Settimana di Scambio (Exchange Week) Lecce

For a week in March other AFS students came to Lecce for their exchange week. It was really great to meet new people from so many different people from so many different places and interesting to hear about their different experiences in Northern Italy. Whenever the exchange students get together we always have a lot of fun.

During the week I stayed with my assistant from AFS because she lives in the city of Lecce. This way I wouldn't have to drive a long way every day from Cutrofiano.

With the exchange students from this area and the ones from other parts of Italy we went to see the famous spots in Puglia. One day we toured the city of Lecce, another day we went around the coast of Salento and we saw Otranto, Santa Cesarea, Leuca (the point of the heel of Italy), and Gallipoli, and another day we went to Northern Puglia and saw Ostuni and Alberobello. Ostuni is also called the White City because it is on a hill and all the houses at the top are white. It was really beautiful because at the top you could see all around and you could see all the way to the sea. Alberobello was a city in which all the houses are really particular-looking. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'll put the photos up.

On the last night we had a dinner party with everyone. It was lots of fun and I laughed a lot with my friend from Uruguay. We danced, and we ate. It was a really great way to end the week.

Also during that week my Chinese friend had her birthday and we surprised her with a birthday party. She was so happy she was crying!

February

It's been quite a good month here in Italy! Not it's starting to get warmed and it's been raining less. Not too much to report though besides going to Belgium. School and life are going well and I actually finished two books in Italian this month (and I'm now working on another one). I've now read two little chapter books (probably about 2nd grade level) and I'm really proud that my Italian's finally getting to a useful level! Even though I'm understanding most of what they're saying now, I still have a long way to go. For example, during lunch time I'm starting to get what they're discussing (depending on what they are talking about) but it's not perfect (but sometimes it's not my fault because they speak in dialect at times). Then, I've got to master understanding that dialect! Italian first though.
In a few weeks, I'm going to Venice for an exchange week with AFS and I can't wait! I'll be staying with a family who lives right outside the city and there's a brother my age and a younger sister. However, I've already embarrassed myself in front of them. O.o I received friend requests from them, one of them being from what I thought was their dog, due to the fact that a bunch of the photos they were tagged in were of a dog. So later that day, the dog instant messages me and after small chatting for a bit with the dog I ask if he's a dog and he replies "Almost. Why????" .....it turns out it was the dad of the family! Oops! I'm hoping he found it funny like me or it's going to be a long week in Venice.
Anyways, everything's going well but I still miss you all back home! I got an e-mail yesterday with my flight information back home.... I'll land in New York on July 9th at 3:45 pm!

Belgium

A few weeks ago for our "Carnival" vacation I went to Belgium with my host dad and brother and their family friends. We took a really cheap airline called Ryanair out of Bari to Brussels. When we arrived in Brussels I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was snowing! I've been missing the snow (though not that cold :P ) so I was quite glad to see it. Plus all the italians were in a fuss over being freezing and I was perfectly content. The hotel we stayed in was quite nice and big with a mini kitchen! And I was again pleasently surprised to find some channels on the TV in English (I even watched Arthur for a bit!). It was really cool while being there being the translator for the italians at times just because I could speak English (though confusing too). Some people were surprised after they asked why I could speak English so well when I told them I am American.
Anyways, so the next day Monday we spent most of the day in Brugge and after we walked around Ghent for a bit. However, when we were trying to get to Brugge we asked a Belgian man for directions and he led us completely wrong! I'm not sure if it was because he couldnt speak either of our languages or because he was a huge jerk.... but nonetheless, we were very confused! In Brugge we saw many churches and basically walked around a good part of the city. In the afternoon we took a ride on the canal too! There was a very big and beautiful Cathedral that we went into and lots of cute buildings to see. In Ghent we took a walk around but there didn't seem to be much to see and they were doing construction on the road so it was very muddy and gross.
On Tuesday we spent the first half of the day in Antwerp. I met up with Claire and we all took a walk from the very pretty Central Station to the biggest cathedral in Antwerp. On the way there were lots of stores and things, and Claire explained whenever there was something important to make a note of. At the Cathedral however there wasn't much to see because to go in all the wall you have to pay 5 euros. We returned back to Brussels for the afternoon where we went to see another Cathedral and we walked around the city some more.
That night after dinner we all went to a Belgian bar type place. One of the family friends' son spooted some Spanish girls that he decided he wanted to try and hit on. Only he had to do it in English! So I get dragged along to help him hit on these Spanish girls... it was quite funny! They were really nice actually and some of them talked to me too, though I think they were wondering what I was doing with a guy who was trying to hit on them. After a while I think they were reaching the too much alcohol point thought because when I got up to leave they were chanting my name and clapping.... HAH! Funnily enough, my family friend actually managed to get a few of their numbers.
On Wednesday, we stayed in Brussels again only we went a bit outside the city to go inside the giant atom. It was really cool, especially when you had to take escalators between the protons and electrons and such. Then at the top you could see all around too! After that we did some more walking around the city and we went to see the European Parliament and did some shopping.
And basically the next day we got up early and returned back to Italy! Belgium was really beautiful to see and I really enjoyed the trip.

January

January had gone by well and very fast! Living here is becoming pretty normal. School from 8 to 1 or 1:30, lunchtime with the family, and then a bit of studying. Three times a week we go to the gym for step classes so hopefully I'm burning off all that pasta! And now, on Tuesdays and Fridays I have play rehearsal after school. It's pretty small and we don't have a lot of people or materials but it's still fun. We're doing Don Quixote. The way our director has done casting in order to reduce the amount of lines we have to memorize is that every scene the casting is different. So in one scene I'm Don Quixote and in another I'm a peasent!

In January we also got our report cards and I passed all my classes! The last week of the semester was pretty crazy though. All the teachers and students were scrambling to do last minute tests in order to bring up grades. My math teacher gave us a big test during this time and I was so stressed out and scared for it!

Probably the best thing that happened in January though was spreading the joy of the Red Sox! My parents sent me a bunch of Red Sox things (hats, shirts, trinkets) and we gave each one of my host brother's friends one. And thankfully, they really liked them! We also had a Red Sox monkey that they we all fighting over.

January was a bit cold, and it even snowed for about 5 minutes! However, it quickly melted immediately after.

New Years and January

It's been a good January here in Italy. I started off the year with my american AFS friend coming to visit me and her, my host sister, two friends, and I went to the disco. It was a lot of fun! Then on New Years day we had a big lunch with the grandma. Pasta asciuta.. yummmm!!
It was great to have my friend come to stay with us for a bit and have another American around. Unfortunately, she got the stomach flu on her last day here. Also, on the Epiphany there is still vacation and the "Befana" comes during the night and brings you sweets if you've been good and puts them in a stocking.
I've been back to school for about two weeks now and it's going pretty well. Things are really starting to fall into place now. I'm understanding a lot and I'm even reading a small chapter book in Italian. On the back it says "for ages 9 to 10" HAHA! I guess my language is as good as a 9 year old! I'm also making friends and yesterday I went over my own friends house. It was fun and she showed me around her town so I got to see another piece of Salento. I'm really happy with how far I've come and I'm excited for the coming months because I know it's only going to get better. Right now in Salento it's actually a bit cold (one day it hit 32°F) and we light a fire almost every day. The Italians are also really crazy about covering themselves from the cold when it really isn't that cold. Though at this point I've gotten used to it.
I've started my school's theater program and we're going to do Don Quijote. However, I'm not sure what it will be like because the first and only rehearsal I've been to about 2/3 of the kids were missing.
Other than that, next month we have a vacation for "Carnival" and my host family, their same friends from Rome, and I are going to Belgium!
Miss you all and have a great day!

Christmas in Italy

Happy Holidays everyone!!!
Thought you all would like to hear about what Christmas was like in Italy. To be honest, the main events of Christmas weren't very different. We put up a Christmas Tree with ornaments and tinsel, we went to Christmas Eve Mass, and had a big meal with the extended family on Christmas Day. However, there were many small details of Christmas that were different, starting with school. For the last few days of school we did this thing called "autogestione" which is where the students get to do what they want (basically, they can pick from a bunch of different stations to go to for these 2 hours of the school day. For example, Musicale, School of Rock, or Literature). I went to the Musicale "circolo" which was so much fun! It was like a school dance except in the basement of the school. Then on the last day before vacation we had a local band come to the school to perform a concert (again in the basement) and my class had a party (I ate SO much!).
Christmas Eve we had a big dinner with the family and opened presents and after we went to church (however with friends). The mass was really beautiful, though I was pretty tired seeing as it was at midnight! I gave my host brother a Boston University sweatshirt and a red sox hat and I actually see him wearing it all the time! For Christmas we ate a bunch... AGAIN! Then that evening my host sister and I went to see the Nativity Scene in our town. And what was strange is that that night we went out with friends. Even though Christmas Day had ended the "festa" still continues up until Epiphany... when the "befana" comes! Merry Christmas all!!

Roma!

Sorry I'm so incredibly late in writing, but I've been quite busy and honestly, a bit lazy to fill you all in. Anyways, for the weekend of Immaculate Conception (we had a three day weekend) I went to Rome with my host family and some of their friends. Saturday, I left school early and we were off to Rome! It took about 5 or 6 hours to get there from my town. On the way, we stopped at a rest stop close to Naples and I got to eat a muffin (finally!!) and heard the Naples accent! For a while my host dad has been joking around about the Naples accent and when we entered the rest stop and heard a man talking he was like "Emily! Emily!! Naples accent! Listen!!!"

At the hotel we stayed in, everyone who worked there spoke English...it was so great! One night we were sitting at the hotel restaurant and I heard a group of college students all speaking English. Later, I got to talk to two of them and one was Dutch (who also had had a bit too much to drink hahah) and the other was from Oregon! Though the Dutch guy was a bit crazy, it was so great to speak some English, and with an American too! Everywhere I went I saw and heard some English and I was very pleasantly surprised. As for Rome I saw so many beautiful things.

The first night I had my first Roman pizza, we took a walk around the city, we passed by Termini Station, we saw Piazza della Rupublica, the "Wedding Cake," the Roman Forum, and the Colesseum. I was so amazed to be actually seeing these things in real life. It was all so beautiful, and definately like nothing I've ever seen before, and all these things were all lit up for the night.

The next day we first took the train straight to Vatican City and saw St Peter's Square. However, we were only able to stay for a bit because we were planning to see a lot of things that day and it was very crowded. After that we went walking to see all the sites. We went next to the Piazza del Popolo and to the Piazza di Spagna, saw the Parliament building, and the famous shopping street near there. Then, we saw the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon and after Piazza Navona. Apparently, when it rains, the rain doesn't enter through the hole of the Pantheon. I don't see how this is possible, but I'm curious to know if it's true! After all this walking we took the bus to the Colesseum and saw a bit more of that (however, we didn't go inside). We went back to the hotel to rest our feet for a while and then went out again to have some delicious Italian food. I got lasagna... yummm!!!

On Monday I got up early to go see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel (fortunately, one of our friends offered to take me because my host family had forgotten to buy the tickets in advance). I saw so many beautiful things there. I walked around with my audio guide (in English!!!) so I could figure out what all the things I was looking at meant. The Sistine Chapel was amazing! There were just so many gorgeous things to see there. Before we went in, however, I saw the line for the people who hadn't made reservations and I felt so sorry for them: it was huge!

After that we went to St Peter's again and actually went inside the Basilica this time. Wow! There was so much fantastic artwork, it was so big, and very peaceful. I even got to help a women who only spoke hebrew and english to explain what something was. It was exciting to feel so bilingual :P We decided to climb to the top of the Cupola. The stairs were quite frightening seeing as the walls were slanted, though it was all worth it. When I reached the top, it was spectacular! I could see the piazza down below and a great deal of Rome. Truly awing. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this day because my camera battery had died, but I hope all of you will be able to see it for yourself some day!