AFS Orientation in Trento

Six day weekend. Oh my goodness thank you! After going to school on Saturdays and Sundays always occupied, I think you would be thankful, too.

Although 4 of those days were for an AFS Orientation Camp in Trento, Italy. I don't mind cause I didn't waste it. It was one of the best weekends in Italy so far!

I think the younger AFS volunteers at the Orientation camp make Italy more enjoyable. The old volunteers in Treviso make me feel like my life is rated G  and it's just lame.

I'll try to remember everything that happened cause it was just plain crazy. I'll tell the major events.

Day 1

I caught the bus (mountain gear and bag), with a few odd stares on the bus, to the train station early in the morning to meet AFS volunteers and my Treviso friends for another bus.

That bus would take us to the mountains and would begin our orientation.
I saw so many familiar faces on the bus from the beginning of the AFS year, and we all got to meet again!  I was so happy. There were a lot of students (55 people for a region orientation is huge!) on the bus that some of us ended up sitting in rows of threes in 2 people seaters or in the aisles with volunteers. 

I believe there were 29 different countries in all  in my region. Some kids from the same country and some the only one from their country. My American Treviso friend, Millie, and I rejoined 3 other Americans from the beginning of the year. One of them, I learned, I had unknowingly met in Cincinnati before arriving to Italy. So when we get back to the United States we will still be able to talk about our experiences together. It was just a pure awesome coincidence we both reside in the same part of Italy and we come from Ohio. =]

Everyone was speaking in different languages. I remember hearing German, Portuguese, Spanish, English,  Norwegian and Thai all at once... it kind of just sounds like background noise after a while because you don't understand anything. I love the Thailand kids, they taught everyone so many bad words in their language and they would laugh at us saying them to other people. As you can tell, we're really mature. ;P

But after we arrived in the cold beautiful mountains we seperated into rooms and color groups. I was in the awesome green group! I shared a room with a Chinese girl and the only girl from Russia. They were so kind! :) We really got along well. The girls side of the long cabin we stayed in was so cool, but the boys had the rowdier side.

In the lobby, there was a foosball table the boys would raid and play. They took the game so seriously, it was if they were watching a real game on TV! There would always be two-on-two matches of different countries/continents/genders. It was really enjoyable to watch! One of my American friends, Forrest, paired up with a Mexican girl and they played against Norway and Germany. It was so hilarious, but they lost.

Forrest is really really hilarious. And not to mention all the "Run, Forrest, Run!" jokes he must hear on a daily basis. He just takes it in stride though. XD

Then later that evening we went back to our color groups and talked about our problems, positives, strange things, and what was most important in our host families. Boring but important.
Some kids have problems with their host families I didn't even imagine... from jealous siblings,  mistrust, drunk mishaps, and over controlling parents. I kind of feel lucky. One girl from Germany can't even get on the internet in her house because her parents automatically assumed that she would be on the internet all day. And her little sister is jealous of all the attention she gets, so the little sister tortures her on a daily basis. Also, a girl from China had already changed host families because they didn't want her anymore. Some families in Italy you just don't know about sometimes. =/

Then we played we talked more in the gym about what more would happen in the camp later. The volunteers announced the Talent show would be on Saturday evening and that is when I learned I was the only one who had prepared for the Talent Show in advance. So proceeded to pairing up with other people from different countries to create something in two days for a Talent Show. That would be interesting. ;P

Day 2

Basically the same as the first with a few differences. We talked in our colored groups about school, how boring it is, and what we can do to improve our social lives...etc. Seriously we need these tips because it truly is hard to have some fun as a teenager in Italy with other Italian teenagers. Italian teenagers have no lives. All they do is study.  Then they only go out on the weekends when the foreign exchange student's time schedules are booked with boring local chapter meetings and family time. It's a vicious cycle cause even during the week day, Italian kids are still studying.

So after we all talked and complained and found out how similar our lives were going, we practiced in our free time for the Talent Show, talked to kids about their countries, and played like normal. It felt good. I could communicate with other people going through the same situation I was. And thank goodness there weren't any babysitting like rules you have in your daily life of Italy. We were free to do what we wanted most of the time, besides the fact of AFS wanting to get personal interviews with us to see how our lives were going.

But those types of things are needed. AFS actually scheduled the camp at least one month in during our experience because apparently our exchange trip is (oh cliche) an emotional roller coaster.  Usually around the one month time mark, exchange students kids are coming down from their highs of being in a different country and realize that things around them are truly different / can't cope with being in a different place.

AFS just really helps us get away from the stress by planing such camps and activities such as:

Pizza Baking

I learned how to make a professional delicious pizza with my color group. It was so fun! We rolled dough, put on sauce and cheese, all the good Italian traditions to making a pizza. I would like to do it again sometime. Oh but being the cool AFSers we are, we got into a flour fight in the middle of the lesson. The younger volunteers were cool about it. I bet if they were the older ones from my local chapter they would have had hissy-fits about how immature we were.

The Runaway Kissing Game

It's not everyday you wake up at an AFS Orientation and you're told  you have to kiss somone.

AFS had us play this game at the end of the day just to have some fun from our prior converstions. This particular game is like an intense version of spin the bottle, just without the bottle, more random, and in Italian.

All 55 of us students had to sit in a circle, gender randomnly spaced as much as possible, (boy-girl-boy-girl) with one person in the middle and we each got an identity. There were fewer boys than girls, so the boys received letters of the English/Italian alphabet. The girls  received numbers. I was #7.

The object of the game is to kiss the person sitting in the middle of the circle on the cheek.

Now this game has two scenarios:

1. If there is a boy sitting in the middle of the circle, a girl's number is called and she has to run as fast as possible to the boy sitting in the middle to kiss him on the cheek. But at the same time, a boy's letter is called and he has to try to kiss the girl who is trying to kiss the boy in the middle before she reaches him. If the girl reaches the boy in the center first and kisses him on the cheek, she wins. If the boy captures the girl while she is trying to run to the middle to the other boy and kisses her first then he wins.

2. If there is a girl sitting in the middle of the circle, well the situation is vice versa.

Usually during this game it ends up with hilarious matches between the boys and girls.

But before I get to my round of Runaway Kiss, I have a quick note. I was speaking to a boy from Chile prior to the game in my color group, and he was so cool to talk with. Very cute, too. He already had a girlfriend though he met with AFS from Germany. I think we left our conversation as good friends. Until the round of Runaway Kiss.

I was just sitting in the circle laughing and having a good time at all the boys trying to kiss the girls and them running away, girls trying to kiss the boys, people shocked when their number was called, and all the scrimmages. It was hilarious.

My friend, Palm, from Thailand had kissed the boy in the center before the other boy had gotten to her so she was now the girl sitting in the middle. The AFS volunteer had called the next combination letter and I wasn't expecting anything.

"Acca! Sette!"  H! 7!

It struck me that my number was called and I was in scenario #2. I had almost gone the whole game without being picked, dang it! Plus,  I almost didn't even stand up because my brain was so apprehensive I forgot my Italian numbers.

When I did stand up I was so confused on what to do, "Ah crap! Do I go kiss Palm or wait, who do I have to kiss?! Which boy is letter H?!" There were many cute boys in the circle, psssh I'm not going to lie I was too scared to kiss them on the cheek, but at the same time I didn't want to lose the game. Darn me being so competitive!
The boy with the letter H's brain must have been on stun, too, because it took him a good three seconds later to stand up.

"OMG I HAVE TO KISS THE CUTE BOY FROM CHILE?!"

We were both so obviously confused. He ran towards me and tried to kiss me and all the boys and girls were laughing and screaming as I squirmed away.

"No, Zakiyya, you have to kiss him!" He finally realized that too and he tried to get away but I tackled him.  Then ensued the biggest scuffle of all the rounds. He attempted to claw his way to my friend Palm in the center of the circle after we somehow ended up on the ground wrestling. Everyone was laughing so hard many people succumbed to tears.

He was so close to my friend Palm in the center and his lips were almost to her cheek when I  kissed him on his cheek also. I could have sworn it was tie! But I guess he won. lol I felt kind of bad I had to wrestle a kiss from him in front of his girlfriend though. I guess that's the only time it's okay. Haha

That game was a comical mess. xD

Day 3

The day of the Talent Show.

We wrapped up different discussions about stereotypes, and personal interviews. Another fun day! :)

During the free time we praticed and finished our talents. I had nothing better to do at camp  on top of what I was doing for the Talent Show. I joined a Mexican/American Ho Down dance, Terrible Lyric Reading, New Zealand and Hawaiian Hula/Dance, and a sing along.  It was fun although I felt like such an over achiever.

But the Talent Show had come around and everyone was surprisngly ready.

