It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different.

Ciao tutti! I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! This post, like all of the others, is going to be a random mashup of what my life is like. First off I would like to clear the air. I'm not trying to bash Italy in this blog. I'm simply trying to tell the differences that I see and experience. I'm sorry if anyone thinks I'm rude towards Italy/Italians. I'm just trying to tell the differences between Italy and America. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different. All right! Now into my post.

Let's start with school. I've had a breakthrough. I finished a math equation! Iiris and I were moved into the prima B math class in school since our classes math was to difficult. These kids still no more math than I do though which is embarrassing since they're equivalent to 8th graders. We have a test this Friday and I'm bound to fail. This week I also had my first science class! The teacher had been missing since school started so we're a month behind. I think he said that he was sick? More importantly, I understood everysingle thing that happened in class! We were learning Biology, cells specifically, and since I took biology two years ago I could follow along. The Italian words they used were also very similar to the English ones we use. I wish I could have Biology everyday.

Should I talk about food again now? Why not! I've had a few more "firsts" on the food front. I've had veal, prickly pear (cactus fruit), and... horse. The first two I was ok with and both tasted good, but horse was another story. It wasn't the taste, or the texture that I didn't like, it was the fact that I was eating every horse named Misty that I've ever rode in my life. I know they're just animals but I have horse on a different level from cow and chicken. I don't think I'll be having it again.

I never get tired of looking at the Italian landscape, but it confuses me so much! Is it mountains, is it desert, is it forest? I have no clue. All I know is that it's beautiful. Everyone thinks I'm weird because I'm always talking about the trees here, but they're so different from the ones in Pennsylvania! Everywhere I look I see palm, cyprus, and fruit trees. Sometimes I miss the pine, oak, and maple trees of PA. I think I'll really miss them this winter. As much as I love living at the beach surrounded by palm trees during the summer, in the winter I love walking outside in the cold with the snow covered trees. Another thing I noticed about Italy is that when you are driving you go through lots of tunnels and that Italy also has a lot of windmills. Go green!

This Friday I didn't go to school because I had to go to Matera for my permesso di soggiorno. For any non Italians reading, it's the document that says I'm not living here illegally. Matera is where athe Passion of The Christ was filmed and is really beautiful. When I went we were in the modern part of Matera. We went to the police station where I signed documents, had my finger prints taken, and basically got a mug shot. It's lame but I felt like I was in CSI. Afterwards we drove to Bari and did some shopping. Io compravo leggings e due unghi smalti. Sorry if I just butchered that. It was some much needed retail therapy.

Even though I can still barely speak Italian I feel like I'm not just a tourist, but an "honorary Italian."  My friends at school are inviting me to go to the movies with them, go out on Saturday nights, and I've even found some who like LOTR and The Hobbit! I can only imagine how good things will be when we can all speak Italian together. And I'm almost to 1.5k views on my blog! I hope to be over 2k by the end of the month. Grazie e arrivederci!

Still no pictures.

This, sadly, is the best I could do with my pictures at the moment. These are from a week or two ago so I'm going to start with them and then get into my blog post. I'll start off with the older ones. 

 Misato, Iiris, me, and Giullia getting together for the first time after meeting our host families. 

 Where I spend most of my time, this is where all of my friends hang out. 

And the reason I love Nova Siri so much, the sea. Yes, this is really where I'm living. 

As I said in my last post I had to talk in front of the school. I don't really want to relive the horror of what happened so I will give you the short and sweet explanation. I bombed it. I was a deer in the headlights. It's one of those things I'm going to think about ten years from now and start shaking my head out of embarrassment. Being awkward is a curse. 

I'm also sick. My throat feels like it's being clawed at and I'm just out of it. I dropped a glass yesterday during lunch because I just wasn't all there. I'm not dying or anything, but not being able to fully explain how I'm feeling and what I need to get better sucks. All of my friends at home have no idea how lucky they are and shouldn't take small things like this for granted. 

There have been good things happening as well! My classmates treat me like a normal person and not some foreign object. I still hate sitting in school doing nothing for 5 hours but they make it a little more enjoyable. However, nothing can make History/Philosophy any better. The teacher freaks out and screams at people every class. The worst part though is that she has the most high pitched scream I've ever heard. I swear I hear her yelling "raggaze!" In my sleep. Some of the other teachers are trying to make me learn as well. My teachers back home will be ashamed, but my math teacher gave me some slope equations and then a few other problems to solve and I couldn't get more than halfway through any. I'm terrible at math when it's taught in English and have forgotten a lot. It was so embarrassing. I had to add 16+9 and I wrote that the answer was 15! I swear to god I'm not that stupid, I'm just under a lot of stress! 

The other night I also went and did Zumba with my host sisters. It wasn't as traumatizing as I expected it to be and I deffinetly worked off some of the pasta and bread I've eaten. The only downside is that I still haven't regained full use of my legs. I'm so sore, yet there were women twice my age going harder and I garuntee you they feel 100x better. 

I officially haven't seen my home state of Pennsylvania, my friends, and my family for one month. I can either think of it as 9 more months to go, or my expieriance already being 1/10 over. Both ideas are equally saddening. Things have been slower lately so I don't have much to say. I hope everyone is enjoying my blog, and if you're not, I don't really care. I'm trying to be as honest as possible without hurting any feelings. Ciao!