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.

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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