finally, finally, finally(:

i have officially been accepted to afs-italy. i can't even begin to say how excited i am, and how real this is all becoming. i was sitting outside during lunch, joking around with my friends when i got the e-mail saying that afs-italy had accepted my application. i started screaming, causing basically everyone in the quad to turn and look at me. once i calmed down, i started hyperventilating and then told everyone what was going down.

so what happens now? they send out my application to a bunch of prospective host families, who then sift through a bunch of applications and choose the student they want to host. the e-mail said i'd probably get the information about my host family about a month before i leave.

so for now, just continuing my italian class at boise state, which i love. oh, excuse me, ti amo(:
so far i can say my name, say which nationality i am, and do other little small greetings and such. italian is such a beautiful language, i cannot believe i'll be near-fluent in it by time i come back.

i think i've rambled long enough, and my AP United States History homework is calling my name.
ci vediamo, mio piacere(:

scholarship moola(:

ahhh, so i am super duper pumped. i was on a family road trip, heading to seattle when i got an e-mail from afs, informing me that i have been chosen as a AFS Global Leaders Merit Scholarship recipient! i basically started screaming and scared the crap out of my parents, but it was all worth it, because i got a substantial sum of moola to go towards my study abroad(: and yes, i totally did start crying like the pathetic goober i am, but they were happy tears, so it doesn't count.

everything is slowly coming together -- i start my intro to italian class next week, have now paid for my portion of my trip, and am working on saving up spending money and such. i have also been incredibly lucky to make friends with an afs exchange student, here from norway. he's been giving me tons of useful info about the program, which is totally awesome.

i still can't believe i am leaving in three and a half months. it hasn't really hit me yet, but when it does i am expecting it to hit me like a frying pan in the face -- hard and tear-jerking. maybe it will happen when i get my host family, maybe when i am on the way to the airport. i don't know, but hopefully i'll be ready when it does.

other than that, you know the drill. i'll update as soon as i receive news from afs of my official acceptance(: