Venezia & Verona

So I realize that I haven't told you guys much about my travels in Italy. I was fortunate enough to be placed pretty much smack between Venice (Venezia) and Verona. Which means for me depending on the train a one way ticket to either of the cities costs €5, €8 or €15 (Don't worry dad usually try to go for the €5 train). I have been once to Verona with some friends from school. It's very beautiful and very romantic. We visited 'Juliet's House' first. Everyone writes love wishes on the wall surrounding her house and also on every date near at her house there are hundreds of locks. I guess if you have a lover you go to Verona write both of your names on the lock, lock it and then throw away the key. It's very romantic. But don't worry travelers you do not have to bring lock's from home they sell them in the gift shop. Also there is a statue of Juliet and if you grap her boob you get good luck in love. So I did. And apparently it works (: Next we went to Il Pozzo Dell'Amore (the pit of love). Unfortunately, I don't have a very good picture of it from far away but it just looks like a well with bars covering it. Again you either put a lock on it or drop money inside of it and it will give you good luck in love. There is a sign on it that reads. "Getta nel pozzo un solo soldino, pensa un momento al tuo desitino, non ti distrarre, non far rumore, eccolo...eccolo...arriva l'amore" which translates to "Throw one coin into the well, think of a moment in your destiny, do not distract yourself, make no noise...here it comes...here it is...love".

Juliet's Balcony

love wishes.

Pozzo Dell'Amore

Notice how shiny he right breast is. Poor Juliet.

Then there's Venezia. Venezia is really unlike any other city in the world. It's absolutly beautiful. It's not the cleanest city, everything is very old and sometimes you walk by somewhere that smells like death but that's what makes is so beautiful. It's not a perfect, modern, well kept-up city. The colors are incredible. It's beautiful in sun, in rain, in wind, during the day and during the night (So far those are the condition's I've been able to experience it end). I'm sure if you lived there or visited SO much it might get a little old. But I think for me the only reason it would get old is because there are so many tourists and tourists like to walk really slow. I've actually been to Venezia three or four times because my best 'Interculura' friend (Solveig) and boyfriend (Nick) live there. Nick actually lives about 10 minutes from Venezia and Solveig lives right in the city.Each time has been fantastic. I've had fantastic food including sushi there. For those of you who don't know much about Venezia there are a couple major tourist attractions. The first is Piazza San Marco which is in the main piazza in Venice. You've probably seen it in a few movies and it's very beautiful. Especially at night because they have these really cute little lights and the whole square is lit up. During the day it's beautiful too. There are many orchestra's that play and all these little cafes. You really feel like you're in Italy. I would suggest however that you don't stop and eat from these cafes because they are super expensive. And for those of you who are willing to pay €10 for a cappuccino, go for it. I salute you. In Piazza San Marco there is the Basilica di San Marco which is pretty incredible from the outside (I haven't been inside yet). Then there is Ponte di Rialto which is the most famous bridge in Venezia. It looks out over the Gran Canal which is the biggest canal in Venezia. I've seen some other things but I don't remember the names. However one of these days I'm going to let my inner-tourist out and buy a bunch of guide-books and give myself a tour of the city. Perhaps I will make Nick and Solveig come along. I'm sure they would appreciate it. I think Venice is one of my favorite cities in the World.

From a water taxi heading down the Gran Canal.

Ponte di Rialto

Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco

Gotta hand it to the Seagulls of Venice. They're all the size of Jupiter.

Photo cred to my friend Wanda. This is Piazza San Marco at night and in the rain. Also this is Nick (:

As for Vicenza. Everything is wonderful. School is kinda stressful because I need to get credit for all my classes but my classmates make it better. We are doing Secret Santa next week, so I have to think about what I'll get for my person. Also next week there is a ski race for my school somewhere in the mountains and if everything works out with AFS I would like to participate in it. However yesterday was the first day the mountains got snow. So I'll pray for more snow and that I have all the proper forms needed by Intercultura to race. I'm so unbelievably happy with my family and my Italian is getting better so I've been able to explain a lotLasica Vivere' which is the same as our phrase 'Live and Let Live'. I miss my family alot with Christmas coming up but I know I will see them soon. Also I would like to give a shout out to my big Sister who has already been accepted to two universities (: Hannah I love you more than is humanly possible and I can't believe next year you won't be at home. But I'm so proud of you. xxx

Proud to be American.

I have a cool story. It actually may not be to cool for you guys but for me it was very exciting. Last night I had a friend over to spend the night. Her name is Solveig (she's Icelandic) and she is also on foriegn exchange but she lives in Venice. We met at the camp that was held for everyone in my region about a month ago. Anyway she came to stay the night last night and we went to the disco/club, called People in Vicenza. It was a very fun evening but we were dancing and Solveig heard some boys speaking in English and she asked them if they were American and they were! I was so excited and I hugged all of them and then we went outside and talked for a little bit. It's really nice to speak American English with American people, the English I speak with post people here is very different than my regular English. They are the new group of military boys at Caserma Ederle (the American military base in Vicenza). I was then able to thank them for their service. I thanked one of them and he looked at me and looked around the club and said 'It's really my pleasure'. We then joined their group and danced with them until it was time to go home. It was very sad to leave them; we all said goodbye with hugs. But I got their names and phone numbers so hopefully we will be able to meet up and maybe I can go visit the military base. Vicenza is definitly a good place to be posted if you're in the military (: Anyway it just reminded me how proud I am of my country and of the men and woman who serve us. Thank you guys.

A te che sei il mio grande amore, ed il mio amore grande

I'm sorry I haven't written in so long! November has been a very busy month. My italian is improving and now understand almost everything that people say but speaking is still taking alot of work. People tell me I will improve with speaking as time goes on and I hope that is true. My host family is very good. On Thanksgiving I cleaned and cooked my first Turkey (: It was very delicious. Overall November has been a very good month and it's hard to believe I'll have been here for almost 3 months soon. I've thought of some things to share with you about the italian language that I didn't know or things I would just like to share. First, in Italy, depending on where you live, you not only speak italian but also dialect. Each dialect is extremely different from eachother. So much so that people from the south would not be able to understand anything if they listened to a northern person speak dialect. I am in the region of Veneto and thus we speak a Venetian dialect. However, the venetian dialect differs from city to city within Veneto. A funny story about dialect. My math teacher is from Puglia (the heel of the boot in Italy) and the other day we had a geometry test. My classmates wrote all of the theorems in dialect on the lavagna (blackboard) and she had no clue what was written on the board. Here are some example of how venetian dialect differs from Italian. The first is english (clearly), the second italian and the third dialect.

Monday, Lunedi, Luni

Tuesday, Martedi, Marti

 Wednesday, Mercoledi, Mercore

 Thursday, Giovedi, Sobia

 Friday, Venerdi, Venere

 Saturday, Sabato, Sabo

 Sunday, Domenica, Domenega

 Shut up, Zitto, Tasi

 As you can see some words are very similar and some are very different. So as for dialect goes, I'm going to learn Italian first and then I'll work on my dialect.

            Something I don’t think you know about Italian is that is consists mostly of verbs. No joke Italian has a verb for everything. Some of the best and funniest examples include:

            Abbagliare – to dazzle

            Acciuffare – to grab by the hair

            Disinibire – to free someone from inhibitions

            Ficcare – to stick something somewhere

            Impazzare – to be wild with excitement

            Indiziare – to cast suspicion on

            Schiaffeggiare – to slap someone in the face

            Timbrare- to put a stamp on a document

            Zittire – to shut someone up

Everything has a verb. And because Italian couldn’t get any better all the verbs decided they would be irregular! YAAY! We love irregular verbs.

            Now to switch the subject I would like to share with you my new favourite song. The name of it is ‘A te’ and it is by a very famous singer Jovanotti. It is quite honestly one of the sweetest love songs I have ever heard. You can look the song up as well as the translation into English but I will share with you my favourite lines along with their English translation.

            A te che sei                                            (To you, because you are)

            Semplicemente sei                                (You simply are)

            Sostanza dei giorni miei                       (The substance of my days)

            Sostanza dei giorni miei                       (The substance of my days)

            A te che sei il mio grande amore          (To you my great love)

            Ed il mio amore grande                        (And my biggest love)

            A te che hai preso le mia vita               (To you, because you’ve taken my life)

            E ne hai fatto molto du più                   (And you’ve done a lot more with it)

            A te che hai dato senso al tempo          (To you, because you gave time some sense)

            Senza misurarlo                                    (Without measuring it)

            A te che sei il mio amore grande          (To you my great love)

            Ed il mio grande amore                        (And my biggest love)

            A te che io                                            (To you)

            Ti ho visto piangere nella mia mano   (Whom I have seen crying in my hand)

            Fragile che potevo ucciderti       (So fragile I could have killed you just by squeezing)

            Stringendoti un po’                             (You are a little stronger)

            E poi ti ho visto                                (Than I have seen you)

            Con la forza di un aeroplano            (Having the strength of an airplane)

            Prendere in mano la tua vita             (Taking life in your hands)

            E trascinarla in salvo                        (And dragging it into the safe zone)

            A te che mi hai insegnato i sogni     (To you, because you’ve taught be how to dream)

            E l’arte dell’avventura                      (And the art of the adventure)

            te che credi nel coraggio               (To you, because you believe in courage)

            E anche nella paura                           (And also in fear)

            A te che sei la miglior cosa               (To you, the best thing)

            Che mi sia successa                          (That happened to me)

            A te che cambi tutti i giorni              (To you, because you change all days)

            E resti sempre la stessa                     (And stay the same)

            A te che sei                                        (To you, because you are)

            Semplicemente sei                            (You simply are)

            Sostanza dei giorni miei….               (The substance of my days)

The whole song is wonderful (: But I would take a long time to write all of it down so that is my favourite part. Xxx

Letters!

This post is for Lisa & Dale and Grandma and Grandpa Shively (:

I got your letter's today in the mail! Thank you so much. It was really fun to open them up at lunch. I have the halloween card's hanging on my wall now and Paolo told me I should take the magazine to school tomorrow. Lisa it came out very nicely (: Thank you for giving me the chance to take the cover.
Also thank you mom and dad for all of the package's. It's really fun to get things in the mail!

Generaly thing's have been going really good. My Italian has slowly been getting better. I'm not good at all but it's getting better. School is very fun. I have a 7 1/2 in Storia d. Arte which is a good grade for an Italian student so I'm very content with it. Also my Arte teacher is very nice and today I even took part in a class discussion about which sculpture I prefered on the door's of the Battistero Romano in Firenze (: Last Saturday I went into Venice for the evening with my friends (one of which lives there and all the others nearby). While I was there I met up with a really good friend from India named Olga. She moved to France this year and was Venice on a school trip (: See we met in Piazza San Marco and hung out for a little bit. How cool is that? Anway it was a very good evening.

And now I need to get back to studying for my spanish test.

Camp!

This Thursday through Sunday I had an Intercultura camp in Trento, Italy. Honestly, I wasn't so excited to go because I was missing three days of school and a Saturday night. But I can say now that I love Intercultura camps.

Everyone from Vicenza took the train to Venezia where we met up with all the kids who are living in and around Venezia (Venice) then we all boarded a bus and drove to Trento. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive but that included stops to pick up all the other Veneto (my region) kids at various train stations. All together there were 55 kids with 30 countries being represented including Italy. Pretty amazing right? The whole thing was volunteer run too. We have 7 or 8 volunteers there and they were all very young. We stayed at a hostel/hotel that had a very big gym space. There were three girls in my room, Alma from Iceland, Shiori from Japan and myself. It was very fun because before we went to bed each night we talked about everything. It's like a sleepover (: The first night was pretty laid-back. Friday morning they split us up into groups and we talked about our first months in Italy- problems, fun things, sad things etc. My groups was fantastic (: And then for the rest of the day we had free time, we played alot of games too. I can't describe all of them but I think it's safe to say that playing quite a few of them would get you sent home for Bear Creek icebreaker. Here's an example of one of the funnest. We all sat in a circle and each girl was given a number and each boy a letter. Then you send a girl into the middle and one of the volunteer's would call a letter and a number. The boy who's number was choosen had to run to the girl in the middle and kiss her on the cheek and the girl who's number was chosen had to run to the boy and kiss him on the cheek before he kissed the girl in the middle and vice versa with a boy in the middle. As you can imagine people end up rolling around with eachother on the floor and on top of eachother etc. But it kept all of us teenagers very entertained so it was a very good game. Also the German's surprised us on Saturday nights talent show with a game in which you postition people into kama sutra positions. It was very....strange. Anyway for most of the camp we just talked about our first months in Italy, played games and talked with everyone. I made alot of new friends (: and I can safely say that if I had to choose another nationality other than American I would choose any country in South America, Icelandic or Thai. Iceland is really cool. Alma enjoyed telling me about it. Did you know that there are 320,000 people in all of Iceland and that 60% of them live in the capital city? Also they have candy made out of chocolate and black liquirice and there phone numbers are 7 digits long. It's a really cool country. Thai people are really cute and sweet and South American's are always smiling and know how to dance. Anyway I was very sad to leave everyone this morning and I'm even sadder to know that our next camp is in June and it's the last time we will see eachother until we leave Italy. Everyone is so interesting and wonderful.

For anyone considering exchange (high school or college) I would say do both. The experiance I'm getting as a high school is completely different than the experiance I will get in college. Also you have to know that you're going to be pushed completely out of your comfort zone; not only with language and culture but in meeting and talking to people. 4 months ago I would have been really nervous to know that I was sharing a room with 2 strangers but now I find it really exciting to see who I will learn about. And four months ago I don't think I would have had the courage to walk up to a group of people who were already friends and introduce myself and start talking to them.

Akward Moments & Rough Days

Many days I'll wake up feeling really down. It's probably because I'm tired, cold and hungry. But whatever it is I don't want to go to school or talk to anyone. I would rather just crawl into bed and go back to sleep. When you have days like this it's very important to get yourself up and you have to make a decision about whether your going to make it a good day or bad day. And whenever you decide to make it a good day, everything turns out pretty good. And when you decide your going to go into it with a bad attidude you end up having a pretty crappy day. Funny how that works right? (:

As for akward moments. Subjecting yourself to this experience brings with it an unending supply of akward moments. The best akward moment of today was in Storia. Storia (history) had started and Greta and Ilaria came in the classroom and informed me that the English professor wanted to see me in class three A. Here's the thing, in classical school (you study greek, latin, philosophy etc), they use roman numeral instead of actual numbers for the class name and for some odd reason class 5 is actually class III. So I was taken to class IIIA instead of class 3A and I got to sit in a greek lesson with an entire class of 19 year-olds I have never seen before. It was pretty akward. I just sat there in class and stared at the wall while everyone else stared at me. At the end of class I turned to a girl who had been smiling at me and asked "Do you have any idea what I'm doing here?" and she said "No idea". We figured, which was true, that I had been taken to the wrong class. Fortunatly because they were class 5 students they knew English very well. Also it wasn't so bad because I made a new friend. But Greta and Ilaria were very concerned when I came back to class because a girl from 3A had come up to our room looking for me and said she couldn't find me. Oh well. And once again it's times like those were you get to choose if you want to be upset and embarassed or make the best of the moment. I just laughed it off with my friends who that it was pretty hysterical I just sat there.

Sciopero!

These past few days have been not very exciting. I came home from school on Wednesday not feeling very well so Paola and Romeo let me stay home Thursday. I ended up getting a fever and now my stomache is all out of wack. Flu bug? I think so. But I did learn about something pretty cool yesterday. I guess this is very common in Italy but today we having a sciopero. A sciopero is basically a strike with some sort or protest going on in town. So we don't have school today because as part of the strike teachers and students don't go to school. I'm not sure why we are having this? Paola was explaining it has something to do with one of Berlusconi's politcal friends but I'm not 100 percent sure. Romeo said they happen all the time and it is a completely normal thing. Many times the strike will invlove all public transport like trains and buses, today just all the schools in Vicenza. However Poala and I looked up other sciopero's coming up recently and on the 20th and 21st of October there is a public transport strike. No bus for me that day (: Anyway I like this whole sciopero thing. I'm just a bit bummed out it couldn't be next week or something. Because I would've stayed home from school today even if the strike wasn't happening. Also I would have liked to go into town and see the protest or hang out with friends. The other fun thing that's happening today is that it's raining and there's a thunder and lightening storm. It's very beautiful (: