I'm sorry it's been over a month since my last post! It's just that April was the busiest, craziest, funnest month of my life. I did so much traveling and so little studying it was amazing <3 ahaha okay let me start.. Second week of April I went to
Brindisi in Puglia in Southern Italy for a week of exchange. I actually didn't stay in Brindisi, I stayed in a smaller town
San Vito dei Normanni. I don't even know how to describe the week in Puglia, it was the best week of my exchange so far. I had an amazing host sister the same age as me and we immediately became best friends and sisters. Here in Torino, I don't have a host sibling my age and my Italian friends spend a lot of time studying so I sometimes feel alone and bored. It was the complete opposite in San Vito, there was never a minute to spare and I was always laughing and joking around with Sabrina. I loved my host family so much, after only a day I really felt like they were my family. We spent the week taking tours around the city, visiting schools and going out with friends. The last night there was a show with all of the exchange students who were in San Vito for the week exchange, Sabrina, my host sister had to talk about the experience and she started crying. It was such a perfect week I miss it so much. I think it's so rare in life that you meet such amazing people that after only a couple days you just click already feel at home. Ever since my exchange week finished I've been kind of depressed because I miss my new family and friends so much. But I just have to remind myself how lucky I was to have been given such a wonderful experience and to have met such fantastic people. On the flight home I cried the entire time :( Okay but on a brighter note, the weather was really nice and I went swimming in the sea! And also I already planned to go back and visit for a week in the end of June! Only 51 more days.. :)
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| The welcome signs the school made for us |
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| The beach <3 |
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| Friends forever |
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| my love sabri (: |
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| san vito! |
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| my amazing host family |
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| making pasta with the other exchange students |
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| miss them so muuch |
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| swimming! |
my sister <3
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| last night :( |
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| on the bus going to the airport |
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| goodbye... for now ;) |
I came home from Puglia for a couple days and then I left again for another week exchange in Istanbul, Turkey with my italian classmates. We stayed with Turkish host families for the week and spent our days taking tours all around the city and nights going out with our Turkish host siblings and classmates. We went to Turkish school one day during the week and did Science labs. I really liked the city, it was such a mix of old, traditional, muslim culture and new modern architecture and ideas. For example there would be a traditional mosque then a high rise shopping center right next to it. I'd have to say my favorite thing about Istanbul was the Grand Bazar. We spent a Saturday morning and afternoon shopping there and it was so different and cool. It felt like a maze wandering through twisting walkways of the bazaar and looking at all the Turkish treasures. I ended up buying so many gifts for all my family and friends. My Turkish host parents didn't speak English, at all.. sooooo I learned a little bit of Turkish but it's a reallyyy difficult language! Arda, the Turkish boy who hosted me was really nice and he lived in the central part of Istanbul on the European side. In case you don't know, Istanbul is separated into 2 different parts by the Phosphorus Sea. There's some bridges that connect the parts so you can either get across that way or by boat. I think the biggest problem in Istanbul is traffic.. the population of Istanbul is 13 million people, I don't think there's never a single calm moment in the city. I didn't really like the Turkish food so much because there's just no variety, kebab and vegatables is basically all they eat oh and yogurt! ahaha basically for breakfeast they eat this weird spicy sausauge, cheeses and Turkish tea or coffee. For lunch it's normal to eat a Turkish hamburger or kebab and dinner varies. I liked the Turkish kebab it was good! I also went to a really fancy seafood restaraunt on the top floor of a building looking over the sea with my host family and the food was delicious. But I did however reallly like the Turkish deserts! Turkish delight and baklava are both amazing <3 Also there was Starbucks!! I was so happy since I haven't drank Starbucks in 7 months. Some other cool things I did in Istanbul was smoke fruit flavored nargile (hookah; water pipe), visit the Blue Mosque, go to a karaoke club, go to a Turkish house party, try a Turkish drink made of a mix of water and yogurt and take a horse carriage ride throughout the island of Buyukada. Also the last night we were in Turkey we rented a private cruise boat and had an elegant dinner as we sailed around the Phosphorus Sea. It was beautiful with all the city lights at night.
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| flight! |
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| starbucks the first night! |
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| the school |
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| GRAND BAZAR! |
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| Turkish family |
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| turkish baklava <333 |
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| dinner cruise! |
I'm still not done with all my travels for the month of April.. the day after I got back from Istanbul I left on vacation with my host family to their beach house in the small town of Laigueglia, we went there in October too! It was a nice 4 day relaxing vacation, I finally got some time to calm down and sleep after 2 weeks of non stop going out every single night in Puglia and Istanbul! We also spent one day in the port city of Genova. It was a really beautiful city, it's the biggest port city in Italy and I think anyone who comes to Italy should visit
Genova it was really that beautiful.
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| "One of the prettiest villages in Italy" |
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| went in the sea again! |
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| GENOVA! |
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| the traditional genovese pesto <33 mmmm |
Well that's all for now! May is kind of a crappy month in Italy because it's the last month of school and everyone's alwaaayyys studying but hopefully I'll still have fun anyway and have a bunch of things to post for the next blog! ahahah
