Ciao! My blog is desperate for an update, so here is the current status on my adventure...
On July 27th, my mom and I traveled to Chicago in order to obtain my student visa. After wandering around downtown for two days, we entered the consulate on the morning of the 29th and found that the wait was long and papers were missing. However, we got everything submitted, and my visa came in the mail about a week later!
Fundraising letters were written and stamped, finally mailed out, and quite successful if I do say so myself. I would like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who donated, whether by way of check, or a lovely note that I plan on taking with me. So once again, thanks for helping to make my dreams come true!
Italian, which I must complete the first level of on Rosetta Stone, is proving to be easier than I expected. The hard part is remembering everything I have learned when it comes to actually using the language. I find myself breezing through the lessons on my computer, but struggling to remember the word for 'hungry' when attempting to sound knowledgeable.
What else, what else....OH. My host sister, Paola, left for Rome this morning with the family in tow. Orientations start tomorrow, and from there she is off to Finland! What a shame that I will not be able to meet her until January. However, Facebook has been a wonderful tool for getting to know my host family.
On another note, my journey begins in 21 days....if I were to be exact, at the moment that I am writing this, my flight leaves for New York in 20 days, 9 hours and 48 minutes. I leave the morning of September 4th, to fly to New York. September 5th is when everybody from the USA going to Italy leaves New York, with our flight departing in the evening. After a layover in Zurich early in the morning on the 6th, we will arrive in Rome about noon, only then meeting up with all of the students from the entire world who are studying in Italy for the year. Woohoo! I am so excited that it is hard to contain myself sometimes. However, the thought of leaving my friends and family is quite difficult to think about, so I do not. Rather, I dream about the possibilities and wonders of living in a foreign country, learning a new language, and becoming someone who belongs in two different worlds...
For now, that is all.
Arrivederci!
~Ali