The list of Acts:

1. USA (Me)- Animated Drawing Video - dedicated to my Treviso and USA friends. Everyone loved it! :)
2. Brazil - Brazilian Dance (Very awesome dance. I'm still looking for the song! All the Brazilians were born with the Sexy + We know how to party genes. *fumes jealousy*)

EDIT: I got the two songs they danced to. I love them.

3. Iceland - Hair Braiding
4. USA + New Zealand + Dominican Republic - Singing
5. Japan  - Origami
6. Serbia + Finland + Paraguay + Bosnia + India - Serbian Dance
7. Mexico + Germany + Portugal + USA - Mexican/USA Ho Down
8. USA - Terrible Lyric Reading (Took songs from everyone's country and my friend Forrest read them wrong purposely to make people laugh.)
9. Columbia + Honduras + Peru + Venezuela - Singing
10. Paraguay - Beatbox
11. Thailand - Thailand Tradition Dance/ Korean Girl Dance Group (This surprised everyone. The Thailand kids were so secret about what they were doing the whole camp, then they come out of no where with an epic dance of Korean Girl bands and hip hop. It was too much awesome!)
12. France + Canada - Guitar Singing Song
13. France + Chile - Double Guitar Improvisation
14. Russia + Finland - Russian Ballet
15. AFS Volunteers - Italian Song dedicated to AFSers
16. Germany + India - Soccer Ball Gut Kicking (One boy kicked a soccer ball and the other boy caught it under his shirt with his stomach, too.)
17. New Zealand + USA + Dominican Republic - Hula/Dance
18. China - Singing
19. Germany + Guatemala - The First Wedding Night Game. (Basically recreating sex positions. The German kids seemed so innocent, but they had a very unusual, yet hilarious sense of humor because no one expected it. They took six volunteers {who actually had no clue what they were volunteering for} and recreated a, ahem, first night on the Honeymoon. I was laughing so hard. It was such a Bachelor party game I never thought it would show up at an AFS camp. Even the volunteers were laughing.)
20. AFS Volunteers - Acting out one scene in different styles of Normal, Happy, Tragic, and Sexy.

Oh AFS you're awesome. :D

Even better, after the Talent Show, we set the clocks back an hour, and we got to party for one more hour and we gained an extra hour of sleep because breakfast was set up to be later.

Day 4

Final evaluations of camp.  Our goodbyes, getting people's number/ facebooks pictures. I want to show many pictures but my camera died at the most convient time. I'll just wait until I am tagged in the images on Facebook. XD

Halloween tomorrow with my family. No time for studying!

Uhmericuh

I love human errors.

Especially when they land you free stuff.

I ordered my American flag 11 days ago from a store online and it was supposed to be delivered two days later but it never showed up.  Unknowingly, I messed up my address, which had to be in this particular format:

Example of a fake address:

Signor XXXXXXXX
Via P. Nenni 23
38542 Rodano (MI)
Italy
If it's not like that, then your package may as well have found a better way out of a black hole.

So I emailed the flag company after tracking my flag and seeing it was now on HOLD for a unknown address. I correctly changed the format, and waited for a couple more days, and it still never showed up.

I had my parents call into the delievery service (Haha, I can't speak Italian just yet. ;P) to see what was going on. Turns out the second time around, the flag company messed up the mailing address. We fixed the address and I went back online to track the flag. I wanted to make sure everything was okay
so I tracked the flag. Again, the address was messed up, this time the fault of the deliverers.

We called in again, changed the address,  and theeeeeen everything was finally right! After 11 days. Well so I thought.

All the while behind the scenes, my payment was pending. It wasn't exactly completed. Then it just crashed and said the payment was not followed through. Therefore, I paid nothing.

I was so mad! "Great, now my flag's not going to be delivered because of this crashed payment online."

Ah, but lo and behold the next day, my flag was delivered and I didn't pay a penny.

On accident of course. 

Haha Zakiyya has terrible integrity.

BAM, free flag. Yaaaay I'm ready for the Orientation Camp. And I know what I'm doing for the Talent Show. ;P

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Some Italian prashes I learned today.

Someone says to you:
"In bocca al lupo!"- Into the mouth of the wolf!

You respond:
"Crepi!"- I wish it could die!/ Croak wolf!

Meaning: Break a Leg/ Good luck. It makes no sense. You're in the mouth of the wolf (dangerous), but so it doesn't eat you, you respond with "Crepi" so you can stay alive...?

Oh another one (Warning : bad language.)

Someone says to you:
"In culo alla balena!" - In the *** of the whale.

You respond:
"Sperando che non caghi!" - Hoping it does not ****!

Another form of good luck.

I laughed at these for a good 15 minutes in class as the Italian teacher would say the phrases and the kids responded back.

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I almost broke my foot today. All because my Italian sucks.

The buses are crowded, so people run to get good seats and don't want to be the last ones by the door.

I see why now. The bus doors snagged my foot. Twice. Good thing there was motion sensor after what... 6 seconds. >_> It doesn't do any good when I'm screaming and complaining in English cause I forgot I could speak some Italian. Those doors are terrible. I should really check my foot to see if it's bruised...

But even worse, all the kids around me saw my foot stuck in the door and didn't even holler up to the bus driver to open the door. They just stared at me speaking English the whole time. UGH. And then everyone's bookbags were on the floor so I couldn't even move to a different spot.

Here's my poorly drawn doodle of how it looked.

What a colorful vocabulary.

Buses suck. I think when I get back to the States it's finally time to learn to drive.

German Teacher: "Hey, Zakiyya, would you like to come to Germany with us in December for a week?"

Zakiyya: "Of course! I'd love to! How much does it cost?"

German Teacher: "500 €." :)

Zakiyya: "..." ಠ_ಠ "Hm, nevermind."

Then everyone in the class proceeded to sign up for the trip like money grows on trees. I looked at them so confused and asked, "You all can afford this?!" And they said yeah, like they were just buying a cheap pair of shoes. Seriously.

I want to go to Germany, too. D:

Eh, Che peccato. (Too Bad.)

I got my German book for class last week. I was so ready to do problems and answer questions and then I looked at my book and compared it to everyone elses. Wrong one. Eh. Turns out I got a second level book when I was supposed to get the first one. Hehehehe wooooops.

Back to square one.
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AFS had a flash mob in Milan on Oct. 1st. I couldn't go though. It's even complete with the famous AFS Game "Let Me See Your Funky Chicken."

Haha I recognize many of the Americans///

Credit to Chandler where I found the video. Check out her blog, it's cool! :)

http://ijumpoverthesea.blogspot.com/

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There is an annual festival around my town called "Luna Park" which is basically the equivalent to a small fair. There's rides, many small gaming attractions, and delicious looking food. Italian and American! I didn't get to eat any though. My mom wanted to eat someting healthier when we got home instead.

I don't blame her. xD All the AFSers in my region know the notorious phrase, "Exchange students gain atleast 1 kg (2.2 pounds) each month when they are away." With delicious food Italy has, I bet it's absolutely true.  All I eat is fruits and vegetables plus anything healthy my mom can create, though.

Probably why my Eczema has almost disappeared! (Besides the fact that there are no pets at my house here in Italy.) I still have dry skin but Eczema break outs are no more.

Also at the fair there was so much Nutella. Scratch that, there is just Nutella everywhere in the stores in general. We saw a HUGE container of Nutella, like 5 kgs!! Who would eat all of this?!

I'm not a big fan of Nutella, but if I don't get fat off Italian food, I'll surely get fat off the carepackage my mom sent me a couple weeks ago.

I've been sharing the American goodies for a while now at school and the box is still not empty. O_O

All the Cheez-Itz are gone though. Italians really like them. Even my father can't deny them. And he's a health freak (Well, doctor.).

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Aaaah, I wish would've fixed my camera earlier!

I came back from the mountains again. Except in the Toscana Region towards the center of Italy. (The red region on the wonderful image I found on Google.)

I stayed in a Mountain house for 3 days, except it was really family / cabin style.

It was so cool! I haven't experienced something like it before.

A married couple basically opens up their house for people to reserve and sleep in. Something similar to that of the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter, except less gray. There were so many rooms.

It's in a way, a Bed & Breakfast stay in the mountains.

Everyone eats and talks together like a family at a dinner table. And you stay in a house with people you've never met before. Plus there were so many cute cats, just laying out in front of the house, sleeping, eating, playing. It was adorable. I wanted to get pictures of the them. :(

There was also a dog that would chase them! Poor cats. The first day we arrived in the mountains that dog approached us and led us to the front door like a cute little host. At first I thought it was random dog, but apparently it belonged to the couple as an outdoor dog.

Our main goal in the mountains was to pick chesnuts from trees. They're wrapped in spiky skins (OUCH.) and you peel them, put em' in your basket, and bake them. Then they taste better the the peanuts you get at baseball games! Seriously, if I am ever lost in the woods, I'm frying chesnuts.

