A City of Masks and Exciting Plans

So, I know I have been doing a seriously pitiful job of keeping up this blog lately, and I do apologize but I'm not going to waste time going on and on about how sorry I am, because there isn't any point.

Lots of interesting things are going on. Monday and Tuesday I had no school because of Carnevale and on Monday I went to Venice with my friends Asena from Turkey and Ursi from Australia. Madalena from Portugal was going to come too, but her host family wouldn't let her.

Venice was absolutely incredible. I decided that it's my new favorite city in the world. I guess I just love the mysterious, magical-ness of it and the fact that it's not like anywhere else. What other city has canals instead of streets? I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to Venice more while I'm here. Going is really very easy. The train takes just under two hours, which isn't bad at all. 

So, in short, here's what my day in Venice consisted of:

• Dancing with a very old, very Italian man on the train
• Eating a delicious lunch at the Trattoria alla Madonna, a restaurant once featured on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods
• Buying a pretty, sparkly mask
• Having tea at the beautiful, frescoed Caffe Florian
• Exploring Piazza San Marco
• Taking lots of pictures

(Piazza San Marco)

(Caffe Florian)

(Masks with Ursi)

(Gondolas with Asena)

Venice even inspired me to write a poem which you can read by clicking here. I don't usually rhyme when I write poetry and I don't usually share much of the poetry I write, so it's a bit different, but there it is all the same.

If you want to read more about it, go have a look at the articles I wrote for the Herald. I had so much to say, I decided to split the trip into two articles. As of now, only the first one is out. You can read it by clicking here. And I'll give you a link to the second when it comes out, which will probably be this Thursday.

I've decided I'm kind of too lazy to routinely copy and paste each article into a blog post. I apologize. I think I'm probably trying to keep up too much at once right now between this blog and my tumblr and my twitter and all the articles. (I'm having too much fun making words into links to the things they're talking about.) It isn't that it's too much to do, it's just that after almost 6 months I still haven't figured out where to post what. And often I'm too busy actually doing all the wonderful things to keep up with telling about them. Oh well, though. It's not such a big deal. The people who are crazy to hear all about everything (specifically, my family) keep up with everything I post everywhere anyway.

Okay, so in some SUPER EXCITING NEWS I am leaving for a trip to Ireland the day after tomorrow. With my class. I've known this trip was happening for quite a while, but for the longest time it looked like I wasn't going to be able to go, because my Permesso di Soggiorno (or residence permit) hadn't arrived yet, and without it I wouldn't be able to come back into Italy on my visa if I left. The whole policy is quite confusing to me, but it turned out not to matter because I got notification last week that my Permesso di Soggiorno would be available to pick up at the Questura on February 24th. That was yesterday, just three days before the scheduled departure. I am super super super lucky. 

According to the program they game me at school, I'll be in Dublin, Belfast, Howth and Dalkey, seeing Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, the Troubles Front, James Joyce Center and other things. I am quite excited. And they speak English in Ireland! Not just English, but English with an Irish accent dialect! It will be such a relief to hear my native language again for a while! And I won't be forgetting Italian or anything because I'll be there with my class and speaking Italian with them! So perfect.

Anyway, I'm particularly excited about this trip to Ireland because I've been thinking about how many incredibly talented people are from there. Like Glen Hansard who was in my favorite movie Once, not to mention in the incredible music groups The Swell Season and The Frames. Then there's Lisa Hannigan, and Damien Rice. Then all the writers! Oscar Wilde! JAMES JOYCE! (I've been reading his story collection Dubliners and it is excellent. Makes me want to read Uylsses, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And maybe even Finnegan's Wake sometime when I'm feeling brave. He writes sentences like "Moments of their secret life together burst like stars upon his memory" and "But my body was a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires" and "The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns." Ahhhh.)

You can definitely expect a post about Ireland when I get back. Until then!!

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!