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.