Ok, where do I begin! Lets go back to Thursday. Thursday we left the Hilton hotel in NYC and went to JFK airport. We got through fairly quickly and then had to sit at the gate for about two hours. With all of the kids going to France, Italy, and Spain being there we pretty much took up the entire sitting area. When we boarded the plane some girls stole the seats that my friends Kayla, Caroline, and I were supposed to sit in so we couldn't all stay together. I sat with Caroline and Kayla had to sit up front. Now I understand that we were in economy seats, but this was the tightest seat I've ever sat in. And of course the girl in front of me had her chair reclined all the way back. The good thing about the seats was that they had screens on them and a really good selection of movies. I watched The Great Gatsby and Monsters University (MU in Italian.) I also tarted listening to an Italian band but couldn't get into it. The food they served was not gourmet to say the least. Even though it was an economy meal there was still a lot of food so we were all full. I could not sleep for the life of me and right when I fell asleep they turned the lights on and served breakfast. We had eaten about 3 hours earlier so there was no point other than to not let me sleep. It was terrible though and I didn't eat any of it.
When we landed in Switzerland it was about 7 in the morning and their was fog that was starting to disappear. When we were flying over it, it was so beautiful. I deffinetly want to go there again and actually leave the airport. The shopping they had there was insane. There was Gucci, Burberry, and a bunch of other big name brands. There was a lot of places to buy food as well. This one place called Marche was like a grocery store. It was huge. There was also stand that sold Swiss chocolate and it would be a sin to not buy chocolate while in Switzerland, so I bought truffles and macaroons. They were incredible. The down side to Switzerland was that we arrived early so we had a 5 hour layover. When we boarded our last plane we were greeted by people speaking Dutch so I could actually understand what they said since I took German in school. I slept about half of the flight which only took an hour and a half.
When we got to Rome it was about 10,000 degrees and we had to wait for our bags to come through the baggage claim. After we had our bags the Intercultura (Italian AFS) volunteers made us wait an hour for some other students and then let them leave the airport first. Needless to say, I did not like the Rome airport.
We rode buses for an hour then to a hotel on the outskirts of Rome. It was an old convent that was turned into a hotel so all of the rooms were very tiny. The grounds though we're about a mile long so we were all spread out. There were about 10 buildings throughout. The place was swarming with teenagers. There were 470 from 47 different countries. I met people from all over the world and it was actually really fun. I also learned things that I didn't know before, like the fact that Turkish people are incredibly loud! I'm convinced they were all insane. Same with the Portuguese. The people from Hong Kong spoke perfect English and were really nice, and the French girls were all drop dead gorgeous and not stuck up at all. I met Kiwis, Norwegians, Chileans, and people from just about everywhere in between. During one get together I asked a girl next to me where she was from and where she was going. Her name was Iiris and she was from Finland and it turned out she was also going to Nova Siri! We spent the entire day together after that. I made so many friends in just a few days. It's crazy to think I haven't even been gone a week. I kept saying " If I could bring all of you with me to my host family everything would be fine!" Saying goodbye to them Saturday was really hard.
12:15 on Saturday a group of us left the hotel and went to the bus station we stood there for two and a half hours waiting for our bus. In that time I had to use the restroom. I expected the toilet to just be a hole in the ground but I didn't know I would have to pay! It was only .60€ but I still thought it was stupid I had to pay to use a hole in the ground. When we boarded the bus the seats were as tight as the plane and it took us 6 hours to get to Policoro, which is next to Nova Siri. There were four of us on the bus. Iiris and I, and then a girl from Brazil and a girl from Japan. I didn't get to sit by any of them though. It was a long 6 hours. When we arrived in Policoro I was shaking and so nervous. My host family was there waiting for me with a big sign saying "Welcome Lauren" that they made themselves. They greeted me with kisses and off we went to Nova Siri. We had a big dinner and some of their family and friends came over. I've never been kissed so much in my life. It was a nice first night.
This morning was the first day of school which was anything but fun. We sat in class for an hour while the first teacher let us talk the whole time. The next class was Latin which was 3 hours long. I wanted to die. I don't even know Italian yet! And after that was Religion which was just like the first. The kids in school were really nice though and were trying their English out on me. Hopefully in a month or two I will actually know what the teachers and my classmates are saying. I didn't have any supplies for school either, not even a pencil.
After school, which ends at 1:15, we came home and ate lunch. There was meat and spinach, potato insalata, bread, pumpkin insalata, and fried pumpkin flowers. The pumpkin flowers and meat and spinach were my favorite. Southern Itslian food has more vegetables than Northern so be ready to see my blog about the food. (Which by the way is always amazing.) Afterwards we were about to go over paperwork when I randomly started to cry. I think it's finally hitting me that I won't see my family. I've also been stressed and have actually gotten hives on my chest.
After I took a nap and composed myself we visited some of my extended host family and then met some of Velia's friends in a park like area. We all sat and they talked while I tried to pick out words I knew, aka none. They also all chain smoke. I'm okay with people around me smoking, I just don't want to. They even smoke at school. And when I say they all chain smoke, I mean they ALL chain smoke.
We then went back home for dinner and ate at around 9:00. For dinner we had melon wrapped in prosciutto and grilled eggplant when we were done eating I gave them their gifts and I really hope they liked them. We also got through the paperwork without me bursting out in tears. All in all, I'd say it was a good day.
Pictures of everything will be posted tomorrow. And if there are any spelling mistakes just ignore them because I am not spell checking this. Grazie.
No comments:
Post a Comment