It was an awesome trip! But before on the car ride, my parents were arguing with my little brother about something serious he did. I really had no clue what they were talking about but the atmosphere was intense and Davide was definitely in trouble.

Sorry, I'm evil. I couldn't help trying to smuggle my laughter because well... I didn't understand a thing. All I heard was fast angry Italian and I saw wild hand movements. It was random. Just sitting and looking out the window at the scenery going by while your family argues as background noise.

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My Italian language course has started. Thank goodness. I've been learning so much! It gives me hope that I will start learning Italian faster.

I learned how to count up 1,000,000 in Italian. It only took an hour! Yeah, Italian is kind of easy. There's a specific formula to all the words, numbers, and sentences. Once I get them down, I'm good to go. For now in class, I just study as much as possible. But the teachers are still worried about me... *shrugs*

The toughest languages for English Speakers:

1. Arabic
2. Basque
3. Cantonese
4. Finnish
5. Hungarian
6. Japanese
7. Navajo
8. Mandarin
9. Korean

Good thing Italy isn't on that list. Phew.

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I've found something fun to occupy my time. It's not a particular sport but it's excercise.

I am taking Artistic Roller Skating lessons.

And I'm good for a starter apparently! :D

Not Ice skating, but roller skating, and it's just as fun. :)

I'm in a class full of small kids though. All who are better at skating than me as of now. Haha the oldest person is 13. They do their cute little twists and leg lifting turns, while I still try to master the art of skating backwards without cracking my head open. :D I love my group though. They're so adorable! It's hilarious when I speak English everyone gets so psyched.

I hope I can still afford to skate later in the year! It's really enjoyable. But doing this I automatically give up the right to go on any expensive school trips out of the country. =/ Oh well!

I always feel I am doing so well in skating until the other group/organization of older kids arrive. They're national champions and they rent out the skating arena with their professional coaches. There's one boy and girl that mainly use the arena to do their routines.

PFFFT AND THEY'RE BRILLIANT.

They skate so fast, do triple jump twists, beautiful angel turns, and work together so beautifully. T_T Omg, I'm so jealous! It's amazing to watch them. I am so going to a skating competition later when I can. Won't be in one, but if possible I would love to see what it's like.

If all goes well this year, I would like to join a skating rink in the States. :)  It's so fun!

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Eh, small update. I'm not trying to write and speak English much so I downgraded the times I update this blog. Urgh, forgive any of my spelling errors. Even when I go back and read what I wrote, they still just manage to pop up.

Ciao! :)

Surviving

Being a foreign exchange student isn't easy. It's not just a bunch of signing papers and then going off to your specific country for a certain amount of time. You have your ups and downs, your language barrier, homesickness (well, I haven't had any yet, but I still enjoy Cincinnati and the crazy people that come with it), cultural shock, plus more.

It's been over a month  and I still haven't freaked out about being in a different country yet. Either I'm really stupid or I adapt fast!

A few of things that keep me sane though:

1. Not looking for approval. To an extent. I mean approval of my character. I think I'm a good person and that's pretty much all that matters. Any side comments are none of my business. Living like this is really relaxing. It makes me feel free to do the things I want to without the persecution of other's thoughts.

2. Not worrying about small things. There's a lot of stuff out of my control. I just have to adapt and move on. Life moves on.

3. Severe Optimism. Tons of it. I make Pollyanna look like a demon.

4. Appreciating very small things. Hey, any day I survive through Italian traffic is a day to be happy about. Plus when someone understands what you're trying to say after 5 minutes of complicated oh so emabarassing charades is a relief.

5. Not in Kansas anymore. Yeah, new family, house, school, community, friends, life, etc. My life is in Italy now. I dived headfirst into a new culture and left behind the United States. I try everything! (Well, besides smoking.)

6. No More Ego. I've finally excepted I'm the Village Idiot in class, family, and school. I'll get better in the future.

7. Feeling the pain of older siblings. For so many years I was used to my role as the baby in the family. Now I am flip-flopped and it really is... interesting. ಠ_ಠ I've already sacrificed much of my time just to look after my siblings and I've never had to do that before... it's more work. Little children always get what they want. *headdesk*

Eh, the list will definitely get bigger as life in Italy goes on. Haha.

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Ah, there's so much to do. So many people schedule my time and events. There's no more time for myself. When I do, it's for this blog, then I study and draw. But mainly study. I admit, I don't even study this  much for exams.(What? One hour is enough for me before the ADHD kicks in.) I only study now because my survival pretty much depends on knowing Italian. No one's going to spoon feed me everything, might as well walk on my own two feet.

I learned the other day, I'm the only foreign exchange student in my school. A lot of the other Intercultura kids have atleast one person they know with them. And apparently, they don't get homework either. Hmmm...that's interesting, can't say the same for me. But I bet they don't have a tutor that sets up time tables and easy schedules. ;P Haha!

I've been doing many interviews at school lately. I just walk into English lessons my tutor gives me and answer any questions students have about America. At the rate I'm going, I will know everyone in the school. I already met many of the neighboring class rooms. At the moment though, many people know my name, but I don't know them. (Many people think I'm African, not African-American when they hear my name, so I start getting all these questions about where I'm from, do I know so and so blah blah, from the African teenagers. It's bad when I see the disappointed look on their face when I tell them I'm from Ohio. XD)

But the most peculiar questions I've answered so far are:

What do you think about one night stands?

Are all Americans fat?

Are you a mean girl/cheerleader?

What do you think about teenage pregnancies?

What are your views/alternatives to the death penalty?

Do you live on a corn farm in Ohio?

Have you met the cast of Jersey Shore?

Do you eat hamburgers AND live in a mansion?

And the adorable list of questions goes on. I do these interviews to help the kids practice English and it's hilarious. Except they aren't learning American Engish, it's British English so everything is very proper.

---

My weeks at school have been farely normal until now.

So as I told you before, I have two different companions every week who basically have to take care of me. My partners this week are 2 of the 5 boys in my class. And they are very energetic and also very popular with the class of girls.

And they're really funny, too. Usually they sit in the back of the class, cause they prefer not to pay attention and talk, normal for teenagers. Guilty me, I wanted to sit in the back for the same reason, but for the first half of the year, I'm in the very front row. Thank you tutor. Next year I will be in the very center of the classroom, because apparently one teacher requested I sit there instead of on the side. For reasons I don't know... But these two boys sitting in the front of the class = teachers being pissed off. Well atleast they keep the class laughing, and hey what do you know, I stay awake now.

Anyways on with the purpose of this section post.

Today, we had Physical Education and since there are about three times as many girls in my class than boys, we get priorty on 1 of the only 2 changing rooms in the school. Boys have to use the classroom. After PE of course we all have to change, but today there was a class taking up our room so the boys didn't get to change in time. All the girls did though.

After the other class cleared out we went in the classroom and I noticed the boys were still in their changing uniforms. I think, "Oh don't we have to leave? They need to change." (Yupp, you can see where this is going.) The boys start getting their stuff, me: "Okay, they're leaving, I can sit in my seat now."
Since two of the boys are my partners they sit next to me. I was too busy preparing for the next lesson to notice them start stripping their clothes on my desk. O_O

Oh it wasn't only just them though, all the boys huddled in my desk corner to change their clothes. REALLY THOUGH? In front of the whole class of  girls giggling and the boys joking around. Even the teacher was laughing. I was the only one really embarrassed, hiding my face in my hands like "What the-?!"

It was random. I'll laugh after this week is up. It's only Monday and my partners antics are already showing their true colors.

My classmates finally discovered I can draw. My partners this week freaked out and asked if I could draw them with me. Just a silly doodle of us and they loved it.

federico zakiyya andrea

They also ask me about slang and to analyze Never Say Never lyrics. It took me about 15 minutes to explain the term "Got it."

Oh Italy.

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Turns out my school isn't that broke, they're just doing renovations. When I leave.

A flat screen TV rolling through the hallways is a headturner here.

And the school is more focused on taking the kids out of the country more than anything else. My class is going to England this year, but I don't know if I'll be able to go...I really would love to though. </3
It's so normal for Italian schools to go on trips to different countries. Every class goes somewhere different every year, and I don't think for a certain purpose either. Just for fun.

Oh American School, Y U NO COOL?

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My phone in Italy is lame. I can't call anybody and there's no such thing as unlimited texting.  We're going to fix this problem.

Also my camera is broken so no pictures until I do something about that. xD haha fail!

I'm on a roll with breaking materials. I'm not even going to jinx  my laptop and iPod.

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My goodness, I have to figure out so much around my house nowadays! I know my family can't communicate that well to me, but the least they could do is tell me when Intercultura mail arrives for all of us! AFS schedules important boring events I need to go to.

Like a Surival Camp coming up October 27th-30th in the mountains! I'm so happy because I get to meet all the kids from my region again. It'll be a month and half since I've seen them, and we can all catch up on stories of our crazy travels so far.

I read further along in the letter AFS sent and they were like "Hey bring a flag of your country, and music tracks for the TALENT SHOW." OUCH. The sting. All the kids in my Treviso group looked at each other when we read that line like "Oh well, that's unfortunate."

Hmmm, I'll figure out something when the time comes.  But I ordered an American flag and hopefully it'll be here before my Orientation! *crosses fingers*

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I watched my first Rugby game ever yesterday. I loved it.

The Rugby World Cup 2011 is being held in New Zealand at the moment and it's very popular to watch over here. I was watching the game with my friend Alyce, an Intercultura Student from New Zealand and it just made the experience even better. She knows everything about Rugby and the All Blacks New Zealand Rugby team. Alyce has much pride for her country.

I don't blame her. New Zealand is beautiful! She showed me many natural pictures and I thought they were all photoshopped. *jealous*

Also, she introduced me to the Haka. A fiery ritual like dance the All Blacks New Zealand Rugby team does before every game. It's intense. We were thinking of doing it for the Talent Show, but it's a little much in her opinion. lol

I enjoy Rugby. :D

Popular

10 things I noticed that are really popular where I live:

1. The American Flag. Another reason I forget I'm in Italy. I see it everywhere...

2. Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirts. People love this restaurant so much! They have shirts from all around the world and people like to show off where they've eaten. There's some in Berlin, London, Milan, Miami, etc.

3. Shiny or ornate scarves. Yupp, even when it's hot out, wear the scarf. You'll look cool.

4. Pants. Same deal with the scarves.

5. Benetton Rugby Pants (and sometimes the sweater). They look like parachute pants when the boys wear them. Everyone apparently hated this style last year but now all the boys are wearing them.

6. Having a boyfriend/girlfriend. There are so many Italian teenagers with boyfriends/girlfriends! I get asked almost every other day if I have a boyfriend.

7.  Ballet flat shoes. Especially in the winter, girls still wear them without socks.

8. Smoking.

9. OVS Industry. Basically the equivalent to Forever21 in the United States.

10. Converse. More popular than high heels.

Time Sense

Sometimes I really forget I'm in Italy. It's always until I look outside or go into the center of Treviso (or perhaps experience traffic!) do I realise I'm in a different place.

Things so are at a slower pace now that I'm getting used to Italy. Well, slower for me at least. I just sit back and observe many things that are questionably different. Italians in the North are very fast paced people when it comes to something needing to be done. I enjoy it very much because when I need to do something, it's done in the same day.Whereas in the United States I would procrastinate daily. Which brings me to: Military Time.

I really do enjoy military time for some reason. When I look at the clock,  I feel as if there is more time to do get stuff done. It must be some type of illusion... Same with the school, I get out at 13:00 (at the moment!) and there's so much time to hang out with friends in the city or just walk around and clear your head. In the States, I didn't get out of school til 4 or 5 and there was never time to hang out with friends (only at school, boring!). Then there was always homework to do afterwards. Even when I do get homework over here in Italy, it's more enjoyable to work on because of my illusion sense of time now.

I don't know how or why I started worrying about time, but I know it started when I was in the 8th grade. Before that, I was a care free student, not aware of time passing by and just doing anything I wanted without crazy scheduling. I really think about time non-stop and how I will spend it, because I don't like to waste it.

In a way thinking like that has caused much more stress in my life than it was supposed to fix being organized. If I missed something I scheduled, I would beat myself up over it! I need to learn to let that go because as I said before, scheduling is very abnormal in Italy...which rolls us to our next subject.

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*Zakiyya wakes up Sunday at 8 AM and dad walks in the room*

"Boun giorno, Zakiyya! We're going to the beach! Get your stuff ready."

Zakiyya: O_O "WHAAA-"

It seems every Sunday is going to be an adventure after church...Haha I thought we were all sleeping in. But ofcourse, something different which I enjoy is the fact that Italians never stay indoors. Sometimes in America, there were days I never left the house and just stayed on the computer/ watched TV/ drew on the computer when there was nothing to do. Not particularly mentally or physically healthy now that I think about it...

I need to get into this new habit! :) And start speaking much much more Italian... I study so much over here/// it's murder on my brain. Plus, AFS organized some Italian Language courses for my region next week. I'm pretty excited because I will be able to speak to more people!

But on the subject of the beach, it's a normal one. Very hot, enjoyable, and seashells everywhere! Marta and  I collected so many! :) I forgot, and wasn't prepared though, that there would be some topless women and men with speedos. I wasn't used to that on American beaches. I remember one beach I went to in the States just had terrible weather and dead jellyfish covering the shore, ahh beauty.

Oh and someone brought their pet wolf. It was so cute and it howled a lot! I wanted a picture but I learned my mother has a fear of dogs so I couldn't get to close. :( How often do you see wolves at the beach eh?

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I love my church's architecture. It looks like a beautiful castle, and apparently I'm allowed to get some pictures of it...!!! Wow, I thought that was illegal. My parents said it was okay, but I'll ask the church goers jutst in case.

After that, I think I might stop going to church. It's just very uncomfortable for me.  I wanted to go for the first couple of weeks to see what it was like, but now I'm not very penchant of the ceremonies. I always feel like I'm in a odd cult everytime.

I'm sure my parents will be okay with it. They ask me whether I would like to stay home or go anyways.

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Finally learned the rules to crossing the street. Biking experience has helped greatly.

The three rules:

No Hesitation Any second thoughts about what you're doing only raises the percentage of you being hit by a car.

Be Reckless Ok so that sounds very counterintuitive to what I'm saying but it just works. You have more power over vehicles here than you do in the States. So that car going 30 about 25 ft ahead of you is nonsense You can still make it! :D You just have to be assertive and stick your foot out like "HEY, I'm crossing here."

Zoned Out Awareness Sometimes you have to be wary about how the first two rules work together. (For instance, I found out they don't work on buses earlier on.) And if you see other people crossing, try to blend in, cars will stop! "Mildly" observing your surroundings before crossing the street is still a must.
And that was Zakiyya's lesson on how to cross the street in Italy. Makes no sense, so don't try this at home!

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Something that is disturbing me greatly is that bicycle riders don't wear helmets. It really shouldn't be bothering me this much, but for some reason it is. Sort of like the girls wearing only jeans... but this one actually concerns people's lives.

Italian traffic plus biking with out a helmet should equal disaster, right? Wrong. For some reason, as senseless as Italians drive and cycle, I haven't seen a bike or auto accident. It's sincerely confusing.
Whenever I ride a bike I feel like the biggest dork ever, because I'm the ONLY one besides professional cyclists (it seems they train a lot...they're everywhere!) that wears a helmet. Even the old people and pre teens on bikes don't wear them. They pass me up with speed and I can't catch up. Haha, probably cause my bike is 30 years old and it makes a screeching sound everytime I brake. ಠ_ಠ
I wear the helmet because my dad makes me. I admit, I wouldn't wear the helmet if he didn't seem like he knew what he was talking about, but come on, he's a doctor. He's the only one I've seen, besides professional cyclists, that wears a helmet. THE ONLY ONE. I just can't help but come to the conclusions that Italians would rather look cool than be safe. But in a way, I'm wrong in my opinion.

Wearing a bicycle helmet does not automatically exempt you from being hit by cars. Knowing how to ride a bicycle properly and navigate roads helps more than putting on a helmet and calling it a day. That's probably why many Italians don't wear the helmets in the first place. Because they're so street smart. I just still can't help thinking that if someone is hit by a car they will be seriously injured, no matter how street smart they were.

That's pretty much the only reason I wear my helmet even though I look like a lame teenager. (Yeah, I haven't seen A SINGLE teenager with a helmet.) I know my helmet won't totally save me from death if I'm hit by a car, but hopefully it'll minimize my head injuries. No one else seems to be thinking that way besides my father and I. Sort of makes me feel like Atticus Finch intergrity wise, hehe.

Another point on helmets, everyone who rides a mortorcycle or moped wears a helmet. Just not cyclists. We're all on the same roads as buses and cars!

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Raaaaandoooom:

On deviantart, I won the Hetalia contest last week! I entered before I came to Italy and I was so happy when I found out! The contest was of cultural foods! I chose the country Italy, ha, go figure. Here's the image:

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Got a haircut at a ethnic hairdresser, and the man almost shaved off the back of my hair. I just wanted a trim! D:
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Harry Potter in Italian:

I will try to read them later!

That's all for now, time for sleep. Buona Notte~ :)