Five months ago, I arrived in Italy...five months from now, I'll be leaving Italy. When thinking about all that has happened in these past five months, it seems like such a long time. But then I remember playing spoons in New York with a bunch of kids I had just met or meeting my host family for the first time in Lecce and it feels as if the last five months have flown by. I have officially reached the halfway point in my exchange and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I am definitely happy to be in Italy, experiencing all these new and different things. I have done things here that I never thought I would be able to say I had done. I've met people from so many different cultures. I myself have grown as a person, looking at life with a slightly slanted perspective than from before. I have been immersed in this completely new culture for five months and it has become my norm. I find eating dinner at 8:30 p.m. to be extremely early. You think -20 with five feet of snow is cold? Try 50 with wind and rain. I now answer the telephone with the name of the person calling, rather than "hello?". My entire world changed so much in the matter of just a few hours that I was forced to accept everything different without any negative outlooks. Thinking back on my first few weeks here, I realize how much of an awkward 'child' I was. Because of the language barrier, it was extremely difficult to state my opinion or express my thoughts. I was similar to a child, having to point at something or describe it with a few words and actions and hope that the adults in my life understood what I needed. After five months, I am finally grasping the language and am able to say almost anything that I need to say. Although I make many mistakes and don't always use the right words, people understand me which makes me happier than one might believe.
I'm going to be fairly honest right now, just for any future exchange students who might be reading this. Before I left for Italy, I was expecting to have the year of my life. I thought it was always going to be a blast, with little to no problems and everybody accepting of me. While this has definitely been the year of my life so far, it has been anything but easy. I've experienced so many difficult things which have tested my strength and emotions beyond belief. I've come close so many times to giving up because of events that have happened here. It has been the most difficult thing that I have ever gone through and maybe ever will go through. However, with the support of a few close friends and family here in Italy, and with the support of my friends and family back home, I was able to keep pushing through and I never gave up. Now, I can finally say I'm happy. I've got a fantastic host sister who I love dearly and trust with my life, and I also have the best friend in the world who is always there for me and I can talk to about anything. The thought of leaving, and especially leaving these two extremely important people in my life, kills me inside. As much as I miss home, I've made a life for myself here in Italy and I've gone through so much to get to this point. I am constantly torn between missing home and hoping the time flies by, but also feeling guilty for wanting to leave because in reality, I don't want to leave. I want to stay in Italy forever, but five months will just have to do.
Un baccio.
Alison
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Roma
Sorry I'm incredibly lazy. Here are some pictures I took while in Roma three weeks ago! Enjoy :)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Capodanno
Sorry I haven't written in ages! I've been quite busy lately what with celebrating New Year's, exploring Roma and meeting my host sister who just arrived home from Finland! So I'll write about Capodanno (New Year's) now, then post pictures and a brief summary from Roma in a different post.
The day of New Year's was pretty calm. I went out with my sister for a drive, hung out with friends later, then returned home to get ready for the night. My family and I were going to attend a party at a friend's house. It's typical for Italians to spend the first part of the night with their family at a dinner party and after the clock strikes midnight to go out with their friends. So at about 10 p.m., we arrived at the house where the party was taking place. It was out in the country and absolutely beautiful. Upon arrival, I saw a few friends of mine among the fifty or so people who were there. Music was playing, everybody was socializing and the food started to arrive in the catering vans. Chaos of trying to collect money and get all the food inside without becoming too wet from the pouring rain consumed about the next twenty minutes. Then we all said buon appetito and proceeded to shove our faces full of food. We ate and ate and ate and drank and ate some more. Then we all moved upstairs to start dancing. All the older people were singing karaoke and the moms were trying to teach us dance moves. It was absolutely crazy and quite possibly the best New Year's I have ever had. When the time came to start the countdown to midnight, we all got a glass of champagne and fidgeted with anticipation . Once the clock struck, everybody wished each other auguri along with a kiss on each cheek. And I do mean that everybody greeted everybody. It took about ten minutes until everyone was satisfied and sure that they had kissed everyone else. My friend and I escaped soon afterwards and walked to her house which was nearby. We prepared some things for people coming over later, and at about 1:30 our friends arrived. We all just hung out, talking and listening to music. It was overall a pretty calm night, with the exception of a few people who had drunk a bit too much. They were hyper and crazy until they passed out face first on the couch. The rest of us stayed up late, playing card games and cooking pasta at around 5:30 a.m. At about seven in the morning, we went to bed and slept for not quite two hours, then headed home.
It was a great night and by far the best New Year's that I have ever celebrated. The Italians sure know how to throw fantastic parties, and they take "go big or go home" literally. Next year I'm going to try to incorporate some Italian traditions into my American New Year's celebration just because it was such a lovely time :)
~Alison
The day of New Year's was pretty calm. I went out with my sister for a drive, hung out with friends later, then returned home to get ready for the night. My family and I were going to attend a party at a friend's house. It's typical for Italians to spend the first part of the night with their family at a dinner party and after the clock strikes midnight to go out with their friends. So at about 10 p.m., we arrived at the house where the party was taking place. It was out in the country and absolutely beautiful. Upon arrival, I saw a few friends of mine among the fifty or so people who were there. Music was playing, everybody was socializing and the food started to arrive in the catering vans. Chaos of trying to collect money and get all the food inside without becoming too wet from the pouring rain consumed about the next twenty minutes. Then we all said buon appetito and proceeded to shove our faces full of food. We ate and ate and ate and drank and ate some more. Then we all moved upstairs to start dancing. All the older people were singing karaoke and the moms were trying to teach us dance moves. It was absolutely crazy and quite possibly the best New Year's I have ever had. When the time came to start the countdown to midnight, we all got a glass of champagne and fidgeted with anticipation . Once the clock struck, everybody wished each other auguri along with a kiss on each cheek. And I do mean that everybody greeted everybody. It took about ten minutes until everyone was satisfied and sure that they had kissed everyone else. My friend and I escaped soon afterwards and walked to her house which was nearby. We prepared some things for people coming over later, and at about 1:30 our friends arrived. We all just hung out, talking and listening to music. It was overall a pretty calm night, with the exception of a few people who had drunk a bit too much. They were hyper and crazy until they passed out face first on the couch. The rest of us stayed up late, playing card games and cooking pasta at around 5:30 a.m. At about seven in the morning, we went to bed and slept for not quite two hours, then headed home.
It was a great night and by far the best New Year's that I have ever celebrated. The Italians sure know how to throw fantastic parties, and they take "go big or go home" literally. Next year I'm going to try to incorporate some Italian traditions into my American New Year's celebration just because it was such a lovely time :)
~Alison
Monday, December 30, 2013
Early Morning Thoughts
I'm sitting on my balcony right now. It's 3:30 in the morning and I cannot sleep. Inspiration always comes to people in the middle of the night, at least that's what I think, so I decided to write a blog post. I don't have a certain topic in mind, I'm just in the mood to write. So here it is.
I've been in Italy for almost four months. Wow has the time passed by. I feel like I've been gone from home forever, but I feel like I've been living here in Galatina for no time whatsoever. It's strange, the way time passes like that. I am almost half way through my exchange, I have learned so much, but I know I have so much more to learn in these next six months. And now here comes my random thoughts. It's strange. This whole thing. I decided to go live in a completely different country without any knowledge of the language, culture, or people. My parents agreed without much hesitation and sent me off on an airplane to figure it out. A random family agreed to let me stay in their home. They had no idea what kind of person I was, if we would get along, or if I would be happy with them. All they knew about me was what I wrote in a pretty generic profile of myself. So we met at the train station, they took me home with them, and we tried to figure each other out while trying to avoid the awkwardness that was inevitable. Now I've been living with this "random" family for nearly four months and they are starting to feel like my real family. We have inside jokes, they know what foods I do and do not like, we communicate in Engliano and they are accepting of my past and mistakes. After spending six more months with them, I can't even imagine how difficult it will be to leave. But that's the beauty of an exchange year. I get to experience a whole life in only one year. So far, I've definitely made a lot of new memories, friends and stories. But once again, it's bizarre to think about. These kids who have known each other for probably their whole lives meet this random American girl, decide they want to hang out with her even though she doesn't speak the same language as them and they get along great! Once again, the beauty of an exchange.
Another thing I love- I have met people from all over the world and learned so much about the world and many different cultures. The most interesting fact about that is the amount of studying I have done. Back home, I studied a lot. I got decently good grades and made the honor rolls. And yet, I knew absolutely nothing about the world. I couldn't have told you where Portugal was located, how the Italians eat their pizza, or which form of you (plural) the Australians use. In four months of living in Italy, I've barely studied because I'm not nearly advanced enough in Italian, yet I've learned so much more than I could ever have learned in school. I honestly believe that every teenager should experience an exchange, whether it be for six weeks, three months, or a year. A person learns so much more about the world when actually experiencing it rather than just reading about it from a textbook.
That's all that I've got for tonight. Have a great New Year's everybody, I know I will :)
Alison
I've been in Italy for almost four months. Wow has the time passed by. I feel like I've been gone from home forever, but I feel like I've been living here in Galatina for no time whatsoever. It's strange, the way time passes like that. I am almost half way through my exchange, I have learned so much, but I know I have so much more to learn in these next six months. And now here comes my random thoughts. It's strange. This whole thing. I decided to go live in a completely different country without any knowledge of the language, culture, or people. My parents agreed without much hesitation and sent me off on an airplane to figure it out. A random family agreed to let me stay in their home. They had no idea what kind of person I was, if we would get along, or if I would be happy with them. All they knew about me was what I wrote in a pretty generic profile of myself. So we met at the train station, they took me home with them, and we tried to figure each other out while trying to avoid the awkwardness that was inevitable. Now I've been living with this "random" family for nearly four months and they are starting to feel like my real family. We have inside jokes, they know what foods I do and do not like, we communicate in Engliano and they are accepting of my past and mistakes. After spending six more months with them, I can't even imagine how difficult it will be to leave. But that's the beauty of an exchange year. I get to experience a whole life in only one year. So far, I've definitely made a lot of new memories, friends and stories. But once again, it's bizarre to think about. These kids who have known each other for probably their whole lives meet this random American girl, decide they want to hang out with her even though she doesn't speak the same language as them and they get along great! Once again, the beauty of an exchange.
Another thing I love- I have met people from all over the world and learned so much about the world and many different cultures. The most interesting fact about that is the amount of studying I have done. Back home, I studied a lot. I got decently good grades and made the honor rolls. And yet, I knew absolutely nothing about the world. I couldn't have told you where Portugal was located, how the Italians eat their pizza, or which form of you (plural) the Australians use. In four months of living in Italy, I've barely studied because I'm not nearly advanced enough in Italian, yet I've learned so much more than I could ever have learned in school. I honestly believe that every teenager should experience an exchange, whether it be for six weeks, three months, or a year. A person learns so much more about the world when actually experiencing it rather than just reading about it from a textbook.
That's all that I've got for tonight. Have a great New Year's everybody, I know I will :)
Alison
Monday, December 23, 2013
Christmastime in Lecce
I went to Lecce Saturday with my local AFS chapter: Ian, Omar, Kenneth, Felix, Pily and myself. We walked around the city, enjoyed the Christmas spirit and ate at McDonald's. :)
Merry Christmas everybody! Buon Natale a tutti! Auguri :*
-Alison
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