Finally.

I met my Host Family today after traveling by train for 3 hours and 42 minutes. It was ridiculously hot outside but that didn't stop me from being nervous as I suddenly remember earlier that morning I would be meeting the people I have only seen on the internet for months.

On the main train from Rome to Florence it was crowded and we being rushed by a guard telling us to get on the train faster by yelling in Italian and being just plain noisy. BECAUSE BLOWING  A WHISTLE IN SOMEONE'S FACE ALWAYS GETS THE POINT ACROSS, NUFF' SAID. ಠ_ಠ An AFS Assistant who was with another group had to rush over, ("No! No! Non Capisco L'Italiano!" No! No! (They) don't understand Italian! ) for us. And he still kept blowing the whistle, so we all ran to help each other jump on the train and threw our luggage in fire hazard like places and proceeded to a complicated train ride of fun. Atleast it was air conditioned... but along the way, many of us were displaced and had to run along the train compartments to find different seats because we apparently had the wrong ones.

All in all I quite frankly think it was a good first experience on a train. The beauty of the passing scenery definitely made up for it.

But as we dropped AFS students you could see many Italian families swarming them when they got off the train to greet them for the first time and it almost brought tears to my eyes to see how excited everyone was to meet their student. I think it made me start contemplating how my family would greet me. The remaining students who had to transfer to another train, such as myself, had to run up and down stairs repeatedly until we got to the correct boarding station. It was so hot and I started shaking because I  didn't eat any of my lunch. I thought I would have passed out from heat before meeting my family! :(

But we had to run to the trains before they left us, and it was another event of throwing luggage in fire hazard like zones. Haa I have video of that, too.

Finally, the Treviso people were at the last 20 minutes of their destination to meet their families. I truthfully didn't know what to think. Actually, I thought this day would never come. 5 days or traveling from Cincinnati, OH and I was finally in Treviso, Italy. Omg.

Before the people even started letting us off of the train me and Facundo from Paraguay started screaming with excitement together. I think we annoyed about half the people in the train, but we were too high on exhilaration to even give a hoot.

Millie from California screamed, "There they are!", it turned into one of those fairy tale moments I didn't believe in stories until now, when my heart was literally about to beat out of my chest or I was going to pass out.

The doors open and along with many other people screaming with the AFS students in jubilation I see my "little" brother Davide with a camera in his hand screaming "Zakiyya!" (Surprisingly pronounced correctly!) with the happiest expression ever. I put "little" in parentheses because I was expecting a little brother who was the typical sibling and short. Davide is just as/or shoot, maybe even more taller than me! And he is only 12. LOL I bet he's popular at school with the ladies cause he's cute. :3

And then I saw Momma Bruna and ditched the luggage to tackle hug her. She is a sweet heart! Then I see Papa Carlos with little Marta on his shoulders with a sign she made saying "Benvenuti Zakiyya!" in colorful letters! I looked around saw everyone also doing doublecheek kisses with their families and screaming and smiling so much while laughing. The Italian families cared so much I started crying because I did some Happy Math. Exhaustion + Hard Work + Happiness = Tears of Joy. Yeah I tried to stop crying but I just couldn't. lol I think I realized my friends, family, and I worked so hard to get to where I was that day and it was so worth it. And it was only just the first 5 minutes of my 10 month journey with my family.

All the Italian families kept coming up to the kids saying "Ciao!" more double kisses and talking about what they wanted to do later. The AFSers had to avoid me ("Zakiyya, you're going to make me start crying!"). We took our pictures in the train station, had a mini cool ceremony across the street in the park, then went our separate ways with our host families. We're definitely going to be seeing each other though again in a month for an orientation. :)

My neighborhood is beautiful! And so is my house, I feel like I'm living in IKEA, yeah it's that swanky. And the sign on the front door Marta and Davide made was so cute! I get my host sister Sara's room while she is away in Costa Rica for a year. Her room is bigger than mine at home and it's might as well be part office. Haha, there's even a scanner so I scan my sketches.

 

Before I went to sleep from exhaustion I was offered Gelato (Oh, I simply could not decline!) and then had a nice nap. After I woke up, I played with Marta and Davide. They are so kind, I enjoy their presence cause they talk to me and have their sibling rivalry in mostly Italian. I understand partly what they are saying, too and I have been communicating with my family really well! And then later that night we had Italian pizza around the corner. IT WAS REAL PIZZA. Haaaaa you eat it with a fork and knife. O_O And it was delicious. I even kept a Sprite can in Italian. The pizzeria seems to be a nice hang out spot for Italian teens, too... Hmmm... ;)