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.
---

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/

---

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.).

---

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.

---

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.

---

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!

---

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! :)