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.