lately...

in the last few weeks there has been a buttload of things that have happened, so i figured i'd update you on what i've been doing and then do another post on the end of this adventure. smart, right? thought so.

i finished school a while ago, on the 11th of June. it was an amazing feeling, walking out of my school building, knowing i'd never have to sit through four hours of latin again. the not-so-great feeling came later, at the cena della classe when (almost) my whole class got together for pizza as an end-of-the-school-year thing. i knew i'd see some of my closer friends again before i left, but it was definitely saddening to know that i'd might never see other familiar faces again. it was the beginning of the good-byes.

my best friend came to visit. it was the beginning of the hellos. i don't really have words to describe it, how many emotions there were. i went to go pick her up at the train station in turin, where she and her family were taking a direct train in from venice. i saw her sister first, and then saw her carrying her suitcase off the train. from there, it was basically like a Lifetime movie ... sappy and clichè. i wouldn't have wanted it any way else though. we ran towards each other, finally meeting in the middle with a womph and started crying into each other's shoulders. it was pretty emotional, as you can imagine. what we did during the 37 hours we were together wasn't important, it was the fact that after six months, it felt like no time had passed at all. i'd be lying if i didn't say i was worried about there being awkward moments and silences, but i didn't need to have worried, because there weren't any. at all. she's my best friend, and if spending 6 months apart, halfway around the world didn't change our friendship, nothing will. it was definitely a good two days.

i hung out with intercultura kids in turin for the day, and we did our last shopping, swam in the fountains (illegal here in italia, but like we cared), and just had a fun day hanging out together. it was weird knowing that it would be the last time seeing some of them (semester kids and year kids are in different hotels in rome), and that this would be my last go at turin before i left.

my host brother came back from his year abroad in the united states, and the first thing we all did was go out for pizza. i like to think that him and i hit it off pretty quickly, and after only a week we basically already acted like siblings. i think i was really happy to have another sibling in the house, because i think i've been a little lonely without my sister these past six months. i definitely took her for granted, although to be fair, Nicholas doesn't steal my clothes and wear them to school without asking. at least i hope not.

i went with my host family on a five day trip, where we spent three days in slovenia and croatia, a day in trieste and verona, and then a day at gardaland. slovenia and croatia were absolutely amazing, and i have to say, i will definitely be going back to visit these countries when i backpack through europe. we mostly hit up the coast of slovenia (piran, koper) and spent a day exploring the northwest coast of croatia (rovinj, pula) and croatia was definitely my favorite. we headed to trieste (also very pretty, i can see why it inspired the writings of james joyce), and then to verona. verona may be one of my favorite cities in italy, although i only spent two hours there ... i'll be adding that to the list of places to go back to. then, we hit up gardaland, the largest theme park in italy and in europe. we were there from open to close, for thirteen hours. it was so much fun ... we went on all of the huge rides and got soaked on the water ones. okay, i started it. anyways, it was a very fun ending to an overall great trip ... it was nice to have a last voyage before my departure.

i packed my suitcase ... the limit is 20 kg (44 lbs) and i made it with 19 kg! although my poor suitcase looks like it is going to explode. let's hope it doesnt.

that is basically it as far as what i've been up to these past few weeks.
hold on for another post about my feelings and stuff.