last day.

once upon a time:

wow. this is it. this is the LAST DAY. like i remember when i was in the single digits, but it was for how many days i had been here. i still remember playing "speed" in the airport with dawanna, lily, and elizabeth waiting for our planes back in January. this has gone by so fast. i wish i could have a lady from the court who could type all that i was thinking really fast so i would always have it on file. my stomach is queasy and my throat is sore. its like half of my body is telling me, "don't go, sarah, you have made so many new friends and seen such amazing architecture and people. you know you will miss simply waking up with the alps in view and wine vineyards everywhere!" and the other half is saying, "OMG! in two days you get to hug mom and dad, not blowing kisses over skype, but feeling them embrace you and smelling their comforting smell. you get to show them and madd and kayla and everyone else, the little things you got them that you know will make them smile. what a story you have to share!". my goodness the different emotions that are running through me are unexplainable. oh how i will miss all my new friends here, it is sad having to say goodbye, knowing that we are all going on with the same experience and now are going to live our lives back in our normal habitats. crazy....

tomorrow i leave in the morning around 7 and catch a train close to Lignano. we stop to pick up more people in Venice and then head towards Rome, picking up more and more students at each stop. we get to Rome aroun 3:30 and we have the night to hang out, maybe do a few activities, and to enjoy the last night with all our new friends :) && ): Friday morning we leave for the airport and the americans take off just before 7 am. we land in New York at about 1 pm and all go our separate ways. I head to my gate and at 4 o'clock i leave for Arizona. i get to Arizona at 6:56 and all the whole trip right then, becomes just a memory. how quickly all this is happeneing. this time tomorrow, i will be almost to Arizona :( && :) ahhh.

how fast this went by.

then end:

ciao ciao
ti voglio bene
sarah.

Venezia

so wednesday morning started with me hopping on the train to Venezia. i was meeting Claire (Australian friend) and Avio (american friend) and we were gonna just spend the day there. we met around 10 and headed first towards the little venders. i needed to buy some gifts for my family and friends so i figured i would buy them before i wpent my money and then was unable to. well anyways. we made our way to this huge market. there was fish and shrimp and clambs and everything you could think of. it looked so....well raw and smelled pretty good, but i bet if you added some of that sward fish and a really great italian cook then you could get some amazing food. along with the fish part, was the fruit and vegetables where we bought some figs and cherries to munch on and the meat station, which included chickens who still had their heads and horse meat...yumm. anyways. we walked around and soon decided to get pizza. i have become some accustomed to pizza that the size or taste doesn't surprise me anymore...but holy moley. this tiem i was take aback. the pizza was 4 euro for once slice. but its totally understandable. they were the biggest pieces of pizza i've ever had. not only was it huge...but it was thick too, where are most of the italian pizza is thin. it was soo intense. i think it took me a good 20 minutes to eat. it was covered in artichoke, mushroom, and proscciutto. delicious!!! well after that we found a nice little spot to sit and we just talked and ate our cherries. at 3 we headed back to our cities. i got on my train and arrived back in Udine after another successful day in Venezia.

gotta love italy :)

ciao mandi

sarah.

.......can't think of a good title.

how my emotions have changed. i wanted so much to leave before. but now i am so not ready to leave. the people i have met here really have changed my life. Monique is one of my best friends and its only a matter of days until we are literally on the opposite sides of the earth. talk about separation. i wonder if we will actually stay in close contact with each other. or if we will visit. i sure hope so. i have shared about 89% of my experiences here in italy with her. i only wonder how it would have changed if we hadn't been in the same area. this trip has been the most exciting, surprising, amazing, unforgettable, marvellous, stupendous, spectacular, memorable, crazy, life-changing, awe-inspiring, fabulous, fantastic, outstanding, extraordinary, maturing, eye-opening, wonderful experience i think i will ever get. this has changed who i am and shaped me to be this whole new person. i can't wait for whats to come and how this has grown me for the future. life has a crazy new path ahead of me. i will never forget what astonishing opportunities i have had. whats next :)

25 days :(

ciao. ciao.

sarah.

cambiato

so a lot has happened in the last week. i will start with Verona. we got there after 2 long train rides. we met everyone at the train station in Verona and immidiately started to reconnect. i was able to meet with one of my American friends who i haven't talked to since we split up in Rome back in January. it was so great to be able to talk to her and stuff. so we got our little name tags and i ended up with another Austrailian friend of mine, Claire, while Moni was with Elizabeth (my American friend) and our other American friend, Avio, was on his own. it was pretty much the 5 of us the whole time. we were having so much fun, but i don't think the others likes us that much. the camp was made up of about 89% year students who all spoke really good italian and us "english speakers" were all 6 monthers so we couldn't as well. Avio is a year student though, but he wanted to speak english instead. many of the other 6 monthers were also from South America and other places where the transition from Spanish to Italian was easier than it was form English to Italian. anyways. we still tried italian and when we did the activities with AFS and stuff, it was always in italian. it was at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the free times when we would all be crazy and speaking english. so thursday was filled with activites....the first one which Moni, Liz and i were late to. we were up in the room and didn't know we had to meet. when we were told we ran down, but then moni got a bloody nose so we had to go back up to the room so that she could get some tissues and stuff. that kinda made the AFS people mad. everyone was waiting and when we got there, they made us to 10 squats in fron of everyone since we were late....yah it was great. lets see. Friday we had more activities and we played soccer and football and yah. that night i talked with one of the AFS ladies about my family. for awhile i had been unhappy at the house. i guess so were they, they had called the local chapter lady with AFS and said they wanted me to switch. it was pretty saddening. i didn't know they felt that way either. so yah. the camp was filled with more activities and then sunday we headed home. yesterday was monday. i had packed most everything on sunday night and just finished monday. i realized how truely bad it was when my host mom didn't plan on coming home to even say goodbye, but instead leave a note that said to clean the bathroom and stuff and to leave my keys and have a good trip. unfortunately for her, Giada needed to go to her driving class so she had to come home. she came up to me and shook my hand and then left me to wait for my new mom. i was an emotional wreck. i had talked to mom and was in tears and i was wondering if i had done something wrong and if i could fix it. finally my new mom came. i was so expecting to cry again, but she actually made me feel a lot better. she told me we lived right inside the center of Udine so i can go out whenever i want and do whatever. i now have a 19 year old brother(i have met him before because he is one of the liaisons of the other students...he's pretty cool) a 16 year old brother and a 12 year old sister(who i get to share the room with). i got there and it was just me and my mom. and i have internet!!! yay like i have wifi on my computer so now i can skype which again made me feel even better. i unpacked...blahhh...and then got on facebook. i talked to maddy and checked my facebook. then everyone came home. i watched as the dad set the table (a first for me here) and then sat down and ate. it was pretty good. The dad actually talked...like he would join me in the conversation when they wanted my opinion. after dinner the mom cleaned the kitchen after i asked if she needed help, i was told to go upstairs ahah. well then i checked some more facebook and got ready for bed. today i woke up at like 7 and got a ride to school. so much different than how it was before. i already feel more comfortable. its great. so anyways. life is good. i am planning a beach party with the "english speakers" sometime kinda as a going away party. it should be fun. and as far as i am concerned. the switch was the best choice i have made :)

la vita è grande

ciao ciao. bacio
sarah.

38?

so the days are slipping by. but not without a fight. mike was here last week. it was great. we went to Venice and Trieste. we visited my school for a little bit and definitely road the bus a lot. we played Uno with Giada and Daniel and watched movies on his computer. the week went by so fast. and unfortunately i had to say goodbye to him at the train station yesterday. Verona on Thursday :) talk to you soon.
ciao ciao.
lizzie.

days.

its weird to think we only have a few weeks left. i have definitely had a rough time, but i am so used to it now. i don't think i am ready to leave. just a short update. few things that struck me this week.

1. it was raining and there was about a 65 year old man riding is bike through the town wearing a suit and tie while smoking a cigar...does it get more cute than that?
2. i bluetoothed "somewhere over the rainbow" by IZ onto my phone and now listen to it on replay.
3. my hair is pretty long....finally i can say long and not just medium, but with that, the tips all are blonde...weird.
4. learned to make an italian strudel by my italian grandmother. crazy && oh so delicious.

miss you and love you all.
ciao ciao.
sarah.

spring.

spring is here. it is definitely here && i love it. the weather is about 60 in the morning and around 75 or 80 in the day. its amazing. in the front of my house, there has been a dead peach tree sitting there this whole time i've been here. well we were gone for the past four days and when we came back last night, it was covered in bright purple blooms. even if i hadn't seen that, it just smells like spring.

so last wednesday i went to Verona with my class. it was so pretty. i got to see an old coluseum that Alicia Keys is having a concert in soon and also Romeo and Juliet's houses. pretty crazy.

thursday to sunday, i spent in Cavallino. Its a small beach village close to venice. it was a little cold and rainy for most of the trip, but yesterday it was amazing. we even got our swim suits out. now i have a nice red back. ahah. hopefully it turns to tan. but anyways, it was amazing. we went there for a church camp kind of thing. i wasn't told until we were there. my family here is catholic and they didn't understand that i wasn't catholic, but christian. they just kept thinking the same thing. after this trip they finally understood. i had my bible out and we were talking and i explained that we don't pray to la madonna or the saints, but only God. so now they understand. its good now. ahah.

well the bell just rang. means i have italian for 2 hours now!!! wooo. ahah. well love you and miss you all!

ciao ciao.
sarah.

shorter.

so the posts have been pretty long. steven even said he didn't read them once he saw the super long one. so just a SHORT update. cavalino this weekend. Verona with my class wednesday. then cavalino again. woooo.

highlight of my week: getting a letter from gillian in the mail. dang shes growing up. best part was when she finished it with ciao :) definitely made me smile.

love and miss everyone intensely. planning on a lot more pictures soon. be ready! :)

ciao ciao.
lizzie.

Agrigento.

so the last few days have been crazy in sicily. tuesday we went to a school that studied cooking and agriculture. weird mix...i know. well the part that is about agriculture has 176 students and only 10 of them are girls...crazy. we got to learn about cow sperm......yah. they did ultrasounds and showed us different stuff. we each got ultrasounds on our necks. i suggested they see my food baby. i figured it was big enough now to tell weather its boy or girl. ahah. sad....well anyways. then we went to a farm out in the country or caltanisetta. we had picked mushrooms that the students grew and we grilled that and some super fatty pig. it was delicious. well yah we went with a class of 17 boys. they never see many girls, never any new girls at that. it was a crazy afternoon. i wish i knew more italian. they found it funny to talk about us when we were standing right there. though i understood it, i didn't really know what to say...i don't think moni and i want to go back to that school again. anyways. after that i went out with my sister to a place called 7days. it is a little hangout where her and all her friends chill. they are pretty crazy. there was one, he was 15 and had such a baby-face and i just wanted to hug him. he was so interested and kept saying the few phrases in english that he actually knew. it was a good laugh.
the next morning we all headed out early. we were going to agrigento. that is a city about an hour away right along the beach. there are 6 of us total but yesterday we had 8. there is...Carmen-honduras, Christina-honduras, paola-brazil, michael-america, monique-australia, and me. yesterday we also had two girls from china...who's names i have completely forgotten. we hopped on the bus and headed for the city. our first stop was an old theater. then an old church. out front of the church was a man, probably just as old, who let me take a picture of him. so cute! moni was hungry, so we stopped at a little cafeteria and bought some stuff. to my surprise i found 5 gum. i was so excited i think i scared the cashier guy. i bought some right away. after some more pictures of the city, we hopped back in the van and went to the greek temples. very cool. we walked around there for about 5 hours taking videos and pictures. after that we went to a museum that had artifacts and findings from when the greeks were here. i took pictures of almost everything i could and the rest, a video. i am pretty sure i was some of the same pots in a slideshow in European history sophomore year, so i made sure to take lots of pictures. then....what we had all been waiting for, the beach. it was cold so we didn't swim, but it was still fabulous. we took pictures and videos and laughed and talked about our italy experiences so far. then we got some gelato and walked around the city. the shoes here are dominated by two brands. kawasaki...which is japanese and superga...which is itlian. they both kinda look like vans and almost everyone wears them. moni and i saw some kawasaki ones for only 20€ compared to the 50€ superga ones. so we bought them. she got blue and i got bright yellow :) when we showed the other girls, carmen asked how much they were. when we told her, she got a mad look on her face. she also bought some last week...for 80€. we just laughed. to top it all off. i had some super greesy, homemade, cheese pizza. DELICIOUS. greatttt dayy.
today. both moni and i wore our new shoes just for carmen. we went to the classical school and talked in a class then headed to a scientifical school where we went into a room with two different classes and got stared at for a good 30 minutes...awkward. tonight we are having pizza with AFS and we get to talk about where we come from and show pictures and stuff. so that should be fun.

quote of the day, "we can't go in the auditorium because the roof caved in." the scientifical school was a little run down...fabulous.

lovin life!
lizzie.

sicily.

so saturday i hopped on a plane and landed in beautiful sicily. it was a warm 22...celcius that is. i am living here for a week with another host family in Caltanisetta. This isn't known as being the most beautiful city, but i love it. i live in a great house with an amazing view. they have many flowers and plants...including cactus...i know...its perfect for me. this whole week i am visiting schools, museums, and other important places in sicily. saturday we went shopping around the center and i went out with my 15 year old sister. we went to eat pizza with AUS (monique from Australia...she doesn't like me calling her monique so i call her AUS or TAZ(TAZMANIA) or Moni.) and then just visited some of my sisters friends then headed home. Yesterday i woke up late and had some yogurt. my sister and i sat outside and soaked up the sun. they have a pool that overlooks the hills...its gorgeous. i have taken many pictures, but you will have to wait for those. i was going to go to the beach with my parents, but AFS planned a meeting, so instead i went to Mcdonalds then to an old sulfur mine and then pizza. we went with AUS, another american, michael, and a few others...who don't speak english so i haven't been able to comunicate very well. today we woke up and went to a small run down school. we were split up and moni and i went into an english class. we didn't do much except laugh at our own inside jokes as everyone stared. after one hour in that class, we went with them and the rest of the AFS peeps to the cinema for a movie...in italian. it was Alice in Wonderland...which was good. but we coulnd't understand them the whole time. for some reason, moni is really good at understanding people when they talk, but can't speak very well. i can't undertand a thing, but i can talk pretty well. we are a fabulous team. when the movie was finished, everyone went back to their school while the AFSers all split up. we went to a Classical school where they study latin and greek. when that school was over, my sister came out and we came home. later tonight i am going shopping with moni and then my sister will join us and we are going out. not sure where or when...just know its happening. it has been crazy and fun and totally different. my favorite part has been the weather :)
ciao
sarah.

burn.

Today, March 18, 2010 was a breath of fresh air. I had become super homesick over the past few days. It seemed like everything was going wrong. I haven’t updated in awhile, so I will give you the down low. It started last week. Last Saturday, my host sister’s great grandma, who had been in the hospital for the past 2 days after falling while in the bathroom, grew suddenly very ill. She wasn’t eating or talking. That Saturday, I had a great day planned out. First I was going to school then after, Monique, my Australian friend with an amazing accent, was going to come to my house. We were going to go to the post office to pick up my package that my lovely mother sent to me (it included the socks, an adapter, and candy…best package ever!!). Then we would go to the store so I could get some hair dye and make-up and other little girly necessities. After that, Monique and I would get ready and go to a volleyball game and watch her friend from school play. Once that was finished we would head off to another one of her friend’s birthday party. And then stay the night at her house after. Well once we found out that la bisnonna de Giada was sick, it all went south. Instead of my host mom, Laura, driving us to the post office and store and volleyball game, she drove to the hospital. I had to text Monique and tell her the plans were off. I felt so bad. I felt like I was this huge burden to the family. Even though all our plans were canceled, I decided it would be best for me to stay at Monique’s house for the night. I went straight to Monique’s house after school. I wanted to give the family a little space. Of course not wanting to mention death at all, I just asked Giada how she was; she said finalmente…the end pretty much. Her bisnonna is 86 years old so we both knew that that was a definite possibility. I went back to Monique’s house and we had lunch with her huge family. We ended up still going to the game and party, but the party ended up being kind of lame. There was only like 15 people there instead of the supposed 40 that were invited. I am pretty sure Monique and I were just as much the life of the party as the 2 birthday boys. But we made sure to keep as much attention on them as we could. I spent the night at her house and then went home in the morning. Giada’s bisnonna somehow pulled through and had gotten better…that definitely relieved the whole family of a lot of stress. I found out later that Sunday afternoon that we had gotten letters from the Italian customs that we were supposed to fill out and send back. We had just gotten them, but apparently they were past due and I could no longer get my package. Even though it was only socks candy and an adapter, I felt like someone had just taken a package with precious belongings away. I was so frustrated. When I first came to Italy, I had brought with me a bag of different, typical American candies; laffy taffy, pop rocks, bublicious, candy necklaces & fun dip. My family liked them, even though I ended up eating most because I was so homesick and wanted a little taste of home, but the real winner were the pop rocks. They have mainly chocolate here, so the pop rocks were completely different. I had told my mom that I wanted more pop rocks so I could bring them to my class and take a video of them all trying it for the first time. I was so excited. So when I found out that I wasn’t able to get the package, I was really bummed. But my problems weren’t over yet, after using Monique’s make-up for the party and sleeping with it on, I got a sty…I don’t know if that’s how you spell it, but a freakin sty. I was homesick, candyless, and looked like poo because one of my eyes only opened half way. All day Sunday and Monday I had hot water and towels on my eyes so that it would go away. Sunday afternoon there was a parade in Buia. I still have no idea what it was for, but there were floats and people walking in costumes kinda like Halloween. It was pretty funny and I was excited just to take some pictures and get my mind off of all the other stuff going on…my camera battery died. Lucky me right?!?! It was about time, I had been using my two camera batteries the whole time without charging them, since I got to Italy. Another reason why I wanted the package so bad was for the adapter. I had no way to charge my camera batteries. Also if I don’t have my laptop, I couldn’t charge my phone battery. This is when the homesickness really hit. I kept thinking about home where everything is within reach. If I didn’t have something at home, I could just drive to go get it. In Italy, you can’t drive until you’re 18, even if I were 18, AFS won’t let you drive while abroad. I realize now how fortunate I was to be able to drive and have my own car at that. So this week I have been sitting in my room bored, listening to music from 2008 and playing solitaire. And if I didn’t mention before, I got songs on my ipod after they were all deleted. But the music is really behind here, so my ipod has only about 120 songs that I know. The other 100 are Italian and of those, they are mainly beyonce…old beyonce, Britney spears, Madonna, and cascada…FABULOUS!!! On Saturday I am going with Monique to Sicily for a week. I have been so excited for this and now suddenly I wished it wasn’t so soon. Since I am not talking as much and just doing a lot of thinking, I have been thinking nonstop about everything that’s going to happen when I get home. Senior year, hosting, prom, graduation, college!!! Figuring I want to be a photographer, I have been thinking about how important this trip is for taking pictures for college and school. When my battery finally died, I got upset because I couldn’t help but think of all the photos I would miss out on and I got really stressed out. On Tuesday night, I decided I would give my mom a call hoping that would help my homesickness. Soon after the conversation began, I was in tears. I could see I was a lot more homesick than I realized before. After only a few minutes of talking, my phone was broke and the call cut off. I cried even harder. I was just thinking, “are you serious right now? That’s so not even funny.” I was able to receive a call from her but only talk for a few seconds. That definitely didn’t help the homesickness. Like the package, so close but then snatched away. Ugh…annoying. About a week ago I went with my host mom, Laura, to buy my plane ticket for Sicily. When I went to get money out of the bank, it said I had no credit. I called my mom and found out that, even though I called in January and gave them the dates of when I would be in Italy, they still thought my card was stolen and froze it. Well they called my mom and everything got figured out. On Tuesday, I tried to get money out for Sicily…it was frozen again. Love that feeling! I just left it. I didn’t call home or anything. Apparently they don’t write down the dates or something. Yesterday, Wednesday, I went to school like normal. I just mainly sat and thought about Arizona. During 2nd hour, my Italian tutor came in and took me to another class for tutoring. I went and she left to go make copies like she normally does. Only this time, she stayed and talked for about 20 minutes. I could hear her walking to the room, but then she just stood outside the door and talked some more. I just sat there and stared at the black board. About 10 minutes later, she walked in with 1 paper and told me to do it and then walked back out and talked some more. I would have been fine with that, had the instructions been in English and I knew what to do. I guessed and quickly finished. She continued talking and talking and talking. I was so beyond annoyed. When she finally came in, she looked over my paper and just shook her head and said no. Instead of her telling me what I had done wrong and teaching me the right way, she just scribbled over my writing, wrote the right answer in her hard to read chicken scratch and flipped it over and again began scribbling. I don’t understand how she didn’t realize that I was mad. When she told me I was wrong, I tried to fake a surprised and a “help me” expression on my face. Guess it worked. After only about 5 minutes with the tutor talking to me and not other teachers, the bell rang and she told me to go back to class. She told me after that class, we would meet again. So after sitting through Italian, I went back to where the teachers all go and where she normally is. I waited there for about 15 minutes and she didn’t show. Like really? I didn’t want anything to do with Italian lessons at that time. I went back to class and just listened to my ipod. Finally about 30 minutes later, she came into my class. After I had put my ipod away and gotten up with my stuff and headed to the back of the class, she told me after this class…I don’t know how she didn’t see the “are you kidding me” look I had written all over my face. I just went and sat back down. After that class ended she came back in and presented stuff to our class. I didn’t unplug my ipod or put my stuff away. I just kept doing what I was doing and when she finished presenting, she just left. Thank goodness. The day finally ended and I had no idea how the day could be salvaged. When I got home, I asked if we could go to Media World…the Best Buy of Italy…and get a battery charger for my phone and camera. Luckily I asked early enough and we went right then. We went to a smaller store and I was a little skeptical that we were going to find what I needed there, but somehow the salesclerk understood and found an adapter that I could use with my American plugs. I think I actually jumped around a little. I didn’t even think about the day I had. I just thought about Sicily and taking pictures. I was so excited. I sent my mom a text, “I’m so excited. I just can’t hide it. I’m about to lose control and I think I like it. I bought an adapter so I can charge my phone and camera and use my straightener and curling iron all! Ah feelin great. Just and update. Love you. Leaving for Sicily on Saturday yay! <3 lizzie.lou”…yah it felt good to just have pure joy when it’s been lacking recently. Even though it wasn’t some big moment, when I paid for the adapter, I had no cash so I had to use my card. I totally forgot about it being frozen…luckily they got it figured out. It seemed just like everything was working out. Finally!!! I don’t remember the day now, but this week I also received the Easter cards from my mom. I got the nasty man one first. It actually made me laugh out loud. Not just LOL but ahahahaha. The second one with the little chick made me smile and miss home, but nevertheless, I smiled. I took a picture of the chick and made it my background on my phone. Now that you’re caught up…today was nice. Every morning, my “hey soul sister” alarm goes off and then about 2 minutes later, Giada’s vibrating alarm goes off. This morning I heard hers first. I figured mine just didn’t go off since I had been messing with it during class yesterday. I did my hair and make-up and brushed my teeth and went back into my room to get dressed when I saw Giada still in her bed. When I looked at watch, it said 6:30 and wondered why she wasn’t up and ready yet. She leaned over the bed and said, “No sleep?” I looked a little closer at my watch…it was 5:30. so I went back to bed for an hour and then got up and was ready for school. Even though I was tired, I was so happy still, that I was pretty bubbly on the bus. One of my friends, Andrea, was funny, he didn’t understand how I was so bright and awake even though I had woken up at 5. I just laughed…I didn’t really understand either. School was okay. I sat through math and understood it this time. I came home made both the fires…without help this time and both actually became real fires. I was pretty proud. I watched Indiana Jones and then let Daniel watch cartoons. The fire in the living room was looking a little dull so I went to put a new piece of wood inside. I grabbed the handle which has rubber on it so it doesn’t get too hot, well I grabbed to high and my hand touched to the scorching metal. Even though I have a burn right where the pointer finger connects to my actual hand and it is already blistering, I am still happy. I just can’t wait for Sicily and I keep thinking about what’s to come.

…well that ended up being longer than planned. Sorry it’s so long. I tend to vent here since I can’t do that very well with people here without getting a very confused look. I have a lot going on in the next few weeks.

March 20-27 I go to Sicily.
March 30th I have a meeting with AFS so I get to have lunch and hang with them.
April 1-7 we have no school for the Easter holiday. One day, I will go with Giada to Tarvisio (a city almost in Austria very cold, very popular, very beautiful) to see her work.
April 16-17 I will go with Giada and Laura to Cavalino to get the house there all cleaned for when we go.
April 21-26 we get to go to Cavalino and enjoy some time in the sun.


That’s just what’s coming up right away. Hope there is more though. I love you all and hope you like the update.

Ciao.

Sarah.



super long. i know. :)

Saturday Night

Well the day started normally. i got up for school. it was so cold, -6°c. school was sooo boring. the night before, i accidentally synced my ipod and guess what....nooooo music. it sucks. but i think its a sign from god that i should learn italian. ahah. well i decided to color the whole day since i had to sit through italian, science, and history. Math came around. that was difficult of course. but some how i figured it out :) finally school ended and we got on the bus. it was a long ride. Towards the end it got fun. i had my video camera and i was taking videos of buia so you can see a little of what i get to see everyday and what has become normal for me. we had 2 stops left and i was looking out the window and i saw these things falling from the sky. i thought there might have been some paper burning making little white flakes fly through the sky..thats when i realized...it was snowing. i took a video. but as i watched it later, i realized you can't even see the snow. they were big flakes, but like 8 of them. but i didn't care...it was still snow. we came home to some yummy lunch and ate up. i was feeling a little tired so i made some coffee and Giada, Daniel (her 5 year old brother), and i played some uno. Sadly, Giada and i were schooled by Daniel...it was quite embarrassing. finally 5 came around and i headed to get my skype on. i talked to Elise...my cousin...and my parents. i had made a list the whole week of things i wanted to talk to them about...it helped so i didn't just sit there and say...."im good...my italian is getting better....i like the food". i actually let them in on some insight. ahah. the list went something like this

• Sicily=i am going to Sicily for a week on the 20th of this month...can't wait. i am going with another friend, Monique, who is from AUS. and we get to visit Palermo and another big city and we also get to go to different schools and see them and just have an amazing time.
• Cavalino=in april, me and my family are going to Cavalino, which is close to Venice, for 5 days to relax on the beaches in the sun.
• Verona=the day before ^...i am going to Verona for a day with my school.
• Trieste=i am going to Trieste for one day for a cross-country run thing with AFS
• Mike Visit=is mike coming...that would be awesome.
• Steven-girls=Not that steven isn't good looking, but my whole life, i've dealt with my friends and other random girls always seeing mike and going, "oohhh he's cute. is he single...ect." so when i came here i was some-what expecting that when my friends would see my family pictures....nope. more like..."ooohhh steven...hes cute. how old is he? single? coming to Italy?" the first few times (yes...this has happened more than once) i was like..."you mean mike?" and i would scroll to his picture. and they would say, "no...steven" adn scroll back to his picture. haha. The girls all think mike is good looking, but he is the typical american boy...but steven looks like the italian boys here...and a good one at that. lucky you steven. :)
• and i forgot the rest. i will put the rest up for sure later :)

so that was super fun to talk to them. around 7 we headed home. when we got home we had hamburgers. Giada and i ate quickly and began getting ready...for we...were going to a DISCO :)

we weren't planning on wearing heels...but Giada made me. so i ended up wearing my black heels :( black jeans, a white tank, and a little black sweater.

After driving around for an hour with bad directions and hard to understand, napoli-italian, we made it to the disco. we got there around 11:30...but dancing doesn't even start until like 12 or 12:30. so we kinda just stood around. already...feet were hurting. finally we found a friend from school and talked with her and her friends. soon the dancing began. the dance floor started empty and we all kinda just stood in our cirlces, barely dancing, until the rest of the people started to arrive. the dance floor got so full of people. that if i wasn't being touched on my torso//grande butt area, i must have been outside. it was fun. i sang and danced to all the american songs that played. while everyone else danced and mumbled what they thought the words were except the chorus....thats when suddenly everyone knew the words. it got really hot and we decided to take a little break. we went and stood outside...which felt amazing...even though it was -6°c. we went back it and somehow squeezed our way back to our little group. some italian song (i know...italain...weird) was playing and it was pretty much just a beat and then a random spout of words. well this guy next to us would turn from his friends and yell that at us. haha. it was funny. he would keep doing that and then he would just dance with us and then turn back to his friends. He said something to me but of course, i don't speak that good of italian, so i didn't understand. Giada explained to him that i am american. he speaks abosulutely no english. His name is Matteo. which made us laugh even more, because in our class we have 2 matteos and 1 mattia. 2 am rolled around and we headed home.

well the bell just rang at school.

love you all.

Sarah.

SMILE

Ciao!!!! So this week has been awfully crazy. I don’t even know where to start. Finally I can say I am not horribly homesick. I think I was so homesick because I was bored and had nothing else to do but to think about home. But I’ve found ways to keep myself busy. The gym has been good. I like the bikes. Yesterday, March 2nd, I went to the gym. It was all great and I was feeling a little thinner when I looked down…I have a gut. Stupid bread! I now like doing crunches and other random ways to help my bread-belly decrease. I decided also to put myself on a diet. I know you are probably thinking, “A diet?!?! While in Italy, the place known for their amazing food?!!?!” well, it’s not totally like that. My diet consists of no seconds, unless super starving, and less bread. So it’s not really a diet, but maybe those seconds and extra bread are making up my pouch right now. So about 2 weeks ago I found out about a trip thing that AFS has planned, called “exchange week”. “Exchange week” consists of me (an AFS student) picking a place in Italy to stay for a week. While there, I will get to go to local museums and do AFS planned adventures. Since I am located in northern Italy, riding along the Alps, I of course decided to go south. I really wanted to go to Sicily, but Sicily is a very popular place and they can only allow so many students in each area. I was pretty much thinkin I wasn’t going to Sicily, when Elisa, my local chapter volunteer, called me and told me that Monique (an Australian girl also in Udine) and I are both going to Sicily and to the same city. Ahhhhhh yay! I am now super pumped. The reason for this trip is not only to see and experience a different part of Italy, but to experience it with other AFS students that you are friends with because otherwise we don’t really get so see each other unless we are really close. I will be staying in Calt……I don’t know. It’s in the center of Sicily, but the name is long and I was too excited to remember it. It’s a big city, so if you look on a map, you should find it easily. I leave on March 20th and return March 27th. Then the next day I get to go to Austria! We were supposed to go Saturday, the 27th, but “exchange week” interfered. So I will just go a day late. We are going to see some friends and family of my host family. Oh and in May I get to go to Trieste—a city south and to the right of Venice—for a race thing. I am still a little confused on what exactly it is, but AFS invites everyone close and we get to run in it together. It should be fun. I can’t wait for this next month. I can’t believe it’s already March. I think I am less homesick now because I realize I can’t mope around being homesick any longer, because before I know it, it will be time to go and I would have had a poopy attitude the whole time and had no fun. So from now on, well as much as I can control, no more being homesick.

On a different note…school is good. I think I will be switching to an older class some time this month. I will miss my new friends, but hey…this means more chances to make new friends. It’s getting warmer. I now don’t wear a scarf everyday and I am back to my black jacket—the one I bought, but was too cold to use at the beginning so I was using one the family let me use. Usually on the way to school we don’t see the sun rise, it just slowly gets light and the sky is covered by a thick layer of gray clouds. The past few days, we actually see the sun. It’s so beautiful! When the sun is out, the mountains light up and you can see the fresh snow and it feels like they are close enough to touch. I have begun taking pictures randomly, like as I walked to the gym or on the way home from school. The landscape, besides the mountains, has become normal to me now, but I realize that it isn’t for you…so I am trying to capture everyday views so you can feel like you’re here.

It is getting late here…well for me. We go to bed like super early here…it’s actually kind of nice  well anyways. I am going to go to bed. I love you and miss (but not in a homesick way) you.

XOXO
Sarah.

ciao bello.

My days have now become regular and i am getting bored. so to keep myself from just sitting at home and getting homesick. i joined a gym. it was super expensive. for one month i paid 67€. crazy...but worth it. the TINY gym has a room with 3 tredmills, 5 bikes, and 2 olypticals. then there is a tiny room for stretching and doing push-ups and stuff. Another room for classes like pilates of dance and a small pool. upstairs there is the room for weight lifting and stuff. i like it...its comfy. this week is pretty normal. oggi & mercoledi...today and wednesday...i can't be in my class. they get a special presentation thing. so today i am sitting in an empty classroom with my spanish teacher and two other students. i have only met this spanish teacher twice and both those times she was out of her seat yelling at a girl in the class, "silencio!!!!!!" its scary. i kinda just sit there and wonder what happened to make her suddenly flip on this student. all my teachers are so different. my italian teacher is crazy. she is like that typical mean teacher from any cartoons. she is super tall and skinny. she has short blonde hair that never seems to move. She has glasses that sit low on her nose and are only used to read. its weird though...because when she is talking or yelling at the class she looks at the ceiling or back wall...but never at us. its scary. plus she wears skinny pants or skirts with super pointy high heels so she looks even scarier, add a little bit of a hunch and you get a teacher that everyone dispises. i have to go to my italian tutoring now. i am getting better, but not that much.

love you all!!!
sarah.

sick.

ciao everyone!
i went to upload more pictures because i am being harrassed now by everyone for them. well i forgot to put them on the stick, so you will just have to wait some more.
i got sick and didn't go to school today. tomorrow i have to though. ugh.
i am feeling a little better.
i miss you guys.
oh and to riccardo stewart...if you even read this.
i listened to matt chandler today...i couldn't stop listening after just one, i listened to 6....he is amazing!!!
makes me really have a fire for God. :)
it had been very helpful.
i love everyone!!!
bacio.

title: Carnival

Blog:

Today is Febuary 19th 2010 and i am writing from my schools computer. at my school we don't have good internet, everything is blocked except google so....my parents will be updating my blog for me...thank you mom&dad.

My week started slowly...i had 3 days off of school, monday, tuesday, and wednesday, for a carnival thing. i guess it is like a holiday here. but only some schools got it off...lucky me.

Monday:i sat around and literally didn't even change clothes. it was nice just to relax.

Tuesday:i knew i was going to be able to get internet so i loaded photos and videos onto my memory sticks. i had recorded 2 videos, one for the parents and everyone, it was a pretty good blog i guess and that i was eleven minutes long and another video for maddy which was nine minutes long. After waking up, taking a nice long shower, curling my hair, and having lunch, Giada and i went for a walk. we walked about 2 km...or 1.2 miles, to Mont Buia. Mont Buia was high on top of a hill so that the whole city of only 6000 people could be seen...the hill wasn't that high...anyways, we walked around and took many pictures, it was so beautiful. That day it was sunny and clear, great for pictures. We came home just around sunsent and relaxed. Laura, my host mom, came home and told me to get ready to leave...we were getting internet. We ended up going to this laundry place and i used a computer there. I was planning on updating my blog with the video, but it was taking for ever and pretty soon we had to go. I got on facebook and recorded a video right there that was about six minutes long and hit share...it didn't work...there was an error. now Laura was waiting for me so i had to record another one really fast. It was only about a minute, and the main topic was that i would be back on facebook and skype on saturday. i talked to my dad for a second and that was really nice. i also got Quinn's number and Liz's number, both girls from America who are within a short train distance from me. We also had become good friends while in New York and Rome. i got off and headed home. We had dinner and went to sleep.

Wednesday: i woke up early because we had to go to the police station today...something to do with my visa. i couldn't understand anything so i just had to guess. After we were done there, Laura drove me and Giada to the center of Udine and dropped us off. We got to walk all around and shop and see Udine. It is beautiful. Everything was great...except...the shoes. For some reason Giada had told me that we would dress up, so i wore jeans and my cowboy boots which have a bit of a heal and she wore my black boots with an even higher heal with jeans. it was all fine at first, but after awhile both our feet were aching. We stopped and got some drinks...i don't even know the name. Giada ordered them for us...i guess they are really popular and that the only thing you get when you go to that bar. We sat outside and sipped our drinks. The drinks were a mix of wine, im guessing white wine, orange juice, and...im not sure. it was okay, but i didn't like the strong alcohal taste. i had about 4 sips and then stopped. Giada had finished hers, so i switched, making it look like i enjoyed mine very much, and gave her mine. After that we got pizza and water, which i prefered much more. we continued to shop around...mainly looking since everything was so expensive. we were there from ten in the morning until three when we met one of Giada's friends. We again went to a bar and got drinks, i didn't order this time though. After that we walked to this building and went inside. we walked up the stairs and entered into a tatoo parlor. Her friend was planning on getting one. from there we split up and Giada and i headed towards the train station. We got there just in time and borded our train at 17.05...or 5:05. we got off the train at 5:30 and waited for Laura. The bad thing was, Laura wasn't picking up. we were about a 20 minute drive from home...way to far to walk. Finally we got a hold of Gelindo, my host dad, and he came and picked us up. he got there around 6:45. we went home and had dinner.

Thursday: we had school, except i had a little stomach ache and Giada had a pounding headache. She wasn't going to school and said i didn't have to either...yay. we slept in and relaxed. I took a shower around 11:15 and half blowdryed my hair. i only do half since here they don't like wet hair and expect you to have dry hair, but i don't like my hair when its blowdryed, so i do it half so the rest can dry naturally and curl a little. After that we had chores. i ironed....i hate ironing. i don't really feel the need to iron five year old's sweat pants...but oh well, when i go back home, i will be an amazing ironer. we had lunch and watched animal planet...animal cops phoenix :) Dinner finally arrived, but i wasn't feeling great. it was mushroom soup, which was good, but i just wasn't hungry. and like you could have guessed, they kept telling my to eat eat eat. and they kept offering my more and more food. we finished around eight and i decided to give my stomach a good sleep and went to bed.

Friday: We are here at school, however, we missed the bus this morning so we had to catch the next one, making us late. Along with being late, we had to walk for about 30 minutes once we got off the bus, just to get to the school. all because, we slept in until 6:30. that is waking up early for me normally in arizona. We arrived at school at 8:40 instead of 8:00 and headed to our first class...computers.

Every night i have been writing down a description of what i do and how i feel, it helps me express my feelings, since the language barrier doesn't allow that. i am getting better at italian...still not great though.

Saturaday i will be back to the laundry place for internet. i will have a few more pictures by then...maybe, but i still will only give a sneak peak and not all the pictures.

This has been crazy amazing and it still feels unreal.

i love and miss you all!

baci baci,

(kiss kiss)

Sarah.

again.

okay so it changed.
mom&dad: saturday at 9am for you guys i will be back on. i don't know it that is the permanant day...but we can start with that.

everyone else. i don't have time to update the blog right now...but i will udate it saturday with pictures and videos.

there is a short video on my facebook and a few pictures. check it you.
love you!!!

sorry.

its been awhile since i have updated my blog...sorry. i went to buy internet and it was going to be 25€ a month plus 99€ to start...wayyyyy to expensive. i found a laudry place that its only 15€ a month so i am going to do that.

parents: i don't know about skype. i am thinking for maybe tuesday nights...well morning for you. it just depends when they can drive me here. i will ask them and next time i am here, i will let you know :)

everyone: i have many pictures but i will only upload a few...just a sneak peak.
i do have a video too with more information on my facebook.

i love you!!

here at last.

so...i made it. sorry for the delay. at my house, i have no internet so i haven't been able to update this. i have been in italy since friday. when i got to italy, i was in rome. it was so pretty, a little cold, but nothing to what i am dealing with now. we did many orientations to learn italian and to understand what we were about to go through. while in rome they took us to the vatican city. it was gorgeous!!! i have never seen so many old statues, paintings, words, and walls. it was absolutely amazing. we had to wait in line to go into the vatican and i had a little scare. right before i walked through the doors, my battery died on my camera. luckily i planned ahead and brought the extra battery that was fully charged. when we were walking around in the vatican city it began to rain. it was so nice. it was bright and sunny with huge rain drops. we left there about 2 hours later and went back to our hotel. we had to get ready to leave, because on sunday we would leave to see our families. sunday afternoon arrived very quickly. i left rome to go to my host family. while in the airport, there were 3 other girls who were going to their families, we were friends and hung out together. we had split up when one of the girls came back and told us her gate had changed. so quickly i had to run to a different gate. once there, i began to get nervous...i was scheduled to leave at 4:45..it was now 5. then 5:15 and then 5:30. my plane was late. also i was at a weird gate. instead of going through the walk way thingy, we got onto a bus and then just walking up the steps onto the plane. it was cool...but way different. we finally took off around 6:15. about 45 minutes later i landed. i just followed the crowd inside and waited for my bag. once i got it i had no idea where to go. the afs people never told us exactly where we were to meet our families. i just headed for the exit. luckily for me, they were right on the other side. i was excited and scared and hyper and tired all at the same time. we piled into the car and headed home. it was a verrrrrrry long drive. very quiet drive. Giada, my sister is the only one that speaks enough english to talk to. My parents, Gelindo and Laura, they just talk to me in italian, get my confused face, and try to change to english. it is very confusing. they let me relax at home for 2 days before i had to go to school on wednesday. i live in Buia. it is very small and right next to Udine. it is all soooo pretty. the alps are my backyard. it is very cold. around 2 degrees celcius daily...all day. the alps are so pretty and covered with snow. there is snow on the ground in some spots...but not all. i have now experienced school. wednesday was my first day and very intimidating. everyone wanted to know about obama and how old i was and where i am from and what music i listen to(which, by the way, is the same stuff i listen to...weird) and if i have family and if i smoke or drink. everyone here smokes...i mean like the 13 year old boys and girls. its crazy. i can't even count the number of times i have been offered one. in school, the classes have about 20 people in them. and instead of the students switching from class to class, the teachers switch and the students stay in the same room. its nice. i have 9 boys and 10 girls. there is only one black person, a boy. he is funny. he asked me if there are black people in arizona, it made me laugh. they always use what they know about america to see if its the same. unfortunately most of what they know is just from tv, from shows like the secret life of the american teenager and gossip girl and the fast and the furious. its totally not true. ahah. today at school my class had a special class day, so i instead, spent one hour in another english class with my english teacher and the rest of the time in the computer lab. the english class that i went to was filled with younger kids. they were very excited to see me and talk to me. one boy who was very talkative invited me to a disco, club, on saturday for another girl in the class's birthday. ha. i said i would ask. its all been so different, but so fun. i miss everyone and am getting a little homesick, but i try not to think about that. i still feel like this is a dream. i love everyone!
ciao.
lizzie.