Okay! So I havent had much time to write on this but finally I have time to sit down and write! I guess I will start by talking about my trip to Aprica! So all of us intercultura students who live in the reigion of Lombardia went to a 4 day camp in the mountians! It was so beautiful but also very very cold!! For me ofcourse not really that cold compared to Buffalo, but for the kids from Hong Kong and Paraguay they were freezing! I dont even know what the temperature was but it wasnt that bad! Anyways, it was really fun being with all my friends who I hadnt seen since Rome and also meeting all the people I didnt have time to meet before!! I miss them already!! Anyways, during the camp we did lots of orientation stuff. Many interesting games , I really dont know any other way to put them than , they were very "hands on" literally. We also split into groups most of the time and talked about our host families, friends, school and life in italy! It was really cool to find out not one of us has had the same experience even though we all live in the same place! Ofcourse it wasnt fun finding out I was the only person who has switched families, but there were some people who deff wanted to and I feel bad for them for not having already done so. Anyways, my favorite part of the orientation was when we talked about stereotypes of countries. We did one excersize where we put up posters of all of our countries names and we had to walk around with a marker and write a stereotype of that country and what we generally think of it and after the people would explain if it was a stereotype or actually true. It was really funny and I honestly learned a lot from it about the world!!! Ofcourse for the USA people wrote things like, FAT, STUPID, RASCIST...so that wasnt very fun to explain oh well just stereotypes right??? At the end of the camp we had a talent show where people did a variety of things, Me 4 other americans, Tomas( belgeium) and Rui( China) did a American dance type thing we did Soldier boy, cotton eye joe all those fun stupid dances. It was super funny. Other people taught us songs in their langugage or played a game or acted out something funny! Overall I had lots of fun in Aprica, I didnt want to leave!!!
So now I guess I'll talk about my week for everyone whos curious what I did last week.... I am trying to remember okay...
MONDAY( lunedi): I went with Gatto( Alessio -nickname gatto) to the mall of his town Limbiate and he made me try the ever so amazing McDonalds in Italy. People here love McDonalds but I had to explain its gross in America and people would not say the same about it. After the mall we went to his friends house and met up with about 25 other kids who wanted to meet me! They were all really nice and were all asking me questions at the same time in Italian, broken english ...and some kind of attempt at english in the end I just said speak italian ( e meglio) its better.
TUESDAY(martedi): I had my first day of Musical for my school! I actually didnt do anything in it because it was for the people who wanted to try out for a singing role and I clearly dont sing very well....unfortunatley they wont take no for an answer and next week they are making me sing! YAYAYY haha
WEDNESDAY(mercoledi): I waited at school until 4 for a stupid meeting with the president of the school and all my teachers who at the last minute decided to change rooms and I couldnt find them and the hall monitor people told me the meeting was at 5:30 ( so did my host mom) and so I went to that meeting which was actually a parent teacher conference type thing which I didnt understand a word of and basically was at school from 8 am until 8 pm....for no reason at all FML!
THURSDAY(giovedi): School trip to Padova!!! Rainy day full of lots of walking but overall it was really beautiful and nice to see a new part of Italy!! Lots of art and fashion and I went to a new reigon of Italy ( veneto) I have now been in 3 regions!! ( lombardia, piemonte, veneto)
FRIDAY(venerdi): Schoppiero!! No school again because my teachers and the transportation went on strike!! :) Jasmine came and picked me up at night and we went to her house and had a really yummy dinner with deserts after, and then we had our weekly Gossip Girl viewing session and watched the 2 newest episodes which were amazing!! ( my only time to see american tv)
SATURDAY(sabato): Boring old saturday school, After hopped on the train and met up with Emma, Julian, and Katie in Milano and we walked around and got Gelato!! It was very very crowded!! Also me and Julian somewhat watched the race Tomas was in which had about 2000 people in it and he won!!! FIGO! ( cool)!
SUNDAY(domenica): My host family had a wine and cheese party and had some friends over, they used this really cool oven type thing (they said they do this alot in switzerland) and we melted cheese in it and put veggies on top and put them over potatoes ,it was really good! After, Fabio picked me up and we met up with all the Milano AFSers and MONZA for Ice Skating in Monza! It was fun, although my feet hurt I loved seeing everyone! and it was hilarious watching the turks attempt to ice skate because they never had and were so scared !!
So hmmm other things, well I have noticed that in school here teachers and students are very open about grades for example, when a teacher hands back a test or grade they scream it out to the whole class and make sure they know who got what grade. My host mom said they used to put up all the kids grades on the wall outside the school for everyone to see but they chagned it a few year ago because people got mad. I passed my first test! YAAY I got a 6.5...which is passing!! I was so happy to finally pass something!!
So hmm yah thats about all for now, Wednesday I am going to a Lily Allen concert in Milan with Kaite and Valentina!! I am soo excited!!!!!!!!!
This is my blog about my journey before during and after my experience to study abroad in Italy for my Junoir Year of High School with AFS
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Prima Scoppero ...ect!!
Ciao tutti!!
Okay, So Friday I had my first Scoppero (spelling??), this means that all the students decide not to enter the school for whatever reason, therefore we don't have school because no students go!! I love this!! I believe the reason this time was because the minister wants to only have summer vacation for one month instead of 2 and obv. the kids werent happy with this so we went on strike. But this wasnt just my school all of Milan had this strike. Most kids either, stay home, strike outside the school, or actually go to Milan and Protest. I went to my friend Fedes house instead! I love how people here can speak their mind and protest this way for their rights!! I had to attempt to explain to people that in america this kind of striking because were mad doesnt exist because I can totally picture a huge SWAT car pulling up and people in black suits tackling everyone and shipping them to jail if someone tried this at my school, I mean or something similar you get the idea...haha Well anyways so instead of school I went to Federicas, we went shopping, I went to the perruciere( hairdresser), and then we hung out at her house and watched mean girls in Italian with english subtitles which was hilarious especially hearing the different italian voices for the characters of the movie which are so different than their actual voices.
So, the next day ( saturday) I had a nice boring day of saturday school!! Fun stuff, and then after school I went with my host mom and siblings to visit my host aunt and her 3 week old twins, they were sooo cute and little! They looked like dolls I swear they werent real! Che Carinaaaa! Communque( anyways), After Jasmine picked me up from my house and we went to a festa di cummpleanno for her friend Marika ! It was at a place similar to La Cantina meaning you dance on the tables and its basically a club. It was a fun time, we had a little too much Sangria(sp?) haha oh well. Anyways, I slept at Jasmines and then, Sunday we woke up very loud music coming from outside only to find the towns festa was today and so Me, Jasmine, Fattima and Paulo walked around Verano Brianza(Jasmines town) and they had tons of food samples and really cool art and people making pasta, and shoes, and Oh i learn that they dont kill sheep to make fur!! Jasmine thought it was hilarious that i didnt know that for some reason!! And they had people making silk which was really cool. They have this thing called Bacco da seta (spelling??) and its sillk in little balls with a dead bug inside and I took like 10 of them bc they were free I think and brought them home for my host family!! It was a really cool festival, lots of people were in the streets and they had little shows going on too. So after we went to that festival, we went with Fattima and her boyfriend Mattia to the town festival of Seregno which was the same day. I love serengo it has awesome shopping!! In serengo it was basically the same stuff, except there they had like some sort of petting zoo in the middle of the town it was really funny! Yah soo after all the festivals Me Jasmine, Fattima and Mattia went to a happy hour which is pretty common to go to sundays im finding out, its basically where you get a nice sugary drink of your choice and unlimited buffet food for 5 £ which is like I think a great deal!! So that was a fun domenica!! (sunday)
Monday, I decided to bring some American culture into my host family and attempt to make them some pancakes.... now those of you who know me should know , I dont really cook....Okay so my parents sent me the easiest thign to make like the batter was already mixed all I had to do was add water...so I bought a bunch of strawberrries and chocolate chips and got those all ready and for some reason I thought since they had no grease for the pan I should just throw some veggie oil on it right?? Okay DONT DO THAT!! When I started making the pancakes they were like distorted and they were not pancakes so i had to throw those out and try again, meanwhile my host sister is laughing really hard at me becuase I am swearing and laughing in english luckily she has no idea what I am saying but I think she had some sort of clue. anyways, after ab 3 more messed up batches, I finally got the hang of it...well they still looked horrible and deff werent cooked fully but I served them anyways and no one got sick or anything so they couldnt have been too bad right?? Well Overall, I think they turned out pretty good, we had syrup on them, and my host sisters deff didnt like the syrup but my host mom did!! I had to keep explaining while we were eating that these arent really the correct shape and taste of good pancakes ( unfortunatley they were not circles exactly only a few resembled pancakes) but they liked them I think!! or they are really good liars! but we ate all of them so i think i did a good job!!! Anyways, at the festival when I took the silk balls they told me if I put them in hot water they turned into silk so me my 3 host siblings and there 2 little friends experimented with this and it actually worked it was really fun!! and then we cut them open and saw the bug inside which was a super gross bug but it was dead so it was okayyy!!
Today, well right now I am in school, my class has religion right now but I am not taking that class so i get to come to the bibleoteca!! School is soooo hard! I still have no books so i basically cant do anything but they told me next week i should have everything! and I better or else!!! I am so excited because on thursday I am having my 4 day orientation in Aprica the mountians of Lombardia with everyone else from this reigon with AFS!! I clearly dont have the whole italian accent down yet because my friends at school thought I was going to Africa....later on I was corrected AP REEE CAH is the correct prononciation, oh well I tried!!
So I think I have written enough for now, I will write again after Aprica or so!!!
Ciao!
Mollie
Okay, So Friday I had my first Scoppero (spelling??), this means that all the students decide not to enter the school for whatever reason, therefore we don't have school because no students go!! I love this!! I believe the reason this time was because the minister wants to only have summer vacation for one month instead of 2 and obv. the kids werent happy with this so we went on strike. But this wasnt just my school all of Milan had this strike. Most kids either, stay home, strike outside the school, or actually go to Milan and Protest. I went to my friend Fedes house instead! I love how people here can speak their mind and protest this way for their rights!! I had to attempt to explain to people that in america this kind of striking because were mad doesnt exist because I can totally picture a huge SWAT car pulling up and people in black suits tackling everyone and shipping them to jail if someone tried this at my school, I mean or something similar you get the idea...haha Well anyways so instead of school I went to Federicas, we went shopping, I went to the perruciere( hairdresser), and then we hung out at her house and watched mean girls in Italian with english subtitles which was hilarious especially hearing the different italian voices for the characters of the movie which are so different than their actual voices.
So, the next day ( saturday) I had a nice boring day of saturday school!! Fun stuff, and then after school I went with my host mom and siblings to visit my host aunt and her 3 week old twins, they were sooo cute and little! They looked like dolls I swear they werent real! Che Carinaaaa! Communque( anyways), After Jasmine picked me up from my house and we went to a festa di cummpleanno for her friend Marika ! It was at a place similar to La Cantina meaning you dance on the tables and its basically a club. It was a fun time, we had a little too much Sangria(sp?) haha oh well. Anyways, I slept at Jasmines and then, Sunday we woke up very loud music coming from outside only to find the towns festa was today and so Me, Jasmine, Fattima and Paulo walked around Verano Brianza(Jasmines town) and they had tons of food samples and really cool art and people making pasta, and shoes, and Oh i learn that they dont kill sheep to make fur!! Jasmine thought it was hilarious that i didnt know that for some reason!! And they had people making silk which was really cool. They have this thing called Bacco da seta (spelling??) and its sillk in little balls with a dead bug inside and I took like 10 of them bc they were free I think and brought them home for my host family!! It was a really cool festival, lots of people were in the streets and they had little shows going on too. So after we went to that festival, we went with Fattima and her boyfriend Mattia to the town festival of Seregno which was the same day. I love serengo it has awesome shopping!! In serengo it was basically the same stuff, except there they had like some sort of petting zoo in the middle of the town it was really funny! Yah soo after all the festivals Me Jasmine, Fattima and Mattia went to a happy hour which is pretty common to go to sundays im finding out, its basically where you get a nice sugary drink of your choice and unlimited buffet food for 5 £ which is like I think a great deal!! So that was a fun domenica!! (sunday)
Monday, I decided to bring some American culture into my host family and attempt to make them some pancakes.... now those of you who know me should know , I dont really cook....Okay so my parents sent me the easiest thign to make like the batter was already mixed all I had to do was add water...so I bought a bunch of strawberrries and chocolate chips and got those all ready and for some reason I thought since they had no grease for the pan I should just throw some veggie oil on it right?? Okay DONT DO THAT!! When I started making the pancakes they were like distorted and they were not pancakes so i had to throw those out and try again, meanwhile my host sister is laughing really hard at me becuase I am swearing and laughing in english luckily she has no idea what I am saying but I think she had some sort of clue. anyways, after ab 3 more messed up batches, I finally got the hang of it...well they still looked horrible and deff werent cooked fully but I served them anyways and no one got sick or anything so they couldnt have been too bad right?? Well Overall, I think they turned out pretty good, we had syrup on them, and my host sisters deff didnt like the syrup but my host mom did!! I had to keep explaining while we were eating that these arent really the correct shape and taste of good pancakes ( unfortunatley they were not circles exactly only a few resembled pancakes) but they liked them I think!! or they are really good liars! but we ate all of them so i think i did a good job!!! Anyways, at the festival when I took the silk balls they told me if I put them in hot water they turned into silk so me my 3 host siblings and there 2 little friends experimented with this and it actually worked it was really fun!! and then we cut them open and saw the bug inside which was a super gross bug but it was dead so it was okayyy!!
Today, well right now I am in school, my class has religion right now but I am not taking that class so i get to come to the bibleoteca!! School is soooo hard! I still have no books so i basically cant do anything but they told me next week i should have everything! and I better or else!!! I am so excited because on thursday I am having my 4 day orientation in Aprica the mountians of Lombardia with everyone else from this reigon with AFS!! I clearly dont have the whole italian accent down yet because my friends at school thought I was going to Africa....later on I was corrected AP REEE CAH is the correct prononciation, oh well I tried!!
So I think I have written enough for now, I will write again after Aprica or so!!!
Ciao!
Mollie
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Stupid Americans
This blog entrys title will be called Stupid Americans because this week I realized that I am one sadly. Before coming to Italy I knew about the generalizations that Americans are stupid and don't know anything but I never thought I fit into that category of Americans. However, I was wrong, I am one!!! Example 1) When I was walking in Serengo with Tomas(belgium student) and his host parents Tomas asked me something about American history and ended up wanting to know when America was founded, I had no Idea!! I said umm like 1700s??? Andd the worst part is Tomas's host mother was like "I believe 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed".... great I just got corrected by an Italian!!! That was super embarassing, but no it gets worse okay, Example 2) I am at home and my host dad calls me into the room and points to the TV and says do you know who this is? and I was like uhhh no?? Who is it?? and my host parents were like um....are you serious, turns out it was The Secretary of State when Bush was in office..... Unfortunatley I had no idea who she was I still don't know her name actually....So yah its really sad how I don't know much about America. Its so interesting how people here are very in tune with everything happening in the world and esp America. I have been asked many times my politicals views, and what I think about O'bama, and most of the time teenagers are asking me these questions not adults and in America no teenagers really talk about this stuff outside of school so maybe thats why I don't know much about politics. I also have found out that I really do have a lot of pride for my country, despite the fact I am a stupid american I am a proud one. You will never truly appeciate your culture until you immerse yourself in another one and since I am doing that I really love america, I have never once had to say in America, I am an American, but here I say it all the time and I am proud to say it. Hopefully by the end of this year I will be saying I am proud to be an Italian!!! :)
So anyways, school school school, right now its is soo boring I don't understand much though I am understanding more than before it seems impossible to keep up with certain classes!! However, the one thing different about school here is that the kids truly can say their opinions, during class we dont have to raise our hands we just say "prof" that is what you call all the teachers ( not last names) and say what you want. For instance, today we had an assembly, now when they told me we were having an assembly I was like oh where is it, whats it about and I was surprised to find out that assembly means its in the classroom, so for 2 hours we had an "assembly" where we basically did nothing and hung out while deciding out 2 class presidents who would be in charge of organizing the class trip!! We are debating between going to Athens, Paris, London, Rome and many other places/ maybe more than one of those!! I am so excited!!!
At home, my host family is super nice!! I love little kids, and they are very happy people which is good to be around. Unfortunatley, I think I will only be living with them for 2 months atleast thats what they are telling me, but who knows right now. Sunday, we took a trip to Piemonte with another family, and my host grandparents to visit a friend of my host parents from school and I saw the most beautiful mountians and landscapes!! It was amazing !! and then we had amazing food and delicious wine at a restaurant and ate for about 3 hours!! and after we relaxed on a picnic blanket in the shade on a beautiful hill. It was a perfect day!!
Ciaoo!!
Mollie
So anyways, school school school, right now its is soo boring I don't understand much though I am understanding more than before it seems impossible to keep up with certain classes!! However, the one thing different about school here is that the kids truly can say their opinions, during class we dont have to raise our hands we just say "prof" that is what you call all the teachers ( not last names) and say what you want. For instance, today we had an assembly, now when they told me we were having an assembly I was like oh where is it, whats it about and I was surprised to find out that assembly means its in the classroom, so for 2 hours we had an "assembly" where we basically did nothing and hung out while deciding out 2 class presidents who would be in charge of organizing the class trip!! We are debating between going to Athens, Paris, London, Rome and many other places/ maybe more than one of those!! I am so excited!!!
At home, my host family is super nice!! I love little kids, and they are very happy people which is good to be around. Unfortunatley, I think I will only be living with them for 2 months atleast thats what they are telling me, but who knows right now. Sunday, we took a trip to Piemonte with another family, and my host grandparents to visit a friend of my host parents from school and I saw the most beautiful mountians and landscapes!! It was amazing !! and then we had amazing food and delicious wine at a restaurant and ate for about 3 hours!! and after we relaxed on a picnic blanket in the shade on a beautiful hill. It was a perfect day!!
Ciaoo!!
Mollie
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