosted in Germany I stayed in good ole' Treviso going to my school's main building; answering the same repetitive questions in English for Italian students. Oh yeah!

It may sound easy, but after a while it gets old. Then there's the 120 students I can now add to my list of acquaintances that randomnly say hi to me on the streets. Seriously I think I know about half the city's students now.

Not a bad thing. I would love to hang out with them. If they weren't all studying haha! Italian teenagers work so unbelievably hard...

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Last week there was a four day weekend and my family decided to spend it in the mountains. At first I wasn't too happy about this decision since I'm not a very big fan of swerving mountain roads but it wasn't that bad this time.

We went to the region of South Tyrol I believe, an area of Italy that is bilingual; the inhabitants of this area spoke both German and Italian.

You can imagine how useful my three years of forgotten German and poor Italian were to me.

It was a relaxing adventure. There was a nice sauna and indoor heated pool at the hotel we stayed in so I was good to go.

And since my parents are very healthy and think children should be outside more than playing games indoors, we took a nice 4 hour walk around the mountains. I was actually really tired but I got some nice pictures!

After that I wanted to go to sleep but my parents made me study for a Physics oral test I had coming up. (By the way, I failed the exam horrificly. D:)

The town we stayed in was some sort of witchcraft like place where a lot of people believed in weird monsters, witches, and other odd things...

For instance, along the trail I would find distorted wooden benches like these:

people claimed to have been made by witches. They were kind of creepy...

Later on the last night of our trip, there was a festival of monsters! Apparently every year, the teenagers of the region dress up in hiddeous costumes, make cars to ride in, or weird objects and parade around a designated trail through the small town scaring everyone.

Now this wasn't your ordinary scare fest. The monsters at the theme parks in my city of Cincinnati don't grab you. They just scare you and get in your face some. No,  these monsters actually kidnap you into their parade and take you half way through the trail before releasing you somewhere in an unwanted destination.

Luckily I didn't get captured but some monsters tried to get me. I had to stay clear because some of them had fire and dangerous smoking weapons. A lot of the monsters wore gigantic cowbells around their waists so you could hear them and get out of the way before they caught you. But all the university students were so drunk on German beer I guess it didn't even matter.

I couldn't get any good pictures since the people dressed in the outfits moved around too much.

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There was a huge high school of musical students in the town. Students would come and play Christmas tunes in the middle of the Piazza.

