Wednesday January 27th 2010

I feel much better about Nich today. Talking to Sloan, Alyssa, Reyes and my Mom helped me a lot. They said the ceremony was awesome. The priest was friends with Nich and that made it personal. He made lots of jokes, just like Nich would want. He did a fantastic job. They said there were tons of people there. Nich had so many friends. He was wearing a wrestling T shirt. So like Nich…. I am just happy for Nich and his life. I’m happy I got to be a part of it and I am happy his is no longer in pain. He was such a strong person and a great friend. I am happy because now I know I am not the only one who loved him. He was never alone. .

 

Later…

We got our heating situation fixed; I guess the valve was shut off that let the steam into our radiators. Now our apartment is so hot, sometimes almost 55 degrees!

I’m really excited, I just skyped with my friend Mareck from Slovakia. He is studying in Oxford near London. We are going to travel for my spring break to Paris and London and Spain and Portugal. I love when stuff like this happens. Now I just need to figure out Carnivale for next weekend. 

I have so much planning to do and homework to catch up on. The apartment is a mess and I have no groceries. I need to take out more money but I checked my bank statements and they are charging me like 20 dollars for a withdrawal! Crap.

Right now I’m sitting in class and have no idea what my professor is talking about, I don’t think any of us do. He talks a lot but never says anything. He gets real close to our faces and stares at us when he is lecturing, I don’t think he sees us though. I think I may pick my nose next time to see if he has any reaction.

Nope, no reaction, he’s in his own world.

I love my painting class. Our teacher, Teresa is crazy and I love it! We are using tempera paint and making a fresco. Today I stayed after to help clean up and she introduced me to this girl who was super fun and showed me all around the building. There are some seriously talented students here. I wish I had another class here instead of the one I’m sitting in. I am getting nothing out of Modern Italy. It is an hour and forty minutes where I can write out a blog entry and make my to do lists.

He is staring at me again and it is getting obnoxious.

So I found out today that It is normal for a processor to be late for class, over 15 minutes sometimes. I also learned class is finished when the processor is finished, not when the time is up… awesome…

P.s. I think my diet is starting to kick my butt. I’m exhausted and I have a headache. Pasta probably is not good when you eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I need to fix this I’m miserable

long days...

The last few days have seemed like forever, it is so hard to deal with Nich dying being so far away. No one knows him here so no one really understands. However for not knowing him my friends and teachers have been incredible supportive. I am lucky to have them here. I just wish I could have been home for a few days, to be at the funeral, to cry with my friends. But I’m on the other side of the world.

Sometimes I’m ok and sometimes I just loose it. The first night I didn’t sleep. That made yesterday even more confusing. There is another girl who’s name is Grace in my group and her Grandpa died this weekend too. We both found out threw e-mail at Pahthos on Sunday. Both funerals were on Monday and they were both Cremated. It was a bad week for Graces’ here in Macerata.

I walked around Sunday night until Sunday morning, the cold night felt good. I met an Italian on my who didn’t speak any English, he tried to make me feel better and find my friends apartment. He could have been dangerous but looking at his size I know I could have taken him out.  I walked around just thinking and enjoying the beauty of the city and the dark rolling valleys surrounding it.

When I got home I talked to my mom and sister on the phone and wrote my letter to Nich’s family.  I laid in bed trying to sleep but I was so cold and numb sleep never came.

I was ok at school until Filiberto talked to me about it in his office. I just lost it.

I was late for painting because I was skyping Carlo and Manual. I really just needed to talk to my friends. They told me Jake Curby a Wrestler passed away. He was 25 and healthy. He just had a seizure and passed a way.

I just need to sleep, I can’t focus. I have so much homework but I just cant do it. 

Nich

So I’m sitting in Pathos using the Internet and the cutest little Italian girl comes up to me talking in Italian. I only know a little bit of Italian but I was able to introduce myself and ask her a few questions. Her name is Maria Sofia and she had big brown eyes. She is beautiful. I asked her how old she was and she told me five. We sat there a bit just kind of wondering about each other, she must have been bored. Then she went back to her family.

So I go back to checking my e-mail. I had a new one from Reyes. He explained to me that Nich Boan passed away last Thursday morning and the funeral is tomorrow. I didn’t know what to do or what to say back to. I know Nich was one of his best friends too.

It didn’t sink in at first, then as I scrambled to find my phone to call my mom the tears came. I started balling in the middle of the café. None of my friends were there so it was all just Italians watching me. I called my mom and I lost it. She told me she would go to the funeral for me in my name. She is crushed by my pain and will do whatever she can to help me. Gosh I love her.

Sofia Marie saw me crying and came back over to me. She said something in Italian, probably asking me what was wrong. I didn’t know what to tell her or how to tell her, but just the fact that she was there made me feel so much better. She gave me a huge feeling of hope.

I need to talk to Reyes, he is in Japan serving in the Military so he can’t go home either. He must be having such a hard time. I can’t stand the though of him dealing with this on his own. I wish I could be with him right now.

Nich was my best friend my freshman year of high school. We met on a blind date to a dance. I was so happy to finally meet him in person after spending so many hours on the phone. He gave me a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek before handing me a red flower to match my dress.  I remember feeling like I had known him forever.

 

He was the perfect date. I was freezing on our way to the dance so he gave me his coat. It was icy and I was in heels so he carried me down the driveway to the car. The car was packed with people, I’m pretty sure we were sharing a seatbelt and the whole way there we were laughing and joking. I was not used to being treated so well..

The dance was at Nich’s school so I didn’t really know anyone besides our group. I was worried he might ditch me for his friends, but he never left my side. Instead of ditching me he introducing me to anyone and everyone, pretty mature for a ninth grade boy. We danced the whole night. Then during the last slow song he picked me up and put me on his feet before gently kissing me on the forehead.  

From then on we became even closer friends. I was going threw some rough times and he was my person. He was never to busy for me and could always make me feel better. Sometimes we would call each other during class to see how long we could talk before getting caught by our teachers. Those calls usually ended with out goodbyes.

After a year or so we started going our separate ways, but that didn’t last long. My friend and I drove out to Davison for the football game against Creek and I managed to park us in a muddy ditch. We were stuck good and right as I was about to give up my phone rang, it was Nich. Within 5 minutes he was at the scene with his dad’s truck and toe strap.

Nich always made me smile, he was always there when I needed someone. He was just the type of person who could brighten anyone’s day.

Things were not always easy for Nich. Life started dealing him some bad cards and he did what he could to survive. I tried to be there for him as much as I could, but not as much as I should have. I was crushed when I heard about his car accidents. Each time he would call me and tell me about his new battle wounds. One time we were on the phone and he was distracted so I asked him what was up and he told me he was just picking some more pieces of glass out of his arm. That kid has more metal rods and plates in his body than a transformer. I always wanted to watch and see what would happen if he walked threw a metal detector.

My most recent memory of him is last year Christmas break. Reyes and I met up with him at the mall just to bum around. They got smoothies, but I refused to let him buy me one because I was trying to be healthy.  That lasted 10 seconds and I drank his whole peanut butter shake. He just smiled and called me a fattie. Then we went in a store he thought it would be a good idea to put different hats on me and dress me up.

The next day he sent me a picture message of the makeover. He wrote how glad he was that we were friends and hoped to hang out again soon. That was one thing Nich was good at, telling the people around him how much he cared for them. He loved his friends and family more than anything. He always told us how much we meant to him, he gave out so many hugs and kisses. it was awesome! Nich Boan was a word, his definition would be; the spreading of love.

His messages always cracked me up. I would read and listen to them whenever I was down and his words always made me feel better and loved. I still have a voicemail saved from February 2005. It starts out with Alyssa saying, Hey it’s A-dawg, then Nich steals the phone and replies, more like poop-dawg.

Nich was probably one of the most unselfish people I know. He would do anything for anyone and never expect anything in return. Well maybe a big hug and a kiss on the cheek if you were a girl. Ha.

This is really hard on me. I want to be home, I want to be with everyone, but I can’t. I’m on the other side of the world. I know he knew I cared about him, but that doesn’t seem like enough right now. If only I could have been home…

Nich was someone who had held my heart together when it was broken. He hugged me so tight when I was down I could no longer feel the emotional pain. He played a huge role in my growing up, more than anyone will ever know. For a while, he was MY person.  

I am lucky to have him as a friend. I am grateful for Alyssa and Sloan setting us up on that blind date 6 years ago. If there were one thing I could tell him now, it would be how much he still means to me.

I will never forget him. He was a blessing to me and I am going to miss him very much.

The boring stuff...

This is our apartment, just outside the city walls. 

This is my school, it used to be a palace. There is a fountain in the gates which is a sign of status. There are two porsche's in there.

I have two addresses. One is for letters and the other for packages. However I do recommend you do not send packages because first of all I have no where to put more stuff and second, Italy is notoriously slow when it comes to their postal services and it probably would never get to me.

So the letter address is…

 

Grace Harcz

c/o AHA Macerata Program

P.O. Box 221

62100 Maceata

Italy

 

Packages, parces post, fed-ex, Ups and such, use this address:

 

Grace Harcz

c/o AHA Macerata Program

Via Crescimbeni, 5

62100 Macerata, Italy

phone 0733 261530

 

I am so happy to finally have a day off. I woke up and did a ton of dishes, cleaned some and now I get to spend the whole day doing homework!

I have been worrying a lot about my visa. I didn’t realize I could still get in trouble at the borders even if I didn’t leave the Schengen countries. I am seriously considering sneaking across borders by foot in camouflage at night. It just isn’t worth risking. I don’t want to be told I cant come back to Europe, and I really do not want to be fined. I don’t see why it is such a big deal. All I want to do is travel and see my friends. I know that it would be a hit or miss with people checking passports. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, sometimes they feel generous, and sometimes they don’t. Kinda like getting pulled over for speeding except its hard to talk your way out of this when you don’t know the language and not everyone is to fond of Americans.

So that is the dilemma. Get some traveling done during my 10 day spring break and stay in Italy once my visa expires, or live with the family 15 minutes from here. There they will take care of me while I spend time in the high school helping students prepare for their English exam in May. I wonder if I do this I will some how be able to get a permission to stay. This is all so confusing it’s making me sick.

I have been meeting people left and right now. I figure if I just smile big and try to speak Italian I can make friends. It works : )

It is hard to get anything done, because we have excursions on the weekends. Yesterday we went to a Civitanova Marche, a city on the Adriatic sea. That was actually quite enjoyable because we had a lot of free time to check out the huge market and throw rocks into the sea.

January 29^th we go to San Ginesio and Abbazia di Chiaravalle di Fiastra. February 12^th we go to Tolentino and Ascoli Piceno. We have our mid semester break from February 19^th to February 28^th. March 5^th we go to Macereto and Castello Pallotta. March 10,11, and 12 we go to Firenze (Florence). March 19^th we go to Loreto and Grotte di Frasassi. March 25,26, and 27 we go visit Rome! April 10^th is our last day of the program in Macerata and I will be on my own to avoid being detained.

So you see we don’t have a lot of free time. The family that said they would host me is 15 minutes outside of Macerata. The mom said she could drive me to the university every morning because she works at the hospital but that would be so complicated with all of our planned events.

So this is my class schedule….

 

Monday

8:30 – 11:00 Italian

13:00 – 15:30 Painting

15:50 – 17:30 Modern Italy

 

Tuesday

8:30 – 11:00 Italian

13:00 – 14:40 Renaissance

14:50 – 16:30 Art History

 

Wednesday

8:30 – 11:00 Painting

13:00 – 14:40 Modern Italy

14:50 – 16:10 Cross Cultural

17:00 till whenever they decide we can be free, General Meeting

 

Thursday

8:30 – 11:00 Italian

13:00 – 14:40 Renaissance

14:50 – 16:30 Art History

 

Friday

Excursions

Two hours or more a week I meet with my Italian Tandem partner

Italians don’t really go out on the weekends, their going out nights are Wednesday and Thursday. That makes Thursday and Fridays at school so much fun for us…..

For every excursion we have to keep a journal for both Renaissance and Art History. I would tell you what they had to be about if I know.

These past excursions were so cold I couldn’t take notes cause my fingers were frozen.

I have three ways of getting internet.

At the AHA building between classes or lunch

Pathos internet café where you have to buy something and you get a little ticket that lets you use it for one hour. When it runs out you can get another ticket.

3)   I can hide out outside the Ostello and steal internet hoping no one sees me. But its always cold and whenever a car comes I have to stand up and let them by because the cobble stone street is so narrow.

I have not quite figured out how to send letters or post cards yet. I guess if you write more than 5 words it is considered a letter and you needs a different kind of stamp.

Sometimes our toilet doesn’t flush.

It is rude not to give exact change when buying something.

Most everything closes between 13:00 and 15:00.

I discovered Nutella and it is AWESOME!

We drink wine every day at meals. 

Possible housing opportunity

I’m so exhausted, and cold. I have not been warm since I left the states. Things are getting much better socially. I’m understating the language a little more every day. My favorite thing to do is to pop in a bar or pizzeria just to say CIAO!!! Then the conversations starts from there and we laugh trying to teach me Italian. I seem to get a lot of free things that way. Today in the pizzeria they guy forgot to charge me, but I went back in and paid because he was awesome.

I don’t mean to be a Debbi downer, but today was awful. This last week was loaded with classes, I’m taking 6 and I am in class ALL DAY. Bam Bam Bam Bam, All I want to do when I get out is sleep. I don’t even see the daylight . Class from 8:30 to 6. With only one two hour break and a few short twenty minute breaks in between classes. So I was excited to know we have excursions, field trips on weekends where we could travel and explore new places. Well that was until we had our first one today, a walking tour of Macerata. Oh my gosh we were all exhausted because we hung out last night. Filiberto really likes to talk, nothing fazes him, he doesn’t get cold, tired or hungry! He is oblivious to our pain. It was windy and 30 degrees today and we would walk a little bit, then stop for a long time and he would ramble on about something.  We were supposed to take notes buy my fingers were so cold I couldn’t get them to move and my brain was so burnt out from the intensive learning I just couldn’t retain any more. Filiberto is awesome, don’t get me wrong, I think he just forgets how hard and exhausting it is to be a student. So we did this for ten hours today, and we were freezing every second of it. Ill post pictures soon.

I met a boy. I found him on couch surfing and Katie, Carly, Allyson and I went to meet him at a bar the other night. We couldn’t find the bar so I just kept asking people . dove jazz? Dove means where.. and I knew there was jazz playing at the bar. I don’t know how we found it, but we did. Hahaahah oh man the best part, we walk in, underdressed standing there. I don’t really know what he looks like, I’m looking for a guy with a chin piercing and reddish hair. So we stand there awkwardly and I see this guy, we make eye contact and he does this points at me, then to himself and winks and gives a thumbs up! I immediately ran over to him for a hug and we were cracking up. he introduced his friends to me and mine to him. We couldn’t stay long though cause we had to meet our group for dinner. But man I was glad I met him. He’s cute and fun : )

Toda we met our Italian tandem partner. There are some guys who seem super fun. My girl is super nice. She is 27 and speaks English pretty well and is fluent in German! So we can practice German English and Italian!

Yesterday we went to this classical music concert. T was put on by three woman, the one from France played the cello, the girl from Argentina played the accordion. And the girl from Italy played the guitar. It was really amazing, the music was brilliant, but Alyson and I had to pee so bad I t was hard to enjoy. The building it was in was beautiful! A few hundred years old covered in marble and paintings. Lavish tapestries and gigantic ceilings.

After that our group of 13 went to Katie graces and Schin Schins apartment for wine before going out. I left early to go home to see if Michale, the boy I had met had messaged me. And guess who I run into on a tiny cobblestone road on my way home? Yeah, he and his friends had just parked their car, perfect friggin timing, so I just turned around and went back to Maracuja with them. Oh my goodness it was so much fun. There were so many people in the piazza and I was meeting them left and right and they were all trying to teach me Italian and we were hugging and laughing. Then when we left Michale held out his arm and walked me home : ). He is so nice, I can defiantly see us all being friends : ).

So yeah, today was death, and we have to do it again tomorrow bright and early. I can hardly move, im wearing 6 layers of shirts, thick socks and leggings under my jeans. I pulled them up way over my bellybutton to try and retain as much heat as possible. I’m pretty sure I’m sleeping in my clothes tonight, way to cold and tired to take them off. Oh and we forgot to turn the heat off this morning so now we have no heat for the night (12 hour heat usage limit)

Oohhh yeah! If found a family! Not for Macerata, but during spring break, I will be able to stay with them for free and I will go to their high school and teach English. Well Ill be like a tutor. I’m super excited. I really wanted to travel somewhere warm for my break but I cant get a hold of my friend in Spain and I like to take opportunities as the come. I don’t really believe in a higher power, but I do like to believe in fate. Its best to role with the punches because when you try to look past them you’ll get hit in the face. 

Learning

So went to bed again last night at like 7pm and didn’t get up till 7 am. I believe this is due to the hibernation instinct in my body.

It is so cold here. Between 35 and 40. Doesn’t sound so bad but they body never has time to warm up because that’s the temperature inside as well…

I slept threw my running alarm. Well it went off, I decided I was to cold to get out of bed. Then when Alysons alarm when off at 7 I woke up. Oops….

Yesterday I was so miserable during classes, cold and tired and hungry. Today I thought it would be a good idea to switch that up. For breakfast I had cold spaghetti because we have no microwave. Well it started out like that then I warmed it up on the stove, I ate some yogurt some break, a glass of wine, some tea and some more warm spaghetti. Oh, and I turned the stove on for heat.

Before I got here I figured I would be eating a lot of egg sandwiches. Well then I realized it was like 1:40 euro for 6 eggs, that’s over two dollars… way to expensive. You know you are in Italy when a liter of wine cost half of what six eggs do.

I am not looking forward to class today. I just want to take a hot shower and go back to bed. I don’t think I have any dry clothes. They are hanging up and probably wont be wearable for a month. Brr…

Right now im so pumped, I have seen the sun for the first time since I have gotten here. And that’s been a week now.

I am defiantly the slow one in class. It feels like high school all over again…  Italian class is my favorite though. It is the one I am most interested in. Our teacher is really nice.

I love renaissance class! There are 9 of us in it and professor Jamie Smith is awesome and enthusiastic. She is a visiting professor from Alma.  I actually learned more in here 90 minute class than I have in my life.

Living in the united states is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get.

Italy is a lot like the United States. Industry and wealth in the North and agriculture in the south.

People started coming to the states around 1603, so that means the building I am sitting in for class is older than my country…

Alexander the Great, (the man who conquered the known world) died from partying to hard.

Back at the apartment…

So at this moment I am extreamly happy. Alyson is playing guitar and singing ant it is just amazing. It reminds me of the end of Juno, that’s here style and it’s my favorite.

I am also happy because I just ate coffee yogurt, WOAH!

Classes today were so long. I don’t know how I feel about art history with Filiberto, however it did start getting interesting toward the end.

I probably should have went to Italian Film but I was so burnt out. I might add it though.

I skyped Timur today, my friend from Germany and we made plans for me to come visit, that’s exciting : ).

Our clothes are still not dry.

I need to go out and buy school supplies.

Later,

Ok so I thought things didn’t close till late here, but I was wrong, everying is closed. All I wanted were some notebooks to do my homework, but nope, im stupid.

I really need to get my glasses adjusted, they keep slipping down my face and it is driving me crazy.

I’m pretty sure I make people mad wherever I go because I lack the ability to communicate. 

First day of classes....

So Alyson and I learned why Italians don’t drink coffee past 3 p.m.. Neither of us could sleep last night.

I still got up and ran this morning, It was freezing outside. It must have been snowing in the mountains. I think they are about 40 miles from here and the sea about 30. On clear days we can supposable see both, but there have been no clear days yet.

I ran around the city walls again. I think it is only about a mile and a half. There are long inclines thought so it is a good beginning workout. I stopped to stretch at this marble outside concert piazza thing. It was beautiful. Here you have to watch were you step because it’s all cement and people don’t pick up their dog poop.

So this morning I am attempting to do laundry. I showered after I ran and now my hair is wet. I forgot we can’t use the hair drier and the wash machine at the same time.

Oh I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but people here don’t have driers. Last night Alyson did her laundry and set it out on the racks to dry, I think here stuff got wetter over night. It is to cold and damp to dry out a sammi here.

Italy is my kind of place. They have a trash can for everything… glass, plastic, aluminum, organic paper and general waste. These trash cans are everywhere too, amazing.

Not only that but it cost extra to get a plastic bag at a grocery store, so people all bring there own. Also to prevent shopping cart chaos a euro deposit needs to be made in order to use a cart. Genius.

Today is my first day of school, lets see how this goes. Each day starts at 8:30 and all my classes are taught in my programs building except for painting, which I’m thinking will be taught at the university.

We really are not with Italians at all. We do have the choice to be paired up with one though to practice language. I will defiantly be doing that.

Oh yeah funny story. I tried to turn the tv on this morning so I could get some Italian in the background. Tried for about 10 minutes, then realized it wasn’t plugged in. Some things never change…

The food situation is still a little confusing. I attempted to make spaghetti yesterday and started mixing stuff together for flavor. Then Carly stepped in and saved me. I guess I was putting some weird oil with vinegar, probably not the best combination for spaghetti. Oh I also learned how potent a clove of garlic is, looks like I wont be meeting any boys today…

I still have not bought eggs so today I ate three small pieces of bread for breakfast and perhaps I’ll grab an apple on the way to class.

I need to go back to the market to get some more groceries, but everything is closed here on Sundays. Good thing today is Monday.

Toilets flush really loud here and the basin is high on the ceiling. I hope it doesn’t ever flood. I’m not sure which way the water spins. Ill check it out next time I go.

I’m starting to feel better in my body. My Mom isn’t around to make me pies and there is no MP with unlimited foods of death.

I miss the library.  Things are different here. Universities are designed strictly for study. They just recently put in a small student cafeteria and a few couches in their library. It defiantly is not a place to get coffee and study with friends.

So I just took out the trash for the first time in Italy and it was AWESOME!!! They have a foot pedal that opens the lid so you don’t have to touch the trashcan.

I fell up the stairs walking to school today.

So Im sitting in class bored out of my mind. I’m in Modern Italy and my professor speaks English very well and I think he enjoys listening to himself say big words. I have already been in class for 5 hours now. Italian starts at 8:30 and goes to 11:00. I was so hungry so we went and got some pizza for 1.40, pretty expensive for the amount we get. Then we went to painting. Man it is so cold outside all I want to do is go home to my bed.

Our painting teacher is crazy. She speaks a little English and is just hilarious. We just did quick sketches today. At the beginning of class she pulled out a box and told us it was surprise number 2. So we all huddled up and got close. Then she took off the lid and I was staring into the empty eye socket of a dead bird, great surprise.

Painting is at the university so there are Italian students there. They all seem a little different. I am just hoping I meet some sweet Italians soon.

I’m in such a bad mood because im exhausted, cold and hungry. We go get more pizza because we don’t have time before our next class, the one I was trying to stay awake in.

Modern Italy is like 100 minutes of death. I mean it was interesting but its such a long day.

I attempted to grocery shop. I think I have enough pasta to last me 3 months, which isn’t bad considering I only spent 12 euro.

I bought myself a chocolate bar and ate it on the way home. It made me feel way better.

I made spaghetti, again….

I just want to sleep. I think im going to, yep ok bye.

p.s. I tried to take the Italian placement exam today, whoever reads mine is gonna think I’m retarded. I just went straight from the test to the beginner class. Ha…

The apartment

This is our kitchen table

This is our stove, sink, washer

This is looking into the kitchen from the hallway

this is what you see when you first enter our apartment.

It is really slow to upload pictures, hope this can hold you over until later : )

getting started

I want to meet Italians so bad. I am the worst at learning unless I am constantly surrounded by the thing I am trying to learn.

I wrote an entire blog entry then my internet time was up so I lost it.

We all went to Panthos today to get free internet. It was confusing because we had to get a new ticket for every hour. I ordered vanilla tea and it was good, they brought me a little teapot, it was cute.

Alyson bought a classical guitar but she doesn’t like the way it sounds, so now we are looking for the guitar shop to compare prices if she were to exchange. She got hers for 44 euro and the next one up is 120 euro.

So now we are walking around within the walls of Macerata and there are people everywhere. I don’t want to just go home because that is boring. I stop into a café by our school and just walk in to say hi and introduce myself. There were two men working and they were super nice and fun.

After Alyson found the guitar shop I convinced her to go back to the café, Best decision ever! We talked with the two bartenders and they helped us learn Italian. Alyson is actually very good, she has studied for three semesters.

I introduced myself to everyone who walked into the café, they probably tought I was crazy.

Then Roberto came in and we met him. He spoke a little English and talked with us in Italian for about 2 hours! I was so confused by the language and I think Alyson told him I was retarted and we were all cracking up.

They were closing and Roberto bought us each a glass of wine and the bartender gave us toast pizza and paid for our coffee drinks. I can not believe how nice and patient they were. They told us for an American to speak Italian it was a treat. Italians like it when we try to speak their language. I defiantly tried but there is just so much to learn and they talk so quickly.

It really was nice just hanging out there, snacking and drinking and practicing Italian. Hopefully we go there more often.

Oh trying to explain to them why Italians didn’t want to host us because of the swine flu was very interesting. Ha, they probably think we are all sick dirty Americans now.

 

 

 

 

 

roomies

These are my American room mates. I like them very much. Alyson is in the middle. She speaks french fluently because her mom is French. Today I learned she can play the guitar and sing beautifully. We share a room and every time we look at each other we crack up because we both know we have something on our minds. She goes to Grand Valley and studies film and video. So hopefully I will have some video clips to post soon. 

Carly is my other room mate. She feels a lot like the mom of the house because she lived here last semester too. She helps us with everything and is really personable and easy to talk to. She is from Oregon and is an English Literature major. 

I am really happy about our living situation, we are all very different but we mesh very well. 

Groceries, bus, Beatles and theft

So I attempted to go grocery shopping today. That was not easy. I feel I did pretty good though, I got, two things of laundry detergent, bread, wine, apples, grapefruit, chicken, onions, spaghetti, toilet paper,  and a brush all for 25 euro.

Filiberto took us on another walking tour today and it was freezing. I was so cold and exhausted. I took a four hour nap yesterday and slept 7 hours during the night. I still am not caught up from the last week. After our painfully cold tour we took a bus to the mall.

Two of our girls got sick today. Lydia fainted in the library, luckily Molly and I were right next to her and caught her as she went down. Then Katie got sick from a sandwich in the mal

On the bus ride back from the mall an Italian woman looked at our American group and blessed herself… not a good sign

I think I’m gonna practice some Italian, take a nap, then go out for a Beatles interpretation concert thing.

The Beatles thing was pretty good. We drank a bunch of wine before we went so it was even better. We met a young teacher there and she got our information so we can come speak English with her high school students.

After the concert we looked everywhere for somewhere to go or something to do.

Fail

So I’m sitting out side the ostello stealing internet and it is freezing!. Two drunk Italians have tried to talk to me, the one girl couldn’t even open the do

Ok so I just took my first Italian nap. Get this shit. I was so tired I could hardly walk, so Alyson and I decided to take naps before we went shopping. In my dream We had to re make some sifi movie. This lady who was supposable my student teacher for a year and a half in elementary school, came and got me and I packed my pakpak and as I walked up the stairs all my stuff was falling out of, like my bra, in front of all these people. Then we were all in a hallway and the main character was walking up and down between everyone lined up on each side of the hallway, giving some weird speech I was told I couldn’t talk or laugh, so I decided to take out my fishing pole (in the hallway and fish) I caught this rock bass/ piranha, and its started to freakin freak out like blah chcom chomp blah ahhh chomp chomp. It was wiggling and flopping ferociously, I immediately started to scream. I side clung to the wall and everyone looked at tme and the main guy joked at me in disgust for ruining his movie. I ran from the fish but kept holding on to the pole. I then dropped it in the main piazza of Macerata. When I came back it was silent, then I thought it would be a good idea to wake up.

My apartment is cold

I cannot believe I survived the day. I have my first car ride within the walls of Macerata, now you have to understand the city roads were built for donkeys, not stick shift cars. Filiberto gave Carly, Alyson and I a ride to our apartment, which is just outside the city walls next to the Ostello. It is on a hill so our back balcony looks out onto the rolling hills of the countryside, it is beautiful.

One thing about Italians is that they are really strict with heat and over night guests. The government regulates the hours a place can be heated. Heat can only be on when a person is home and its is discouraged to sleep with it on. Then in order to have an overnight guest the land lord must me asked and if they do say yes that person has to be registered with the police.

Our apartment is really big long hallway. The first room on the right is a full kitchen, then a storage room and bathroom on the left. Mine and Alyson’s bedroom on the right. Our room is on the east side and we have a balcony so it’s really sunny. Carly’s room is next on the left and at the end is our living room with a 10 inch TV, three chairs and a small table. We do not have any couches or comfortable furniture to discourage overnight guests.  

My room mates are cool. Carly was here last year so she knows a ton about everything here so she is our personal tour guide, and she cooked for us. Alyson is awesome too. Super chill and hilarious. He mom is French so she is fluent and she speaks some Italian. She is the one that got us our bottle of wine last night.

They are both jealous of my sleeping back because it is so cold and my bag is so warm. I wear it around like a snuggie.

The mail is really slow. Last year a kids parents sent him a package in August and wrote him a note to not open it before Christmas. He got it after he left the program in March.

So we had a hard time finding an Italian adapter, no wonder, the plugs vary withn our apartment.

Filiberto likes to take us on really long walks around the city and overload us with information. I have not retained much. He and Angela are kind of like foster parents to us, taking us under their wings. They are so caring and helpful, two very amazing people.

I think I want to grow my eyebrows out. This may be an awkward month for me.

 

 

the good stuff

So I'm gonna skip the boring stuff today.

We had dinner at this traditional Italian place and they gave us so much wine, they even gave us tarimsu and dessert wine! it was soo good, tasted like carmel. 

we tried to go out dancing but couldn't find a legit place. Lydia Alyson and i went to Bar King, hahahahahaha barking. and bought a bottle of wine and drank the bottle of wine on a bench in the city. 

Everyone was tired and wanted to go in. My add medicine wore off and I was ready to go out. So Rai, Carley, Emily and I went back out, Carley and Rai went back, but Emily and I met two Italian guys because I asked them how to say Lipgloss, we ended up talking for an hour. Neither of us knew how to speak Italian, and they didn't know how to speak English, so we just pointed to things and figured out what they were in each language, but I wont remember anything, I'm like Dori from Finding Nemo : (. But tonight was so much fun. I'm glad I tried to meet people. It is so hard because I don't know the language. I am usually not intimidated but I do not want to offend anyone. 

Macerata is so beautiful. It has city walls are all stone and the whole city is small cobble stone streets and old buildings. It is unbelievable. I will post pictures soon. 

I can not wait to meet more Italians and learn more Italian. I am really having a hard time with the language. We stand out as Americans and I feel they hate us. 

Things will get better.

Today was a great day : ) Except I broke another perfume bottle. It feel about 4 inches and smashed. I saved most of it in a plastic bag. Now I reek of burberry britt... and so does the room, but that is ok because it usually smells like smoke. 

Well peace out guys, sorry if this is a confusing blog, Italians drink way too much wine at dinner...

Ciao!

Check out this sweet adventure...

3:00 a.m. American time.

So the adventure began at 3 am after 90 minutes of sleep. I Said goodbye to my little sister and brother, then hopped in the back of the Buick with Mom and Brian and we took off for Detroit.

I handed my cell phone over to my Mom, that was a huge feeling of submission.

I saw a couple cute boys at my terminal, but none of them got on my plane… darn.

Detroit was awesome! The ladies were so nice. They switched me to an earlier flight and gave Mom and Brain gate passes so they were able to come in the gate with me. We had breakfast and my mom watched the big planes.

8:20 a.m. American time

I left Detroit at 8:20. It was a 45-minute trip to Chicago and I slept for about 5 of it.

In Chicago I went to my gate, met a girl studying to be a midwife in the bathroom. She was on her way to Dubai. I met Katherine and Lydia. I got a good vibe from them.

Our plane to New York broke.

The cancelled a different flight and gave us their plane, How unfortunate….

I sat between the midwife and another girl I met so that was nice, even though I slept the whole way.

We were an hour late getting to JFK, we got to our terminal 10 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave but they decided to not let us on. How nice.

There was a group of us, a couple moving to Milan and woman from Argentina who didn’t speak much English.

I figured if we all stood at the window an waved to the pilots they would let us on. They gate went back toward the plane and the pilots waved back. We gave them thumbs up with excitement right before we realized they were kidding and not going to let us on, jokes on us.

Went to rebook flights. Got one at 9:30p.m. to London.

We went to check on our baggage and met two Italian boys. They were good-looking and very nice. They were water skiing in Florida. I take it they are pretty good. So we exchanged names and perhaps we will visit them in Milan.

We got food and I met this guy working who spoke 4 languages and was hilarious. We were just babbling back and forth trying to understand and learn new words. He ended up giving me a 25% discount on m sandwich!  I held up a fork and asked him what it was. “Fork” he said, no shit, I speak English, we were both crackin up and then he gave Lydia a free refill.

Met a guy from Chili cause he dropped some stuff.

We are in London now and so over going threw security.

On the flight here we all sat together in a row of five. Not so bad if there were not two extremely large males passed out in the aisle seats. All I wanted to do was pee.

Went threw security twice in London, but we met an Italian man on the bus to the correct terminal and he helped us with our Italian.

6:18 a.m. American time 

I Have no idea what time it is, it is 6:18 American time on Tuesday. So that means I have been in airports for 24 hours now! Thank you American Airlines…

I am extremely exhausted and sticky. I snagged a first class pillow and a comforter from our flight from New York to London. I am not enjoying lugging it around.  I can’t wait to brush my teeth and bathe.

We are trying to find our next flight. I’m mad because we have to go threw security again

Well I kind of bathed in the bathroom, washed my face with hand soap and brushed my teeth. Lydia and I bought a bottle of wine. It was expensive with the exchange. Stupid pounds. It ended up being about 20 dollars American.

I’m having problems with my debit card. I tried to buy a glass of wine at the pub but it wouldn’t work and she wouldn’t type in the numbers so I had to break a 20 so now I have a bunch of pounds that I don’t know what to do with. 

We met a guy from California at the pub; he had been traveling Europe for 5 months. Lydia and Katherine could not finish their beers so I tried but I couldn’t. I’m weak I know…

I am a little tipsy now, not going to lie. I met a girl from Milano, well a woman; her name is Danilla, so nice. We exchanged information. I talked with a guy from Scotland about everything for about 30 minutes on the plane. He is so cool, traveling on business. There is a boy, Kevin, from Idaho sitting behind me going to Rome for a month. I just keep meeting people. I feel like a magnet. Lydia and Katherine are already passed out and our flight has not even taken off. I’m going to pass out as soon as we get in the air and I can pee. I can wait to open the bottle of wine on the train. I hope we can figure all this out.

I slept the entire flight.

12:37 p.m. American time

Now we are on a bus in Milan taking us from the airport to the train station, and no one speaks English, we are with a guy Kevin from Idaho and his bankcard doesn’t work. He has 20 euro, well 13 now and needs to get to Rome. We are trying to get to a café so we can get Internet so I can tell my parents I’m alive. I tried to call with the phone they got me but it wont work and Italian people keep picking up and they don’t speak English. I hope they don’t cost me a fortune.

We lost Kevin and met Jono a boy from Brazil at an internet café.

I packed way to much stuff. I can’t wait to use it up.

We really have no idea how to get to Macerata, not even Italians know where it is. I feel like I’m spending too much money and way to fast on absolutely nothing.

Shit.

We are in Milan looking for WiFi. We are scooping out McDonalds. I just saw a guy get a beer with his happy meal.

We are hungry and looking for food in the train station because I thought I saw a food court. We ran in to three really creepy guys that tried to get us to tell them exactly where we were going. I told them I didn’t know, which was not completely a lie.

We found a sandwich place and the people were so rude to us. The one lady was an overweight chain smoker and she threw my change at me, and the other one was rapping on the glass at me. Lydia accidentally threw her receipt in the trash. The sandwich lady wouldn’t give her her sandwich (which she just watched Lydia pay for) without the recipe. So she had to dig threw the trash.

We bought train tickets to Macerata that will depart at 11p.m. Now it is 10:49 and we are freaking out. Our train departure is not posted. Jono is trying to help us we are running around saying Ancona! Ancona! We have no idea where to go. Then by some chance we find it. I kiss Jono on the cheek and give him the comforter from American Airlines because he has to spend the night in the Station and it is cold.

We drag our stuff on the train and cause a huge traffic jam. It doesn’t help we have no idea where our seats are or even if we are on the right train. An older gentleman then looked at our tickets, kicked out the people that were in our seats and helped us with our baggage.

I am on a train with a couple from Italy and a guy from morocco. He helped us with our luggage but spoke no English, very nice guy.

We have about 4 hours on the train. I hope I can sleep.

I cant sleep, its freezing cold, no good spot to put my head and my feet stink. I feel like if I fall asleep we will miss our stop. There is no pa announcing when to get off or where we are. 

So now we are in ranine, Katie says that’s close. Morocco helps us get our luggage down and into the hallway.

We reach Ancona and he helps us take our luggage off. He kissed me on the head. I wonder if he could smell how gross I am.

Now we are in the middle of nowhere outside at a train stop with no idea where to go. We figure out what bin means and go down stairs and to the other side of the train tracks. Its so shady here, now we are in a (warm spot)

Three girls our age just walked in, they are going to Macerata as well. They are from Poland. A train just pulled up, we are not sure if its ours. I asked a guy and he said he was going to Macerata too so we got on. This train is so much nicer than the last one. It is short, but modern and extremely spacious. There is hardly anyone on the train so our luggage is just sitting next to us.

My breath and armpits smell.

A girl fromPoland gave me gum, I guess it really is that bad.

We have no idea what to do when we get to Macerata. Hopefully they will let us stay at the hostel for free, we are supposed to stay there tonight, and hopefully they let us check in early. It’s 10:35 American time and 4:35 Italy time.

I still have not slept.

We just hauled our American asses off one train and had to get to another one. Sweet right, I love the part about switching bins. We hauled our stuff down the stairs, walked a few meters to the left, then hauled them right back up. My body is going to fall apart. Now we are on another small train. We couldn’t get on it, our luggage was too big, I got stuck in the entryway.

We made it to Macerata. I can not believe it. 5:30 a.m. I am exhausted. There are not taxis or buses to take us to the Ostello Ricci. The girls in Poland told us we could walk with them and they would show us were to go.

So we are lost, hauling our massive amounts of luggage up coble stone hills with narrow alleyways and cars speeding past us. Lydia’s bag keeps getting stuck on the road so we take turns pushing it.

The city is beautifully, traditional Italy. One of the most beautiful traditional places I have ever seen.

We reach the city gate into the plaza and lay on the ground and look at the sky. I am overwhelmed with exhaustion and excitement. I can’t believe we made it.

After 90 minutes of searching we finally find the Ostello around 6:30 a.m. there is an old wooden door in a stone wall and I had to ring for assistance.

We get in. I pack my bathroom bag, a take a shower next to a toilet with a hand held sprayer. Squeegee the floor, and pass out in my bed which is one of eight in the room. It feels so good to be stationary.

Holy geebers I think and then I pass out.

 

Day -3

Well, I was proud of myself for packing light. I have one 65 liter pakpak, a medium sized suitcase and one normal backpack as a carry on. Total weight, 60 pounds! I will be surviving off that for 6 months. I figured the less I pack, the less I can lose. 

Then I realized a problem. I have no towels...

Day -4

So this is my first attempt at blogging. I leave in 4 days for Italy. I will be staying in Macerata, Italy until April 10th then some girls from my program are going to set out with our pakpaks and travel Europe. 

My family is a little nervous. I am not the most organized person in the world. I once left my passport and every article of id I had in a jungle in Belize. I mean, I would have survived. I met some exchange students from Michigan and I would of just stayed with them, but mom mom wasn't to pleased with that idea. 

So this time around I am Jamie from eurotrip (minus the part where he makes out with his sibling). I have my camera and my passport money belt to wrap around my body, super cute. 

I don't know how I am going to get to Macerata from Milan, I have not been told where I will be staying, I do not know what classes I will be taking and I don't speak much Italian. It will be ok though. 

I want to live with a host family or at least with Italian students in an apartment. However they told me that I will probably not be able to do either of those because they are worried about me having swine flu. Thats obnoxious...