Heh. Haven't update in over two weeks but surprisingly so, I've actually had a life! *everyone gasps*

Anyways, I'm still alive! I really do find myself saying that many times nowadays...

Where to start...?

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School. Our famous tough subject of this blog.

But guess what? I've actually been keeping up with some of my classes! Meaning, my teachers of English, Physical Education, Chemistry, and Philosophy actually said I'm doing something good! Not so much in Math and Physics but I'm getting somewhere!

Last week, I had my first oral test in front of the class. For Philosophy of course, the class no one does good in. So when the Philosophy teacher addressed me, everyone fell silent because the teachers usually ignore me during lessons. I kind of freaked out, too because I knew, I just knew he said he was to say I would have an interrogation next week. =<

So my test was on the Philosophy book my parents bought me for my birthday if you remember. (Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder, it's actually really good.) I kind of ditched it to study Italian... so you can imagine my face when he asked me whether I read the book or not. I didn't even read 3/4  and I had 4 days to study and finish it. Commence stress mode.

But in the end I didn't finish the book BUT I still passed! The questions were simple and I tried to answer in the best poor Italian I could. My class was a bit surprised at some of the vocabulary I knew. I wonder what they think I do when I go home...??

It's seriously sad when I rush into class jumping and cheering at my friends that I could do my homework the night before. I'm so proud of myself when I can, but they're just like "Oh, um.. good job?" *awkward thumbs up*

To keep up with Math, I've had another class added to my schedule, 2AE. Second year (Yupp, went down a year lower, I'm that bad now.), Class A, Economics. Economic students study different material to that of my Language section. Now I have double the math classes every week. Ew...

I was interviewed by this class last year for English so there was no need for uncomfortable introductions. I'm very happy with them. They are hilarious and have as much character as the kids in Theater and my old classes in America combined.

My new math Teacher is funny, too. She actually has a soul! *cries tears of joy*.  ("And this equation will help us find the triangle's- ALESSANDRA SHUT UP. Ugh, you kids chatter too much!- Where were we? Ok and this triangle's side is- What do you want Carlo?! If you just be quiet then maybe we can fix the problem- What? No, Nutella will not help us figure this problem!" *Throws book at desk and silently asks herself why she is a teacher in the first place* <--- Really she's nice. :) Trust me.

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I've been giving myself a much more strict bedtime lately. I stop whatever I'm doing before 10 PM to go to sleep. I find it much easier to live life when I'm not falling asleep in the palms of my hands at school. And I'm less cranky and more energetic. It's much easier to make friends with a smile on my face instead of trying to hold myself up in a corner and grumbling from lack of sleep.

Technically, since I've been in Italy I haven't watched more than 12 hours of TV yet... O_O Actual TV. Movies in Italian, but I haven't watched a good show just for fun. I've actually been on the internet or doing something productive! It does help that my family's TV was broken for the first 3 months of my stay. Being without TV has made me realise how much I don't even need it.

I've also been filtering myself more on the internet. (Ohh speaking of filtering I've heared a lot about the evil SOPA, ohohoho) But I've been filtering for a good reason, because I usually would find myself browsing on the internet for no reason! Like some sort of addiction some teenagers have with Facebook. But my addiction is to Tumblr. It's so awesome! So I must control myself, do something more productive, or I just leave the computer all together and try to do something with people. It's actually kind of tough since I'm still quite the socially awkward penguin. :(

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Seriously, school would be so much easier.

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I've been having much more awkward meals lately at home.

My mom doesn't have much time to cook anymore because there is something wrong with her parents and her brothers Mario and Luigi (I'm sorry, I was laughing so hard when I first heard them and no one knew why. Anyways this is an inappropriate joke at the moment.) and she's been having to keep up with their situations.

But from what I've established on Halloween, which was my first visit to her parents house in Udine (north of Italy very close to Austria) things are not... normal. Her parents are very nice and kind but since they are older they forget many things. Luigi wasn't there, but my mother's other brother, Mario, I believe is an autistic savant. My father warned me before we went into the house that Mario was a bit odd, didn't tell me exactly how, but being in Italy for over a month I thought I could handle tougher things.

Mario talked fast without any direction, had rapid repetitive movements and he injured himself  on many different occasions. But , Mario could also play the piano brilliantly! Even so, I feel bad for saying this, but it was very unsettling to talk to him. Because it was around the time where I didn't understand much Italian and he would just talk and talk and talk, shove documents in my face, show me books and music sheets I didn't really want to see, and I would try to tell him I didn't understand Italian but he would just keep going on and on. I gave up after a while.

But then a thought hit me and I could only wonder how my mother grew up with him. She is very normal and I just wonder what her life was like having to look after her brother. She's so patient with him and kind. Makes me wonder how I sometimes can't get along with my siblings in the States and they don't have any mental disorders.

Back on track, I think something is wrong with my mother parents at the moment. Of course their house would be really busy because them being elderly things are already difficult and they also have to take care of their autistic son.  I believe they might be sick and my mother has been really worried. One time I came home, she was crying, and I had to just give her a big hug because I didn't know what to say. I stink at comforting people and I rarely ever see adults cry so I just didn't know what to do. It was shocking to say the least, because I've never seen my mom cry even though she seems under stress all the time. Hopefully things turn out better.

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I've seen all of my United States friends look alikes! It's so weird. Either I'm homesick and seeing their faces everywhere or everyone has a long lost twin that lives in Italy.

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Around this time the semester AFS students are arriving in Italy, and they will leave along with us when the exchange is finished! I am so happy to be meeting more students that will be apart of the Treviso family! I don't really understand how AFS relationships work but they just do.

It's weird. When I saw the exchange students in Cincinnati, I could only wonder why they were so close, and how they could  be such good friends from different countries. I thought that would never happen to me but as it seems so, my Treviso group is extremely close. Probably even closer than the Italian friends we are all making. O_O AFS isn't exactly to happy about that though, our extreme closeness... aha that's a word, right?

And the family will grow! Today arrived a girl from Argentina. Her name is Rosita. I do admit, I had stereotypes of Argentinians, and I expected her to have long shiny black hair, dark eyes, and tanned skin but her appearance was pretty much the opposite. Haha

With her host family!

First together photo.

Just arriving off the train! She looks happy! :)

We were all so excited! Just imagine coming into a group of kids who have known each other for over 4 months and you're the new girl that has to make friends. I don't know if she was jet lagged or anything but she needed to get some rest before we could talk to her properly. We got some pictures together and she seems very nice! I can't wait to get to know her, and next time we see each other, of course her Italian will be better than mine since she speaks Spanish. I hope she'll feel at home with us! :D

Another girl if arriving in two weeks from Canada! Yes, power to the English speakers we're takin' ova!

I need that Staples button

Random thought process, go!

1. At first the language barrier sucks. People tell jokes and you're often left out wondering why everyone is laughing. Then you feel unconfortable, depression happens, and it gets worse, and then you study the language more. After you finally start to understand some things. Everything doesn't seem so bad.

2. Exchange week is coming up pretty soon! Exchange week is when kids who live in the North part of Italy get to live in the South for a week (and vice versa with the Southern students). (And ofcourse you have to pay. T3T) I can't wait! I heard the South is very different from the North. I hope I can go! *winks at US parents*

3. Oh I get it now, girls wear skirts in the winter and pants in the summer. Makes sense.

4. I make straight Fs in school. That never happens. It's so weird getting bad grades and I can barely even help it. I pay attention in school, study hard, and still fail. Ouch.

5. Preparing for Seasonal Shows! They're very normal in Italy. If you do an activity apart from school, you often do two shows in the year for you parents according to your program. I do Skating and Theater after school so I have to prepare for two shows!

6. I performed part of the Harry Potter Sorting Hat poem (Sadly,  I did memorize it two years ago.) in english for my Theater group and they loved it. I love them, too. Theater kids are awesome and wacky.

7. Oral tests in Italy might as well be living nightmares. Everyone freaks out when ever they are chosen for one. The teacher has a student pick a number out of a paper bag, and everyone holds their breath, to see if they are the doomed victim. It's something like the Hunger Games. Then if you are the prey, the teacher interrogates you in front of the whole class as they watch in silence. It's intense. I failed-- no, BOMBED miserably in Physics.

8. My little brother and sister are shetlered and a bit spoiled. *sigh*

9. I never thought I would have to deal with a jealous sibling. =/ My little sister Marta  is very kind to me at home in front of our parents, but when I'm with her in front of my friends or with other people, she becomes a demon. She insults me, takes my stuff, and is just plain childish. Then she attacks me even when I kindly tell her to stop. There's something wrong with her. Marta has no reason to be angry with me. She receives enough (overflowing practically) love from her parents already.

10. Many people where glasses for fashion, not perscription.

11.  Ugh, there's too much studying and tests.

12. Everything is still expensive.

13. Many Italian teenagers are glued to their cellphones and other technologies.

Random thought process over.

On track, right?

I think I've reached a nice limbo.

My Italian is a bit bland and I'm forgetting English. It's like I can't communicate and I actually have to think about the words that come out of my mouth constantly.

Really, when people speak English to me now, I have a small panic attack. ("What are you saying--?! Oh you're not speaking Italian...") I remember the other day I couldn't remember the word "table".

