just an appearance: exchange week.

as i write this post, i am sorry for not updating in a while. i have been busy: first with exchange week, and then after i got sick with some nasty intestinal bacteria or something. i went to the hospital, which was an adventure in itself, but i am getting better and going back to school tomorrow. other than that, here is a report:

exchange week in aosta. basically two other americans (pascale and karen) that live in the south and one icelandic boy (joe) that lives in the east came to live in aosta for a week. caro, a girl from germany who lives about 30 minutes outside of aosta spent the week down here as well, and together we all spent a week attending the agricultural institute. we learned how to make cheese, visited some sights around valle d'aosta, got into some mischief and overall had a great time. i love getting to meet and making friends with other afsers, because they really are the only ones on the planet who know exactly what you are going through. when you have a bad day, you talk to them. when your host family or school is bugging you, you confide in them. when you miss home, these are the people you talk to. friends and family can help a bit, but they really have no idea the feelings you are having or what you are going through. as much as their sympathy and advice is well-intended, having these people who you are bonded to in a special way is more of a comfort. we all became pretty close as a group this week, and i was sad to see them go. we also headed to torino together, where we shopped, ate, and met up with some other afsers in the area to hang out. this exchange week seemed to be fun for them and made me excited for my own exchange week in cagliari, sardegna at the end of april.

it makes me sad when you bond with people who are only there for a short time, but i guess this is kind of what the whole experience is about. like it or not, i only have 100 days left of this experience (according to another afs friend) and then i am gone. i might never see my host family, my italian friends, or any of my fellow afsers ever again. yes, it is sad, but it is life. if we held on to every contact and kept in touch with everyone we ever met, how would we ever move on? we wouldn't. i've been into these corny sayings ever since i started this trip, but partially because i have seen that they are clichè for a reason: they are true. anyways, i've heard that some people are supposed to be in your life forever, and some are supposed to make an appearance. yes, we could go on and worry and fret about who and when these appearances are made, or we could let them be. accept that sometimes, people leave, and it isn't a good or bad thing. instead of worrying who you are currently friends with or how long your friendship will last, i think we should just focus on what we have to gain from the companionship we are experiencing at the moment. so i might never see some of these people ever again: they are only visited in my memories and lessons learned. my mom has always told me a story of an ordinary stranger making an extraordinary difference in her life, with a short conversation. it isn't about the amount of friendships we have, but what we have learned from the friendships we have lost and the ones that have stayed true.

that is what i am learning, and that is why i came here. not to shop and eat and speak, but to understand in a way staying in boise never could have taught me. sometimes, i am a brat. i want my mommy, a burrito, some sour patch kids. sometimes i think there is something more i could be doing, something more i could learn. but life is a process; a frustrating, embarrassing, nostalgic process. this trip has been a process, and one that certainly hasn't been easy. there have been the ups, the downs, and turn-arounds, but i am just here to ride out the waves and experience the motion-sickness life sometimes brings. after all (i am going to end with another clichè) it isn't always the destination, but the journey.

oranges, bruises, and fulfillment.

oranges. oranges. oranges.
these are the only words that can truly describe my experience at the carnivale d'ivrea yesterday. i headed over to ivrea by train with two afs volunteers and two other intercultura students from the valle d'aosta. we met up with a bunch of other afs students from the piedmont and liguria regions, where i finally got to see my girls emilie (stati uniti) and cami (paraguay). they gave us a brief tour of ivrea, and it was so beautiful. i loved all the water and bridges and everything, it really made me feel like i was in italy. living in aosta is amazing, but at home i live in the mountains as well, so it was nice to go somewhere different for once, and experience a different part of italy. after that, we got to kind of explore on our own, and cami and i got seperated from the rest of our friends, but it didn't bother us. we got some candy and pizza and started exploring ivrea, where we ended up by the river, which was absolutely beautiful. below are some pictures of my fellow afs friends, ivrea, and the carnival before everything got messy.

afterwards we met up with emilie, ingrid and another year exchange student from america and then went over to the piazza, where there was a procession of horses and the carnival princesses and everything. then i gave maria my bag, kept my camera, and cami, ingrid, emilie, and i got ready for the best two hours of our lives.
it started slowly, with a carriage drawn by horses carrying about ten italians wearing pads and helmets into the crowd. then it all went down. oranges were flying every which way, and people were bleeding, holding their black eyes in pain, and having the time of their lives. i figured that i didn't come to italy to hold back, so our badass group of four americans and one paraguayan joined in the madness. we were sloshing through about two inches of oranges, getting hit everywhere, running after the carriages and yelling italian explitives that i won't be including in this blog. emilie was pretty badass, and ended up with a bruised eye and bloody nose, and another girl had a bloody nose. this went on for about two hours, and it was amazing. literally, i have never felt more alive in my entire life then when i was dripping wet from orange juice, with bruises everywhere and an eye that had been hit straight on by an orange when i was taking a picture with a crazy italian man. which is another thing that made this carnival so amazing. while we were waiting for more carriages to arrive, men were congratulating us on our courage and battle wounds. they'd ask us where we are from, we'd reply "STATI UNITI!!!!!" and roar with excitement and adrenaline. they wanted to take a picture with us, and during said picture an orange appeared out of nowhere and socked me straight in the left eye. no bruise has appeared yet, but it hurts. below are some pictures from the madness.

all in all, it was the best day here so far. the adrenaline i felt and the fulfillment throwing oranges at complete strangers was the most undescribable, most inspiring thing ever. i will be coming back for this carnivale again in my life, there is no doubt about that. even though the 2011 has put 4,000 people in the hospital (so far) it has been the best day of my life.
this post was just to cover the carnivale d'ivrea, but i will post on other things a little later, maybe tomorrow. there are some things i need to discuss. until then, i have to go rub ointment on my bruises. ciao.