...Remember My Grandma?

I guess I don't really know where to start. My grandma passed away a couple weeks ago. I don't really know exactly what happened, but it was unexpected. In some ways I think I'm lucky to be so far from home right now. I don't really have to deal with the sadness of her not being there anymore. However, I think it will really hit me hard when I have to go home and she's not there anymore. I had a different kind of relationship with my grandma than I think most people do. She was always there for me whether I asked for it or not and would drop what she was doing to help me or take me somewhere. I thought I would have at least another ten years with her. I thought she would be there when I graduated high school and college. I thought maybe she would meet the person I'm going to marry and maybe even make it to my wedding. I guess that's what sucks about being the youngest in the family, you get the least amount of time with everyone. But, I'm glad I have so many memories to remember her by and I'm lucky to have spent so much time with her. My grandma was strong, independent women and a great role model. And I will forever love and miss her.

 

<3

 

...La Cinema?

I'm sorry I know I haven't wrote anything in a really long time, but I'm on Christmas break now, so I'll be able to catch up! So the weekend after I went to Cremona I went to the movies with my friend Nicole and some other people. We went to see Catching Fire (La Ragazza di Fuoco). It was in Italian of course. This isn't the first movie I've watched in Italian. I've also watch Forest Gump, The Tourist, Slum Dog Millionaire,  Into the Wild, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and The Sound of Music. I was a little disappointed though because I understand almost nothing of Catching Fire. All the other movies I had a pretty good idea of what the characters were talking about, but this time I only understood a little. I think this is strange because I've read all the books. The only part I really 100% understood was when Katniss is having a nightmare and Peeta lays with her and she says something and he answered forever (per sempre). I guess I'll just have to wait and buy the movie and watch it again. I also want to add that Italian movie theaters are really nice. The seats are ginormous and really soft.

...Cremona?

Okay so Cremona is a really long story that I don't really want to retell right now. So I'm just going to post pictures instead. (We went to a festival of Torrone which is a typical Italian dessert eaten around Christmas time).

 

Me and Ellen in our Italian coats!

A Torrone mascot person

Desserts everywhere!!!

 

A Puppet show

The watch tower

(Almost every town I've been to has one)

The Cathedral

A giant violin

(I'm pretty sure it was made out of torrone)

There was also a little renaissance fair

Side walk art!

 

So it was a very long interesting weekend but it was also very hard. Although I didn't tell you the story, I think it's something I will laugh at later in life

...Scuola?

This week has been pretty uneventful so far. Many of my teachers have been sick this week so my class watched Forest Gump, in Italian of course. At first there were subtitles in English for me, but I tried to just listen and understand. I was surprised by how much of it I understood and how different the translation was from the English version. I think it's funnier in English because some of the jokes don't translate to Italian very well. My Italian is coming along pretty well I think. It's hard because people want to practice their English on me at school so I don't get to speak as much Italian as I probably should. However, I understand most things now and can even eavesdrop on conversations and more or less understand. It's hard though because most Italians talk to each other in dialect so it's like learning two different languages. My Italian language class I take after school is ending next week and for our final test we have to make a dish from our home countries and describe a part of our culture in Italian. I have no idea what to make because there aren't many American dishes and I have to make something that will last all day until after school. I guess I'll figure out something. Here are a few pictures from this week.

These are some kids from my class. We were the winning basketball team!!

Some more pictures from Gym

My view as I walk to my bus stop every morning

So this is an Italian school bus. They are terrible! As it starts to pull into the lot, everyone runs to it and grabs onto the sides and runs with it till it stops. Then they all push and shove to get on first to get a seat. There are only about 20 seats on each bus and about 60 kids. Which means about 40 people are left standing everyday smashed together. I'm one of those people. I'm usually one of the last ones on because I don't feel like getting shoved and pushed around. So normally I get stuck by the door which is probably the worst spot, because there is nothing to hold onto so you lose your balance all the time. All I have to say now is that I will never

again complain about American school buses. At least everyone gets a seat!

...Live Life?

I realized that I usually just write about the fun things I do here and I haven't really written much about my everyday life. So today I decided to try something different. Last Saturday at school (yes, I go to school six days a week. I know, its awful!) A girl in my class told everyone she was pregnant. Now, because this is not an uncommon thing in America, I wasn't shocked by the news, but by the way everyone reacted. The whole class started jumping up and down and cheering. I was so confused! Why were they so happy about this? It's not exactly everyone's dream to be pregnant at 15. When someone in my class noticed I wasn't cheering they asked me, "Lauren, hai capito?" which means did you understand. Later that night, I went to a birthday party for my friend Nicole and I asked two of the girls in my class why everyone was so happy about this. Their reply was, "Because it's such a beautiful thing!" All I could think was she's only 15. Then they continued to tell me that it's such a rare thing here that people are excited when it happens. But I just kept thinking about how she is going to finish school and support here baby. I mean because it is such a rare thing here, they don't have the kind of programs as we do in the States. I just couldn't bring myself to be excited for her when I've seen how hard it is for teenage parents in America where they have more resources than here.

I also went to my friend Nicole's birthday party Saturday. She lives in the same town as me so it was pretty close to my house. I don't think I've mentioned it before, but Bassano is the closest bigger town so that is where all the school are. There are about 7 high schools all right next to each other and people travel from as far as an hour away to go to school here. So I live in probably the closest town to Bassano right now and I will actually live in Bassano after Christmas for the rest of the year. Getting back on topic, I went to Nicole's house because the party was just across the street (Romano is a really small town). There were about 30 people there and we ate, danced, and talked for about 3 hours and then after everyone left, me and 2 others girls went back to Nicole's house and had a sleepover. We slept until about noon the next day and then I went home and relaxed.

At home, in Columbus, there was a phrase I used to hear quite frequently at home, "I can do whatever I want in the privacy of my own home". This is something I took for granted because I had never had to live somewhere where I couldn't do that. For example, everyone has to wear slippers in the house here, there is no such thing as going barefoot or in socks. In addition, I can't wear my blanket around my shoulders if I am outside my room, if I am that cold I have to put on a sweater. I think this is what I miss most about home right now, is doing what makes me comfortable at home. It is quite tiring to be constantly thinking about all of my actions

...Pisa?

Last weekend I went to Pisa with the other exchange students. I want to start out by saying how beautiful of a day it was 22 gradi which is like 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I was so excited because in the Veneto region it is normally about 55 - 60 degrees this time of year and I always have to wear a winter coat and tons of layers. Not only was it warm, but it was also sunny out! It rains almost everyday here!

So I had a lot of traveling before I got to Pisa. First, I had to drive to Vicenza because it is the closest big town. I couldn't take a train from Bassano because its a small town so not many trains stop here. So after an hour drive to Vicenza ( I went during lunch time so there was a lot of traffic) I got on a train by myself for the first time to Verona. Now before I boarded the train I asked my host mom how many stations were in Verona because usually the bigger cities have multiple stations. She told me that there was only one and I boarded my train. After about 45 minutes and 15 stops later, the train stop in Verona. I started to get off the train, but I realized the sign had a different name than the one on my ticket so I asked the lady next to me (in Italian) If I should get off there. she told me my station was the next one. So if you're ever in Italy going to Verona, remember there are two stations. So when the train got to my station I got off and headed out of the station to find the Rotarians driving us to Pisa. My friends Emily and Maddy, who live in Verona, came to find me and we all got in the car and started the 4 hour drive to Pisa. During the drive, we crossed the Alpines, The Po River, Firenze and Bologna. We arrived in Pisa at about 20:00 and went to find the hotel we were staying in. We were the first ones there and since the rest of the students wouldn't arrive till around 24:00 or 1:00 we went out for pizza. While we ate, it was crazy! people kept coming up to our table trying to sell roses, bracelets and watches. Also, people would come up and play music for us. This went one the whole time we were at the restaurant. After, dinner we went to find find the tower. It was beautiful at night! No body else was there so it was just us.

From the base of the tower.

Me and Emily

(My ginger twin)

Maddie, Emily, and I

 

I was trying to take a typical tourist picture, but I was too close!

It was about 2:00 in the morning and we were really hyper.

So I know what your probably thinking. Where's Round Rosie? Well I just want you to know I did take her with me, but I kind of forgot to take any pictures of her like always.

So the next day we woke up at about 8:00 and had a typical Italian breakfast of cappuccinos and scone like pastries. The other exchange were finally there and we met up with 2 boys who live near Pisa. So we set off to see the town in the daylight. So we decided that none of was wanted to go up in the tower because it was too expensive, but we did get tickets for the cathedral baptistery and cemetery.

The street view of Pisa

The tower in daylight!

 

 The Cathedral

Exchange student love!

More exchange students!

Everything in one picture!

Me and Madison

Getting kisses from a mime.

A cool grave in the cemetery!

Trying to be statues.

Again..

And again...

And again.....

More cool graves!

And more!

The Cemetery Courtyard

Me and Demi!

So After all the sightseeing the car I came in was leaving so some of us had to go home, but the rest got to stay till the next morning. It was probably the best time I've had so far since being here and I have about 700 new pictures.

 

...Marostica?

So a lot has happened these past few. I celebrated my first Halloween away from home. It was strange because they celebrate Halloween here, but they don't do any of the fun things Halloween is about. They don't dress up, no body gives out candy, and hardly anyone carves pumpkins. Basically all the do is go to the discos and party. Since I'm not aloud to go out during the night, my host family took me to a nearby town named Marostica. There, We got to go inside the castle that is usually closed.

The front view of il castello inferiore!

A bunch of fake people playing chess. I thought they were interesting.

The view of the life size chess board from the watch tower. People still play with it!

More fake people!

The view of the town and castle from il castello superiore!

 

The next day my family left for Milan and I had to stay with my second host family. I was supposed to go to Verona with all the other exchange students, but my host mom said it was too late notice so I just stayed in town and spent the holiday weekend catching up on TV shows I've been missing and some movies in Italian. Oh! I also cut off about 10 inches from my hair the day before Halloween and I received 2 care packages from home!

...Understand?

So I can now pretty much understand most of what is said to me slowly and I can speak a little. Italian is really hard though! People think I understand more than I do though. They've started to speak faster with me as well so it still difficult to understand sometimes. I come to the conclusion that even though most of them know English, they would rather just not talk to you than speak English. 

One day, One of my teacher went on strike I think, so we only had three hours of school. Some of the girls in my class invited me to go to the Centro with them and they showed me around. I enjoyed going around with other teenagers because they showed me where all the good shops were and where to find food.

Saturday, I went to the Centro with my friend Nicole who I have hung out with before. Even though she speaks English very well, I tried to speak Italian the whole afternoon, and I think I did pretty well! Tomorrow is my two months mark and I'm really proud of how far my language skills have come in such a short time.

Last weekend, Ellen and Anika who live in Vicenza, came to Bassano to tour the town and I got to meet up with them!

...Vicenza (Again)?

In the last two weeks I've been to Vicenza twice for my permission of permanent stay. The first time my host mom and I took a bus to the immigration office. When we got there, there were tons of people there! Our appointment was at 10:30 but we didn't end up going till 11:15. When they called us we went up the window where they went through my papers and took my finger prints. Then, they told us they we didn't have my school papers that I need even though no where in the paper work did it say to bring them. So they gave us another appointment for the next week. The second time we drove to Vicenza. This time our appointment was at 8:30 and we were the first ones there. Again they took my finger prints and then we left. I have to go back one more time before I can get my documents though. After we left the office my host mom took me to the Centro to tour the town.

The inside of the cathedral

The Piaza

A cute bar where my host mom and I got Cappuccinos   

The Piaza

The Palladian Basilica

Palazzo Chiericati

A street performer. There are many of these in everywhere in Italy.

 

Teatro Olimpico From the outside

A church

Balconys are very popular in Vicenza

The outside of another church

A candy store. There are many little stores like this in my town also that sell cakes, pizzas, bread, or noodles.