a week to go

Well hello friends :]

Its been a while. I dont think I could describe the last months that Ive had here in Sardinia and thats also the reason I havent posted in forever (the whole, Im having a great time thing :] ). But I have a week left and honestly its difficult to think that in just a few days I'll be at home, speaking my english 24/7 and not eating pasta every day. Even though it was delicious haha. Im excited to see all my family and my friends but right now I feel like how i did when I was preparing to leave; nervous and excited and scared and still not quite believing that I was really going to go. Im excited because, well, duh I get to see everyone I havent physically spoken to for a year! But im scared because I know that I've changed and I know that everyone THERE has changed, and I hope hope hope that Ill still fit in where I left. But, who knows?

Im also scared to leave Sardinia, which has effectively become a home for me as well. Its difficult to explain, but Im leaving home to go home. Wierd.

My host family threw me a surprise going away/birthday party the other day and as I walked in, I started crying and laughing at the same time. That kind of summed up everything :]

So this week I have to get ready to leave, and I think Im going to have to send ANOTHER package of clothes home so that I dont have to take them onto the plane (with their stupid weight restrictions).

Anyways, love you guys, miss you and see you soon!

-s

marzo

hello all!

this will be very brief, since 1) theres not too much to say, and 2) i dont have much time to write anyways :]

Soooo march... theres not much to say about it other than 6 months gone! Its kind of sad to think that this whole thing is going by so quickly :[

I feel like just last week i couldnt speak a word and now look at me! Well, kind of. I mean, i know im good at italian now, but i feel like i havent gotten better for a while. Its like, in the beginning i was learning something new every day but now i just have to learn to apply it and all. The whole grammatical thing.

Anyways, I will be heading to VENICE for a whole week (!!!!!!!!) pretty soon. Very stoked for that. Ive even had contact from my host family that ill have up there! The mother emailed me and she seemed very nice :] Ill have a typical family (mom, dad, 2 kids). We all know how that turned out before, but this time will DEFINITELY be different! I have absolutely no doubts!

So other than venice...

Oh!

Going on the school trip to London! Sweetness :DDD Hoopefully (but apparently to some non-believers not very likely) i can meet up with Lindsay!

mmmm....anything else?

Well Im sure if I missed something, you'll all tell my mom and she'll tell me over skype and then email me about it.

Love you all!

-s

Sooo

Lets get up to date!

Tomorrow at the crack of 9 I'm heading over to Cagliari, and then I shall meet up with the rest of the Intercultura-ers and catch a train to Terra Alba, where we'll have the middle-of-the-year orientation.

Woohoo.

Haha, well, it shouldnt be that bad. It will probably be fun :] If the whole, have-to-live-with-a-temporary-host-family for a week thing doesnt turn out too awkward. But you know me. Ive done so much stupid crap so far awkward doesnt even affect me. Which is an amazing side effect of this entire experience :]

So, the orientation ill be about a full week, which was longer than the last one I think. Im not sure what exactly we're going to be doing all that time, but Im sure it will be 85% superboring. BUT there is the salvation that is carnivale (yes, car-ni-va-lay) (kind of).

Can i just say that this has to be the best holiday ever?? Its like, a two week long Halloween-y festival with awesome desserts that are special and ONLY for carnivale (all of which I have helped made with various family members) where people walk around in costumes and have parties (more so than usual).

sweet :]

Anyways, in celebration of this, we are having a costume party during the orientation. I am going as a cat (FINALLY found cat ears. thank god) and so is my friend Sarah (germany). Lisa and Max (holland and germany) are going as hippies, and since Im the only remaining american in this part of Sardegna, obviously i was the first choice to help :]

And you know, I never realized how hippy-ish i really dress until i started looking through my clothes. Haha the discoveries i make.

After the orientation, I have EXCITITING travel news! I am officially going to VENICE for a week in March, and then LONDON for a school trip at some point.

LOVE MY LIFE!!!!

And even though I feel really guilty that Im basically using all my parents money over here and leaving them in a cardboard box eating only spam and cup of noodles, I still am super excited that I am going :DDD

Maybe (superbig maybe, but still), I can try to even meet up with Lindsay (fellow american and one of my best friends, for those of you out of the loop) and let me say that would make my life. Also, im REALLY looking forward to being the person that understands everything thats going on around me, instead of the other way around. I am so ready for this :D

Other than those amazing pieces of happiness, theres not much else to report. I have been continuing my advertising to the middle schoolers for my school, and i really feel that im getting a hang of everything going on around me. Like, im setting down some thick-ass roots :]

So, I probably wont be on a computer for a week, or maybe I will. Im not really sure.

Anyways, much love to everyone, email me with life in the US

love always

-s

4 month anniversary!!

Hey all!

As you may not know, today is the 4 month anniversary of italia! (Thats what I'm calling it). Theres not much to report. Tonight, Dony and I tried to make an 'italian' version of a mexican dish, and we used a bunch of italian things like wine and peperoncinos instead of chili powder. We only put in three peperoncinos, and for me it was really good, if not very spicy, but Dony took one bite and said it was too spicy!

Crazy italians. They wouldn't last in good ol' SoCal/Mexico.

They honestly have no spice tolerance. Makes me a little sad. Im trying to think about how one of the girls from India must feel!

Oh well. Thats about all, really. Just the normal hanging out and having an awesome time :]]

BuT!!

Two great things :

1) my italian is ROCKING if i do say so myself ;] and

2) Im going to VENICE for spring break (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) We basically just have to confirm with intercultura, but since Dony is coming with me the tickets are practically in my hands!! And ive been invited to Pisa (THANK YOU!!!)

FINALLY getting some of that italian traveling I've been craving :]]]

Much love!

-s

bringing in the new year

Hey friends :]

Soo I realize I have been awful about these, and people are starting to go crazy. In that case, before everyone buys tickets to Italy, Ill just say it out right now: I AM PERFECTLY FINE & HAPPY!!!

Just so you know :]

My christmas was great. We had this big family thing, lots of food and stuff. Then my littlest cousins decided that they werent waiting for midnight to open their presents. ( Italians celebrate christmas different. They do all the festivities on the 24th and open their presents at midnight and just have a family lunch on the actual 25th. ) So basically they grabbed everyone's gifts, handed them out and made us open them so it was okay for my cousins to open them.

I was actually surprised, because i didnt really think I would get anything except stuff from america and a few things from Donny, but actually most everyone had a gift for me, and it was really sweet!!! It was a ton of fun. ( And yes, I did get nostalgic for a little there, but it wasnt to bad )

Thank you to everyone in america for your gifts! I really loved them.

So that was christmas, a lot of eating and family, so not that different from us :]

And then new years. Which was actually kind of a fail. But what happened was, there were a couple parties I was invited to, and a friend from intercultura didnt have anything to do, so I was like, come down to Iglesias and we'll figure something out. So basically up until the day before that was what was happening, but the party was like, 5 euro to get in. So my friend was like, my sisters kind of throwing a party here in Monastir ( probably one of the smallest towns here in Sardegna. Iglesias is small, but we have a few piazzas. Monastir has a street. ) and we wont have to pay for anything, just help a little at the end. So I was like, sweet! So after i got everything ready, told my italian friends that i wasn't coming ( I felt bad about that ) and had all the train stuff, she texts me and says, by the way, we basically cant drink any alcohol. my sister said so. ( insert parental cheers here, and saige groaning here ) Not like I was dying to drink stuff, but I never really had the chance in america, so I thought I'd rock it out on new years.

No.

So we got to watch everyone else drink, then half the party talked the whole night and the other half was just wierd. Then the next day when I was supposed to catch a train home, the buses decided not to come and I ended up standing in the rain for half a day waiting, when we finally called my mom and told her that the buses werent coming. So i slept over again.

FAIL.

Oh well, I've decided that my newest new year resolution is not to worry about these kinds of things, or be jealous that one of the AFS girls here in cagliari got to go to ROME for new years.

Its all good.

:]

So its been basically a month since I've gotten my new host mother. I cant even describe how much happier I am with her. As much as that whole fiasco with the other host family was, if I hadnt changed families I would have been miserable. But im not, so im really excited.

I love my family, everythings good :]

Sorry it took so long to update! Ill be getting on it more often.

love always,

s

up to speed

So...

its been a while :]

As Im sure most of you already know, I have officially changed families. I am currently out of my original home and with a temporary family. I cant even explain how much I adore my temporary family! I have a mom (Ana) and a sister (Erica, 18) and theyre both SUPER nice and amazing and I soooo wish they were my permanent family!! But, the odds of that happening are very slim :[

Im also sure that everyone wants to know why exactly I changed families, to which I do not have a...well, lets just say there was not some BIG REASON, theres no big thing that happened. More that all these little things just made everything implode. But isnt it all the little things that really matter? I dont know, I cant help but feel like everyone thinks Im totally at fault for this. I mean, I know there were definitely things I could have done differently and Im not saying that the Atzori's are a bad family or anything like that, I just dont feel like anyone here is really looking at what the family didnt do right. Is it wrong to think that? I dont know, but thats how it is for me.

And thank you to everyone that sent me emails with their support, much appreciated!

But, now that that sloppy messy business is finally over with, Im really enjoying the family Im staying with :]] Already Im a billllllllion times better than I was.

Plus, my italian has gotten pretty good! I can understand about 85/90% of what people are saying, and I can usually respond in all italian!! Sooo im super stoked about that :]

For now, Im still going to the same school as before and I still do kickboxing at the same gym, so right now, everything is great :]]

Adesso (now), I dont really know too much about where Im going, but i should be finding out fairly soon. A little bit of me is still holding hope that I can stay here (not that is likely) :]] As soon as I know, you all will know!

Oh and i just saw new moon tonight with my sister and her friends and Im probably going again on saturday with my school friends. In italian!!!! looove it :]] (sorry all you haters, but i just had to put that in there ;] )

always with love,

s

first class (finally!)

So after one failed attempt yesterday, I finally got to go to my first class of kickboxing! Im so happy! I practically ran from italian lessons to get home, but that was so worth it.

Im totally sweaty (or I was, but I just showered) and really hot and I need to buy myself (emphasis on BUY IT FOR MYSELF!!) a sports bra, but I feel really...I dont know how to explain. I feel awake and happy and healthy for the first time since lacrosse. My muscles ache in a good way.

So the first hour and a half was really intense, lots of running and crunches and jab/kick combos. Especially lots of ab workouts. But Im totally cool with that, because my tummy will be completely fit. As will the rest of my body, because honestly if this doesn't whip me into shape, nothing else will (except maybe Coach Steph. Maybe).

After that first workout, the instructor for that invited me and Nico to a half hour of more technical things, like how to jab and hook and some wierd punch and a front kick and side kick. The instructors (there were two different ones, the intense one and the technical one) were both really nice and helped me out. But what I really like about the class is that I really dont have to understand italian. I mean, Ive gotten better, but at the gym I dont really have to think about it, I can just watch the instructor.

And honestly, I think this will be an awesome bonding thing for me and Nico. So Im totally stoked.

I think were going around three times a week, so Ill be fit in no time!!!!! :]]]]]]

Yay!!

-s