Selections from My Notebook

A few days ago, I was skyping my mom. I showed her my big notebook which I'm a few pages from filling up. She said, "You ought to take a break from writing in that and UPDATE YOUR BLOG! Your daddy's about to go crazy waiting for you to post something new."

So. Here we go. I've got this whole notebook bursting with words. I figure it's time to share. This blog entry will consist of the best (and when I say best, I don't mean highest quality writing, I mean what I feel like typing up as I go through reading it) from my notebook, accompanied with real images from its actual pages. I'm sorry if this isn't interesting, but I'm sure it's better than nothing. Ready? Go.

October 26th: ... Another thing that is making me sleepy is the weather. Yesterday and today have been one because onstage during (I have no idea what I was just saying there) The sentence was supposed to be: Yesterday have been very rainy and gloomy. (Oh my gosh, what's wrong with me?) I mean "Yesterday and today have been very rainy and gloomy." Okay - YES. Gosh, I can't even write a simple sentence and I know it's because I'm so sleepy.

November 3rd: ... One of the most relaxing times of my daily routing here in Italy is when I ride the bus home and listen to my iPod. The best is when the bus isn't that busy and I actually get a seat. I can gaze out the windows at the passing scenery and play relaxing music and it's great. That time of day is approaching. I'm ready for it now. Come on Philosophy class. End already!

November 4th: I got to miss Physics to help my English teacher in class 1L again. They read a text about Halloween. It got some facts wrong, like it said that in the United States kids always wear their costumes and masks to school on Halloween. I explained that that was wrong and told them some about what it's really like. They wanted to know about my costumes from past years, so I ended up having to explain what hippies are, which led to an explanation of the Vietnam War and all that.

November 10th: I've been using my Italian mini-dictionary a lot lately and trying to always answer in Italian, no matter what language people address me in. I've been here two months as of yesterday and it feels like way more and way less at the same time. They say you'll probably start understanding everything by the time you finish your third month, but I don't feel like I'm learning fast enough to be that far that soon. It's hard, and I'm learning so so much, but it's an entire language and I can only learn so much at a time... 

... I really want to go home for just a week. I want to eat a good hamburger, some goat cheese, peaches, a ham and American cheese sandwich on plain old wheat bread. My mom's squash casserole. Campbell's soup - bean & bacon, chicken noodle, creamy tomato. I want cream of chicken soup with rice. I want (cheddar) cheesy grits, because polenta is similar, but not the same. I want Mexican food: chips and salsa, pollo con crema from El Cancun, quesadillas from Moe's. I want curry chicken and beef & broccoli from that Chinese restaurant by the grocery store. I want honey-baked ham and deviled eggs and asparagus with hollandaise sauce like we have on Easter. Stouffer's macaroni and cheese. Aunt April's macaroni and cheese. Chick-Filet. A Wendy's milkshake. Baked potato salad from Jasmine cafe. Oh gosh. A starbucks frappucino. Chocolate chip cookies. Daddy's Love-You-Long-Time noodles. OHHHHH GOSH.

November 12th: Here's something I'm learning: An exchange student can't be passive. I might learn Italian eventually just from listening and saying what I need to say, but I think it's a whole lot better if I actively try to push it along. This means in spare moments I need to take out my notes from Italian lessons, take out my dictionary and teach myself something. More often, I need to do what I just did and try writing a sentence and then get a classmate to either tell me it's right or help me correct it. I need to look up words I've been wondering about, write them down and learn them.

November 14th: Last night, all I had for dinner was a cup of hot tea. While I drank it, I watched a cooking show and I still did not want anything to eat. It was the first time in my life I can recall watching chefs prepare glorious gourmet meals and not wanting even a single bite. But I wasn't sick or losing my mind or turning into a different person. I was just still completely full from The Greatest Lunch Ever.

November 17th: One good thing in my life is that yesterday I bought some nail polish in the center and I painted my nails and I like the color and the way it looks. It is a soft, muted shade of purple. 

November 18th: I just had an Italian lesson with 1L. We mostly just sat and talked and they taught me some Italian. I like going to that class because they make me feel like a celebrity. When I walk in they explode into "CHANDLER! CHANDLER! CHANDLER!" It's neat. Maybe something of it has to do with the fact that they're younger than the other classes. They aren't "too cool to get excited about the American exchange student" yet. We talked about things like discos and Harry Potter. There's this one kid in that class who cracks me up because every time he starts a sentence in English, he begins with "First of all..." I am in a much better mood today than I was yesterday, even though this morning I did PE and it was horrible. I'll tell you all about it when I feel like complaining... This evening I am going to the theatre with my class. I think I might have aperitivo or dinner or something with some of the girls beforehand, so that's exciting!

