Sooooo news news news. The sun has returned to Milanoo!!!! Today is soooo beautiful, quite warm, sunnnnyyyy :D and just all around lovely. So I'm going to write backwards again because that seems to be the only thing that helps me remember.... Yesterday I went skiing with my brother and his friend Matteo in some beautiful place that I can't remember the name of... it was a french name and they are very long and complicated. However, we got to wake up at 6 (awesome, wish I could do this more :D ) and after a 2 hour drive we were there. It was so amazing and the snow was perfect, not icy at all even though it was super cold, and the sun rose up quickly and it absolutley the most beautiful place I've ever seen maybe.. there are really too many beautiful places here. After skiing for like 4 hours we ate lunch in the sun and then just stayed there for another 2 hours, talking and sunbathing and it was soooo hot! After that we finished skiing and drove back to Milan... I think it was probably the best day of skiing i've had here so far which is pretty cool because I've skied quite a bit but GOD it was so beautiful. I can't post pictures because my camera died and I don't have a charger transformer, but when I get it charged I'll make sure to post more pictures. Other news is that since yesterday, I have been in Milan for 5 months. It has gone by so quickly but I don't mind because it's literally been the best time of my life, ever... Even a bad day in Italy is still a day in Italy and I'm completely thankful for that. I'm sad to say that many of my american friends went home, because of various reasons ranging from not liking where they were to getting sent home for really stupid reasons (sometimes not even their fault). I am happy that I don't have problems with Intercultura and I really think they've helped me out a lot, but I can understand when people do have problems with them because sometimes it really is hard to get help, and then you feel all alone in a foreign country and that is shiiittyyy. I went through this a couple times in the first part of my stay here, and lets just say it was really not fun at all but while I was lucky enough to have a fantastic advisor and new host family, some people aren't as lucky :( On a lighter note.. things I have done since I wrote last
- I went to Torino (Turin) with my class for a day, it was a really pretty city in my opinion but there was NO ONE there! Completely empty! We went to one of the biggest piazzas, and literally maybe 4 people were there... it was strange to see a big place so empty. We did see many beautiful churches which was cool because even though I'm living in Italy which is like known for its churches its often hard to go seem them without a program because of various reasons like they're all spread out... I'm glad that I got to go with my class to see everything :) We all ate pizza and then finished walking around, that day was FREEEZING cold literally frigid but still fun.. In the morning I was just dying because it was so cold but in the afternoon it warmed up a bit. Milan is still prettier. :D
- I also got to go to a planetarium/servatorio with my another class of mine to see the planets/starts... it was in the most BEAUTIFUL place ever in the mountains and there was snowww and sun and cold but it was really pretty. First we got to see a huge telescope that they view all the planets with, the kind that has the dome open on the top (I don't know what it is called) and then the dome opens and the telescope comes out... that was really cool. After we got to see some of the videos/pictures they took of the sun in motion... to see the blank spots on it and to see some bursts of fire... while I'm writing this I feel like it sounds really wierd but that's probably because my english has gone to complete crap. I now get corrected more in English class than I get called on.. and the teacher is usually right.. However planetarium... we stayed there until really late at night so that we could see the constellations / stars with our naked eyes and then there was this laser that went all the way into the sky and you could see where the guy was pointing with it, at the stars.. I was proud when he said it was an american invention :D We also got to sit in this place that was the planetarium but it was like a movie theater but instead of staring at a screen you stared at the ceiling which was a round dome and the image projected made you feel like you were in space! I thought it was so cool and I wanted to stay awake so bad but the chairs were so comfy and they leaned back and everything so after about half hour I fell asleep for the next half hour :( Haha but it was a really cool trip and I learned a bunch of things about the constellations... like how difficult the are to see and how much respect I have for people that can find them because I sure can't hahah.
- I'll also being going to Switzerland/Germany for my class trip, one week in March to see CERN (if you've read the Da Vinci Code you've heard of it, if not it is a big science center that has the biggest particle accelerator in the world that stretches underground from Switzerland through France and back to Switzerland in a circle). We are also going to visit a concentration camp in Germany... I'm really excited that I get to go there and see where everything happened but I am also scared because I don't know what kind of effect it is going to have on me, knowing that some of my relatives were in these places.. I'll make sure to write about it when I see it though.
- Also in March, Tonje (my best friend from Norway) and I are going to Augusta, Sicila for 1 week for the exchange week!!! I am so excited... Augusta is on east side of Sicily about an hour away from Catania (a bigger city with an airport). I can't explain how different it is going to be.. after hearing everyone complain/praise Sicily I can say that I'm really excited to find out what it is going to be like. Also, there will be sun! (Hopefully) and it will be Beautifull!!
- I made my family pancakes. At home, I used to make pancakes for my friends practically every Sunday, but this was the first time I made them here and my family loved them, really a lot.. except for Lorenzo because he is a stubborn italian that went to America for a year and now has some sort of grudge against american food. It was really funny though because me and my american friend Mollie made them in the morning, and then my brother Riccardo said can I have a bite? And we were like sure sure try it! And after he tasted it I was like how are they? And he like did his little italian shrugging of the shoulders...ehh... and then 2 minutes later he comes back and says can I have it all? hahaha like three enormous pancakes... :D So lets just say I started baking more and it is getting really positive results haha.
- My friend Zoe from Seattle came to Milan for three days (she lives near Napoli) to take the ACT and it turns out she was living 5 minutes from me so we met up all the time after school and the one day that I skipped school (with my mother's permission of courrrse) we went on a tour of Milan.. it was really ugly that day because it was half snowing/raining/being stubbornly ugly but it was still fun. We went to see the inside of Duomo, and everytime I go in there it just amazes me how freaking HUGE it is it really is the biggest church ever... even though it's not it's like the 3rd biggest or something but I can't even imagine seeing one bigger than this! We also went to Abercrombie and Fitch for the first time, got our pictues taken with the model at the door because they just give you free polaroids it's awesome. When we were walking around we noticed that everyone kept saying "Hi, how is it going?" in such a formal voice we couldn't stop laughing because they taught the people that worked there to say that... I'm assuming they were told it was the latest thing to say in english while in reality no one talks like that.. and then when we were leaving we went to the cashier and said Hey what's up? to try and have them figure it out but I don't think he spoke english because he just had a really confused look on his face and was like.. ciaooo!? hahaha. After that we went to bake brownies at the house that Zoe was staying in (with some really cool adivsors)... turns out when you try and make brownies without an actual oven it's quite difficult. Plus way too much butter and not enough cocoa = some pretty... interesting sweets that your family will devour anyway and say that they were delicious. Zoe also tried to replace sugar with salt.. hahaha but right before she dumped it in we figured it out, and then just accidentally dumped it on the floor. This night was also the birthday of one of my intercultra friends, Carina from Germany. To celebrate her birthday we went where I thought (wrong) we would find all the germans in Italy - Le Fontanelle! It's a really famous birreria and bascially the most legit place ever.. after that we went to the disco and then finished up at about 5 :)
- Now there is a small vacation (1 week) because of CARNEVALLEEEEE which is bascially like Halloween I don't really get it but it is one week where we do NOT have school and this is pleeeeasing to me. No promises on updating now because I feel bad for lying and saying I'd do it more and then.. not do it more.. hahaha
-Also, last thing. It has been five months. My stay here in Italy is "halfway over". Let's just say I am doing all I can possibly do to postpone going home :D Number one thing being that one of the classes I study science in INVITED ME TO GREECE WITH THEM FOR 10 DAYS! WOPOOO! I don't really want to write about the halfway stay because that just reminds me that time is now getting shorter instead of growing longer.. but I don't think it will be a problem just living in the moment :)
A dopo <3
Katie
- I went to Torino (Turin) with my class for a day, it was a really pretty city in my opinion but there was NO ONE there! Completely empty! We went to one of the biggest piazzas, and literally maybe 4 people were there... it was strange to see a big place so empty. We did see many beautiful churches which was cool because even though I'm living in Italy which is like known for its churches its often hard to go seem them without a program because of various reasons like they're all spread out... I'm glad that I got to go with my class to see everything :) We all ate pizza and then finished walking around, that day was FREEEZING cold literally frigid but still fun.. In the morning I was just dying because it was so cold but in the afternoon it warmed up a bit. Milan is still prettier. :D
- I also got to go to a planetarium/servatorio with my another class of mine to see the planets/starts... it was in the most BEAUTIFUL place ever in the mountains and there was snowww and sun and cold but it was really pretty. First we got to see a huge telescope that they view all the planets with, the kind that has the dome open on the top (I don't know what it is called) and then the dome opens and the telescope comes out... that was really cool. After we got to see some of the videos/pictures they took of the sun in motion... to see the blank spots on it and to see some bursts of fire... while I'm writing this I feel like it sounds really wierd but that's probably because my english has gone to complete crap. I now get corrected more in English class than I get called on.. and the teacher is usually right.. However planetarium... we stayed there until really late at night so that we could see the constellations / stars with our naked eyes and then there was this laser that went all the way into the sky and you could see where the guy was pointing with it, at the stars.. I was proud when he said it was an american invention :D We also got to sit in this place that was the planetarium but it was like a movie theater but instead of staring at a screen you stared at the ceiling which was a round dome and the image projected made you feel like you were in space! I thought it was so cool and I wanted to stay awake so bad but the chairs were so comfy and they leaned back and everything so after about half hour I fell asleep for the next half hour :( Haha but it was a really cool trip and I learned a bunch of things about the constellations... like how difficult the are to see and how much respect I have for people that can find them because I sure can't hahah.