My mom is teaching me how to cook! <3

I learned how to make coffee with this weird contraption. It's unbelievably easy and fast! I plan on taking one back in the United States for my family!

~~~

My parents went shopping in the town's market center. I also took some photos of this.

Nutella is everywhere!

There's a lot of cheese in the super markets! :O

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-sigh-

I think Italian traffic needs it's own special section everytime I make a new post.

I'm pretty much angry with Italian transportation and traffic at the moment. With their random strikes, crazy drivers, and no common sense crossing the street. (Goodness, since I've finally adopted the way Italians cross the street, I've forgotten how I would even do it back home in Cincinnati...)

Italy needs to get it priorities straight with these buses.

1. Because when there is a strike with the buses, there will be less of them, and they will be much more crowded than usual, or people won't have a ride home at all. Some students had to walk over an hour and half home two days ago when the last strike happened. Lucky for me, I rode my bike in 30 minutes. And it was raining. =|

AND

2. I am annoyed with terrible drivers! Seriously! My bus got into an accident yesterday morning because a lady pulled out in front of us and the bus driver, using his already wonderful NASCAR skills, had to suddenly brake. No if it weren't for good handrails I could've been seriously injured and not have walked the rest of the way to school. But I'm fine. Now as for some of the other people on the bus with me that's a bit different. Since many of the people that catch the bus are old and don't have a strong grip, they went flying to the front of the bus in a huge dog pile. It was terrible. Ambulances and firetrucks were called to the scene because I think some old ladies dislocated their hips, but other than that I believe everyone walked away fine.

Damn Italian traffic.

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AFS Christmas Party tonight, woo!

I'm actually really interested to celebrate Christmas in a different family this year. I'm curious how this is going to work.

Along with my mom and siblings we put up the Christmas tree at the beginning of the week! It's so cute!

I made my presents for my friends at home and mailed off the package! (It was hard to do so because the postage women didn't really want to help me out much when they found out I didn't speak very good Italian :O But in the end I managed with the help of good citizens.)

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Eeeh! I'm feel like I'm growing up a little bit too much. Having a little brother and sister has brought out and even more responsible side of me. Even though I'm still a bit lazy, I've stopped procrastinating more because I realized how important time is. And I'm taking care of other people on a daily basis than myself for once. I was never used to that...

It's a weird feeling but I'm sure during my AFS experience I will continue to grow and build even more character as the months go by.

Theater and Advice

Well I was going to make another complaining journal but that just really doesn't help anything. -sigh-

Anyways, this journal is going to be composed of tips for future exchange students to Italy (or you can apply them to your country). I've learned quite a lot being in Italy so far and hopefully some of you can, too.

1. Learn as much Italian as possible. I really regret not studying A LOT of Italian. I studied enough to say "I'm hungry." and other stock phrases, but time caught up with me so fast. Knowing more of the language upon arrival will greatly reduce stress and you'll make friends easier. Plus you'll be able to keep up with school better if you're that good.

2. Know geography of the world and your country's politics. Hate to say it: This rule pretty much applies to the American kids. Many people already have the stereotype of us not knowing anything about the world's geography and our own politics (or anything going on outside of the US). When you can actually tell someone where a country like Seychelles is or tell someone how your government works, people will swallow their words. Haha

 EDIT: Also become familiar with the metric system. Dang US doesn't use it, so when you try to tell someone how much a foot is they look  at you like you're stupid.
3. Come with no expectations. Many things probably won't go your way. You might not be allowed to go to clubs. You might not have internet. You might not get that big bedroom you wanted. Just be open and be prepared.

4. Learn about your host host country's weather. Yeah you don't want to show up with too many winter coats or little to no sweatshirts.

5. Come with gifts from your country. Seriously, people love receiving gifts from different countries. I would love it, too. Whether is be candy or cute little token souvenirs.

6. Watch your weight. I haven't had this problem but it is known that exchange students usually gain weight while abroad. For some reason the opposite has been happening to me... I guess the Italian food is so healthy.

7. Rest well. The exchange trip is pretty stressful itself, you're going to need to take care of yourself so sleep well.

That's all for now.

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I went to a Theather Festival in another city close to mine, I believe Montebelluna. Basically there were many performers, puppet shows, and vendors in the streets. Kids had face painted masks and there were real Italian renaissance masks! So awesome (but I bet the upcoming festival in Venice will be even better!) It was so fun!

My favorite part of this was the traveling circus family of five. They were all acrobats! The Mom and Dad being the lead acrobats performing along with their young daughter and two sons. Also with their friendly pet wolf (who had one white eye and one gold eye. :O)

That was the coolest family ever. How many kids can say, "Yeah I grew up traveling around Italy with my circus family entertaining crowds along with my pet wolf." Oh yeah!

Too bad I forgot my camera at home. FAIL.

Houston, we have a problem...

Scratch that, we need a plural.

School is crazy.

In previous posts, I'm sure you remember me grumbling about how boring school is. So let's continue with our subject of school, along with the difficulty of learning. :)

I get credit for this school year only if I receive good reviews from atleast four teachers' classes. I hope I'm not in danger of repeating my school year in the US. I prefer not to because I want to graduate with my friends at home.

Right before camp, one month ago, I got a talk from my parents after my school tutor called them. My school tutor told them my teachers weren't very happy about my efforts in class. They wouldn't be able to give me good marks if I didn't start improving right away. Final marks for the first half of the year would be due around the end November. If I didn't improve I could be in serious trouble.

Serious trouble with AFS.

Before I even started school, I signed a contract (the only AFS student to do so?!) with one of the agreements saying I would work hard in class. If I don't live up to that contract I could give AFS a bad name and I would be in danger of returning home to the US. Ok, seemed reasonable.

I was working, (Sometimes giving in to the heaviness of my eyelids because that's what happens to me when I don't understand anything, I sleep.) just not on what they wanted me to. Before I was studying Italian while the lessons went on, so later I would be able to pick up words and understand what was happening.

WRONG.

Apparently, AFS wanted me to pay attention in class even though I had no clue what was going on AT ALL. To me this was just unbelievably counter productive. I could be learning Italian at the same time, or just doing something worth my time than just sitting!

I decided to try out what the were saying and follow along. I began attempting homework (very very poorly) but I did it. Even tests. But not the interrogazione (oral tests). Those were way too difficult for me. I do have an interrogation coming up in Physics pretty soon. Oh snikes. O_O;;

Then my family told me, since I'm keeping up with class I need to study.

Bye bye free time. I was still okay with this though, because if I studied I would get reasonable marks allowing me to pass this year. Great, right?

Then my tutor and parents told me, I need to learn more Italian and hang out with more Italian friends. Ok I thought I'd tried that, too. Even when this made my schedule look like it was about to explode. I just hope they knew there was no more family time cause I also had extra activites in the evening.

And besides, I already knew enough people in school.  So many people come up to me on daily basis and ask how I'm doing. I don't remember anyone's names! :( I just learned my main classe's names two weeks ago, and I still call some of them by the wrong name. Then some people have the nerve to get mad at me if I don't remember who they are. Sorry, I'm kind of busy. =/

Past that, how hard would it be to get a few people to hang out with me? :)

Heh, harder than I thought.

It's difficult to hang out with Italian teenagers because they are all so busy... busy studying. I feel so bad for them. They study all weekday nights (nights where I'm not too busy) then they hang out on the weekends (weekends where I'm with the AFS committee). It's a vicious cycle!

I'm not the only AFSer having this problem! Why can't teenagers ease up little bit? The only time I really have with them is when I schedule a hangout plan two weeks ahead. (Even then it's still a bit iffy because their schedules are so full) or when I schedule study parties. STUDY. PARTIES. =|

Can't we just be normal teens and hang out in the town, go shopping, or see a movie? No? Okay.

So I resort to hanging out with the Intercultura AFSers most of the time. Which my local chapter despises because we speak English and very little Italian to each other. I try on many occasions to speak in Italian with them, but we all misunderstand each other terribly. xD And it's the same way in school. People misunderstand me with the most simplest of sentences... then there's the charades.

Ah, but yes, I'm not the only one feeling the heat for school now. The other AFSers received the talk last week, I was just the first one to get it for some reason. Whether my friends will take control of what they do at school, I don't know. Hopefully they will.

I just hope we don't fail.

Here's how my classes are going.

Educazione Fisica (Physical Education)

A class I need credit for in the States. I'm doing well. I can tell I will definitely receive a good mark in this class! You don't need much Italian to move.

Chimica (Chemistry)

I already did Chemistry last year so it's sort of easy. Would be easier if the teacher wasn't shouting at us the whole time.

Matematica (Mathematics)

All I have to rely on is the numbers. The italian written on the board has yet to make sense... I can only do homework with the help of students...

Storia Dell'Arte (History of Art)

I don't have to follow along with the arguments they have about certain art pieces. Phew. But the teacher chooses out a picture for me in the book, tells me to draw it and attempt to write about it in Italian. Good compromise.

Inglese (English)