 I've also been thinking and dreaming in Italian for the past couple of weeks, but I never took the time to notice until a few days ago. There was no jump for joy or squeal, it was just more a small revelation like "Oh that's cool." And then moving on. Haha fail///

Eeesh! Oh well I think my AFS coordinators will finally be quiet. I can't believe my host mom actually talks to them. She wants to make sure every rule of AFS is followed. And I'm not going to lie, it's not fun when they are.

She told me the other day while we were on vacation that I need to stop everything that has to do with English, because of course it will slow down my learning process of Italian. She also stated you can find a lot of English in Italy already so it's not particularly good for me. But just try to stop speaking, writing, reading (blah, blah, blah) as much English as possible.

Ok...

Now I don't think that was exactly fair for her to say. Why?

Because my older host sister, her daughter Sara, is on her own foreign exchange in Costa Rica at the moment like me and she contacts her every single day. Sara is supposed to be learning Spanish which is very similar to Italian. So it must be a bit easier for her.

But don't you think she's slowing her process down by writing to her everyday on Facebook and Sky-ping every other night in Italian? =| It's probably none of my business how much they contact each other but it's kind of... creepy. To me it is anyways. I think my host mom really really misses her daughter because every morning she gets on the family iPad and does the daily stalking of her daughter's Facebook profile...

Which brings me to a point of: Italians are really close to their children. Really close. Constant kisses and hugs, childish nicknames and cuddling, wanting to know every single detail of their day, wanting to know what they're thinking, etc.. It's interesting. It's not just my family that does this, it's others, too. Either that, the kids are in screaming matches or don't get along with one of their parents. Normal teenage angst, yes?

One side of me is happy; My parents are more involved in their children's lives and they feel loved. Other side of me is stifled and annoyed; My parents suffocating their children's space and babying them. (Oh and also my space. =\)

(Now the thing with living with small children is that I'm also treated in their mentality by my mother. She thinks 17 years old is a small child's age. It's young but come on, I'm not a baby! She wouldn't even let me watch the TV Show Supernatural, in which I watch in the US, because it was too "explicit". I had to stop myself from pulling out my hair. It's so frustrating at times. I was probably in danger mentally and physically the moment I decided to leave my house in the States to come live out of my comfort zone in Italy. That's courageous enough in itself. I'm sure no childish person would make that decision.)

Also, I think I have to accept now that it is just in my little brother's and sister's nature to complain and cry. They constantly manipulate my host parents with their tears and it works. I can't believe it. My little sister is 7 years old, so yeah I knew she would cry sometimes, BUT EVERY SINGLE DAY? Is that normal? Today is the first day where she didn't cry at all. Everyday since I've arrived in Italy she has cried because she's wanted attention or something else petty. Also, my 13 year old brother cries when he is complaining and my host parents ask him to do something reasonable, ("Davide, please clean up your room a  bit."), and he doesn't want to.  He doesn't cry everyday, but he cries more than what I expected of a 13 year old boy...

If my parents yell at them, they immediately apologize afterword and then proceed to give them a handful of kisses. Then in the verbatim words of my host mother, "I'm sorry my love!" or "Forgive me, my treasure, my small child be strong!" If my little brother and sister came to my house in the US, they would probably think it was a hell hole. We were smacked and beaten if we talked back or didn't follow rules. Here, my parents don't even lift a finger against their children.

My brother and sister use their tears on my parents but I make sure they don't work on me. When I don't give them what they want, they get angry and start calling me unflattering Italian adjectives and sometimes throw pillows at me. What the freak.

It has taken an immense amount of patience to get over this. I keep having to remind myself they are young and will grow older. It's just a phase.

Since I'm not in the States I don't feel rightly entitled to yell at them. I remember one time I yelled at Davide for annoying me and my host mom didn't respond so well. My tolerance has gone up over 110%. I don't yell at people anymore when I'm angry. I just try to remain calm and I don't ever remember being like that...

Time flies so fast.

Which brings me to a point of New Years' and New Year's Resolutions.

I was probably the only teen in Italy who didn't go party.

Uh-huh. Yeah I asked a great amount of people to hang out with me but they were all "busy". Well, can't say I didn't try. So I just went to a small party with my parents and their friends. They were old, I was bored, so I read children's' English book and studied Italian. Whoopty doo.

I didn't make a New Year's Resolution either... I've been happy with the way I've been conducting my life. OuO So I guess even though a week after New Year's it's not too late to make up one on the spot.

I want to be an all around better person. Just continue to do my best in everything everyday and to have courage no matter what.

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The last day of break for school vacation. Bring it on.