i will join the circus

It was the 3 day weekend of Carnivale (thank goodness) and I had a lot of fun! Even though Carnivale is much bigger and cooler in Venice, it was still good in Treviso. :D There were colorful parade floats mainly having to do with the history of Italy or random themes such as Betty Boop with popular party music.

 A lot of the dancers were in high school and I guess they choreographed and made everything in their free time.

 My family and I stood on the side of the streets to let the floats pass. It was awesome seeing everyone in costumes! (Well except me, I didn't have a costume. :( ) There were so many boys dressed as girls, haha. I even saw Snow White as a man, complimented with bright highlight yellow heels of course. He worked it.

 The dancers were fantastic, too! I just wished I could've dressed up as Waldo like I do the United States...

One of the things that actually surprised me about festivals in Italy is the confetti. Ok you're probably thinking duh there was confetti, but everyone throws it at each other. Like in your face throwing. I didn't have confetti so I was just running through the streets being pelted. At first it was all fun and games until I found out it was hard to brush off! I was finding it in my clothes for days and in uncomfortable places! *awkward cough* Yeah...

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My study habits are becoming ridiculous. My brother found me sleeping face first in my Italian notebook because I was exhausted from studying. Look at that dedication! I work so hard. :)

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I decree AFS USA should show this video at all parting orientations from now on.

Thank you Dr. Seuss.

I feel like Time Traveling.

Time is flying so fast over here!

It's already February 19th! I'm over halfway through my exchange.

I'm so happy I've made it this far! :)

I've had good and bad days. I'm really going to find it hard to leave Italy in the end.

I remember being depressed for three days. That's actually a really long time for me because I'm never depressed! I didn't want to get out of bed, I wasn't happy, it just seemed like Italy had caught up with me. I didn't want to speak in the different language anymore because everything just seemed so tough. I didn't want to go to school and always miss out on jokes, I didn't want to do the homework I didn't understand, I didn't want another day of studying only to feel stupid again. I was feeling impatient with everyone around me, and blaming everyone because they wouldn't know exactly what it's like to be a foreign exchange student unless they've experienced it themselves. I didn't even want to talk to my AFS tutor.

Then my feelings passed. It's either my silly teenage brain or just a down slope of the AFS roller coaster. I feel better now but if it happens again I'll snap myself back up. Maybe part of the reason I was depressed was because I wasn't drawing. I usually draw a lot but I noticed a long time ago, if I don't draw I become really angry.

I'm also starting to forget some of my old habits that I did in the United States. I couldn't believe it! The other day something in my brain reminded me of my weird old house activities (Such as wearing stockings on my head, etc.) and I asked my self "I really use to do that?!"  Italy is really changing me. O_O

Such as turning me into a fashionista. I never used to care if something looked good on me and I would walk out the house looking like a bum. But when I go out I make sure I look orderly. Unfortunately, Italians do judge appearances which is annoying. Many people don't hesitate to stare with googly eyes if you look different. Me walking around town as a Gryffindor with an Afro doesn't help my situation much. Haha

I'm also starting to get over my fear of germs. It's just inevitable in Italy. It really is. Everyone coughing in their hands, sqauty potties, etc. I'm just done.

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On the language.

I'm doing really well! My AFS whatever-they-are-I-don't-care-anymore/the old ladies in charge of my Treviso group aren't so happy with us. They said we're the year of disappointment and that our Italian isn't good.

I can only sit and laugh at them. Really. I'm not seeing the problem no matter how hard I try to look at it from their perspective. I feel my Italian is awesome. I can speak with people, I can read, and listen sufficiently. My only problem is when people speak to me really fast which is absolutely normal. (Come on, it's the same in the English language, too. Someone speaks way too fast you're not going to hear what they say. ¬­­­­_¬;;­­­­)

But for some reason these volunteers are always angry.

I'm done with them for now. I've received many compliments from Italians saying my Italian is great and there has been much improvement since I arrived. And I always make an effort to improve everyday! :) So I'm happy with what I'm doing, I'll take it they're just being cranky.

I've forgotten so much English. It's actually an effort to sit here and type these blogs. When I speak English Italian words slip out in every other sentence! I'm going to have reverse culture shock back in America! :D

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I'm so proud of myself. I have officially reached a third grade reading level in Italian!

This book is difficult! haha

Once you know all the rules and tons of vocabulary, read a book. The magic just unfolds and you learn SO MUCH.

I find the Italian language similar to some other languages. I'm beginning to understand Spanish and French, too! I read some Spanish and I'm able to comprehend a bit of it. One of my friends was speaking in French to me, which I've never studied a day in my life, but I understood every word she said!  So I guess you can learn one romance language learn em' all right?

Also I received my school Pagella (Report Card) for the first half of the school year. I actually did well! :)

I'm judged on a different format than the other students at my school. I'm kind of confused why AFS would rate me on how much slang I know though...? Makes me wonder about them sometimes. Graded on a scale of 1 to 5, I'm mainly average, but they should go up in the future.

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At the beginning of February Italy experienced a Siberian Wind with temperatures below normal. It was so cold! Everyone said I was lucky to come to Italy and experience something so unusual. Haaa no. I would've been happy if it was snowing, but Treviso just received fast winds that made it difficult to walk to school.

I was so mad when I went on Facebook and saw a lot of my AFS friends' statuses saying "One inch of snow, yeah, School Closed!!!!" And some of these kids were in SICILY. :( Which is definitely in the South. But in the North where I live, closer to the mountains, its barely snowed enough to stick!

I had to go further north in Conegliano to experience the beauty of Italian snow.

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Many AFS students of my Veneto region met up in Venice exactly a week ago. Coincidentally it was also the opening day for the oh so famous Carnival! Many people dressed up in fancy gowns and masks. So beautiful. *sniffle*

Smurfs!

It was so fun! Something like a nerdy anime convention except in a whole city. Many of us hadn't seen each other since the October camp, so you can only imagine how loud we were screaming in joy. I was so unbelievably happy to see everyone again! And I learned some interesting things about everyone else and how their experiences are going.

Heh, in this is only one of the small groups of us! We raided Venice!

We even had a "Let me see your funky chicken" (anyone affiliated with AFS should know this) dance  flash-mob in Piazza San Marco. It was hilarious. Everyone thought we were crazy.

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I recently had to cancel my video blog. I was just too busy for it. I'm still managing to keep up with this blog, I don't plane to give it up, but documenting in this way is good enough for me.

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I've been trying to get into Italian music for more learning and here are some of my faves. It's actually hard to find Italian music. American music is way too popular over here!

(You'll have to watch these on YouTube. This website is weird. =| )

Celeste -Laura Pausini

 Dentro Ad Ogni Brivido -Marco Carta

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In all Italy is still expensive even with the prices "on sale". Which is basically the equivalent to buying something at a normal price in America. I want to do some shopping while the sales are still here but I always have empty pockets!

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Yesterday I had my first show! For skating. :) It was cute. I was so nervous! My parents took pictures but they weren't so good. I'll just show you the decent ones.

Since it is the weekend of Carnival, we had a party after and everyone dressed up in costumes to dance. I got a picture of Minnie mouse!

Time for the weekend. We're finally staying in the house for once on vacation! :D Ressssst!

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.

Venice, Christmas, and other hoopla

Aaaaw yeah mission accomplished! Took three months to get to it but I did!

I went to Venice.

It was cool! <3 And beautiful. :D

These wonderful friends took me.

Upon arrival there were also some people who were giving out free hugs. I ran up to them yelling "I want free hugs!" And I got a nice picture too. Haha Apparently it's not normal for people to get free hugs in Venice.

We walked around a lot and there were many crazy pigeons. They flew lower than normal, or they would land on you and demand your remaining food. :O Demons!

It took us a while to navigate the weird alleys to find Piazza San Marco but it was worth it!

We went into the St. Mark's Basilica  where you weren't supposed to take pictures and talk but people still did anyways.

There were so many gondolas and stores of masks!

After more walking  we went into a nice restuarant where I wasn't expecting them to be playing the most ghetto playlist you would only here in an American club. It was hilarious to me. They were literally blasting anything from Waka Flocka Flame to Soulja Boy in an elegant restuarant. Wut...? The waitresses seemed to be enjoying themselves because they were singing along with the words.

You do a lot of walking in Venice...

It was an interesting day. :)
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Cute Christmas yesterday! I received a nice bubble like coat from my parents. :)

I had to wake up at 7AM because my little sister barged in my room screaming," ZAKIYYA, SANTA DROPPED OFF OUR PRESENTS!!!"

I haven't been around children who believe in Santa for so long... my sisters in the US are all older than me so we just don't have that jolly ole' spirit anymore. Marta made me write a letter too because she didn't want Santa to forget I was apart of the family. How cute!

I asked for some cool stuff like a rocket and a bicycle for flying! Then she told me Santa wouldn't be delivering my presents if I had a ridiculous list like that. D: I was dissed by a child. lol

Then my father's brother and sister came over with their kids and we had a good ole' time. Mainly my siblings though... the cousins were more so around their age (7-10 years old) so I wasn't really that interested. But they had a puppy that arrived for them Christmas morning!

Haha cute thing, snapped at everyone's fingers.

Ofcourse there was also delicious food! This dish is only known in a certain northern  part of Italy. It's only eaten once a year because it's very heavy on people with frail stomachs. The cup like shap with a candle is heating a mixture of oils and some anchovies. You dip the vegetables in when the mixture is warm and it tastes good. :D

We even Skyped my host sister in Costa Rica. She was feeling a bit homesick so she watched as the family opened presents together.

The AFS Christmas party was last Sunday and I gave all my friends cute gifts. Alice in Wonderland themed cards I drew (I love Alice in Wonderland a lot!) which said what I thought was special about them. I really am going to miss them when this experience is over but I shouldn't think about that at the moment! Plus little Christmas anime themed hangers I drew for them.

The cards :)

One of the Christmas hangers.

A few minutes before the party, one of our coordinators came up to us foreign exchangers and said we had to do a presentation of our country's Christmas celebration for 5 minutes. ugh. Our Italian is still lame, so it was everyone looking at us like "Aaaaw how cute, they're trying to explain things to us in poor Italian." =|

I also gave my teachers special cards written to them. They seemed so surprise and happy, but I guess none of the students ever give them anything for the Holidays...
My class had Secret Santa going on for a month and they gave me an adorable coffee mug plastered with hearts. They are so awesome. :D

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Finally on break from school. Two weeks to be a bum never felt so great.

It was nice until I caught The Italian Epidemic. Also known as the common cold. At least 5 times worse though. Hacking, coughing, and other info that is unneeded but you can use your imagination.

Why couldn't I have caught the cold when school was still in so I could miss it? Only the day when school closes do I become sick. Lame timing.

I was always so careful. :( I carried hand sanitizer where ever I went! Unfortunately, I drunk some coffee after my friend Alyce who was already sick for days. Fail! The next I was pretty much dead. Quarantined in my room sleeping.

It was only a matter of time before I caught it I guess. Italians have a tendency to sneeze in their hands and then touch everything around them as if nothing happened.

Now to a normal person, they're probably like "Ok, wow, germs, big deal."

NO. To me, I. can't. stand. germs. They are terrible! And it's probably one of the reasons why I'm a neat freak now.

So you can only imagine how much of a nightmare Italy is to me on this subject. The buses, the freaking bathrooms that are squaty potties, and of course when people sneeze in their hands.

I've really tried to ignore these things to adapt but my goodness, come on.

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My computer hates everyone else's blogs now. It won't let me comment or even see them anymore. =|

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McDonald's in Treviso is the biggest rip off ever! For 4 Chicken Nuggets and a Medium Sprite you pay 4.10 Euros. In US Dollars ofcourse it's more.  Without fries, too. That's just wrong. D:

I guess it's Italy's way of keeping everyone from getting fat. xD

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I keep having dreams about zombie apocalypses getting sent back to the US. Not because I've done something wrong in the dreams to get me sent back, it's because my tutors say my trip has ended early for no reason. I don't care if it's three months early or two days I don't want to go back to the US yet! I'm having a good time and so many people worked hard for me to be here. The dreams are so real though! I wake up in a panic and when I see I'm still in my Italian bedroom, then, I am happy. Phew.

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Last week I lost my bus card.

In Treviso, they pull surprise trips where coordinators get on the bus and check everyone for their tickets to make sure no one is cheating the system. Sometimes you think you get through the bus ride safe but then you're about to get off and they're there standing at the doors waiting for you, too.
(They're so strict about the tickets but they don't care enough to get their buses to stops on the exact time. Fair enough yes. =/)

Anyways, it just so happens the week I accidentally lose my bus ticket they crank up the security for the buses hard. ಠ_ಠ So instead of being able to sneak on the buses, I had to buy 2,50 Euro tickets each time I got on the bus until I found my card. My wallet is still crying.

So after waiting for a couple of days to find my ticket I lost hope and just bought a 10 Euro duplicate. But the same night someone found my old bus card on the ground after skating practice. What a waste of 10 Euros! I'll just think of it as a donation to the douche bus company.

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now i need to find something to do for new years'

Adventures away! zooooooom ciao <3

Sono ancora viva!

My brain is so fried from this week.

While my class was being hosted in Germany I stayed in good ole' Treviso going to my school's main building; answering the same repetitive questions in English for Italian students. Oh yeah!

It may sound easy, but after a while it gets old. Then there's the 120 students I can now add to my list of acquaintances that randomnly say hi to me on the streets. Seriously I think I know about half the city's students now.

Not a bad thing. I would love to hang out with them. If they weren't all studying haha! Italian teenagers work so unbelievably hard...

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Last week there was a four day weekend and my family decided to spend it in the mountains. At first I wasn't too happy about this decision since I'm not a very big fan of swerving mountain roads but it wasn't that bad this time.

We went to the region of South Tyrol I believe, an area of Italy that is bilingual; the inhabitants of this area spoke both German and Italian.

You can imagine how useful my three years of forgotten German and poor Italian were to me.

It was a relaxing adventure. There was a nice sauna and indoor heated pool at the hotel we stayed in so I was good to go.

And since my parents are very healthy and think children should be outside more than playing games indoors, we took a nice 4 hour walk around the mountains. I was actually really tired but I got some nice pictures!

After that I wanted to go to sleep but my parents made me study for a Physics oral test I had coming up. (By the way, I failed the exam horrificly. D:)

The town we stayed in was some sort of witchcraft like place where a lot of people believed in weird monsters, witches, and other odd things...

For instance, along the trail I would find distorted wooden benches like these:

people claimed to have been made by witches. They were kind of creepy...

Later on the last night of our trip, there was a festival of monsters! Apparently every year, the teenagers of the region dress up in hiddeous costumes, make cars to ride in, or weird objects and parade around a designated trail through the small town scaring everyone.

Now this wasn't your ordinary scare fest. The monsters at the theme parks in my city of Cincinnati don't grab you. They just scare you and get in your face some. No,  these monsters actually kidnap you into their parade and take you half way through the trail before releasing you somewhere in an unwanted destination.

Luckily I didn't get captured but some monsters tried to get me. I had to stay clear because some of them had fire and dangerous smoking weapons. A lot of the monsters wore gigantic cowbells around their waists so you could hear them and get out of the way before they caught you. But all the university students were so drunk on German beer I guess it didn't even matter.

I couldn't get any good pictures since the people dressed in the outfits moved around too much.

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There was a huge high school of musical students in the town. Students would come and play Christmas tunes in the middle of the Piazza.

My mom is teaching me how to cook! <3

I learned how to make coffee with this weird contraption. It's unbelievably easy and fast! I plan on taking one back in the United States for my family!

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My parents went shopping in the town's market center. I also took some photos of this.

Nutella is everywhere!

There's a lot of cheese in the super markets! :O

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-sigh-

I think Italian traffic needs it's own special section everytime I make a new post.

I'm pretty much angry with Italian transportation and traffic at the moment. With their random strikes, crazy drivers, and no common sense crossing the street. (Goodness, since I've finally adopted the way Italians cross the street, I've forgotten how I would even do it back home in Cincinnati...)

Italy needs to get it priorities straight with these buses.

1. Because when there is a strike with the buses, there will be less of them, and they will be much more crowded than usual, or people won't have a ride home at all. Some students had to walk over an hour and half home two days ago when the last strike happened. Lucky for me, I rode my bike in 30 minutes. And it was raining. =|

AND

2. I am annoyed with terrible drivers! Seriously! My bus got into an accident yesterday morning because a lady pulled out in front of us and the bus driver, using his already wonderful NASCAR skills, had to suddenly brake. No if it weren't for good handrails I could've been seriously injured and not have walked the rest of the way to school. But I'm fine. Now as for some of the other people on the bus with me that's a bit different. Since many of the people that catch the bus are old and don't have a strong grip, they went flying to the front of the bus in a huge dog pile. It was terrible. Ambulances and firetrucks were called to the scene because I think some old ladies dislocated their hips, but other than that I believe everyone walked away fine.

Damn Italian traffic.

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AFS Christmas Party tonight, woo!

I'm actually really interested to celebrate Christmas in a different family this year. I'm curious how this is going to work.

Along with my mom and siblings we put up the Christmas tree at the beginning of the week! It's so cute!

I made my presents for my friends at home and mailed off the package! (It was hard to do so because the postage women didn't really want to help me out much when they found out I didn't speak very good Italian :O But in the end I managed with the help of good citizens.)

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Eeeh! I'm feel like I'm growing up a little bit too much. Having a little brother and sister has brought out and even more responsible side of me. Even though I'm still a bit lazy, I've stopped procrastinating more because I realized how important time is. And I'm taking care of other people on a daily basis than myself for once. I was never used to that...

It's a weird feeling but I'm sure during my AFS experience I will continue to grow and build even more character as the months go by.