I don't have to follow along in this class either. It's more like a study hall. I do help others pratice their English. I can't promise my American English will get them As since the British teachers correct them on every little grammatical error they make.

Tedesco (German)

The German I learned for three years wouldn't be able to help even if I remembered it. The kids in my class have been studying for over five years!  This class is particularly hard. I have to learn German I forgot over the summer, translate it into Italian I don't know, then find the meaning in English I'm also forgetting. Fail.

Fisica (Physics)

Quite easy. Very similar to Chemistry. I go to a fourth year class for this. (I'm originally in the third year; equivalent to the tenth grade in the US.) I'm just glad I'm not the only one confused in this class when there are difficult problems.

Storia (History)

I'm so used to American History. Learning about the Renaissance, Black Plague, and Midieval periods  was only a section of my eigth grade history book. Italy's history is much much longer than the US and the text books are so... boring. I was used to cool pictures, comprehension questions and cool highlighted words explaining subjects. The teacher is the only one keeping me from my usual battle of sleep. He's hilarious, (well I don't understand him much, but he's very animated). A usual lesson: He walks into class, tells jokes for the first 20 minutes, reads the lesson while telling jokes and laughing at people, and then the bell rings and he's like "Oh, wow, where did all that time go?!"

Italiano (Italian)

Right now, the class is reading something equivalent to Shakespeare to students in America, but about Dante's Inferno, so they understand nothing. Neither do I. Absolutely anything. The teacher for this class is a bit odd. He talks about how much he hates Germans and his pet cats a lot.... aaaawkwaaard.

Filosofia (Philosophy)

I would really enjoy this class if it was in English! They actually talk about stuff I want to hear and questions that make you really think about life. So I just study at home from the english book my parents bought for my birthday.

Religione (Religion)

This class is so calm. The only exception of a class I learn only one hour a week. Right now we're learning how to read Hebrew.

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Each of those classes are different days of the week, at least two or three times a week.

I think I may come back deaf after this school year is done. The kids shout at the teachers and the teachers shout back, but they don't seem to be angry... must be normal. Then when everyone becomes too loud, people make that high pitched hissing "SSSSSHHHH" sound which doesn't make anything better.

Well wish me luck with school and AFS. xP I need to figure some things out.

The Art of Giving

Yesterday was my birthday. I am now seventeen! :)

I never really expect much on my birthday except to just be happy about being a year older and people saying "Happy Birthday!". But I guess in Italy, birthdays really really matter. O_O;; A lot happened yesterday...

It all started when I went to school. Usually, I expected another boring day of trying to learn something I barely understand. Oho, I was wrong.

So when it is your birthday, you receive a nice "Tanti Auguri!" ("Many Wishes!/ Happy Birthday!") and get two kisses on the cheek. I received and gave more more kisses in one morning than I have in my seventeen years of life. *forever alone*

Then after the first hour of class, my Italian teacher left the room and was like "Have fun!" and I kept thinking, "What do you mean have fun? We're just having a quick three minute break before the next lesson! Nothing's going to happen! And we're supposed to have another lesson of Italian, why are you leaving?!"

Then my friend Silvia took me with her to go do some homework photocopies which took like 8 minutes. Then we walked back into class, tables re-arranged, classroom decorated, food and drinks everywhere, and a huge sing along of Italy's version of  "Happy Birthday".

Then everyone cleared the view of the teacher's desk and there were presents the class arranged for me.

I swear if I cry everytime I'm happy, I might just cause another flood in the town of Silea.[Yeah, heavy rain here causes the rivers to flood in the streets, not all that fun. Anyways, moving on.] I didn't cry, but it sure was a hell of an effort not to. I thanked the class for everything and didn't speak much after that, cause if I did, the tears would just start flowing. But I made sure I looked immensely happy!

How the freak did I not figure out my class was throwing me a party?! I was suspicious but I never really expected they would do it!

The day before the party, everyone was gathered in a circle and writing down foods with the title of the list "Cibo per domani!" ("Food for tomorrow!") Everytime I asked what they were doing, they would always suddenly change the subject to dicussing things about the school trip.

Then days before that the class representative came to me and said we were going to be taking pictures of the class. I thought it was just something for school, like they would be having a class book or something. And it turns out it was one of my gifts:

The photos:

And they even put them in a cute little frame!

Also, a cute stuffed animal. Luckily I didn't have to ride the autobus.

Everyone was speaking such fast Italian days leading up to the party, I just never paid attention that they could be planning something. Apparently, they were so happy that I was making them all drawings for their birthdays when they passed, they just wanted me to give me something back. That was so nice of them! I just made them drawings because I wanted to. I never expected anything back from them accept their kindness and friendship. They gave me love back tenfold.

Then later that day I had a party because my parents weren't satisfied with our conversation three nights ago:

Parents: "Hey, Zakiyya, what are you doing for your birthday?"

Zakiyya: "I dont know, sleeping.?"

Parents: "No you're not. You're having a party. ಠ_ಠ"

Zakiyya: "O-ok. O_O;;"

That's basically how it went. So I organized a party with my AFS Intercultura friends. A party of 10 kids from 9 different countries. I never thought I would ever have a party like that in my life. We continue to learn so much about each other as the days go by.

I decided we would go to the Cinecity movie theater right by my house. We were going to go see the horror movie Insidious since there wouldn't be that much talking. (Yeah, we didn't want to see an Italian movie we didn't undertand). But for some reason 10 minutes before we arrived, the people said there mysteriously wasn't a movie time available. Liars. I checked the system an hour before to see if the time was still right!

Whatever. So we went to go see an action-packed-kick-you-in-the-face movie called the Immortals, IN 3D. Booyah! It was Greek Mythology and cooler than any other craptastic Percy Jackson movie they will make in the future. It took me a while to figure out when the Greek gods and goddesses came in because I had no clue what they were saying in Italian...

It's really bad cause even in the States when I go see a violent movie, I'm cheering at all the blood and gore on the screen like "Yeah, you upper cut that guy in the face with your sword!".  And then laughing at serious parts in the movie. I'm a bad movie goer. Turns out I' not the only one because the other Intercultura students were laughing, too. I bet all the Italians in the movie theater were so mad.

Other than that it was your typical male movie. A beautiful woman who could see the future came into the middle of the movie and I was like "There's so going to be a sex scene in this movie with the hot male main character. Just watch. -_-"

Then the predicted sex scene came up and the girls were like:

The boys:

After that movie, we walked home while being shouted at by some random drunk guy riding a bicycle. Is that legal? lol

There was delicious food~

Then we played silly games such as:

Piggly Wiggly

Where one person leaves the room, everyone else hides undercovers, then the person comes back in the room and taps each lump under the blankets. The people under the blanket have to disguise their voices so the person tapping te blankets has a hard time figuring out who's under it. If the person guesses right then the person under the blanket loses. Last person under the blankets wins.

Backfire Dares

Pick out someone's name from a box and write down an epic dare for them to do, only to find out later you have to do it yourself.

Search and Destroy

Epic Hide and Go Seek. My dad wasn't too happy about this. A game with the word destroy in the title. He thought we would annihilate the house, so we played when he left.

Mafia

I think everyone's played this game before... where the mafia kills people when the town goes to sleep, the doctor saves someone, and the police have to figure out and convince everyone who the real mafia are. Omg, this game sucks if you're a citizen because all you do is go to sleep! I was a citizen everytime, and I was killed every game because the mafia convinced everyone I was also apart of the mafia. >_>;; Then if your doctor is selfish and only saves themself everytime, everyone dies. Also you can't tell who the police are because the mafia lie so well and say they're the police and they keep getting away with crimes! This game usually ends up in a screaming match. XD

Hmmm this game is so similar to something.... *coughcoughamericanjurisdictionsystemcoughcough*

It was a wonderful evening. I even got to take awesome pictures cause my parents here in Italy bought me a new camera! They are seriously nice to me! O___O  And extra books (in English, our AFS directors won't be too happy if they find out...) for my education.

My package from my friends in the States didn't arrive yet, but this did:

Aka, an artbook from one of my favorite artists of all time. A day before my birthday. FTW.

I didn't think so much would happen on my birthday... if anything I learned about being here in Italy is:

1. Patience. Things won't always go your way as a foreign exchange student. Everything is different. And you're the one adapting to the culture, not the people around you. So some things: your level of tolerance must go up, and other things: you just have to let go of your anxiety. Patience will absolutely help you keep your sanity.

2. Appreciating. I believe I've already said this before... there are a lot of things that annoy me here in Italy, little things, but eh, I deal with it. It's different, not good, not bad. It could be worse. If anything I'm really lucky I've met the helpful friendly students in my class and I have a patient family. I lucked out.

3. One step at a time. Sometimes being in Italy is overwhelming and going with the flow is absolutely all I can do. especially when I am angry or unsatisfied with something.

4. Happiness is in your own hands. Seriously, life can be absolutely anything you want it to be. All you have to do is follow through with your thoughts and actions. You can choose to be the exchange student that doesn't want to adapt and sit back, letting people come to you, or you can actually do something with your life while abroad.

Life is good. ;)

Well, off to study, now that the birthday fun is over. Ciao!~