Ciao!
Sorry I haven't posted in about a month, I've been so busy! The easier the language becomes here, the less I find myself communicating with everyone at home. And plus I'm on a time limit here, I can spend tons of time with y'all when I come home but I don't have that much time left here! Time limit. Those are the worst two words. Ever. Sure, I still have almost 2 months left, but it's hard to explain how fast that time will go by. Every day I think about how little time I have left, every time I'm with my AFS friends we talk about how in such a short time we will go back to being spread out across the world, every day my friends at school say that next year it will be weird not having me in class with them, and my family and I are now having to arrange sending boxes home/travel plans. I can't get away from the fact that I'm leaving and, worse, the fact that I am not even close to being ready to leave my life here. The worst thing about being here for the semester program is that just when I can start speaking, just when I realize how close I have become to so many people, just when I start realizing how amazing this life is, the time starts coming to an end and soon enough I'll be on the plane back to the States.
Enough of the sad thoughts! Now I'll update y'all some on the past month and future plans. Well, I spent my 17th birthday here and...it might have been one of the best/busiest birthdays I've had so far (actually the celebrating is still going on)! My actual bday, the 3rd, was a Thursday so obviously I had school. My friends brought in a cake and during break they sang, in English and Italian, to me and gave me an awesome hand made photo album that basically sums up my whole experience from orientation in Rome to now in pictures! I went out to lunch with a group of friends and then skipped afternoon hours (rebellious) to spend some more time with Nadja(Serbia), Madeleine(Norway), and Tugce(Turkey). After that I took a train to Torino and met up with my sister. We went back to her apartment, got ready, and headed out for the night. Another one of her friends had just had a birthday so we went out to dinner to celebrate and after a discoteca. This is what I would consider my first real discoteca experience considering the size of this place and the number of people inside was about 25 times larger than those of little Aosta. We headed home around 5 in the morning after a full night (and technically morning) of dancing and that was how my actual birthday was spent! The next day I went to a university class with Irene and it was pretty interesting to see how they differ from our colleges. Later that day we headed home. Saturday night I had some friends over for dinner to celebrate with, obviously, a ton of ridiculously delicious homemade focaccia, pizza, and cake! And lastly (for that weekend) on Sunday I spent the day walking around and shopping in Milano with some friends. Another city checked off my list! To finish up the celebrating, this weekend my friends are throwing a party for both mine and another friend's birthday! Italians love to celebrate. Okay, enough about birthday happenings.
The past couple of weeks I have really started to notice how at home I feel here. I realized the other day that I now have more than just one family, I have about three.
-real fam
-host fam
-Intercultura fam
I also realized just how lucky I have been. I always think "I should've done a year program, should've done a year program" and can't stop regretting that I didn't, but then I think, I probably wouldn't have been placed here if I had chosen a year, which means I wouldn't know all these people and probably never would have even heard of Aosta, Italy. Now that I've been here long enough, I'll admit, when I first got my placement (and immediately Google Map'd the city), I was a bit let down. It's just, when you think of Italy you don't think of -20 degrees Celsius, mountains all around you, only one main town and a bunch of cows. Then I got to the AFS camp and heard all these students being placed in Milan, Rome, or even down south where you can at least go outside during the winter without looking like a snowman...I was pretty jealous. And worried. Even when I actually arrived here, I'd say about up until the 1st month had passed, I was dubious. Could I learn to love, or even just like, the way they live here? Quasi solitary in the middle of the mountains, not conveniently close to any big city? Now I look back on how I felt in the beginning and just laugh. I have come to love this place more than anywhere else. I love the language. I love the landscape with the constantly snow-capped Alps. I love the "city". I love my school (not that I study or anything). I love the gelato shop where the lady behind the counter tells me my Italian is getting better every time I order. I love my Italian friends. I love my AFS friends. I love my Italian family. I have finally settled 100% into my life here and I couldn't be happier. The language is not so much of a hassle now. It is never a problem to understand (unless I'm just way too tired and my brain blocks everything out) and speaking only gets easier and more natural by the day.
Life is good.
And now I have to go. I have to head into town to find a plaid shirt because the theme of our birthday party (which is all supposed to be a big surprise for us) is "country" so we all have to wear plaid shirts and I don't have one...how ironic. I'll try to post a little more often in the next 2 months!
Much love to you all,
Emma
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