cogne, chamonix, compleanno, and cheesy pizza(:

i don't know how people who write blogs only post every other month, because there is so much that i have to tell everyone! first off, i have got to talk about the pizza here in italy! it is literally the best thing i have ever tasted in my entire life. i went out on saturday night with maria and a couple friends, and they took us to this very cute little pizzaria in aosta, by the piazza. there you order your own personal pizza, but the personal pizzas here in italy are as big as a medium group pizza in america. so, maria and i split a margherita. not the alcoholic beverage, the type of pizza. the guys, being guys, each wolfed down one of their own, which was very impressive. hanging out with friends in a new place was really amazing, and it totally topped of an amazing first week abroad. then it was sunday, my first and only day off of school, and i slept in while my pal maria went nordic skiing for her first time in cogne. later, me, mia momma e mia nonna drove up to cogne, walked around and met with maria and her parents. i attempted to nordic ski. i kind of failed, and definitely prefer downhill skiing. cogne definitely was beautiful though, as the below pictures demonstrate.

then, yesterday, i turned seventeen. it was hard being away from my family for my birthday, since it was the first birthday we spent apart. but it was still amazing. first, i went shopping a few days before with my host momma, and she got me this really beautiful scarf and cute boots, and then maria and her family gave me this purple wallet, which is tres chic(: then i went to school, assuming no one would know about my birthday. i was wrond. everyone knew! they even brought drinks, baked a cake, and threw me a little party. it really was the best surprise ever, and i was touched by all the thought that went into it(: afterwards, i went to lunch with my host parents at my dad's hotel and ate amazing ravioli with cherry gelato. then, as the best part of my birthday, we went with my nonna to chamonix, france. we toured chamonix and i took tons of pictures. it was actually kind of funny because when my mom was younger (so a long time ago) and backpacking through europe, she was touring chamonix when she turned 21, and i was touring the city when i turned 17. we went to birthday dinner at this restaurant and had such an amazing meal! there is this kind of cheesy fondue where you heat the cheese, tilt it, and scrape off all the melted cheese on to a plate to eat with bread, meat and potatoes. c'è delicioso! below are some photos of chamonix(:

anyways, those were pretty much the highlights of the week. i am still clueless in school, but learning more and more italian every single day. tomorrow i go ice skating with my class, and saturday i am going shopping with maria and then who knows what else. haha, i am loving it here so much, i dread the day when i have to go back to boise. even though my brain is overwhelmed with italian and exhausted at the end of every school day, i wouldn't change a single thing(: until next time, ciao ciao!