1. orientation. i met so many amazing people, both in new york and in roma. there were 23 of us americans going to italy, and we bonded tremendously as a group, in only two or three days. other than getting to know my fellow afsers, orientation was so boring. all they talked about was why we would be sent home, and what not to do, along with other rules, rules, rules. ughhhh, by the end we were all very ready to get to our home cities. most of us were going up north, some in the middle (tuscany) and some down south. because we got to orientation in rome late, we didn't get to tour the city, which sucked. but other than that, orientation was fine, considering that we were all sleep-deprived and nervous. below are some photos of me with fellow americans in roma(:
2. aosta and fiera di sant'orso. when i arrived in aosta, there was the biggest festival of the year going on, to celebrate saint orso. there was a lot of news coverage of the festival, but i was lucky enough to be able to visit the festival. there were a lot of teens, and i got to meet some friends that go to my school, elisa and mark. i went to the fiera on sunday night with elena (my host mother) and gabrielle (my host grandmother). aosta was very beautiful with the lights on at night. then the next day we met up with maria (a fellow AFSer in aosta with me from panama) and toured the festival some more, which was amazing. we also visited the roman theatre ruins (built in 25 b.c. btdub) and ate some traditional italian food -- meats and a kind of cheesy corn mix called polenta. i didn't like the polenta, but everything else has been amazing. below are photos of the fiera.
3. school. oh gosh, my first day was today, and it was so scary. no one speaks english, and i was so nervous! they placed me in classe 2C, which is basically the italian 10th grade, so not so bad. my block schedule is very different, and i only had two classes today: math and italian/latin. tomorrow i have science, french literature, and drawing. maria and i aren't in the same class, not even the same building! i am in a building 10 minutes away by the piazza, which was a downer at first. then i learned that elisa was in my building, so it is wayy better now. i am very excited because three days a week i get out at noonish, and the other three at 1:20. my classmates are very very nice, and even though i don't understand them, i like them already. it is so different, school is. more social yet more respectful at the same time. one big difference is how expensive school supplies are. i bought two pens for 4£!!! i can't think of anything else concerning school, other than it is really hard right now. and latin? don't even get me started. it is very hard to learn a language when you are being taught in a different language. hahaha.
even though i speak basically no italian at all, my understanding has improved drastically within only a few days. with 40 hours of italian tutoring to complete, i have no doubt that i will be fluent by time i leave in july. my advice to future AFSers? learn as much as you can before you go, especially if you are on a summer program like one of you who contacted me is (nice to hear from you, mary!). other than that, no news. well, okay, i am heading to chamonix, france for my 17th birthday next tuesday, coincidentally where my mother spent her 21st birthday. haha, until later. ciao ciao! (:
p.s. here is one more picture, of aosta outside my bedroom window(:
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