... An observation: teachers just love BANGING on the desk to get attention or make a point or display dissatisfaction. They BANG on the desk with their fists. It always startles me.

... I just helped my friend Sara write a letter in English to a university in Milan that she wants to go to. I helped make it SUPER good. Hopefully they will be extremely impressed. I hope she gets in because she seems to want to go there very badly.

December 1st: ... When I am totally finished with college applications, I'm going to start reading again. I'm going to start reading again. I was doing well for a while there. I finished five books within a couple weeks. But lately I've been so busy and I only get few a few pages at a time before I'm distracted by the realization that something desperately needs doing. I miss reading when I don't read. I want to read a book in Italian. I saw that Rijuta was reading one. I think she must be more advanced with Italian than I am. I don't want to be behind. I know everyone learns at different speeds, but maybe if I pushed myself a LITTLE harder, I'd learn faster. I can't explain how much I'm dying to be fluent in Italian. I know there isn't an exact definition of fluency, but I want to be able to speak and understand without any problems. I am so terrified that I'm just never going to catch on and I'll have to go home before I get as advanced as I want to be...

 Alrighty, that's it for now. There's still plenty more but I'm tired of typing and I wouldn't want to do too much at once. Perhaps I'll do some more selections another time when I feel like blogging but don't know what to say. Hopefully you'll be hearing from me more frequently in the future.

Ciao! -Chandler

Quick, quick

Ciao, tutti!

First little tidbit of information, now all my articles for the Herald can be accessed from one quick and easy link: www.heraldonline.com/chandler/ 

So, at the moment I am frenzied, flustered and frustrated with the stressful labors of applying to college. It's annoying, but really not as bad as I expected, if I'm being honest. The good thing is that I can work on my essays, resumes and such during school, while the rest of the class is studying Latin, physics, or some other lesson I wouldn't understand even if they were taught in English because I didn't study them in the States. Since there's nothing else of much interest to do, it's easy to buckle down and focus on what I need to get done.

Sometime soon, though, I'm supposed to stop taking these classes that don't do me much good. I talked about it with the AFS school coordinator and now my English teacher, who's the one that helps me and makes sure everything is going well, is making me a special schedule. I will get to move around instead of staying with the same class all day. I'm going to miss 5B, but I think I'll still be with them quite a bit and besides this way I get to meet way more people at my school. I'll be taking Italian on a less advanced level, and going between several English classes to help teach. I won't have to do Latin or physics and I'll probably find a math class that is similar to something I remember learning back home. It might be confusing at first to move around so much, but I think this is going to be much, much better for my language-learning. I'm excited!

I know this is a very short post, but I'll try to blog again very soon. I have Monday and Tuesday off from school this week, so I ought to have a chance. Ciao for now, though, because I'm going out with some of my wonderful AFS friends!

 xoxo, Chandlerwww.heraldonline.com/chandler/

Mia Famiglia & Mia Casa

Ciao, everybody!

It's been awfully too long, I know. Here's why: I get a little behind, then more and more keeps happening, so I can't catch up. So I'm scratching every lousy attempt to sum up everything thus far. The main points and most exciting things have been covered in the articles I've written for my local newspaper back home, The Herald. I'll give you links to those. Enjoy: my first article, my second article (fashion show), and my third article (flash mob). If you haven't read those already, please do, because I believe they'll get you more or less caught up.

Okay. So.

I have a host sister named Lucrezia and a host mother named Daniela. Lucrezia is one year younger than me. She's very nice and very beautiful. We get along quite well, I think. It's awesome having a sister. Sometimes she lets me borrow her clothes, which is fun. Last night, for example, I was going to an 18th birthday part for one of my classmates and she picked out a gray ruffly dress from her closet for me to wear, as well as a pretty Prada purse. With that and my new 12 centimeter high heels, I felt wonderfully Italian! Lucrezia also invites me to go hang out with her and her friends on a pretty regular basis, which I enjoy. Even though we're both high school aged, we don't go to the same school. She goes to Calini and I go to Luzzago. So her friends are a different crowd from the friends I've made at school, and this way I get to meet way more people than I would otherwise. It's awesome. Another awesome thing about having a sister is that there's someone around to watch Italia's Next Top Model or whatever with. And she helps me with my Italian, too!

I get a ton of Italian practice from Daniela because she only speaks Italian. I think that's good for me. Lucrezia can help out if there's something important that I'm not understanding, but through attempting to communicate without any English at all, I learn a bunch. Daniela is an elegant lady. She has a shop in the center where she works, which sells pretty jewelry and antique things. She's very organized and helpful and on top of things, which helps our household to always run smoothly.

The other person who makes our house run smoothly is Clara. I'm not sure what the word for her job is, but she tidies up the house and does laundry while we're at school and Daniela's at work, and she makes us lunch when we get home. She is super sweet and I like her a lot.

We live in what I guess you'd call a townhouse, although I don't think that's exactly the name. It is connected to other homes, but it has its own front door, yard, garage and everything. I like it a lot. There a three stories. On the bottom is the garage, the laundry room, Lucrezia's bedroom and Lucrezia's bathroom. The middle has the living room and the kitchen. The top has my room and bathroom and Daniela's room and bathroom, as well as an extra bathroom and a little sitting room. My room is cute. There are lots of shelves on the walls. Some hold Lucrezia's old books, all in Italian, of course, some of which I read in English when I was younger. I might try to tackle one in Italian when I get to that level. (Right now I could probably only handle the simplest of simple baby/children's books.) Other shelves were cleared out for me and now contain my laptop, books, jewelry, nicknacks and some clothes. The rest of my clothes are kept in an armoire in the hall. Besides the shelves, my room has my bed, a desk, a lamp, a row of hooks for hanging purses, and a bulletin board with my AFS event schedule, some pictures of my friends and family back home, and a few little notes from my mom, dad and brother that tucked into the packages of clothes they sent.

There's another member of the family that also lives in our group of connected houses: the grandmother, or Nonna. She pops in and out often, and she makes us lunch on Clara's day off and sometimes comes for dinner and brings something she's cooked. Like Daniela, she speaks only Italian, but it is harder to understand her, because she talks fast and in complicated sentences. She's really cool, though, and it's nice to know there's someone else nearby that I can ask for help if, for whatever reason, Daniela and Lucrezia aren't home.

And there's more family too! Lucrezia has an older sister named Chiara who's grown up and has two kids. There's Luca, who just turned 14 and goes to my school, and there's Alessandro who's 3. They live about 5 minutes away by car. Alessandro is probably the most adorable guy ever. He's got the curliest light brown hair and the cutest giggle. I played with him a lot the other night when we went over to celebrate Luca's birthday, and it was super fun and a bit exhausting. He likes to be pulled around by his ankles on the floor and tickled, and he has a TON of energy.

I really like this whole family a lot and I am super lucky to have been placed with them. I can't imagine it could be any more perfect than it is. Now, I must go to sleep! I'll try to start updating this more regularly, even if that means just doing quick posts instead of trying to cram every single little thing in. Ciao ciao!!

Life at Luzzago

Last Sunday evening, when my host family picked me up, we left the train station very quickly. In the car, as we drove away from Verona, I soon noticed the different driving practices here in Italy. We flew over speed bumps without slowing down a bit and swung around corners, smooth and fast. The lanes painted on the roads seemed to be taken not as rules, but as suggestions and we flew left or right around any car that dared go even slightly slow in front of us. It felt disconcertingly similar to a roller coaster.

We went to my new home first to drop off my suitcases and so that I could change clothes. Once I'd freshened up, we went out for my first Italian pizza. I got the "Primavera" which had fresh tomato and basil. It was GOOD. Lucrezia (my host sister) got cheese pizza with french fries ON IT, which I've never seen or heard of before. I don't remember what sorts of pizza Giovanni (Lucrezia's boyfriend) and Daniela (my host mother) got, but I do remember that I had some smashing gelato for dessert.

On my first night in my new home I slept very well because I was awfully tired. Lucrezia had to start school Monday morning, but I wasn't starting until Tuesday, so I got to sleep gloriously late. During the day, I went with Daniela to get all the paperwork ready and sent off for my residence permit. I was very jittery and excited for the beginning of classes.

My school, Liceo Scientifico Luzzago, is really great. I've been placed in the fifth and final year of high school here, which is surprising because  I didn't think they ever placed ASF exchange students in this grade. It is supposed to be the most difficult and also they're all intensely studying for the big exit-exams at the end of this year. I'm not concerned much, though. If it is still terribly hard when I learn the language better, I can probably ask to move down in some subjects. The only problem with that would be leaving these classmates. The people in my class are all really nice. They know enough English to help me when I don't understand what's going on, and they help me practice my Italian as well. There are several that I think will become very good friends.

As far as the lessons, at this point I don't know enough Italian to understand more than a few words here and there in most classes. In English, I feel like an expert. We've been watching Dead Poets Society. In Spanish class I can understand some, though Italian and Spanish sound so much alike that it becomes hard to tell when the teacher switches from one to the other. Juggling Spanish AND Italian AND English in my head all at once is very hard. I can hardly handle two languages, let alone three! In math, I feel like I'm supposed to understand more than I do. I think I've covered most of the material before, in math classes at home, but with all the vocabulary and problems in Italian, I still get confused. In the classes like Latin and Italian and History and Physics and such where I can't understand much of anything at all, most of the teachers let me study Italian. I have dictionaries and phrase books and some books intended for teaching Italian children English that seem to be working very well the other way, too. I'm really glad I don't need credits or to be graded for any of this, because while I know the Italian will get ready with time and work, for now I'm struggling.

The school building and the way things work here are quite different from at home. I am in the same room with the same 20 or so students for all my classes, all day. Here, it is the teachers that move from place to place instead. When I was explaining this difference to some of my new friends, they were very impressed. They thought I must feel very grown up to move around my school like a college student. Another difference I've noticed is the way the classroom looks. Unlike at home, the walls here are not covered with inspirational posters or maps or students' work. The walls display only a smart board and a chalk board. There is a crucifix on the upper part of the wall up front and an emergency evacuation plan above the door. In the back, there's a line of hooks for hanging coats. Other than that, the walls are completely bare. The upper halves are painted white and the lower halves pale green. There are no tissues for the students. If you have a cold, you bring your own. There is also no pencil sharpener. Both the classrooms and the hallways are far more clean and tidy than those at my high school back home.

The schedule here is way different. Unfortunately, I must go to school on Saturdays, but it all balances out because the days are much shorter. Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays I get out at 2. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I'm finished by 1, and on Saturdays I only have to go until 12.

The entry hall is probably the most impressive part of Luzzago. When you walk in, the first thing you see is a GIANT white, green and red Italian flag above the staircase. Going up the stairs every morning, I am always amazed by what I see at the top. There are three marble statues. Two of women and one of a lion, and the ceiling is painted with majestic murals. It is like something out of a museum- so beautiful! It is one of the many things in this new life that consistently makes me pause and say to myself, "Wow. I can't believe this is real. I can't believe I'm in Italy. I am so, so, so lucky!"

 Another thing that always causes this reaction for me is the view from my school's windows. My classroom is only on the second floor so I can just see the sky and the typical red-orange roof of the building across the street, but two stories up, on the 4th and top floor, the view goes on forever out over Brescia. There are roofs and streets and vine-covered walls and courtyards and church steeples and, farther away, the high mountains towering above. Even a castle is visible. On drizzly days like today, the tops of the mountains are covered with clouds. The beauty is breathtaking.

(this doesn't nearly do it justice)

From the website of my school, I could only really gather that there would be stained glass windows in the gym (true) and that I would be taught by monks (only in religion class as it turns out. The main difference in the teachers here is that they're, on average, much younger than at home. I'd say the average age of my teachers is 35. The oldest is 45, at most.). I felt pretty sure that I would like my school, but I had no idea that I would love it as much as I do.

So, now the school aspect is covered up to date. In my next blog entry, I plan to tell you more about my host family and my house and my blossoming social calendar outside of school. It'll be soon. Possibly tomorrow, but I want to finish my first article for the Herald beforehand so it might be a couple of days. Either way, be on the lookout! Ciao!

Hello, Italia

I arrived safely in Italy over a week ago, and now I'm finally getting around to updating this blog. So much has happened, I'm not sure that I can get around to talking about all of it. I suppose I've got to start somewhere, so I'll go from the beginning.

After all those months and months of preparation, I finally got to Italy last Friday. I was exhausted because I hadn't been able to sleep on the plane. I couldn't seem to get comfortable, despite the fact that the plane was quite nice. It had screens in the backs of the seats that played a vast variety of movies and music and also provided the plane's elevation above sea level and speed at all times, which I found interesting.

From the airport, the rest of the America-to-Italy AFS-ers and I took a bus to the orientation site. Orientation took place at a sprawling, maze-like hotel on a high hill overlooking Rome. In this place, different rooms were always sprouting up where I least expected them, like underground beneath the patio. All around were jungle-like gardens. Orientation was absolutely awesome. There were students from many, many countries who, just like me, had just gotten to Italy for the ten month exchange program. I loved hearing all the interesting dialects floating through the air. Luckily for me, we were all speaking English. I was worried that it would be in Italian, but all of us were new to Italian and it turns out that English is the most universal. Almost everyone there spoke or at least understood it, which I found impressive.

The Italian volunteers at the orientation said that the food we had there was not near as good as what we'd get when we got to our host families, because the hotel kitchens had to prepare food for so many people and suffered a bit of quality for quantity. At the time, I had some trouble believing that. I thought the pasta with creamy tomato sauce and mushrooms, and the flavorful sauteed vegetables, the sticks of sausage, and the potato-casserole-quiche-ish thing we had were all great. It turns out, though that they were right. The food I'm having now is far more delicious. I find myself doing my happy-food-dance ALL THE TIME.

One of the most incredible experiences at orientation was the sunset. As it began to get dark Saturday night, some friends and I saw a glimmer of pink and orange sky back behind the trees to the West. We took a few pictures from the patio, then went in search of a higher vantage point. We went up a staircase and found that it opened to the roof. From there we could see the brilliant sunset much better, as well as the vibrant lights of Rome down below. Overhead, the stars were just beginning to shine. It was truly magical.

With that memory, as well as that of the touching End-of-Orientation Ceremony Saturday night, I took a train to Verona with the other AFS-ers going to Brescia. There are something like ten others and they are all super nice, which is good because I'll be spending a lot of time with them this year. I had butterflies in my stomach for the whole train ride because I was finally about to actually meet my new family, which was exciting and intimidating and terrifying and awesome all at the same time. When at last we pulled into the Verona station, I could see my host sister and her boyfriend on a bench waiting. I almost died from the craziness of it. People I'd only ever seen pictures of were actually there, real people. I dragged my suitcase off the train, and from that point on, I was thrust into my astonishing new life, complete with astonishing surprises, beauty, and challenges around every corner.

I'll leave you there for tonight, since I'm quite tired, even though I've still left you a week behind. Something is better than nothing, though. As my first week in Brescia, I will tell you all about it as soon as I can. For now just know that my new life is very, very wonderful.

Airplanes, Goodbyes, and Free Advice

This is going to be a quick post because I am incredibly tired, but things are happening, so I must tell you all about them! This morning I said goodbye to my hometown and to my state for the next ten months. The already emotional situation was amplified by the fact that I've had only two and a half hours of sleep.

 I stayed up until 2 last night and had to wake up at 4:30 in order to leave for the airport at 5:30. My wonderful boyfriend Zac got up early too so that he could see me off. I rode with him to the airport. The whole ride, I was ricocheting madly back and forth between crying and laughing. As each place we passed receded into the distance, my brain thought "Goodbye, neighborhood! Goodbye, Earth Fare where I always get sandwiches! Goodbye this road and that road and everything that wasn't important but is!" in a way that uncannily resembled the monologue I performed earlier this year when I played Emily Webb in Our Town. And on that ride to the airport, everything looked different, because I'm not used to the eerie lighting that hangs in the sky just before sunrise. So, by saying goodbye, I quite literally was seeing it all in a "new light." I really think that leaving for an extended period of time has given me a new appreciation for where I'm from. I realized, but never fully appreciated the beauty of the Carolinas before I had to leave them.

Saying goodbye to my boyfriend was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. The whole ride to the airport, he was holding my hand and I hated not wanting to let go, but having to anyway. And when we finally got to security in the airport, and I had to go through, but he couldn't come with me, I cried and sniffled uncontrollably. Zac and I have been dating for six months and I'm completely, totally in love. Ten months of separate-ness, while made easier by Skype, is going to be tough, but we're going to try with everything we've got.

I finally calmed down a bit when I got my hands on a Starbucks, and I was able to remind myself that I AM GOING TO FREAKING ITALY WHICH IS FREAKING COOL. So that helped.  From that point on I focused on getting myself to New York. My family and I were once again flying space-available, and after failing to get on a couple of really full flights to Lagaurdia, we got on one to Washington DC, where the Laguardia flights had much more readily available seats. On the plane ride I napped, which was much-needed and much-enjoyed. During our interlude in DC, we ate at the Five Guys in the airport and it was by far the best not-grilled-by-my-daddy cheeseburger I have ever eaten. I had the realization that food tastes ten zillion times better when you have an emotional experience, cry your eyes out, nap it off, and THEN eat when you wake up. I napped again, but less soundly on our flight to New York, and then we came in a taxi to the Scotts' apartment where we're staying. It felt like 8 pm, but it was really only 3, which was bizarre.

The afternoon turned out to be incredibly fun. We walked all around the area where they live. I smelled fresh lavender, ate homemade pretzels and champagne grapes, discovered a new band, and received a free hug in Union Square Park. At Washington Square Park, I watched a man jump over a row of six people and I sat down for a chat with a few NYU students who had a sign offering "Free Advice." Usually, being the shy, reserved sort of person I am, I'd never sit down with strangers and chat about anything, let alone all my hopes and fears and crazy emotions regarding Italy, but I did. I think my exchange will be wasted if I don't open myself up to experiences like that, conversations with people. And I'm so glad I decided to go ahead and start approaching the world that way NOW, because it turned out to be really refreshing to talk about it all with some sincere, uninvolved strangers. Because the perspective of my mom and dad, family and friends, while extremely important to me, can become so stale. Hearing the same thoughts and perspective over and over starts to not help anymore. The advice and words of new people that I'll probably never see again managed to help a bunch with sorting through how I'm going to handle leaving my family, and maintaining this long-distance relationship, and adjusting to a new country and life and language.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and I can't remember what it was called. I'll edit this when I remember. I had Rigatoni in vodka sauce. Afterwards we went across the street for some gelato and I had a small cup of the tiramisu flavor which was absolutely, breathtakingly delicious. I'm trying to keep these flavors all alive in my mind as well as possible so I can do a good comparison later between Italian food in the United States and Italian food in Italy. So, be on the lookout for that post in the future. For now, I really must go to sleep, because I'm about to collapse from exhaustion. Good night!!!

(Me at the Italian restaurant. I still can't remember its name.)

(The view from the restaurant. On the left is Grom, where we had the amazing gelato.)

A Great Deluge of Updates

Hello, blog! It's been awhile, but I figure that's okay since I've still yet to leave for Italy. The preparation process has developed quite a bit since I last posted back in June. I hope you're ready for a great deluge of updates!

I am now finally in possession of a student visa. Receiving it was an enormous relief. All the paper work was incredibly, incredibly stressful and I wasn't even the one doing most of it. My wonderful, organized mother bore the brunt of the frustrations of filling in forms and making copies and whatnot. That's not to say I didn't help. I helped enough to find myself more than a little overwhelmed and astounded by the stringent requirements and vast number of documents. BUT! But, but, but! We did it! And when you're in Charleston, passing the honorary consulate a heavy stack of neatly organized papers, you can't help feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment as he stamps it (without even looking, really, which is slightly bothersome, and when you point this out he insists "This is a volunteer position!" in a thick Italian dialect that you can hardly understand, which concerns you a bit because if you can't understand an Italian man speaking English how can you ever expect to understand an Italian person speaking Italian??) and more glowing pride when you mail it off to the actual consulate in Miami. And while the waiting after that point is a little nerve-wracking, you aren't completely surprised when your passport comes back with a pretty visa page allowing you to live in Italy for the year. Although, it is a very big relief.

In other news, everyone has gone back to school and still being at home feels weird weird weird. I am not remotely jealous of my high school's Annual Scheduling Confusion Frenzy or the Yearly Textbook Scramble, but I miss my friends and teachers and even some things about classes because I'm a nerd! I mean, I wouldn't say I've ever liked homework, but I might actually appreciate a reading assignment or project of some sort at the moment. Mostly, I miss friends, though. Lunchtime. Laughing before and after (or during) class time. That sort of thing. I'm thinking I might go visit during lunch one day. Actually I'm pretty sure I'll definitely do that. It'll be nice to see people and chat a bit before I go.

The worst thing about the beginning of school is that on Monday, my boyfriend, Zac, moved away to college. That's the bad part about him being a year older than me. And he forgot his phone charger, so our conversation has been a bit limited. Or, really, extremely limited. Good practice for Italy, I guess, but I miss him! On the bright side, he'll be coming home every weekend until I leave, so we can spend a lot of time together on those days. The plan is to cram in as much time together and fun as possible before I leave. Honestly, that's the plan with all my friends and family. The problem is, too many people and not enough time. I suppose I just have to make the most of what I've got.

The only other thing I can think of to mention is the conference call I had tonight, with the other Americans going to Italy this year and a returnee. It was super fun and interesting to hear about the experiences the returnee had when she went in 2008. She had some cool stories and a few recommendations that I'm sure I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. I didn't ask any questions myself, because the other people seemed to have everything covered, but I'm sure in no time I'll start coming up with all the things I needed to ask, but didn't. Luckily, if that's the case, I can email or facebook her my questions. AFS really takes care of their exchange students. I love it.

That's all for now. I'll try to update again soon!

Musings of Italy Via New York City

It just occurred to me: Why didn't I go to Little Italy when I was in New York City?? That would've been perfect since I'm going to REAL Italy in less than three months. LESS THAN THREE MONTHS! Someone pinch me, please. It is just too amazing to be real. But it is! I leave from New York City on September 8th and I'll stop briefly in Zurich, Switzerland on the way before arriving in Rome. After that there's a three-day orientation in Rome before I go to my host family in Brescia!

I am so looking forward to it! I absolutely love traveling and airports. I love the sound of rolling suitcases and the interesting people-watching and the feeling you get in your head and belly the moment the plane lifts off the ground. I even love the smell of airports and airplanes, not because it smells good, necessarily, but because of the wonderful associations it has in my mind.

One thing I did discover on my trip to New York, though, was that traveling is slightly less relaxing without parents to depend on. In the past, I've always been able to let them take care of getting me where I need to go when I need to go there, coordinating everything. This time I had to do that all by myself, which wasn't quite as easy. A big part of that may have been the fact that I was flying space-available (I fly for free since my parents used to work for US Air) which is a great deal more complicated than normal flying. There's all the hassle of making sure you're on the standby list and waiting for everyone else to board and keeping your fingers crossed that there'll be a seat for you. But I won't have to deal with any of that on the way to Italy. It'll probably be super fun and exciting because I'll be traveling with a bunch of other AFS-ers.

Alright, so New York City. Wonderful, obviously. The last (and only other) time I went there was spring break of last year. That time I did more of the tourist-y things like the Empire State Building and riding the Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty and visiting Times Square and all those sorts of things. This time I did more of the shopping-eating-exploring sort of thing. Which was totally fun. I was lucky to get to spend my weekend there with my old neighbors Jenna and Michaela Scott, staying at Jenna's apartment. They were super sweet and hospitable.

We ate so much good food while I was there. I'm about to talk about it in detail, because I'm crazy about food. If it bores you, go ahead and skip over this paragraph. I don't mind... The first night we met their dad (who's one of MY dad's best friends) at a Mexican restaurant. It was super delicious. Their salsa was the perfect balance of spicy-ness and cool limey-ness. We also had guacamole which I've always avoided because my dad hates it so I assumed it was gross, but it was awesome. For my main course I ordered Chiles Rellenos (that's a chile stuffed with melted cheese and covered with an egg batter) and it was really good. The Saturday morning that I was there, we went to the Waverly Diner and I had Eggs Benedict which was yummy and a cafe latte. For lunch Jenna and I went to The Plaza Food Hall by Todd English, where I ate Risotto "Tater Tots" and a Fig & Prosciutto flatbread pizza which also had a rosemary crust, fig jam, and gorgonzola. The figs were so plump and sweet and had the most incredible contrast with the prosciutto and gorgonzola. It was so good. My mouth is watering a little just thinking about it. That night we stopped by Cafe Angelique right down the street from the apartment for dessert. I had a Frozen Mint Lemonade. It was very refreshing and very minty. Unlike most "mint" things, it didn't taste like mint flavoring so much as actual mint sprigs. It reminded my of the mint leaves I used to pluck from my grandmother's garden when I was younger. So, yes. Lots of incredible food.

You can expect that I'll be telling you a ton about the food while I'm in Italy. Food is one of my biggest passions. To be totally honest, the food is a big part of why I chose Italy as my exchange destination. I've considered becoming a food critic one day and this blog will give me an opportunity for some practice in that area. The only problem is that I love just about everything I eat so it is a bit hard for me to be actually "critical." It'll probably be more like bubbly gushing about the deliciousness of everything!

So, I also did some shopping in New York. Whenever I shop now I alway try to think in the back of my head "what will be useful in Italy?" I don't know much about the styles there in comparison to here. Is it the same? I don't really know. All I really have to go by is what I see in the pictures on my host sister's facebook page and the school website. Lots of scarves, I think. It gets cold in the wintertime. The stuff I got in New York is more summery (specifically the most adorable pair of Free People shorts and a flowy white dress, a pretty embroidered tank top and a grey tshirt dress from H&M ) but I think I'll get good use out of it. I'll worry about packing when it gets a little closer to time.

The other biggest thing I did in New York was visiting the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. It was phenomenal! I could go on and on and on about it, but I won't since I can't rationally connect it to Italy without a big stretch (that's the hard thing about this blog - deciding what is and isn't relevant). But if you're going to New York any time soon I highly recommend that exhibit.

I suppose that's it for now. I'll be back with more about my Italy preparations soon. In the mean time, I want to know who's reading this. Click "follow" over to the right, and if you have anything to say (like maybe what is and isn't cool to wear in Italy if you know, or even just "hi") leave me a comment! Later!

Like a crazy person.

Even though it is still three months away (which is simultaneously incredibly near and incredibly far) leaving has already started to make me feel strange. It is like the whole goodbye thing has already started. I think that's because school is over. I am completely and totally finished with American high school. Which is WEIRD. And it is making me like a crazy person.

As a junior marshal (one L or two? google doesn't even know), I attended graduation, and in a way I felt like it was MY graduation, too. I'm not ever going to do the whole high school graduation thing as a graduate. I'll still be in Italy this time next year. My school here is just going to mail me my diploma when I get back. And I'm not particularly bothered by that. The whole wearing a cap and gown and walking across the stage thing has never been particularly important to me, and besides I'll get to do that after college. I'm not extremely attached to my school either. Still, I had a funny melancholy feeling the whole time, because this is the end. I'm not even sure why I should be sad about not returning to school. Before, I've never felt particularly attached to my school. In fact, I've always wanted like crazy to get out and do something much less ordinary, just like I am. So I'm having trouble putting a finger on the exact reason for the end of school making me feel so odd.

There are people I'm going to miss indescribable amounts, but most of them I will see over the summer, so it isn't really goodbye yet. They can't be the reason for my weird-ness. I think what I'm actually mourning at the moment is the entire network of familiar faces that I have at school. It's the people who I see and recognize, but don't know on any more than a superficial level. People who I can expect to see in a particular hallway at a particular time. You know how you get in a routine and you cross paths with the same people on a daily basis? Them. Does that make sense? I'm having trouble describing what I mean. I'm going to miss familiarity, which is something I've always taken for granted but won't have for much longer. In Italy, everything is going to be different and unfamiliar, and that scares me a little.*

I'm just going to blame my ridiculous waves of nostalgia during the past week or so on hormones. I mean, I am clearly not in my right mind when I am sniffling and stifling tears over a critical reading passage in the SAT about a character feeling a disconnect with her mother after being apart for a long time. (True story. I sorta teared up during the SAT.) Such silliness can't last long, I'm sure.

But everything is going to be okay because it is summer now! My summer is going to be great; I can already tell. Lots of marvelous things are in store. For one thing, my visa information came in the mail the other day, and it looks like I'm going to have to make a trip to Miami to get that all squared away. Which my parents find stressful, but which I see as really cool. I'm still not sure when I'll be going there, but it'll be exciting when I do!

And speaking of exciting, I'm going to New York City on Friday! It is a slightly sudden trip, and I am absolutely thrilled. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Hopefully somehow in a way that relates to Italy... hmm... well this is going to be my first on my own traveling experience, so I guess I could look at it as practice for Italy. That might be a stretch, but oh well. Maybe I'll even make some pertinent observations about America's culture and how that's reflected in our country's most populous city and by knowing my own culture more closely I'll be better prepared to immerse myself in a different culture. So, it does relate! I'm perfectly justified in telling you all about my adventures in New York. Until then!!

*My mother said she hoped I would display some "honesty" and "raw emotions" on my blog. Happy, Mama? I don't want to sound like an overly dramatic emotional teenager, but she doesn't want me to be purely factual with a blog that sounds like an agenda. I'll find a balance eventually, I'm sure. I'm going to do my best to make this an authentic account of my genuine experience.

I should be studying for exams right now.

All I have to do is survive four days of exams and I am finished with high school. American high school, that is. And if I'm being really technical, I only have three whole days, because Wednesday and Thursday are half-days, so they combine to make one.

After that, summer. And after summer, ITALY. As an exchange student. For my entire senior year. Oh, gosh. Every so often the incredible-ness takes me by surprise. I am going to live in Italy. It is so amazing it hardly seems real.

I ought to be studying for exams right now. I don't feel so bad that I'm not though, because making this blog is something I've meant to do for an awfully long time. I'm just getting started and I already feel like I'm behind! Studying can wait. For a while, at least.

The title of this blog, "I Jump Over the Sea," comes from an Avett Brothers song called "A Slight Figure of Speech." The whole line comes after some bizarre, but wonderful banjo-rapping (I can't explain, but it is super cool.) and goes like this: "A jet plane and a big idea; I jump over the sea." Which is appropriate. OH! Can I put videos on this thing?

Okay, hopefully that worked!

So as far as preparations for Italy go, I have a host family, which is super exciting. I've talked to my host sister some on facebook. She's 16, a year younger than me, and seems really nice. She has told me all about the area where I'm going to live and particularly about the fun weekends in Italy. DISCOS. My mother has emailed some back and forth with my host mother, too.

The place where I'm going to be living is Botticino Sera right outside of Brescia, in Northern Italy. Brescia is one hour from Milan, forty minutes from Verona, and close to Venice, too. In other words, PERFECT.

Just yesterday, AFS updated my school information, and of course I rushed right to google to gather every piece of information that I could, so now I know a bit about my Italian school. It is in Brescia, and looks like it might be private, which is sort of unusual, because usually AFS exchange students are placed in public schools. Anyway, I am in love with the place just from looking at the website. The facilities are super nice and absolutely beautiful. Here is the website, if you're curious. Please notice the stained-glass windows in the gymnasium as well as the fact that the institute is run by Franciscan monks. Once again, I can't believe this is real!

Okay, I seriously need to go study now. Hopefully I'll manage to keep this updated. Until then, ciao!