...Home

Yes, that's right, I'm finally home. Well actually, I've been home exactly 99 days today. It took me almost 100 days to finally accept the fact that I'm not going to wake up to the sound of voices speaking in Italian or the smell or freshly brewed coffee anymore. I don't get to go to school everyday and see my best friends and laugh with them as we wait for the teacher. And although it hurts when I think about these things, it also makes me so happy to know they happened, to know that I have people all around the world who love me and who I love so much. Being home isn't bad by any means, but I miss the adventure. I feel stuck here. And not in the sense that I can't leave, but in the sense that I can't be the person I became this last year. Nobody fully understands me anymore and they never will no matter how hard they try. Maybe that's because they didn't know the me I was in Italy. Or maybe because they still only see me as the 16 year old girl I was before I left. Because to the normal eye, my view on the world is completely unrealistic. I want to go and do things and experience and learn as much as I can not matter the cost. I would rather be an old lady with nothing to my name who chased every dream I had than to be a rich old lady with lots of nice things who let life pass by. I want an extraordinary life and I don't think that is to much to ask. When I used to think of my future I imagined I would graduate high school then go to college, get a good job, get married, have kids and live happily ever after. I guess that's just all I knew. Now I've seen there are different options out there and I don't know what I want. I could do what I always thought I should do, or I could be free and go travel and enjoy every second of life. Life is truly just one decision after another, each increasing in difficulty as it comes. My year abroad opened my mind  to so many more things, that my already too big imagination is about ready to burst with different options. I'm drowning in my daydreams trying to decide what's next for me. Who do I want to be and what do I want to do? And the problem lies with the fact that I have to just choose one thing and that's it. My problem is I want a bit of it all.

...Overcome?

Happy Wednesday everyone! Unfortunately, today wasn't that happy for me. Today, I had gym class and I just want to start by saying I have the rudest, most ignorant teacher in the world. I don't mean to be rude, but the man is truly just a cruel person. So at the beginning of the year, I started off gym class on a really good note. I was able to do everything without difficulty until we started the basketball unit. Now anyone that knows me pretty well could tell you about my lack of hand eye coordination. So we start doing layups and I was really excited because I actually made some! However, the teacher came up to me and told me that I was doing it wrong and needed to do it with two hands instead of one. I found this a little strange because in gym class in the states I was taught you are supposed to do it with one hand and I had seen it done this way many time while I was a cheerleader at basketball games. And considering Indiana is known as the basketball state, I think they would have taught us correctly at school. So I tried to do it his way to be nice, but I kept missing every time because the movement was completely wrong. Now this was the only shot we learned and practiced for 2 months and in that period I mentioned to him that I had learned to do it with only one hand and he told me I was wrong. I know I don't know much about basketball, but you'd think he would have of at least considered what I was saying considering basketball is an American game and I am American and it's not that popular in Italy. So he continued to mock me for pretty much the rest of the year. He would say things like you are the only American in the world that sucks at basketball because apparently all Americans play basketball perfectly. So after this, we started doing a health unit about the body. When it came  time to have a written test I talked to my host mom and she told me I didn't need to do it because first I didn't have a book and secondly the vocabulary was way to difficult for me. So the day of the test I came to school excepting not to do it. Then in class he handed my a test and told me to do it. When I just looked at him shocked he responded by telling me I needed to stop thinking I was better than everyone else and do the test. Now I found this a little rude because I tried really hard to fit in and do all my work but there was no way I could have memorized 60 pages of  health in Italian I mean I had only been in Italy for 5 months! So I decided I would try to guess what the questions were asking and draw pictures of what I thought it was because I couldn't write very well. Well he ended up giving me a 2 which is the lowest grade you can get. Then just last week there was a running test where we had to run for 30 minutes straight. I ran most of it, but I have really weak knees ad ankles from all the years of doing cheerleading and gymnastics and it's really hard for me to run for long periods of time. So I failed the test because I stopped to walk a few times and stretch out my ankles. Then he continued afterwards to ask me why all Americans are so fat. When I tried explaining to him that yes we do have many people overweight but there are also many healthy people as well and I continued to say  that I wasn't overweight and he started looking me up and down giving me a questioning look. Now sure I've gained more weight than I like here in Italy, but I am not fat and I don't need my teacher making me feel like I am. In addition him continued to tell me that the girl I exchanged with spoke perfect English and that I wasn't as good as her because I am here for 8 months and sometimes I still have trouble speaking. I mean I knew nothing when I got here and I am so proud of myself at how good Italian is and the other girl picked up English a lot faster than me with Italian. I mean she studied it for 10 years before she left so of course she got it faster. Then today when I came to class he said to me that the principal asked him for my grade to put on my a report card and that he told him that I failed because I never do anything. I proceeded to ask him how I did nothing considering I did the best I could and always participated. And he just would listen to anything I said so I took a step back and said to him that it was fine and that I didn't care. I realized there was no point in arguing because he wouldn't listen to anything I said anyways and it was better to just let it be. Anyways he continues for about 15 minutes about how horrible I am and America in general.Then he left and I had a little break down because I was already homesick and missing home and he just made it worse. Fortunately I have really good friends who made me feel better. I just can't believe just how rude some people can be. I mean he is a grown man picking on teenagers. I will say that one thing I learned this year is that no matter where you go in this world there will always be someone trying to tear you down or to make you feel bad about yourself and you just have to keep your head up and keep going. That's something I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I won't let anything get to me. I am strong, I am smart, and I am happy. And I will make it through!



...Sing in Italian?

So the first weekend of February, We had a district meeting in Marostica. Everyone had to come to Marostica to learn the national anthem of Italy that we sang at district conference last Saturday. Ellen, who lives in Vicenza, came to stay with me Saturday night before the meeting. We spent the night making American food and watching Toy Story 3. The next morning, we headed to Marostica, which is only about 5 minutes outside of Bassano, to meet everyone for lunch. This was also the first time we met our Australian newbies, Tom and Libbi. After we all ate our pizzas and met with the Rotary governor of our district, we headed to the practice room to begin the learning.

 

 

 

Surprisingly we actually sounded pretty good by the end!

...Get Ready to Say Goodbye?

Today I'm heading to a rotary event in Treviso! I think it's district conference, but I'm not exactly sure but all the exchange students from my district are going to sing the nation anthem of Italy. Usually I would be really excited to see everyone, but today is a little bittersweet. This is the last time I get to see some of them before they go home. I can't believe that this is it. Even though I'm still going to be here for a while, it still just kind of feels like the end. The people that were only strangers nine months ago are now the people that I depend on most in this world. They were the ones I called when I had a problem or when I just felt like I couldn't take one more day of this. They know me better than most people from home and they understand everything I'm going through. It's going to be hard not being able to just call one of them up to go Venice or Verona or Bologna for the day just to explore and enjoy our lives together. I still have 53 days here, but it's just not going to feel the same when half of my life is now spread around the world. Yes, I will see half of them again for Eurotour, but this is it for the other half. This is goodbye. I thought the more times I've said those words this year the easier it would get. But no matter how many goodbyes I say in my life, it's never going to get easier. And I don't know if that is entirely a bad thing either. I guess it just means that there're people in this world worth being sad about missing and I'm lucky to have gotten to meet so many of them!

And I now have seven countries and multiple states in the US waiting for me with open doors.

From the first day we met,

And everything in between

(We seriously do not take enough group photos)

  To the end.

They are the family I choose for myself and a little bit my heart will always be spread around the world with them. Thank you for an amazing year.

...Venice (Finally!)?

Okay, so if I remember correctly, I left off right before I went to Venice for the first time. I went with three other exchange students at the end of January. It was pretty cold and very foggy and extremely humid. Which I learned later on that the humidity is normal (I never do my hair when going to Venice). As soon as we walked out of the station the view was stunning. Everything I imagined Italy would be is Venice. The architecture is elegant and all the small alleyways leading to new adventures, and the sea. So far I think Venice is the only city in Italy that has met up to my expectations.

(The view from the front steps of the train station.)

 

We spent our morning making our way to The Rialto Bridge and stopping ever few feet to check out all the amazing mask, costume, and glass stores. If you didn't know, Venice is famous for it's hand blown glass but also its Carnival (Marti Gras). Carnival is different in Venice though. Everyone dresses up like Venetians from the 1700's and wears masks. It's supposed to be the biggest mascaraed party in the world (lucky for me I got to go later on in the year).

 

 



 

Rosie went too!

 

So after we saw the bridge, we head to San Marco's Square.

 

After our sightseeing I convinced everyone to go with me to the Hard Rock Café to eat (even though its really expensive).

Everyone being happy that they decided to come with me to eat.

 

Then after eating we spent the rest of our day exploring one of the most famous cities on earth and enjoying the adventure.

 

 

...Be Alive?

Yes, it has been over two months since I last posted a blog and I have been incredibly busy! The last three months have been the best of my exchange so far. Every time I look back on this year, it makes me sad I have to get on that plane and go home. These next two weeks I will try my hardest to catch up on all my trips including Israel and also talk a little bit about myself and how I've personally changed this year! However it's almost eleven here and I have school tomorrow so goodnight, or as we say in Italy, Buona Notte!

...Ice Skate in Vicenza?

The week after Padova, I went to Vicenza to go ice skating for another exchange students birthday. I was the first one there, so we went in a few stores in the center as we waiting for everyone to arrive. Then we went to eat pizza with all of Ellen's friends and the other exchange students. After lunch, we all went ice skating. The ice skating rink was out side in the center. I have no idea how it was still there, because it was fairly warm outside. I was really excited to go ice skating, however, the ice was the worst ice I have even seen. It had been there for about a month already and had never been cleaned so it was really hard to skate. We skated for a while and then we all decided to go shopping some more, well actually they shopped, and I walked around with them resisting the urge to buy everything. Later we headed to the station and everyone got on buses or trains to their host cities.

There are better picture somewhere, but of course no one ever wants to take pictures with two cameras and everyone says they will post them on Facebook so I can get them, but they never do.

 

...Padova?

The first weekend I lived with my second family, my host mom took me to Padova. My host brother lives and goes to university there and she had to go to clean his house. It's very different in Italy. Basically the mother does everything for the family, cleans, cooks and drives them everywhere. Because of this, I feel like the kids are less independent than I'm used to. Since there is another exchange student living in Padova I decided to hang out with her while my host mom was cleaning. Sadly, it was already dark so I didn't get to see much of the city, but we did go shopping. Padova probably has the best shopping I've seen so far in Italy, but of course I haven't been to Milan or Rome yet. As we walked into the center the first stores I saw were Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Rolex. Plus it had all the popular stores for teenagers: Zara, H&M, Stradivarius, etc.. After about 3 hours of shopping and dinner, we decided to go back to Sarah's house. So before I went to Padova, my host brother told me that they have a problem with the Russian and South African mafias there. And that they have Military police men in the bad parts of the city. So as me and Sarah are walking back to her house, in the dark, we came to a fork in the road. We could go right which was close to a busy road where there were a lot of people. Or we could go left through the park which was the shorter path, however it's also where the drug dealers hang out. As we are contemplating our choices, Sarah says, "My host mom told me not to go through the park at night, but it's shorter so we'll go this way". So we start walking left towards the park with no one around. As we walked, I was freaking out, because we are two young girls walking alone at night in ghetto Padova with our hands full of shopping bags and there were men driving by staring at us. After about 40 minutes of walking, we decided we were lost. As we turned around to retrace our steps, we see the Military police men with their big machine guns drive past us. That's when we started running until we finally found Sarah's street. About an hour later, my host mom came to pick me up and we headed back to Bassano at about midnight. Let's just say I wasn't that impressed with Padova.

 

Okay this is something I saw and thought was really strange. They have a 9/11 Monument in Padova, Italy. Like how weird is that. It even has a piece of the building in it.

...Wish me a happy birthday?

I want to start by saying that birthdays are really important in Italy, like everyone remembers when yours is and they make a deal of wishing you a happy birthday. So the day before my birthday, I went for pizza with some girls from school. The pizzeria was really close to my house so I just walked. However, when I got there, I started to get a stomach ache. I thought, maybe I was just really hungry, so I ordered a pizza and we waited. Unfortunately, when we got our pizza's and started eating it only got worse. So after the others had finished, we all walked back to my house where my host mom gave me some medicine. We sat down and talked for a while and after about 20 minutes, I felt better. After, we decided to eat the cake my host mom had made for me. After another hour or so everyone left and I went to bed. The next morning, we all got in the car and headed to my second host families host in Enego to have lunch together. I actually changed houses on my birthday too. So, I felt fine all through lunch, but after everyone left, I started to get a stomach ache again. As the night went on it only got worse. Let's just say I spent a majority of my night on the bathroom floor with my head in the toilet. Definitely not one of my best birthdays. The next day wasn't much better either. We had to go back to the house in Bassano and I still felt nauseous. Basically, every 10 minutes on the drive back we had to stop so I could get out of the car and throw up. When we finally got home, I went straight to bed and slept until the next day. I was sick for the remainder of the vacation. After about a week I finally felt normal again. It's not fun being sick when you're 3,000 miles from home.

Me blowing out my 17 candles!

 

...Celebrate the New Year?

So for New Year's Eve I went to a party with my friend Nicole. It was a really low key party so it wasn't that bad. And what I mean by that is that there weren't tons of people so I didn't have to awkwardly try to talk to that many people. Actually, most of the people there I had met one or two times before. So Nicole picked me up at my house, which wasn't that far because we lived in the same town, then we went to the party. The party was basically the same as parties in America. We dance, ate and played games until midnight. Then we went outside and set off fireworks and made a toast. The party finished around three in the morning and then we went back to Nicole's house. And that's how I brought in the New Year

Me and some of the girls from the party!

 

Our nutritious breakfast

(Now I know where those ten extra pounds came from, nights like these)

My new boyfriend Liam

I've probably said this before, but Italians really like One Direction. (Yes, I know my pajamas are cute!)

.

...Enego and Asiago?

A few days after Christmas, I went to the mountains with my second host family. They have a house in Enego that I had also went to the first week I was in Italy (yes, the same place I got locked in the bathroom before). So my host second host dad came to pick me up at my first house and then we headed to the mountains. As we drove I learned a lot of history about the mountains. We even stopped to see a fort used in World War 1.

One of the trenches near the fort.

The view of the valley from the fort... Yes, we were actually in the clouds!

The outside of the fort

The fort on the inside... I'm not sure how far it actually goes because it was dark and I didn't walk through the whole thing.

A big gun inside the fort

 

Round Rosie went with me this time!

 

The view from my window.

 

One of the things I love most about Italy is that I get to see and be in these places that we learn about in school. The places where history was made, the same place important people stood only a few hundred years ago. Around every corner there is a new story to be told, something new to learn. My host dad also took me to see this statue of the lion of Venice, which was the symbol of the Venice empire. When Napoleon had come to destroy this statue, the people of the mountain had hid it and saved it. I was just in awe as I looked at it, I mean Napoleon had looked for and tried to destroy the same statue I was looking out. I mean how cool is that! When we finally arrived at the house, we ate dinner and then after dinner we headed to the town theater to see a little concert. The next day after we ate lunch, we headed about an hour to another town in the mountains called Asiago. Now, Asiago is a tourist town, but not to long ago was the location of a major battle in WW1. Like most other the mountain towns, Asiago was originally inhabited by Germans and Austrians. During WW1, the town was almost completely destroyed, but was beautifully rebuilt. To add some more awesome history, Earnest Hemingway had fought in the battle in Asiago (also, his town house is in the villas just outside of Bassano)! Asiago is also famous for Asiago cheese, which is probably my favorite cheese I have eaten here so far. As it started to get late, we headed back and stopped in a valley that runs exactly from North to South or East to West (I can't remember). In this valley there was this giant rock with designs drawn on it from some ancient religion. I don't really remember the facts very well because it was explained to me in Italian, but it was really cool to see and I think there are 2 others that form a  triangle with the one I saw for something. Finally, before we headed home, we went to the very top of the mountain to see the snow. Yes, I got to touch snow at least once in Italy! Later when we got home, we ate dinner and then headed to the church for a Christmas concert. The next, day I slept most of the day and then after lunch headed home to Bassano.

The rock, it's hard to see the designs in the picture

Beautiful nature

The valley