- I'll also being going to Switzerland/Germany for my class trip, one week in March to see CERN (if you've read the Da Vinci Code you've heard of it, if not it is a big science center that has the biggest particle accelerator in the world that stretches underground from Switzerland through France and back to Switzerland in a circle). We are also going to visit a concentration camp in Germany... I'm really excited that I get to go there and see where everything happened but I am also scared because I don't know what kind of effect it is going to have on me, knowing that some of my relatives were in these places.. I'll make sure to write about it when I see it though.
- Also in March, Tonje (my best friend from Norway) and I are going to Augusta, Sicila for 1 week for the exchange week!!! I am so excited... Augusta is on east side of Sicily about an hour away from Catania (a bigger city with an airport). I can't explain how different it is going to be.. after hearing everyone complain/praise Sicily I can say that I'm really excited to find out what it is going to be like. Also, there will be sun! (Hopefully) and it will be Beautifull!!
- I made my family pancakes. At home, I used to make pancakes for my friends practically every Sunday, but this was the first time I made them here and my family loved them, really a lot.. except for Lorenzo because he is a stubborn italian that went to America for a year and now has some sort of grudge against american food. It was really funny though because me and my american friend Mollie made them in the morning, and then my brother Riccardo said can I have a bite? And we were like sure sure try it! And after he tasted it I was like how are they? And he like did his little italian shrugging of the shoulders...ehh... and then 2 minutes later he comes back and says can I have it all? hahaha like three enormous pancakes... :D So lets just say I started baking more and it is getting really positive results haha.
- My friend Zoe from Seattle came to Milan for three days (she lives near Napoli) to take the ACT and it turns out she was living 5 minutes from me so we met up all the time after school and the one day that I skipped school (with my mother's permission of courrrse) we went on a tour of Milan.. it was really ugly that day because it was half snowing/raining/being stubbornly ugly but it was still fun. We went to see the inside of Duomo, and everytime I go in there it just amazes me how freaking HUGE it is it really is the biggest church ever... even though it's not it's like the 3rd biggest or something but I can't even imagine seeing one bigger than this! We also went to Abercrombie and Fitch for the first time, got our pictues taken with the model at the door because they just give you free polaroids it's awesome. When we were walking around we noticed that everyone kept saying "Hi, how is it going?" in such a formal voice we couldn't stop laughing because they taught the people that worked there to say that... I'm assuming they were told it was the latest thing to say in english while in reality no one talks like that.. and then when we were leaving we went to the cashier and said Hey what's up? to try and have them figure it out but I don't think he spoke english because he just had a really confused look on his face and was like.. ciaooo!? hahaha. After that we went to bake brownies at the house that Zoe was staying in (with some really cool adivsors)... turns out when you try and make brownies without an actual oven it's quite difficult. Plus way too much butter and not enough cocoa = some pretty... interesting sweets that your family will devour anyway and say that they were delicious. Zoe also tried to replace sugar with salt.. hahaha but right before she dumped it in we figured it out, and then just accidentally dumped it on the floor. This night was also the birthday of one of my intercultra friends, Carina from Germany. To celebrate her birthday we went where I thought (wrong) we would find all the germans in Italy - Le Fontanelle! It's a really famous birreria and bascially the most legit place ever.. after that we went to the disco and then finished up at about 5 :)
- Now there is a small vacation (1 week) because of CARNEVALLEEEEE which is bascially like Halloween I don't really get it but it is one week where we do NOT have school and this is pleeeeasing to me. No promises on updating now because I feel bad for lying and saying I'd do it more and then.. not do it more.. hahaha
-Also, last thing. It has been five months. My stay here in Italy is "halfway over". Let's just say I am doing all I can possibly do to postpone going home :D Number one thing being that one of the classes I study science in INVITED ME TO GREECE WITH THEM FOR 10 DAYS! WOPOOO! I don't really want to write about the halfway stay because that just reminds me that time is now getting shorter instead of growing longer.. but I don't think it will be a problem just living in the moment :)
A dopo <3
Katie
