Three weeks...Say what?!

So apparently three of my forty-three weeks in Venosa are gone. When did this happen? It does not feel like I’ve been here for three weeks.  At all.  I feel like I’ve been here for a while, but actually saying “three weeks” doesn’t seem right…

Well, since this is my first blog post since arriving in Italy, I have a lot to talk about and very little time to type it all out. But anywho…here goes…

The goodbyes: We won’t spend much time on this subject, because I don’t want to think about it. I had to say goodbye to my friends first…Katherine and Paige, were my first goodbyes. We all hugged, Katherine and I cried, then Paige made a joke about Ke$ha. Typical. J  The next day was my school friends. I went and ate lunch with them. They walked me to the door afterwards, we all cried and hugged (Yes, this whole paragraph will be about hugging and crying.) We stood by the door for like fifteen minutes avoiding the inevitable, they were extremely late for class. Grace, Sydney, Sarah, and Ivy. I love you guys. Next was my family. Amah, Uncle Stuart, Aunt Sabrina, Noah, and Luke. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, just more crying and hugging. I miss Noah and Luke more than anyone right now. Last of course, my parents. I didn’t cry like I thought I would though, mostly because I refused to be the only kid at orientation who was crying over leaving her parents.

Orientation (New York): I’m going to the same thing every other AFS kid says in their blog. It was boring. There were some helpful bits, but mostly I just wanted to take a nap. It was really cool getting to meet everyone else going to Italy though. And the people going to Ghana, Portugal, Spain, and Peru. I made lots of friends I hope to keep in touch with.

Orientation (Rome!): After over twenty-four hours in the same clothes, fifteen minutes of sleep, and thirteen hours of travel, we got to the hotel. I’ve never been so happy to see a tiny, rock-hard bed in an un-air-conditioned room in my entire life.  Sadly, I didn’t get to sleep very long. I could’ve, but that would’ve made the jet-lag so bad. So after about forty-five minutes we (Allyson, Deidre, and I) went out and started trying to meet people. It was crazy…you would go up to someone and say “Hi, where are you from?” and the replies were “Turkey.” “Argentina.” “Canada.” “Thailand.” “Finland.” “New Zealand.” “Japan.” And on and on and on…It was so cool! I can now say I know people all over the world. It’ll be interesting to see them in ten months for the Return Orientation, and hear all of their exchange stories.

So, the next day was the real orientation. It was pretty much the same as the first, but in an un-air-conditioned school up the street from our hotel. The cool part about this orientation was that I got to meet everyone in my chapter (Irsina!) and all the people who would be in Basilicata and Puglia. Since we wouldn’t be at the hotel, they had to give us a bagged lunch. There were three sub sandwiches, three bottles of water, two apples, a banana, and little cake thing. Then they gave us a two-hour lunch to eat. It was strange.

The next day was THE day. The day to your host family! (:O) To say I was nervous would be an understatement. People were leaving in groups all throughout the day (from 5:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.) Most people just had to get on the bus with their group and go to the train station/airport/ bus stop, but figures, I was in the most confusing group. My chapter is one of the smallest; there are only six of us. So our “departure” was at 11:30, but that meant “we’re moving all of you down stairs to the café” because, they put us with all of the people who would be living in Rome for the year, so we got to go to their family/student meeting ceremony at the hotel. Then we ate lunch with them. Three of the girls from my chapter families actually came to get them. So they rode to Basilicata with their families, and Leen (Belgium), Moe (Japan), and I rode back with Michele and Maria, two volunteers from Irsina who were really nice. Thennnn…I MET MY FAMILY! :D The first thing we did was go get gelato, then we ate pizza. I’m so happy with my host family. They’re amazing.

Life in Venosa: I love it here. So much. The first week was really hard though; I got homesick a lot. The only way to describe it is as a rollercoaster, I know that’s cliché, but it’s true. I would be laughing and having fun, then poof! I’m about to cry and I have no idea why. When I got here I couldn’t understand a word. If it wasn’t for Maria (my host sister) I would’ve been so lost. It’s getting easier, and I don’t get homesick anymore, but I still don’t understand anything. If someone talks really slowly to me directly then I can usually get it, but when a bunch of people are talking in a group I’m totally lost.  Venosa is really cool, it’s exactly what you think of when you think “small town”. I love it.

Typical day: Wake up, eat breakfast with Maria, get ready, go to the bus stop, get on the bus, twenty minute ride to school, go to school, get out of school, an hour long wait for the bus, twenty minute ride home on the bus, eat lunch, the awkward hours (this is time when I don’t really know what to do), if it’s Tuesday or Thursday I go to dance class, eat dinner, watch a little TV, go to sleep.

Food: Grazia (my host mom) is like the best cook ever. Ev-er. She makes some of the best food. I love it. There’s almost always pasta, good pasta too, not crappy American pasta. Then, we have something else after the pasta, usually meat of some kind with salad and bread. Last is fruit, grapes and melon and something that’s kind of like a peach, but not really. Then there’s Italian pizza. How describe Italian pizza? Go eat a slice of American pizza, then imagine that 1000 times better, and you have Italian pizza.

Cheese and Bread: These get their own paragraph. Italian bread is delicious. And covered in Italian cheese, it’s even better. Since bread is the last thing we eat at lunch my thoughts are “Time for bread? Time for bread? Wow, this is really good pasta! Time for bread? Yay! Time for bread.” Like forrealz, Imma be so fat when I get back.

School: Is it weird that the only other class I understand beside English is German? Yeah, just a bit. My class is just starting their first year of German, so it’s the one thing we’re on the same level of. Other than those two classes I usually don’t understand anything. When it’s something there’s no chance I’m ever going to understand (like Philosophy) I work in my Italian verb book.

My class is great, everyone is really nice and they laugh together a lot. I’m really lucky, because I sit by two people (Chiara and Francesco) who help me out so much. I’d be even more fifteen times more confused than I already am without them.

Friends: I feel like I’m making friends, everyone is really friendly and nice to me, but it’s hard to really get to know people when A) it’s awkward to just be like “so what kinds of things are you into?” and B) even if that wasn’t awkward, I don’t speak Italian! It’s super frustrating. I think that’s more annoying than anything. I don’t know how to talk to them. When I don’t understand big conversations it doesn’t really bother me, but when I’m trying to talk to someone and make friends and I don’t know what to say, I want to scream. Christmas can’t come fast enough. Returnees say you learn by Christmas, so I’m counting down. I want the Italian radio to turn on in my head.

           

I’m going to try to blog more, but I’m always busy, which is weird because I feel like I have more time than I need, but I don’t really. I don’t get it. Maybe I feel busy because I’m tired ALL THE TIME. Even when I get plenty of sleep, I’m tired. I don’t understand, but hey, right now, I don’t understand anything, so it’s all good, one more thing to join the club!