the end

Ok, so I've been home a little bit over three weeks now, and I'm sorry for not updating! :(. Adjsuting to life back at home was much easier than I thought it would be (except for the fact that the weight of all my traveling came down on me the next day!) If anything, the food was the most difficult thing to get re-adjusted to, but like all other things, my american appetite finally came back around.

I miss Italy so much, and this was definitely an experience I will remember for the rest of my life! I'm so blessed to have been able to have this kind of opportunity. It's so hard to believe it's over, though. A few months ago, I added friends to my facebook that were apart of the AFS-Italy group and finally getting to meet all of them and become friends with them was great. We had a lot of fun together! I'll never forget my host family either. In the four weeks I spent with them, they became like my own family, and I miss them so much! I'm definitely going to go back to visit them when I get a chance. I also have to start visiting the friends I've made from the AFS-Italy group in places like L.A., NY, and Boston!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my trip, and thanks everyone who has been following my blog. For those of you going abroad, whether it be to Italy or somewhere else, I hope my blog has insipired you, and you will have as much fun as I did. Make the most of this and I hope you have a great (and safe) time. Enojoy every minute of this wonderful experience, because the time will fly.

I'm so used to saying "Until next time" at the end of my blogs, but sadly my blog and my Italy experience is finito. So...

Arriverderci :)

when in rome....

My last night in Matera was so much fun! Around mid afternoon my host sister and her friends took me to the bar for my goodbye party. Later that night we went on our usual walk of the town, passing by shops, talking, eating, etc, and then my host sister went to her boyfriend's car to get her laptop and showed me the most beautiful slideshow ever!! She and her friends put it together for me and it was pictures that I took from the beginning of my stay in Matera. I cried watching pictures of me with my host sister and her friends go across the screen. It was so beautiful! :)

My leave was very emotional so I won't put all the details here, but now I'm in Rome and back with all the other AFSers! When we got back together it was like we never left each other. We played cards almost all night and told each other everything about our host families! The AFS leaders took us on a tour of Rome and we were allowed to go shopping!!! Now, I only have today left in this wonderful country because my traveling starts at 6 a.m tomorrow. After having such a great summer, I am happy to finally be coming home.


Arriverderci :)

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winding down

Wow it's been a while since I've updated my blog! Sorry!! The last few days have been relaxing. No beach. No school. No walking around all day. We've just been relaxing and watching some movies. (I saw The Notebook in Italian! It was awesome! Lol)

At night we still head out to go to the center of town, but I have fun when we go out! Her friends know when I'm leaving now, and I think they're getting a little sad (I know I am). They keep asking me will I remember them when I get back to America (awww!!) I say"how can I forget you!?

So, a few days ago my host family and I went to Bari to do a little shopping. Well, I don't think "little" really justifies the shopping I did :/! On the bright side, though, I got a lot of cute shirts and a purse!

Now I only have a week left in Matera and I think about how time has really flown. When I left Chicago at the end of June I was nervous and a little sad about leaving, and now I'm sad about leaving Italy! How ironic, right? As time is quickly winding down I keep asking myself "Where will I get some good gelato now?!" Lol


Until next time, Arriverderci! :)

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life in matera

I've been with my host family for almost a week now, and I couldn't be having more fun! Everything is so beautiful here just like I thought it would be.
So far I've met a lot of my host sister's friends, and they are all so nice and they ask me everything about Chicago and America.

My host mom makes theeee greatest pasta!! She doesn't know english at all, so when she talks to me I need my host sister around to translate! My host dad is hilarious! I have no idea what he's talking about half of the time, but his gestures are always so funny!

In the past four days, I've been to the beach more than I've ever been in my life. It's fun though, and I'm really getting a good tan (like I need one).
Well, so far, I'm having the time of my life here in Matera, Italy. The food is good, the people are nice, and the sales in these shops are amazing!

I couldn't have asked for a better host family either. My host sis is cool and she tells me everything about Matera and takes me out everywhere. We made a deal with each other when I got here: I speak to her in english and she speaks in italian so we can learn the other language a little better. Right now our mutual language is french so if we really want to have a conversation, that's what we speak!

Until next time, Arriverderci :)

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my photos

I have taken hundreds and hundreds of pix and I'm putting them on Flickr slowly but surely. See the link to my pix on the left of my blog. Keep checking back because there are many more to come!!

Until next time, Arriverderci! :)

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sooo...this is Italy

Well, I did it! After all the months of planning, waiting, and filling out endless paper work, I am finally in Italy! It's still sinking in that I'm in one of the most beautiful countries in the world!

AFS representatives were right by the baggage claim in Laguardia Airport when I landed just like they said they'd be! After I got my bags, I began making some friends! I met kids going all over the world to places like Egypt, Turkey, France, and India! They were all just as excited as I was, and we sat there and talked for a long time waiting for other students to show up!

St. Johns University is where I met all of the other students going abroad including all of my Italy buddies! Guess how many of us it is in my Italy group? 55!! We were the biggest group there and, yes, AFS put all 55 of us on "Swiss Air" together for our 8 hour flight to Zurich, Switzerland, and we had so much fun!! I've met some great people, and everyone clicked so easily like we've known each other forever.

When we arrived in Rome, we were split up by who is going to northern and who is going to southern Italy. So now we are here together in Calabria, Italy (southern Italy) for a week. After we leave Calabria, we will be breaking off from each other to go stay with our host families!! Ahhh I'm so excited!!

At the end of the summer, everyone in the AFS Italy group (people who went north, and the people who went south like me) will meet back in Rome!

Until next time, Arriverderci! :)

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