One Blonde Loose In Italy...: Already un mesa!?

So yesterday marked one month since I landed in Rome, I can't believe it. Time is seriously flying by way too fast! It needs to slow down because I don't want to wake up one day and already be going home! So far this experience has been so much different than I was expecting. It's a lot harder than I expected. All my friends in the US always would say that I'm so lucky that I'm going to Italy because it's practically a vacation for 10 months but it's not. Going to a foreign country, all alone, without your family or friends and with no knowledge of the language is extremely difficult. I'm not trying to say that I haven't been having fun because I've been having an amazing time! But there have been a few ups and down. Mostly only when I'm bored I get upset because I start looking on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so I've just been trying to keep myself super duper busy! Anyway here's what happened this week!

LUNEDI: Monday was the 40th anniversary of my school so we only had classes until 11:30! Then everyone went outside and we were given red spray painted poster boards and we stood in the formation of a 40! It was pretty cool because we got to miss classes and there was like a DJ playing music. After the picture was taking everyone ripped their poster boards apart and threw them in the air and started dancing to the music haha it was awesome. There was a huge congo line too! (: After school my host mom picked me up then we ate lunch at home, I took a quick power nap then me and my host mom took my little sister Nini to tennis practice. Tennis is about an hour long so we did some grocery shopping and ran some errands. After we picked Nini up we went home and I went for a run with my iPod blasting. It was so nice, I actually really enjoy running here it's just like my stress relief. Plus I've already gained one pound so it's a good thing that I go running.... haha

My school! Darwin Liceo (:

the newspaper article about the 40th anniversary!

My friend Marta and I after school (:

As I was finishing my run I saw a rainbow, it was perfect <3

MARTEDÌ: This wasn't a very exciting day.. at school in one of my classes some kids were late to class after our 15 minute break so the teacher made them stand at the front of the room and answer really hard grammar questions :/ I felt so bad for them! After school I went to my Italian lesson in Turin but I couldn't go shopping afterwards because all the bus drivers were on strike. I guess there's lots of strikes in Italy with bus and subway drivers because they want to get paid more! So anyway, I couldn't take the bus home from the lesson so my host mom came to pick me up right when it finished instead! I don't remember what else I did this day... ha it was pretty uneventful.

MERCOLEDÌ: I don't remember anything exciting that happened at school but after school I walked to Rivoli and meet Kaylin, the other girl from Ohio! It was a really fun time, I love hanging out with other exchange students because when I'm with Italians and I see a cute little Italian street I'll be like "Omg this is sooo cool!" and they're all like "uhh this is just a normal street.." they think I'm insane haha Kaylin and I went to Opificio which is probably my favorite restaurant because the pizza is just amazing. This time I tried mozzarella, fresh pomodoro (tomato) and rocket lettuce pizza. It was seriously the best thing I've ever eaten. Oh and whenever I've gotten pizza with Italians, they always finish the entire thing and I never do! So me and Kaylin decided that we had to each finish our own entire pizza, we both did and I was so proud! I felt so Italian (: After lunch we went and got gelato, I have no idea how after eating an entire pizza I managed to eat 2 scoops of gelato... then we walked all around Rivoli and explored some of the teeny tiny windy streets. It was so much fun! I'm so happy to have meet Kaylin because it's just so easy to relate to each other! She's suuper nice too, I've only known her maybe 2 weeks and she asked me if I want to go on vacation with her and her family to Austria after Christmas!! (: I really hope I can go because that would be amazing! I took the bus home from Rivoli, succesfully, unlike last time! My little sister Nini's chrazyma (conformation) is in 2 weeks so my aunt Elena made a practice cake for her and on Wednesday night we got to eat it, oh my goodness it was the best cake I've ever eaten!!

FINISHED AN ENTIRE PIZZA I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF!

New bff from Ohio <3

Cute windy street in Rivoli (:

the best thing i've ever eaten

hahaha my host dad is crazy, he reminds me so much of my real dad

GIOVEDÌ: At school we got to miss Italiano class because there was a show put on by the students for the 40th anniversary! It was pretty cool cause we got to miss class but it was SO long and I honestly didn't understand anything... It was so funny after the show finished I turned to one of my friends and was like "Non capito niente!" (I didn't understand nothing) and she said "Anch'io" (Me too) haahaha she said it was all about history so it was really hard to understand! Anyway after school I had Italian lessons, afterwards Victoria, Olivia, Sanni and I went shopping around and got gelato! It was really fun (: I bought new boots, 2 pairs of pants and a scarf!

Victoria and I getting gelato in the city (: My gelato scoops look retarded...

The fanta here tastes different, it's not as sweet!

New shoes, scarf & pants!

Via Grimaldi

VENERDÌ: Ahhh this was probably my worst day in Italy so far ): For homework I had to make a presentation about my life in the USA so after school I started working on it and looking at all the old pictures made me really homesick. Plus it was Friday and I'm still not used to the fact that I can't go out on Friday nights because I have school on Saturday. And I was also upset because I feel like my Italian is not improving at all, so I spent most of Friday crying in my bedroom looking at old pictures depressed that I couldn't go out or do anything. It was a really crappy day. And to top it off, I got a stomach virus from something I ate so I kept waking up in the night and felt really sick. I didn't get barely any sleep at all :/

SABATO: Since I didn't get much sleep on Friday night I decided not to go to school on Saturday, instead I slept until about 1 in the afternoon. It was good though because I slept off the virus and once I woke up I felt a lot better! I didn't do much during the day, I went to the supermarket with my host parents and we did some grocery shopping. It was completely crazy and super duper crowded since it was Saturday afternoon. In Italy I'm pretty sure every single place is packed on Saturdays. I asked my parents why they didn't do their grocery shopping during the week when it's less crowded and they said they like going when it's crowded! I have absolutely no idea why! haha but it was an interesting experience. Saturday night I went to another party with my friend Michela! I actually have a really funny story from this night, when Michela's mom was driving us to the party we got stopped by the police. We weren't speeding or anything, in Italy the police just like to stop random cars and just kind of check up on them. So they stopped us and asked to see everyone's documents (ID's or passports) but I didn't have my ID because I left it at home! The police man was speaking with Michela's mom and I only understood part of it but he was saying that since I'm not a European citizen and I don't have my ID with me I might have to go to the police station with him. I was SO scared, I just sat in the back of the car hoping that I wasn't going to be arrested or something! Thankfully the police man was really nice and let us pass (: It was so scary but funny! haha anyway, the party was a surprise birthday party for a girl who I met at the party last weekend! She doesn't go to my school so a lot of the people there weren't from my school. Michela and some people thought it was boring but I had fun! Italian people are just so nice and funny, someone asked me what's the difference in pronunciation between "bitch" and "beach" hahaha I had to say it a few times for them to hear the difference! It was funny (:

The party Saturday night! (:

DOMENICA: On Saturday I mentioned to my host dad and sister that we should go somewhere or do something on Sunday! So Saturday morning at about 9:30 my host dad woke me up and said that dopo colazione (after breakfast) we will go riding on his motorcycle through out the mountains! I was so excited! My host mom and aunt made me bundle up with a heavy biker jacket and scarf but I'm glad they did because it was chilly up in the mountains! It was so beautiful and I had an amazing time because I love riding on the motor bike and the mountains were unbelievable! It was kind of scary though because we had to bike up the mountains on these super teeny tiny narrow dirt paths and there was a bunch of u-turns so I thought we were going to fall off the mountain! It started drizzling too so my host dad said we had to hurry up and get back onto the pavement! We went up into one mountain called Colle delle Finestre then went down into a valley then up another mountain then back down and back home. It was so cool seeing all the tiny little cities and farms up in the mountains. We drove past some mountains that are famous for skiing and the 2006 Winter Olympics were held there! We stopped in one of the ski towns but it was empty since it's still fall and got toast! We didn't get home from the mountains until about 2:30 and I was exhausted! My host dad and I sat and watched Italian TV and ate roasted chestnuts, I've never actually eaten them until now and they're molto buona! (: Anyway after relaxing for maybe an hour my host sister and her boyfriend asked if I wanted to go out and visit this church up in the mountains called Sacra di San Michele. So we went to the church and it was beautiful, the view from up in the mountains was fantastic! After Sacra di San Michele we went to a cafe next to the Lago Grande Di Avigliana lake. The lake was stunning and I got marocchino cafe again, coffee with nutella! It was really good! We went home and relaxed for about a half hour then left again to go out for dinner in Rivoli with my family, Federica's boyfriend and his mom. It was a fun night, I'm starting to understand a lot more Italian! I understand so much more than I can speak! Sunday was probably one of my favorite days in Italy so far because it was soooo busy and fun (:

Pictures from the moto bike ride in the mountains: