...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