Barcelona

I was lucky enough to have a class that was good enough to go on "Gita" (voyage/trip) this year. Our destination was Barcelona, and we traveled by "pullman" (charter bus.) Because of the travel by bus I also got to see some of south France. The sights are too much to describe by only words, so I will include some pictures of my trip to illustrate the beauty I saw. 

   

Pictured above is the "Pont d'Avignon." It is supposed to be good luck for couples to walk on, and there is a popular French children's song about the bridge. 

A picture of the streets of Barcelona, the night we got there. There was a street protest of students against school system changes that got a little out of hand. 

This is my class plus class 3E in front of the Sagrada Familia. They are still working on this building.... I'm not sure it will ever get finished. It is wonderful. Every side is wildly different, and very imaginative, which makes it look like a castle I would have wanted to live in when I went through my princess obsession. 

The two photos above were taken at the park Güell. It is the park that Gaudi brought to life. It is truly a magic place.

More to come soon! But I've got to go finish my homework. 

WARNING! DANGER!.... Fraud?

According to my bank I've been spending some time, and money... scratch that. According to my bank I've been spending a lot of time and a lot of money in (drumroll) ROMANIA! Thought I was going to say Italy? Well either I've been making a lot of unconscious trips to Bucharest, or I've been another statistic in the growing credit card fraud epidemic. As the first one seems a little unlikely (although Romania sounds like it is beautiful and I'd like to go there) I'm going to go with the later. Seems like sometime while using my card somehow someone got my information. I'm not to happy about the whole situation. I spent my hours this summer serving endless lines of usually grumpy, un-caffeinated people (if you are a happy coffee customer than I send you a big pat on the back and a double thumbs up) to pay for some thief's nasty spending habit I know I'm not the first person to get a reality check like this one. So basically no need to say an exact amount, but it was a lot. But looking for the silver lining on this one, at least I'll be more diligent in future, and my mom isn't worried that her daughter has a serious spending issue. I'm really grateful that I have my parents backing me up on this one, working hard to try and get it back, and telling me that crap like this happens. Lucky we caught it now and not later. So with this blog I just wanted to let you all know that things like this happen, so beware! I sincerely hope that it doesn't happen again, but next time I guess I'll know what to be looking for. 

"Have a nice vacation and work very, very hard" were the parting words I received from the last teacher of the day on Saturday the 20th. After hearing about the four snow days back home, I was definitely ready to start my own vacation. The Italian idea of school vacation is not like it is back home. I have enjoyed the break, but I was given three projects and 2 tests to study for! Another difference in the school system. Christmas break started with toasting champagne during the last class on Saturday. It was a really strange experience. It went against the eleven previous years of rules "no alcohol in school!" again, another difference in school system and culture. My Saturday was very eventful as I remember. I went home quickly after school and ate lunch and then was out until one in the morning! I went out ice skating, hung out with friends, ate dinner, and went home. I thought I was settled for the night when my host sister invited me to go out with one of her friends. I agreed and we headed for a new bar/teenage hangout spot to meet her friend. We stayed a few minutes but were soon off again to meet with her brother and sisters to eat dinner. We went a little out of the way to eat, to a restaurant called "Pizza Man." It was packed with people! We waited about an hour and a half, then were finally seated. I had already eaten, but I did sample a piece of pizza. I definitely recommend the restaurant to any pizza lover who visits Florence. Needless to say, it was a grand kick-off to the vacation. 

I've mostly taken it pretty easy this break. I have seen a couple films ("Si puo fare," "Natale in Rio," and "Happy Go Lucky.) I have also gone out, visited friends and the like. For Christmas I made snickerdoodle cookies and German Chocolate Cake. I also made fudge just a few days ago. Another interesting thing I did was to go and listen to two Greek men talk about the riots in Greece. It took place at this little cafe with beautiful photographs of India and a lot of political books. 

For Christmas Eve I went to midnight mass with the family and returned at 1:30 AM. We then opened presents and toasted champagne and ate some cake! I missed my family a lot, but I talked to them for two hours over skype with video which was a lot of fun. The next morning we all slept late, having stayed up until 3 in the morning. We passed the day at the house and had a nice Christmas dinner. 

Happy New Year to everyone! I called home while I was in 2009 and Oregon was in 2008, I thought it was kinda funny. Last night, the 31st, all the buses, to my dissatisfaction, stopped at 8:00 PM. I left the house two minutes after that. I waited about twenty minutes, then returned to the house to put on some walking shoes. I then walked to the center and arrived in about half of an hour. I met up with a friend of mine, Minja, from my Italian lessons. We found a little pub called "The Old Stove" and spent an hour there listening to some good old rock and roll. It wasn't very crowded so we could sing along without disturbing the peace. I recommend it to anyone looking for a cozy little spot to hang out while in Florence. After we left the pub we headed to Piazza della Signoria to meet up with her family and to listen to the orchestra playing in the Loggia de Lanzi. It was packed with people and there were fireworks. It was a fun place to be to count down till midnight. Afterwards things got a little dangerous. People were throwing their empty bottles everywhere! Just throwing them on the ground, or at times, into the air. I hope there weren't any champagne bottle deaths. The road was completely covered in glass on the walk back. I walked to a nearby piazza where my host parents graciously picked me up, as there were no buses. All in all it was a really nice evening. I'm looking forward to starting a new year. New year, new president, university in the fall time. But for now I've almost made it through four months here and I will continue to work hard at learning the language, and the culture, and to have fun, get out there and out of my shell! Happy New Years to everyone. May 2009 bring joy to you all.  

Wow, here I am writing again after a month... oops. Things here have been up and down lately. I just hit the 3 month mark yesterday of leaving home. They say around 3 months and around the holidays that things can get a little bit lonesome and it is true. Don't get me wrong, Italy is wonderful, there is just still so much that I'm getting used to, and I've been a little homesick. 

So in the past month what has happened... I think I'll start with my biggest learning experience/culture shock so far. My Italian lessons were givin to me a lot later than the rest of my fellow AFSers, it just happened that way. Between late Italian lessons and learning two languages, my Italian has been coming a little slower (it is getting so much better now that I'm taking lessons with a friend's mom) which was causing some rifts with some of the teachers. OK, on to the story. One Monday in art history class we went to a museum that I had previously visited on a Sunday in town. The previous time I had not payed, which I later found out is because museums are free on Sundays. When we arrived at the museum, my teacher informed me that I had to pay because I am not a permanent resident of Florence. This was a little embarrassing since I had left my wallet at school, and having no money with me, the teacher begrudgingly lent me the money to get in. When we arrived back at school she rushed off to her next class and my classmates and I to ours. The next time I had her class was on a Saturday. She came in the morning and began to talk, so I thought it would be a good idea to give her the money at the end of class. Boy, was I wrong. I was trying to pay attention to the lecture that we were being given, but was not understanding a lot (some teachers speak very quickly) and I noticed that she was getting angry. I asked one of the students if there was a problem and she told me that the teacher was angry that one student still had her money. She said something along the lines of "there is a student that has four euros of mine, and I want it back now. I'm going to speak only in Italian. I want my money back and she wont give it back because she wants to keep it for herself." and these points she repeated over and over again. As soon as I was informed I went up to the desk and gave her some money, which also made her angry because I had a 10 instead of 4, and she didn't have change. Some students lent me the money and I sat down at my desk again. She than began to speak of how my Italian was awful, that I didn't understand anything, that I was a burden on the class, and that my family, who speaks French at home was useless. This did not make me happy. Not only was I personally attacked in front of a whole classroom of kids whom I want to fit in with so badly, but she attacked my host family. The Gbikpi family has graciously taken me in, and accepted me like real family, I feel like a part of the family, and everyday at least one of them makes me smile and laugh. I then said to her in the best Italian I could muster "If you have a problem with me, you can talk to me" (I said that all in Italian in the class!) This was supposed to imply that instead of humiliating me in front of the class that she could simply tell me if she had a problem. This didn't help the situation at all. But some good came out of it. The entire class came to my aid. They did their best to stand up for me against the furious teacher. They spoke some of the words that were pounding against the inside of my head, wanting to come out, but unable to translate. The teacher showed some very unproffessional behavior (yelling at an exchange student for a period of 50 minutes) but instead of me being embarrassed, I think it was just her. About twenty to one, we stood against her. I've had some time to reflect on this, and many have suggested that it was her own problems mixed with a little bit of racism and fear that brought her act out like that. It was a very difficult experience (I don't recall ever being treated just like that by a proffessional adult) but I learned some good things about friendship and about inner strength. I was so tempted to walk out of the class, but I kept thinking of the reason that I am here: to be a representative for my country and to bridge to countries together. In thinking about how my country would like to be represented it gave me the strength to sit through the rest of the class.  

On to other news, I have started Italian lessons! I go from 2-4 after school on Mondays and Thursdays. I go to those classes with other foreign students. In my class are four other girls from 4 different countries: Serbia, Albania, China, and I believe India. It getting a little easier to answer questions and to hold little conversations, and of course charades and laughter are universal. I've been given Italian worksheets to complete and little by little I'm learning. On Fridays I take a train from Florence to Prato with my friend from class, Niki. Prato is about a 20 minute trip, but I don't mind, I actually love being on the trains here. Niki's mom is a private English teacher in Prato. She is from Trinidad and English is her native language. When she was done with school she moved to Italy to dance, and when she first came she didn't know any Italian, so she understands what it is like to live here and learn the language. She has graciously offered to teach me in an hour between students on Fridays. It has been very beneficial and each time our conversations in Italian get longer and more complex. 

Another form of Italian lessons has come from the television. The days I eat at home alone I sometimes turn on the afternoon television to listen to the Italian. On a rare day when I come home quickly I sometimes catch the Simpsons. Those are good days. But mostly I have to be content with "Paso Adelante," a Spanish soap opera centered around a dance school/company. Sometimes if I've finished homework before dinner I sit in the kitchen and watch a little TV and chat with my host mom. The only recognizable program, unfortunately, is "Walker Texas Ranger." Despite my most desperate hopes, Italian does nothing to improve the sad performance by Chuck Norris. But after dinner is when it gets more interesting. I have now watched "Shrek 2", "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", "Madagascar", "Mission Impossible", and an old fashioned Italian movie.... all in Italian! It is has helped a lot. 

And now, on to another completely random train of thought. Christmas time is usually when the program says that things get the most difficult. I do agree that the holidays aren't so easy to be away from family and tradition. I have been listening to some Christmas music that I downloaded before I left home. The city has done a very lovely thing here by decorating the city center with lights that hang above the streets. It is fun to walk in the city at night because the lights are overhead like a canopy and it gives the normally dark and cold streets a kind of welcoming feel. 

Besides for all of that I guess life has been pretty standard, or as standard as it can be in another country. I'm discovering that it is a big challenge living in another country. But I really am so lucky to have all the support I have here with my host family and friends, and then all the support I have back home too. I really want to give a big thank you to the people that help me through the tough times! That is really all I have to say for now... that and I'll try to be better about posting more often. Ciao! and buone feste! (happy holidays)

AFS Tuscany Camp

After weeks and weeks of counting the days until the AFS October Survival Skills Camp, the day arrived. I left around 10:30 for the station, where I met Giuditta, my advisor. We then bustled our way to the bus station and I was reunited with fellow AFSer Magali from Belgium. We had a rather uneventful trip to Colle Val D'Elsa. After getting off the bus we were picked up by some volunteers are driven to a villa outside of the city. (The picture left is all of us in the backyard of the villa by the well) The weather was nice and warm and for the first time in too long I got to breathe fresh air. It is amazing, the little things that we take for granted are often some of the things we miss the most, in my case one of the things is the fresh Newport air that I'm accustomed to. 

There were 11 of us total: Oregon, California, Texas, Honduras, Hong Kong, Thailand, Poland, Turkey, Greenland, Belgium, Chile. It was not like an ordinary camp. Instead of being read to from an ominous looking rules and guidelines book, we played games, talked, and laughed. During the scheduled time we played group games, talked about out concerns, and joked that the circle of chairs we sat in made us look like members of an AA meeting. In our spare time we hung out in the garden, talked, laughed, sang really loudly, and played some "Calcho" (a name for soccer.)

Most people ask me if I'm eating amazing food, and still the reply is yes. Even at camp. I was shocked. It was quite an upgrade from what I'm used to. Three course meals, and a waiter. The only thing that I really did not care for came as quite a surprise one morning. I went to pour myself a cup of coffee and though it looked like coffee, it smelled atrocious. I added a little extra milk and sugar and sat at my table to enjoy a pastry breakfast. Here in Italy, I drink coffee every morning. It is really superb, but not this stuff. This is because it was not coffee, but cafe d'orzo. It is a cheep form of coffee that I was informed that most hotels serve. It has trace amounts of coffee in it, but it really is barley water. Why people drink barley water instead of coffee will always remain a mystery to me. So if ever in a cafe in Italy, stick to cafe, stay away from options with "orzo."

The second day there, we got to take an outing to Siena. What a beautiful city it is. (I'm 

really proud of the picture I took at the right.) We just got to wander around the tiny steep roads of Siena, and took "pranzo" (lunch) at a pizzeria. There are so many tiny roads in Siena. And there is also the Duomo di Siena. An incredible church. (Pictured left is Ruyam from Turkey and I at the lower part of the duomo.)

The weekend passed too quickly and soon we found ourselves trying to make the last night last as long as we could. Among the events for the evening was a talent show. We split into three groups and were greatly entertained by a variety of acts including: cultural dancing from Turkey, Thailand, and China, a dance we all learned that is from Belgium and popular in Poland, a skit involving a lot of jam, and some group games. After the talent show we played this game called "werewolf" and had a lot of fun with that and the accusations that you're supposed to make while playing. It got late and the counselors went to bed, while we tried to stay of as late as we could. I don't even remember how late it was. 

The next day we played a game called "manifestazione." We had to sit onto the ground and huddle into a ball while the "police" had to try and pull us apart. It cause a lot of bruises, but we had fun. After lunch things became a little somber as the realization of returning to our new normal sank it. Most of us talked about how we wished the camp could go on for a month. Time rushed by and suddenly it came that time to leave for the bus. We said very loud goodbyes and I had to rush off for the bus. Again, the bus ride was uneventful. When I arrived home, my melancholy was immediately squashed when I saw a package from home sitting on my desk. A big thank you to mom for that!

Political Rebels

I can imagine for an Italian exchange student attending school in America, assemblies might just be the most humorous part of school. The simple definition of assembly is: a group of people gathered together in one place for a common purpose. That, I guess, is the only similarity between high school assemblies in Italy and the States... on second thought, I'd change common purpose to half and half (half care, half like to skip class.)

An assembly in the States can get noisy, but for the most part, it is a planned event regulated by staff, and with a school spirit, sport, or community theme. Assemblies in Italy are ran by students, are total chaos, and basically an open mike event. When the students feel there needs to be change, they skip class for the day, hold an assembly, and take turns passionately giving speeches with anarchist undertones. It is quite funny, actually. 

Today I arrived at school in Santa Croce, planning on attending class. I was immediately informed that the previous day's anti-system spirit(we had a manifestazione, which I will describe after the assembly) was to be carried on again today, in an assembly. So instead of going to class, hoards of students made the march from Santa Croce to San Gallo. 

There is an outside basketball court at the school in San Gallo, which is where we held the assembly. It was cold. We sat, and then for two hours heard students take turns with the microphone bantering back and forth about the Reforma Gelmini. The Gelmini reform, from what I understand, is a series of changes involving schools and includes a switch from five to four years of high school, but also eliminates public universities. Most students are against it, they fear that they will not be able to attend a college because private ones are too expensive. 

After the speeches, students went off to find food and some mingled in the court. I stayed until about 12:30, when my friends left. Some students are staying the night at the school, they are holding an occupation of the school. There are other schools in the city doing the same. 

The previous day we had a manifestazione, which is a political 

protest. The protest, like the assembly was against the Gelmini Reform, and against the current system. I attended the event with my classmates. It was pretty incredible, a whole piazza filled with students(pictured is the commencement of the protest in piazza San Marco.) We gathered for about an hour and then a van started blasting some Damian Marley and the like, so naturally we all started to follow the music. Some friends and I got up pretty close to the van and we all followed as it started down the normally very busy road that connects piazza San Marco and the famed Duomo. Piazza San Marco is normally very busy because it is a center where many buses stop. There was no room for buses, so they shut down for a couple hours. We made a very long trek along the road to the Duomo all the while dancing, moshing, shouting, making speeches, and trying our best not to get trampled.   We turned at the Duomo and made a loop back to the piazza adjacent to San Marco. In the piazza where we ended up is a university, and we were greeted by college students also holding signs. The signs said things such as "students against the Gelmini reform" or more extreme students preferred things such as "the government is fascist, and we want communism", the signs varied, as did the people. There were people from all walks of life, and all different schools in Florence. There were everywhere from well dressed kids in sweaters and ironed jeans to the more artistic type in inventive ensembles. The amount of dreadlocks rivaled those in attendance of a reggae concert, I was impressed. 

All in all it was a very interesting and good experience. Even if I don't agree with everything the protest stood for, I do like that students try to make changes. I have witnessed students in action, standing up for something that they believe in, just not at the level that the Italians do. I hear that they are also on strike in the south (I have a friend who attends school in the south) and that strikes are quite common. I'm not going to make a statement on which I think is better: the more passive ways of American students, or the revolution-esque ways of the Italians, but it is really eye-opening to have a view of both. 

Busses

It is nice to have a very active bus system in Florence. I do a ton of walking, but it saves me about 40 minutes a day on the way to school. The system is very efficient and buses arrive often. I usually have very little problem in the morning with overcrowding, but the afternoon is a whole other story. Everyone and their mom is on the bus in the afternoon. I usually go home after school to eat lunch, and some days, like today, I go back to the center for school supplies, photos, or just general perusing of the city's downtown. Today was the most packed in I've ever been on a bus. I stood there for 20 minutes of pure hell. We were crammed in like sardines, and of course I had the crazy pushy lady next to me. Even though I couldn't move she kept pushing me, her comfort took priority of common courtesy. And then there was her husband, who while trying to find a seat for his wife reached behind himself and, I hope it was an accident, ended up groping me. To this I slapped his hand away and said "Basta", which means "enough." (next time I've been instructed to say something else a little more forceful)

All in all the bus system is pretty great. I guess you just have to know your Italian slang, and have a good arm to keep the creepers away.