Wednesday, August 29, 2012

1 MORE WEEK!

HOLY CRAP 1 MORE WEEK UNTIL I LEAVE! Ahhhhhhhh this is my last week in the United States.. It sounds so weird just saying that. I'll be eating something or shopping at a store and I'll think what if this is the last time I go here or eat this for 10 months.. Part of me is kind of sad that I'm leaving. I'll be talking to one of my best friends on the phone and we'll be talking about homecoming or something and then I realize I'm not going to be here... ): But for the most part, I'm just plain excited! It doesn't even feel real, I feel like I'm dreaming. I've been counting down since like January and now there's only 1 more week left! In one week from now I'll be driving to New York City with my friend Lani who's going to Spain with AFS! In 2 weeks from now I'll be starting school in Italy! (:

I got my Visa in the mail the other day! Whoo hoo! (: Me and my family went to Detroit to the Italian consulate a few weeks ago, the lady there was so nice. It only took a few minutes, me and my parents just had to sign something and then we left and they mailed us the Visa! Easy peasy(;

At the Italian Consulate in Detroit!

I thought I finished level 1 of Rosetta Stone a long time ago and I'm halfway through level 2.. but it turns out I never finished level 1. I started freaking out because I thought I had to do all these extra "Reading and Listening" lessons so I could finish level 1. Another girl, Sara, also going to Italy messaged me and helped me figure out that all I had to do was redo the last milestone and pass it. Thank goodness for her or I'd be stuck doing a bunch of extra work! (:

Finally finished Level 1 of Rosetta Stone! THANK GOODNESS.

I started packing up some of my stuff. Basically I just made a huge pile of nearly everything in my closet and am going to try to shove it all in my suitcase (; haha I'm going to try and finish all my packing tomorrow! Wish me luck! (: I have one enormous suitcase, a smaller suitcase that'll be my carry-on and my laptop bag. I wanted all pink luggage so bad but I couldn't find any so I decided to decorate them instead! Hopefully people don't think I'm insane with my crazy fuzzy pink decorations on my suitcases.

I can fit inside my suitcase! It's seriously huge, anyone wanna hide in here? (;

Ta da! My newly decorated luggage, I feel like Legally Blonde (:

The next about 2 weeks is going to be SO MUCH FUN! <3 Here's what my schedule looks like:
Tomorrow - Finish packing and going out for ice cream with my friends
Friday - Lunch with my aunt & cousin then my high school's first home football game and a sleepover with my best friends
Saturday - My going away party with all my friends and another sleepover with my best friends (:
Sunday - My 2nd going away party with all my family and another sleepover with some friends
Monday - Finish packing do any last minute things before leaving!
Tuesday - My friend Lani, who's going to Spain with AFS, (link to her blog) is sleeping over
Wednesday - 4 am get up and drive to NYC with Lani and my parents, get to NYC and get dropped off at the hotel for the orientation with all the AFSers from the USA. We spend the night in the hotel (:
Thursday - Leave on the first flight to Zurich
Friday - Arrive in Zurich, Switzerland with a about a 2 hour layover in the airport then leave on the 2nd flight to ROME! We arrive in Rome the same day at 2 pm then spend a night there
Saturday - Orientation in Rome with all the kids from all over the world coming to Italy and we get to tour the city and spend another night there
Sunday - Take a 7 hour train ride to Turin to meet my host family!
I can't waittttttttttttt (: It's probably going to be one of the funnest weeks of my life! I can't wait for my going away party and to meet all the other AFSers and meet my host family!

The hotel we're staying at in Rome!

Hotel in ROME (:
Arrivederci! Hopefully the next time I post, I'll be in ITALY! Yayayayyay(:

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Almost there

This summer has been a blast, I've been able to relax and just have fun with my friends except, it's gone by WAY too fast!! I can't believe that in less than a month I will be flying off from JFK in New York City and going to ITALY! It's crazy to think about. I'm so excited, I count down the days and can not wait to leave! Every now and then I feel a little tinge of sadness though, it's crazy to think that I'm not going to see any of my friends or family for 10 whole months but then I remember I'm going to Italy and get over my it real quickly (;

I've been messaging with my host family a lot and they're so nice, I can already tell I'm going to get along great with them! I'm truly lucky with my placement (: Tomorrow I'm going shopping and buying them presents sshhh I don't want them to find out (; hehe and this weekend I'm going to Detroit with my family to get my Visa! Whoop! I'm so thankful for my mom who has been doing pretty much all the paper work involved with getting my Visa. Let me tell you, the paperwork takes hours and hours.. I'm so lucky to have my mom! I'm picking up my transcripts from school tomorrow and will be withdrawing soon. It's going to be so weird when my friends start school on August 22nd and I'm just bumming around at home doing Rosetta Stone! Speaking of Rosetta Stone, I just finished Level 1 tonight which is the compulsory level that everyone has to complete for AFS. It's soooo booorring doing Rosetta Stone but in this last month here I'm going to try and get through at least Level 2 because I know it's going to help me so much once I get there! Mi non piace Rosetta Stone (;

Also, I got my school placement and I'll be attending "Charles Darwin Liceo". On the website it says that it is a Liceo Scientifico, Linguistic and Scienze Umane school. Basically from what I've been reading, in Italy there's many different types of high schools and each have a concentration on certain specific subjects. Scientifico concentrates on Science and Math, Linguistic concentrates on foreign languages and so on. I'm hoping that I'll be able to be in the Scientifico school because I'm thinking that Math & Science will be the easiest subjects to understand, hopefully... haha and it'll help when I'm transferring my credits over! Oh yeah and my host cousin Alberto, who's the same age as me, is going to the same school! (:

It's awesome how connected AFSers are with one another, I've gotten so many friend requests from AFSers who are going to Italy from all around the world. A girl from Costa Rica messaged me the other day and we found out when we go to Italy, our cities will only be 2 hours from each other! A boy from Hungary messaged me and a girl who's going to Spain next year asked for some advice. I just think it's so cool how AFS kids are so connected. Even now, a month before we're even leaving, we already understand what each others going through. I can't wait to meet so many people who have the same travel aspirations as me! I just know that orientation in NYC and the flights to Rome are going to be a blast! (:

Well that's all for now! 29 more days till I leave for NYC <3
Buona notte (goodnight)
Jacqueline!