host family, say what?

so it turns out that this thanksgiving gives me an additional something to be grateful for, as i recieved word a few days ago that, yes, i finally have a host family. *initiate silent freakout here*

i won´t bore you with the detailed description of how i felt when getting the news, i'll just give you the big easy right now. my host family consists of three members: Romano, my dad, Elena, my mom, and Nicholas, my host brother.
Unfortunately, Nicholas is studying abroad with AFS in the United States right now, and therefore he will not be there in italy when i am. which kind of sucks, but whatever. i will also have some pets in italy: Maolino, a cat, Cloe, a dog, and two tibetean goats. awwwyeah.

okay, okay, so i bet you are dying to know where i will be spending the monumental six months in italy? even if you weren´t dying to know, i am still going to tell you. drumroll, please! i will be living ... in aosta, italy.

don´t know where that is? never heard of it? well neither had i. so, i took the liberty of doing some research, and let me just tell you that i hit the jackpot. about an hour outside Torino, right next to the italian-french AND italian-swiss border, lies the quiant mountain city of aosta, population 35,000 or so. surrounded by the italian alps, it is a tourist hot spot for skiers everywhere. so, in essence, i am going to be living in a place very similar to sun valley, id. only double the size, and double the amount of languages spoken. oh, and double the height of mountains surrounding it. no biggie.

so yeah, there you are: my much waited information, where i will be living and who i'll be living with. and if you think the above paragraph has a bragging-tone to it, of course it does. but then again, it isn't every day that one gets monumental news like this, so give me a break.

all this means is that now i will be spending a large part of my remaining time here skiing at bogus basin (which opened yesterday) and buying really warm clothes. oh, and keeping in touch with my host family. what can i say? it's been one unforgetable turkey day.

oh, and here is a little glimpse of downtown aosta(:

ciao classe d'italiano. :/

last night was my last italian class at bsu. while i can't lie and say that i won't enjoy having tuesday nights back, i will miss my class. i liked going each week, listening to my cute old lady italian teacher speak to us in her thick accent, and i loved learning words. italian is such a beautiful language, it is unbelievable.

i spoke to my local coordinator, and it looks as if i am the only local student leaving for next semester's program. that sucks in a way, but it helps with coordinating departure orientations and such. i have basically two and a half months left here in idaho, which is freaking me out. at the same time, i have lost interest in being here; in my mind, i am already there.

no word on the family situation yet. i'll let you know when i do(: