I'm baaaaaaaack.......

Ciao ciao ciao :)

Holy crap, I'm finally home! It's so weird to be back! Even though I was only gone for 1 week, coming home to PA feels like a completely other time and place.... so I can only imagine how bad I'll be once I come home from 10 months in Trecase :P

Anyways, I've severely underestimated the power of the internet, because you would've thought my dog was just resurrected after being hit by a truck with the way I wept tears of joy once I was reconnected to wifi! #21stcenturyprobz

As far as AFS goes, not a lot happened while I was on vacation other than me having to push my visa appointment back 1 week due to lack of paperwork from the Interculturra (AFS Italy). I plan on giving a full visa synopsis once I have had my appointment, because I can't even make up how ridiculous that process is (think water boarding but with paperwork) and in the meantime here's just a tiny fraction of what I've been working on since getting home an hour ago...

Nothing says vacay is over like 20lbs of paperwork ;)

 

 

But I digress, this past week was so much fun! Naturally, whenever I went to the boardwalk or a shopping center, I looked for as much hokey Italian junk as possible (and got all the weird stares as I stopped traffic to snap a pic of it). For anyone who isn't a native of the mid-Atlantic region, let me just give you a mini lesson on the beaches. So as far as the mid-Atlantic goes, there are 4 main states that I would consider to be the tourist attractions.

 

You have Maryland (where I go) which includes Ocean City, Maryland - a huge beach town that is basically the mellow version of Jersey

 

Delaware - Mostly smaller, quainter beaches - for the rich or elderly (but they have tax-free shopping so don't count it out)

 

New Jersey - The pinnacle of East Coast beach towns are all in Jersey, most famously Ocean City, New Jersey (home to Jersey Shore and most of the Italian beach goers)

 

And Virginia - They have some huge resort towns too, but personally I've never gone to a VA beach

 

Call me biased because I've been going to the same beach my whole life, but OCMD is, in my humble opinion, the crown jewel of all of said beaches above. It's got just the right blend of everything mentioned previously to make it a fabulous place to go, and here's a taste of  how my week in a little slice of paradise went :)

 



 The view from my condo's balcony <3

 

 

Our condo we stayed at was a lovely beachfront 2 bedroom on 137th street called the Summersea! :)

 

 



 It's certainly not the aquamarine of the Caribbean, but for murky Atlantic seawater, the ocean was surprisingly beautiful the entire week :D

 

 

 My inner white girl Instagram junkie just couldn't resist doing this, sorry guys ;P

 

 

 Pardon the awful tan lines I'm sporting, but I just so happened to run into one of my best guy friends Ian in OC, so we seized the moment and went mini golfing :D Notice that sick brontosaurus in the background?  It was dinosaur themed ;)

 

 

Personally I'm not that religious, but it seems that every year some sort of artistic church group comes down to the boardwalk and makes insanely impressive and huge biblical sand sculptures, and it's hard not to want to drop and do 10 hail maries at the sight of these things! This one was about 15ft high I'd say!!

 Of course, the boardwalk wouldn't be complete without some sort of street artist or performer trying to make money off of you every 3 blocks, but this man was by far the best! He was an artist who would make incredible fantasy landscape paintings of the planets and nature in about 5 minutes using only spray paint!! And he synced the whole thing to freaking dub step!! #newhero

 

 

Observe the Italian flag waving high and proud over the boardwalk <3

Some pretty sweet graffiti I think, and apparently the boardwalk management does too, because this was the only graffiti I actually saw!

Finally a decent group picture! Obviously I'm not that photogenic, but from right to left: me, my sister Alison, and our friend Sophie who came down with us

 

 

Ever since I found out about my host family, I've had this overwhelming urge to document literally every detail of my life, and I realized this when I was scrolling through my phone photos and half of them were of either a field out of my car window, a random building, or whatever I was eating for breakfast :P In this case it turned out to be okay, because I ended up with some pretty great pictures that I'm happy to share with all of you :) But my memory card is telling me to tone it down, so I guess I'll spend the rest of the night clearing out my photo album, yayyyyyyyy.

 

Only 5 and 1/2 weeks to go until my life as I know it will inadvertently change forever, I dive head first into a completely foreign culture and language, and meet the people who will become my new family for 10 months.... strangely I have yet to have a single second thought or regret.... should I be happy about that or concerned?

 

Anyhow,  one big ramble of a blog post later and I am almost at 700 views! You don't have any idea how glad I am that I actually have people out there who enjoy reading what I wrote :) Unless you're a parent and you force your child to read my blog as a form of punishment, in which case it's not that enjoyable....

 

The Speedwell picnic is this Sunday and my visa appointment is on the 7th, so I have lots of fun shin digs to write about in the future, Ciao for now :)

 

 

 



A lesson learned

Ciao amici

Unfortunately, I write this post with a heavy heart and a lot of sadness.

My big plan for this post was to unveil to everyone the big news that I am officially a licensed Pennsylvania driver, but sadly this is not the case.

I let my nerves and doubt get the best of me and I hit the curb during the parallel parking portion of the test :(

The frustrating thing is I have driven 35 minutes each way to the DMV EVERY NIGHT for the past 3 nights just to practice my parking!! Last night I didn't mess up a single try and I left feeling super confident!

However, as hard as I tried to stay positive and confident, I psyched myself out and completely bombed.

Like, if you were standing there watching me try to park this car, you would've been cracking up because I'm not even entirely sure I even made it into the spot at all :P

It probably looked something like this

 

And the poor DMV guy was just sitting there and he tried to be really nice and sweet about it, but when you put your car in reverse and it won't move because you're up against the curb that much, your hopes of passing have all pretty much died....

 

 

I know in the greater scheme of things that millions of teens need multiple attempts at the road test to get their license, and it's really not a big deal, like, AT ALL, but it still sucks  major donkey balls :(

 

Personally, this is the first time I've ever failed at anything, and the more I think about that the more I just keep replaying all 30 seconds of my test in my mind, and then I just want to crawl into a dark corner with a tub of ice cream and cry.

 

 

But by doing that, I would be admitting defeat, and then I would never pass my test! The only way to fix this is by getting back into my car, practicing some more, and re-taking my test (which sadly takes a billion years to reschedule)

 

 

In a way, I guess there's a positive to failing: I mean I was bound to fail at something one time or another in my life (my parents reassure this will only be the first time of many, so thanks guys) and accepting failure is a majorrrrrrr issue I have to work on dealing with because I have a horrible habit of holding myself to incredibly and unrealistically high standards. When I set a personal goal, I want nothing more than to achieve it and be able to cross it off of my list, and I guess I just need to accept that this particular goal will take a little bit longer to achieve.

 

At the end of the day, this one tiny blip of disappointment on the radar screen of my life won't change my character, take away my AFS scholarship, or prevent me from getting into college, and although it sucks right now, it honestly doesn't matter at all!

 

Sorry this wasn't really related to my trip at all, but I haven't blogged in a while and I figured I should just give an update, plus there is something kind of therapeutic about pouring your heart out to a bunch of strangers hehe :P I leave for vacation (I have never needed one so badly) on 7/20 and get back on 7/27 so unless something Earth shattering happens between now and Saturday morning you probably won't be hearing from me until after I get back.

 

I wish luck to anyone who is taking their drivers exam soon and I'll talk to you guys later :)

 

Arrivederci!



High school and SAT's and college.. OH MY

Ciao a tutti :)

I trust that everyone is having a happy Transformation Tuesday!

I thought I could use this post to explain to people the way the Italian school system works! (FYI it doesn't include big yellow busses or senioritis)

This is a chart of the different  schooling options a teen in Italy has

 

Unlike American schools, Italian kids can choose between a technical school, a vocational school, or which specialized type of high school they want to attend (Liceo). As you can see, there are 5 main types. Each has its own core group of classes to prepare a student for their eventual job. For example, if a student knew they wanted to become a doctor or scientist, they would most likely choose to attend a Liceo Scientifico, which focuses mainly on math and science.

 

Another HUGE difference is *sob* they go to school on Saturdays!

 

When it comes to the weekends, I am just like every other American teen, meaning I like my sleep and want plenty of it!! However, overall they only go to school for about 6 hours a day, which is less than the average US high school. And I'm pretty sure they only do about 4 hours on Saturdays, so it's not like I'll be stuck in a concentration camp or anything :P

 

Better explanation of a typical school day

 

I personally know the name of the school I will attend. It's called Liceo Pitagora and it's located one town over from Trecase in the bigger town of Torre Anunziata! Just from being on the school website and talking to my host sister, it seems like a really good school! And it's less than 2 km away from the beach <33333 My school in America is surrounded on 3 sides by corn, so I definitely consider this to be a step up ;)

 

My school offers 5 different course types, and I'm not sure if I'll be in a Classico course with my sister or one of the others, but so far everyone from Pitagora I've chatted with has been so kind and sweet, I'm good with whatever I get!

 

In other news, last night I scheduled my first college visit :D On August 17th  I get to tour New York University, which has been my dream school since I was 14!! Although it's just a visit, it officially kicks off the college quest, and that means I'm getting old :P It's hard to believe the next time I set foot in my high school I'll be a senior.....

 

Finally, I have a call into my guidance counselor about SAT's, because Junior year is typically the big college prep/take SAT's/ cram in as many AP courses as you can year in America... and I'll be sipping espresso on a sunny beach 6000 miles away... man my life is tough! ;P

 

In the end, it will probably amount to me spending as much time as possible researching colleges online in Italy, and touring/applying to a crap ton of them when I get back, not to mention taking SAT's next summer before senior year. Oh well, I'm fairly confident that the benefits of being an exchange student and taking all of your testing and exams later than your classmates will still outweigh the risks... and it's not like I'm trying to get into Harvard or anything, so I'll figure it out.

 

Thanks for listening to my rambles yet again, we're almost about to hit 400 page views :D Io amo tutti così tanto <3

 

Ciao!



 



My life is becoming a Disney movie

Ciao e benvenuto a tutti :) I hope everyone's holiday weekend was as red, white, and blue-tiful as mine ;) hehehehe

Okay, bad puns aside, this weekend was pretty special because I got to spend Friday and Saturday with my fellow AFS Italian exchange student, Kara!! We had an epic sleepover/make bracelets for all of our AFS friends/ rot our brains with Netflix session that was just fantastic!

The great thing about Kara (other than the fact that she is basically the same person as me) is that she understand EXACTLY what I am going through as an exchange student. My parents love me, my friends support me, but at the end of the day no one else can relate to the emotions that you are experiencing UNLESS they are going through them as well. In addition, Kara never gets tired of hearing about my AFS adventure because she is doing the exact same thing! After about 20 minutes, most people get tired of hearing me ramble on about my exchange, but the beauty of having fellow students to talk with is that no one will ever get bored! (it's basically a recipe for "we never shut up")

So, Kara and I had a fun day of excitement planned, however we chose to spend the day not dying of heatstroke in the AC comfort of my basement. That means we just watched Netflix for a solid 8 hours.

Say what you want about Netflix, but it currently has a fantastic collection of Disney movies, which is what Kara and I chose to watch for the most part.

This brings me to the title of my post, my life is turning into a Disney movie.

Take for example one of my two favorite movies, Pocahontas or Mulan. Both are about very independent girls who don't feel like they belong anymore, so their adventurous spirit and curiosity leads them on crazy adventures, where of course they both meet handsome men and fall in love, but other than that I can definitely relate! I've always loved anything Disney, but the older I get, and especially now that I am embarking on my own journey, I really take all of those silly songs and lessons to heart <3 My motto for this exchange is going to be to embrace the adventure and insanity and live day by day! (my attempt at paraphrasing "Just Around the River bend" from Pocahontas)

Some Disney quotes that apply to becoming an exchange student :)

I also  recognize that Mulan joined the army and almost got killed numerous times, ended up saving China, and caused the captain of her unit to have a sexual identity crisis.... but she was still adventurous and independent, so I win!

Two movies and a hearty sing along later, we walked outside only to see a MASSIVE hot air balloon land 30 feet away from my driveway in the field my house is up against! It was absolutely incredible and totally random!! All in all, it was a pretty fantastic weekend, and I'm glad I got to spend it with my amazing friends and family <3

Ciao!

Happy Birthday America!

You go Papa Nichols!!

 

In honor of the fourth and my home country, I'm keeping this post pretty short and all in English. It occurred to me waking up this morning that this is my last 4th of July in the USA until 2015 :O Sometimes it's the little things that can make you miss your home country the most :/

Anyways, I've just recovered from the most intense Facebook commenting session I've ever been a part of! What started as a post in my AFS Italy group turned into a 4 hour long, 302 comment jamboree! It was so great to get to talk to some of the AFS kids that I haven't really met yet, especially my fellow American AFSers  who I CANNOT WAIT to meet in NYC :D We are also going to try and start a YouTube channel featuring weekly or monthly videos from all of us on different topics about our exchange! (more to come on that later) I truly believe the 2013-2014 AFS Italy group will be the best group of kids Italy or any other country has ever seen <3

Behold the start of the epic comment section

 

Other than eating my weight in corn on the cob and macaroni salad later, today is going to be a pretty boring fourth (but I'm sure they'll be fireworks everywhere I turn tonight so that'll be fun)

 

 

Have a safe and amazing holiday everyone :) <3

Un po 'di questo, un po 'di quel

Ciao, e spero che tu abbia avuto una buona giornata :) I hope everyone is having a lovely day! Too bad it's raining here in good ole' PA....

Nevertheless, I decided to write this post because I feel like there are a bunch of random thoughts and experiences I've had, and rather than creating a separate post for each I will just make one big random-assortment-of-topics post to get it all out!

First and foremost, yesterday I submitted my blog to be featured on the main AFS website (that is visited by 1000's of people everyday) and much to my delight I woke up this morning and there it was smack dab in the Italian blogs column :D Apparently my friend Kara also had the same idea, because her blog is sitting right above mine! Between the 2 of us and the other 2 Speedwell bloggers who are going to France and have their blogs featured on the website, we are repping the Central PA blog circuit mad hard!

My blog on the website *< :D

 

 

On a slightly less celebratory note, last night I got to catch up with one of my favorite teachers at my cross country practice <3 She is also hardcore Italian and we spent a good 30 minutes just talking about my exchange and Italy! Since she took the past school year as a sabbatical, last night was the first time she had heard of me becoming an exchange student, so I had to catch her up to speed with my life and AFS, which was great because I've missed her a lot!!

 

And I do have to admit, it's always pretty fun when you're making small talk with someone and they ask "So anything new happening in your life?" and you get to casually just respond "Oh, ya know, just the usual, nothing too crazy. Oh except for the fact that I'll be living in Italy for the next 10 months, yea just the same old." Dropping the whole exchange student bomb on someone and then seeing their reaction has got to be one of my favorite perks about this experience so far ;)

The last big piece of news that I have is that I have decided to become an entrepreneur! Remember how I said I had to take up crocheting just to deal with the stress of waiting for my host family info? Well, turns out I'm pretty good at making scarves! I've decided to make and sell my scarves for $10 a piece to try and save some money for my exchange (even with a scholarship living in Europe gets crazy expensive) Email me at run1714@gmail.com if you're interested in purchasing one :)

This is one of the scarves I made!

 

 

Time to wrap up this post, but before I do, I just wanted to let y'all know that exchange is only 66 days away... wut. I can't even believe it because last time I checked it was 87! #timeflieswhenyourehavingfun

 

 

parlare con te più tardi, ciao mi amici :)