tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85764699469999538152024-03-13T03:22:00.135-07:00The Life and Times of a Rotary Exchange StudentAmanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-66988157279945867622012-07-03T16:30:00.002-07:002012-07-03T16:31:53.616-07:00L'ultima Giorno in Italia<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Il mio l'ultimo giorno in Italia è oggi. Vorrei ringraziare tutti i miei amici, le mie famiglie ospite, e Rotary per quest'anno indimenticabile! Ho avuto le famiglie che mi hanno sostenuto e gli amici stupendi! Quando mio nonno è morto in Ottobre, sono mai stata da sola. Durante la mia prima natale fuori la casa sono stata circondata dagli amici. E quando mi mancato la mia famiglia vera, ho realizzato che già avevo la mia famiglia qui in italia perché gli altri studenti dello scambio sono la mia famiglia! Sono gratissima a tutti per tutto hanno fatto per me in questo anno e prometto che mi mancherete! Vi invito a stare con me in Canada quando volete!</span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-79074769545859434312012-06-21T12:21:00.000-07:002012-06-21T12:21:15.982-07:00YOLO<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey Guys so I know I haven't updated you in months however I have a good excuse! I have been living my exchange to the fullest. I have snowboarded the Alps, changed host families so that I'm now living on a farm! I went to Berlin with my school and got to go to the Premiere of The Lucky One and saw Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling. I went to Lake Garda with my first host dad, an amusement park with my class, celebrated the last day of school with all my friends, recieved my "good exchange student" certification, said goodbye to some amazing friends and now I am with another new family while my host family goes to Sardegna for the week. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now you might be wandering why I didn't go with them well that is because on Monday I will be flying to Paris with one of my best friends, Giada, for 8 days! I know, you don't have to tell me, I am the luckiest girl in the world! Paris will be so amazing. Giada and I will be staying with the family of a friend of Giada's and we will get to experience the real Paris and not just the tourist Paris. Although we will be doing all the tourist things like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre Muesem.
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow I have my final concert with my music school. I'm singing Ave Maria by Beyonce and I am also singing 4 songs with the choir. The choir is comprised of the students hand selected by our Meastra, Monica! I have had so many amazing opportunities with this music school and I am so sad to say goodbye! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which brings me to my next point. I only have TWO more weeks until I return home, 14 days. It seems so surreal that after living in a country for 10 months, learning it's customs and it's language, that I just have to leave it and go back to how everything was before. I am actually more nervous to return home than I was coming to Italy in the first place.
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">S</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eeing as how a picture is worth a thousand words I decided to put all the events I missed writing about into the pictures below!</span><br />
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<br />Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-5003515268480422032012-03-07T05:29:00.000-08:002012-03-07T05:29:01.502-08:00Make Kony Famous! Kony 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People always ask how they can can save the world. How it is possible for one person to make a difference. Well you can make a difference right now by taking 31 minutes out you day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">30 minutes to watch the video, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 minute to pass it on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kony 2012</span></div>
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<br />Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-65898912749937732962012-02-22T13:37:00.001-08:002012-02-22T13:37:09.040-08:00Carnevale Part 2: The Parties!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because it was Carnival we didn't have school Monday or Tuesday, so you know what that means, Party!! On Sunday night my friend Cristina was having a "Carnival Party" at her Oratorio. For those of you who don't know an oratorio is basically just a youth club! Since it was carnival it was of course a costume party! Yay! Unfortunately I didn't have any costumes here so I just dressed up as myself and wore my mask that I bought in Venice. Seeing as how it was probably the last time I was going to get to wear it, I wore it proudly! The party was a lot of fun and we played this one game where you put a piece of spaghetti between your mouths and start dancing and the couple left dancing with there "spaghetto" still whole, one! </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also did group dances to songs like Hoe down Throw down by Miley Cyrus and Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michael Telò, that have organised dances to go with them which was really fun! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Monday, we celebrated my other friend Cristina's Birthday! We met up with about 6 girls from our class and went out for lunch at little coffee bar overlooking the park! We stayed there for about 2 & 1/2 hours before they walked with me back to my house. After that I enlisted Lizzy in my search for Cristina's B-day present since I still hadn't found the perfect gift! I ended up getting her a concert DVD of The Who, which is one her favourite bands! Than I went home and relaxed before getting ready to go to her party! My host mom drove me there and because she has never been to Cristina's town we got lost and ended up being almost an hour late! I only knew two people at the party, when I got there. My friend Maria from class and Cri's best friend Elisa but by the end of the night I had made friends with almost everyone there! It is so much easier to make friends when they find out your Canadian and you speak English! Apparently it makes me much more fascinating because for about two hours they just swarmed me asking me questions, it was a lot of fun and I can actually say that I now have a friend named Fabio! My host mom came to pick me up around 12:30AM but we didn't get home till about 1:00AM :) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mio Carnevale era una grande successo!- If you don't understand there's always Google Translate!! :) Hope everyone had a great Holiday whether it was Carnival, Family Day or President's Day! </span></div>
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</div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-56756662223910295982012-02-22T12:06:00.000-08:002012-02-22T12:06:19.848-08:00Carnevale Part 1: Venice!!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok everyone let me just start this post by saying CANADA NEEDS CARNIVAL!!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carnevale for me officially started on Saturday when my Rotary district 2050 and the another district out of Milan, 2040, took all of the exchange students to Venice to celebrate carnival. It was beautiful just how I imagined it would be! </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXD7xeFrE0I/T0U_FBu33tI/AAAAAAAAAkg/8fB-cf5-IJE/s1600/Gran+canal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXD7xeFrE0I/T0U_FBu33tI/AAAAAAAAAkg/8fB-cf5-IJE/s320/Gran+canal.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing I saw when we walked out of the train station was the beautiful grand canal and because it was the grand canal we all posed to take our group shot in front of it. This was not easy with almost 50 of us! After the photo op. we made it about 30 feet before we ran into a group of people dressed as the character from Mario except they were missing Mario, this worked out for my friend Kurt because he had dressed up as Mario for carnevale! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Than we walked around Venice looking for mask shops and stopping to look at the different street shows and take pictures with all the different people in costumes. </span><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JEUhTqI7vJg/T0VFt4zWJjI/AAAAAAAAAkw/7y7wRZWrg28/s1600/IMG_2616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JEUhTqI7vJg/T0VFt4zWJjI/AAAAAAAAAkw/7y7wRZWrg28/s200/IMG_2616.JPG" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After an hour or so it was time for lunch. We went to this tinny little restaurant that Rotary must have pre-booked because there was barely enough room for all of us let alone any other customers. I really didn't care for lunch, the first dish was a seafood salad (i.e. cold), the second dish was gnocchi with octopus and some type of pesto sauce! Not the best meal but I wasn't that hungry anyway. The restaurant was decorated with a bunch of different ties and my new friend, who is from Niagara Falls, Jordan, saw a Canadian one, so she took my photo with it! </span><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Jqq-NDKAKk/T0VGxJtL-yI/AAAAAAAAAk4/YmvrS7UzZ4Y/s1600/my+mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Jqq-NDKAKk/T0VGxJtL-yI/AAAAAAAAAk4/YmvrS7UzZ4Y/s200/my+mask.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After lunch we made our way to San. Marco's square, where the bulk of the carnival festivities were taking place. On the way Lizzie and I stopped in a Masquerade shop where I found a beautiful mask for only 8 euros! </span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gu0yqRHXEFk/T0VIPrMONqI/AAAAAAAAAlI/clmPUX60hI0/s1600/IMG_2630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gu0yqRHXEFk/T0VIPrMONqI/AAAAAAAAAlI/clmPUX60hI0/s320/IMG_2630.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While in the piazza Jordan, Kayleigh and I had our pictures taken with tons of people in all different costumes. There was even a man dressed like Jack Sparrow, who, in my opinion looked very similar to Johnny Depp! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At about 4:15 we all had to meet back at the tower with lion out front next to the water. There Ashley, Jordan and I had out picture taken with the Canadian flag! Canada represents!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Than Rotary paid for us all to take water taxis back to the train station, which was really cool! I got to a whole part of Venice I wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-42162904882897196122012-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:002012-02-05T07:00:51.277-08:00Let's Talk Weather!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As most of you reading this are from Canada (and also other parts of the world) you know the weather of 2012 has been anything but normal. Of course for me to say normal, I should probably first state what normal for me is. Normal for me in Collingwood, ON, is about at least 5-6 ft (2 meters) of snow this time of year, with temperatures ranging from -10 to -25 degrees Celsius. Of course I knew it would be different in Italy. I thought it would be warmer, I hoped, but didn't bet on there being any snow, and I especially didn't think that we would have earthquakes. No, you did not just read that wrong! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I know earthquakes are not technically weather but since I didn't want to wright a whole other post just about them I thought I would lump them in with this one. Two weeks ago, while I was sitting in my classroom at school on the third floor, I suddenly felt my very first earthquake. It was a very surreal experience for me. I was just sitting in class "listening" to the Prof. when all of a sudden the desks started shaking and the ground started wobbling. A few of the girls jumped out of their seats and started to get under the desks. It lasted only about 40 seconds but after it was over we were all a bit "shook up" and for fear of another quake, our class along with a few others evacuated the school. When we went back inside and I sat at my desk I still felt as though the class was shaking. It was the strangest feeling. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two days later after I had finished school for the day and had eaten lunch, I was sitting at my desk, checking out Facebook, when I felt it again, that sensation of the solid ground shifting beneath me. I ran out into the living room where my host brother was shouting "Terremoto!" and our house keeper Angela was asking if everyone was OK. This second one was not as strong as the previous one but it was still pretty intense. I learned from the newspaper the next day that the first earthquake had a magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week, on February 1st, I received my first snow fall of the season! It was only a couple of cm, 4cm at the most. However it was still snow and it was beautiful. Unfortunately it was not enough for them to cancel school the next day, even though that was what everyone was praying for. It is so strange for me to think that last year I had two weeks of snow days in December and here nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It also snowed again last night and it was bellissima. I went out for dinner to a pizzeria with my Italian friends and Matt, Sam & Kurt, where we watched a friend of Valentina's band preform. They where actually pretty good and they played some really good classic rock! After we walked in the snow to the centre and it was incredible. It was like magic, the moon shining through the falling snow, like something out of a movie. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was also snowing this morning and our courtyard had about 3 cm of snow! It was so strange to talk to my mom about the weather today because they have NO snow and very mild February temperatures for Canada, and I am living in Italy where it is snowing right now! Maybe the world really will end this year. I hope everyone is having a great winter no matter the weather! If there one thing I have learned since being here it is that if you try to enjoy and make the most of everything life hands you, you will be never be disappointed! </span><br />
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<br />Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-63277211995933361482012-01-25T12:26:00.000-08:002012-01-25T12:26:42.443-08:00I Am A Woman<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am
intelligent, I am strong, I am beautiful, I am wise. I am courageous, I am
friendly, I am hard working, I am funny. I am dependable, I am determined, I am
capable, I am reliable. I am responsible, I am emotional, I am skilled, I am
whimsical. I am proud, I am tolerant, I am self-reliant, I am a woman. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pass along
this message in support for all the women of the world who are still suffering
from gender inequality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="IT" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: IT;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sono intelligente, sono forte, sono bella, sono saggio. Sono coraggioso, sono amichevoli, sto lavorando duro, sono
divertenti. Sono affidabili, sono determinato, sono capace, sono sicuro. Mi
sono responsabile, sono emotiva, sono qualificati, sono stravaganti. Sono
orgoglioso, sono tollerante, sono autosufficienti, sono una donna.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="IT" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: IT;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passare lungo questo messaggio a sostegno di tutte le
donne del mondo che ancora soffrono di disuguaglianze di genere. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-70162304766030090012012-01-22T06:27:00.000-08:002012-01-22T07:00:50.454-08:00When Your Friends Become Your Family<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Facebook, we, the exchange students, have a group called You Know Your A Rotary Youth Exchange Student When..., and one of the most popular posts, and certainly one of the most true posts is, "when your friends become your family". I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have the most amazing friends in the world here in Italy. Without them I'm sure I would have went home back in October when my grandfather passed away and it's time like this week when I'm feeling homesick or depressed, that I am so grateful that I have them to lean on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Saturday night I had all of the Cremona Exchange students over to my house for a small party to celebrate Christmas and the New Year and also to open up our Secret Santa gifts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Monday, my friend Lizzy, invited me to eat dinner and sleep over at her "house" (it's really a mansion, her host family are the richest family in Cremona) because she didn't want to stay at the house by herself since she is afraid the house is haunted! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Tuesday, Lizzy and I, went over to Ashley's house for dinner because her host parents were going out. Her mom made the most amazing home-maid pizza for us, it was incredible! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesday I had my vocal lesson with Monica, we started working on All I Ask Of You from the Phantom of the Opera, which is a duet that I will be singing with a boy also from the Association for the Easter Concert in April. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday Ashley came over to my house and we watched Eclipse, the 3rd installment of the Twilight Saga (if there was a way to make a vomit face icon I would :p). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Friday after I went to the gym with Kayleigh, Corinna came over. She was going to teach Matt, Ashley and I how to waltz. Unfortunately the other two forgot so it ended up just being us. We didn't dance so we talked instead. Than I went over to Lizzy's house again for dinner since her host most was stuck in Milano.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday afternoon I went to Brescia with some girls in my class. Right after school we walked to the train station and took the train to Brescia, it was about 50 minutes. Than we walked to the mall where I had a Piadina (grilled sandwich) for lunch and than we walked around and shopped. I found a couple of great things from H&M. At 5 o'clock we left the mall and went back to the train station. Two of the girls lived in a different direction than Cremona so they took a different train than we did. My other friend had to get off a few stops before Cremona as well since she doesn't live there either. So after a while it was just me on the train home. It was actually pretty cool because I realized I could definitely travel alone. It was a real confidence booster. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Saturday night (last night), Matt, Ashley, Kayleigh and I went out to a Chinese food restaurant with our friend Sierra to celebrate her 16th birthday, which was on Wednesday. The food wasn't as good as the Mandarin but it wasn't horrible either. After dinner we walked to the centre where we met up with Lizzy, Corinna and Francesco and we went to the Irish Pub for a while. Unfortunately, because I was in Brescia all afternoon I was pretty tired so I called it a night around 11:30pm and went home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been a great week with my friends! I love them all and they are most definitely my family while I'm living in Italy. It is so weird to think that in exactly 154 days I may never see them again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will try to update you more regularly on everything that is going on in my life here and I would like to wish all my friends back home good luck on there exams starting next week! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda </span></div>
</div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-45753700657834973572012-01-19T05:48:00.000-08:002012-01-19T05:48:30.274-08:00No, Not London, Ontario... London, England!Growing up, everyone always told me that I'm a lucky girl, but I never realized how lucky until I spent the first week of 2012 in London, England. I spent the wee hours of the first day of 2012 watching Canada kick a** in the World Juniors Game vs. USA. Than I spent that afternoon and evening waiting in airports, flying in planes, taking trains, and driving on the wrong sides of the streets. It was a very long but very exciting way to celebrate the first day of a new and what I hope, an amazing year.<br />
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Day 1:<br />
Buckingham Palace<br />
St. James Park<br />
Piccadilly Circus- Not an actual circus for people that don't know (Mom)<br />
Aéropostale- Which was the most impressive example of corporate, brainwashed America.<br />
Soho<br />
Oxford Street<br />
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Day 2:<br />
The British Museum<br />
Carnaby Street-Good Shopping!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cleopatra's Sarcophagus </td></tr>
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Day 3:<br />
The London Eye<br />
The Tate<br />
Millennium Bridge<br />
St. Paul's Cathedral<br />
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Day 4:<br />
The Tower of London<br />
The Science Museum<br />
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Day 5:<br />
Westminster Abbey<br />
South Kensington<br />
Trafalgar Square<br />
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So that's London in Pictures and Words! London is, in the words of Jim Carrey, B.E.A.U.tiful and now I am a pro at using the London Underground!<br />
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<br />Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-61636215482153679872011-12-30T17:54:00.000-08:002011-12-31T06:52:18.179-08:00Happy New Year!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">It's the last day of 2011! The last day of an amazing year. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">A year where so much has happened and so much has changed. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">A year of new opportunities and adventures. In 2011, I have met some of my best and closest friends. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">I Learned to snowboard and I helped to raise money for charity.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"> I learned that I would be spending the next school year in Italy and I learned to drive. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">I flew to Vancouver with my</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> school and I took my first solo road trip.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> I spent precious time with old friends and family. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">I went night swimming at Wasaga Beach and I have a new sister.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> I turned 17 and then 7 day later I boarded an airplane bound for Milan. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">I have seen cities that I've only ever dreamed about; Verona, Rome, Naples.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> I've had to deal with the loss of my grandpa and the reality of being so far from home. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">I have the opportunity to learn a new language and expand on the ones I already know.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> I got to welcome the newest member of my family, my niece, Hailey Morgan Thistle, to the world. I've had the privilege of living with and getting to know the Antonioli family and sharing the holidays with them. </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Most importantly, 2011 has blessed me with family and friends on every continent in the world and I am so fortunate to know every last one of them! </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">2011 has been one of the best years of my life and I want to thank every single person who has been apart of my life and will continue to be apart of my life for many years to come! </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">HAPPY NEW YEAR!</span></span></span></div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-21879873200660044082011-12-25T09:01:00.000-08:002011-12-30T18:15:09.094-08:00Christmas in Italy!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year, these famous lyrics have not been more fitting, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Christmas Eve will find me</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Where the love light gleams</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I'll be home for Christmas</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If only in my dreams" </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been my first Christmas away from home, away from my family, and to be completely honest it doesn't feel like Christmas, at least not the Christmas I know. Christmas Eve I went with my host family to Lauretta's (my host mom) sister's house for dinner. Normally for Christmas Eve dinner back home whether I'm with my mom or my dad, we usually have steak and crab legs, but here in italy my meal was a little different. My host family is Catholic and because of that, they do not eat meat the night before Christmas, almost like a kind of fasting. They wait until Christmas day to eat meat as a celebration of the birth of Christ! So, the first course was this potatoes and octopus salad that had tomatoes and olives in it. It was actually pretty good, however it was hard to get over the texture of the octopus. We</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> also had eal, which I didn't eat but I wasn't the only one so i didn't feel to bad</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The second course was pumpkin ravioli which is quickly becoming one of my favourite dishes! I love it! The third course was a fish and unfortunately my host uncle made the mistake of showing me the fish while it still looked like a fish and I couldn't bring myself to eat it. After we finished dinner I helped my host aunt clean the dishes and then we all called Lally on skype so she could say hi to everyone! After dessert, Lauretta and I went to the Duomo, the giant Cathedral, for midnight mass! It was actually pretty interesting, since I have never been to a Catholic service before and even though I couldn't understand everything the priest said, I understood most of it. When we got home, I went to bed and waited for Santa to come. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christmas Day was a little sad for me, remembering the little traditions and memories of back home, but it was still a good day. Since no one woke up until 10:30AM we didn't open presents until 12:00PM. From my host mom and dad I received a special Italian necklace, a starfish, which is said to represent fragility, the fragility of life and love. My host brothers gave me a purple day planner with Marilyn Monroe on the cover for 2012 and my host grandma gave me a yellow wallet/clutch for the summer. I also opened the package from my mom and the cards from my aunt and my grandma which was really nice. After presents Roberto's mom and dad came over and we had our turkey dinner for lunch, which was excellent! Then I went on skype and talked with my family which made me feel a better about not being physically there with them. After that it felt like any other day. It was actually kind of depressing in a way because we didn't do anything. Normally back home I'm so busy traveling around seeing all my family that christmas doesn't end until boxing day or even the next day, but this year christmas was over by 5:00PM. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though I was sad and I missed my family it was nice to experience how other people celebrate Christmas and it made me really appreciate my family and how we celebrate. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I will see you in the New Year! </span></div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-89815537365224102512011-11-25T03:09:00.001-08:002011-11-25T10:36:23.749-08:00Cervinia<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of weekends ago my host dad, his brother, and my host brother Ettore took me to Cervinia to go skiing! The Alps are so beautiful and almost magical, there's a reason people always write about them! We stayed at the hotel Mignon in Cervinia-Breuil, a small town on the border of Italy and Switzerland. They speak French there as well as Italian, so I was also able to practise my French. Since we arrived so late on Friday night we couldn't do any skiing than but the next morning we woke up at 7 to go skiing at 8! We put on all our gear, thankfully my host sister Lally's gear fit me, and walked to the first gondola. On our way up I started to feel dizzy and nauseous I was definitely not use to the altitude. The first gondola took us to 2500 meters where the snow just started than we went even higher on a second gondola which went to 3500 meters. I was still pretty dizzy so we stopped for a little bit so I could breathe in the mountain air and take in the amazing view. After a few minutes I started to feel better so we did one run down to the Zermatt, which is in Switzerland! The run was so long at least 3 times the length of one run at blue mountain. On the way down I also got to see the Matterhorn, the very famous, pyramid shaped mountain!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lO5Mh5uKQu4/Ts95-JaEKyI/AAAAAAAAAXo/akOqXZIrL9Y/s1600/IMG_1587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lO5Mh5uKQu4/Ts95-JaEKyI/AAAAAAAAAXo/akOqXZIrL9Y/s200/IMG_1587.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Matterhorn</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stopped at the chalet in Zermatt and than continued back up on this toe line called the anchor. It's a piece of metal in the shape of an anchor and you stick one side under your but and it pulls you up the mountain. It was hard work because you couldn't really sit on it but you weren't standing either so it was a good work out for your legs. Plus it was really long, it took 15-20 minutes to go down the run but it took 30 minutes to back up it. According to my host dad, at one point all the ski lifts were anchor lines because it was too expensive to build chairlifts. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that we did a few more runs that took a really long time to go down because they were so long that everyone stops at different points to catch their breathes! One run took us an hour to go down! When we stopped for lunch I was EXHAUSTED! I have never skied like that in my life. My feet hurt really bad too because I was not use to ski boot and even more so because last year I snowboarded so I was even less use to the ski boots than I would have been if I had skied last year! </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wR5kYTvzLNI/Ts98ZoIJbxI/AAAAAAAAAYg/Y9jCjyj6Xm0/s1600/IMG_1580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wR5kYTvzLNI/Ts98ZoIJbxI/AAAAAAAAAYg/Y9jCjyj6Xm0/s200/IMG_1580.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we decided to call it a day, it took us over an hour and a half to ski down to the lowest possible point. We also stopped a few times because we were all very tired. I wanted to have my picture taken in front of the Matterhorn too, so we stopped to do that as well. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A_gEGAdnVkg/Ts98ekn_-zI/AAAAAAAAAY8/wRt9iv_nxYg/s1600/IMG_1586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A_gEGAdnVkg/Ts98ekn_-zI/AAAAAAAAAY8/wRt9iv_nxYg/s320/IMG_1586.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Myself in front of the Matterhorn.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night for diner we went to a very nice french restaurant. Ettore and I shared fondue which was really good. We dipped bread and potatoes into it! For desert I had a cannoli, and it was delicious! When I went back to the hotel I could barely make it up the stairs but thankfully I ran into some Australian guys who gave me a hand! That night I was so tired that I went straight to bed. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning we did the same thing again only this time Roberto let me ski by myself at a lower altitude while I got use to the different air pressure. Than we met up a couple hours later and went higher where we skied until lunch. After lunch I skied by myself again only this time in Zermatt and it was incredible. It truly is a whole other world up there!We really lucked out on the weekend, it was clear skies and warm weather for the entire weekend! According to Franco, Roberto's brother, It is usually cloudy and windy, but for us there was absolutely nothing, a gorgeous weekend. After skiing in the Alps, Blue Mountain just doesn't have the same appeal. </span></div>
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</div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-30814354214423332592011-11-06T14:27:00.000-08:002011-11-07T12:42:52.397-08:00Rome Day 1 & 2Ciao Tutti,<br />
Day 1<br />
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On Friday October 29th, my host mom and I boarded a train. Rome here we come! There were no trains out of the Cremona station that went to Rome, so first we had to take a train to Milan, and then take a different train to Rome. The train to Rome was the fastest train in Italy and we travelled the 650km in just 3 hours. Now that's efficiency. Since we left Cremona at 5:30pm we didn't actually make it to Rome until well after dark at about 9:30pm. We walked to our hotel with our bags in hand but before we could actually get to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant because we were both starving. I had calzone, which if you don't know what that is, it is a pizza folded in half! It was pretty good but a little to greasy for me. Once we got to the hotel, we checked in and then went to our room. The view is absolutely beautiful! But since we were both exhausted we went to bed straight away!<br />
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Day 2<br />
On Day 2 Lauretta and I went to all the major touristy places first! The first thing we did was go to the Roman Forum. This was really cool because it is basically a large area of space about the size of 3 to 4 football stadiums just of ancient Roman sites. The forum is where the day to day operations of Rome were carried out. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GvWRbuUtxCw/TrZ6B99HvxI/AAAAAAAAAV4/L0F5bQ2DRQc/s1600/IMG_1071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GvWRbuUtxCw/TrZ6B99HvxI/AAAAAAAAAV4/L0F5bQ2DRQc/s200/IMG_1071.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in front of the Arch of Severus. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bL_WkMyrL2s/TrZ8egPJKGI/AAAAAAAAAWA/6TBqilnyxpA/s1600/IMG_1148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bL_WkMyrL2s/TrZ8egPJKGI/AAAAAAAAAWA/6TBqilnyxpA/s200/IMG_1148.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the house of Romulus.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m4auuLN1cFw/TrZ9CT0u85I/AAAAAAAAAWI/hGl9pTVlZ0k/s1600/IMG_1161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m4auuLN1cFw/TrZ9CT0u85I/AAAAAAAAAWI/hGl9pTVlZ0k/s200/IMG_1161.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a part of the Palatine as seen from the<br />
house of Augustus.</td></tr>
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After the Forum we walked up to il Palatino (Palatine). The Palatine is a huge, beautiful garden, with some of the oldest archaeological sites in Rome. It is set on top of the hill where Romulus and Remus where supposedly found, and where Romulus later built his kingdom. Archaeologists think that they have discovered the remains of the house of Romulus and that it survived due to the great significance that it had to the people of Rome, who were active in its upkeep for the thousands of years before it was forgotten. Also found on the site of the Palatine was the house of Augustus. It is said, that because the house of Romulus is also on the Palatine hill, Augustus chose to have his house built there as well, to remind the people of the power he had. </div>
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After we left the Palatine, Lauretta and I walked passed the Colosseo (Colosseum), to a pizzeria to have lunch. Than after lunch we went to this beautiful park and laid down in the grass soaking up the sun. The weather was incredible, 20* and sunny, I even got a tan from all the walking we did. After our pisolino (nap), we walked to the Colosseum! Which really is as impressive as it looks in pictures. The line to get into the Colosseum was massive and it would have been at least a 2 hour wait but thankfully for us when we bought our tickets to get in to the Forum and the Palatine, they also allowed us to go into the Colosseum and a lot of other archaeological sites as well.<br />
When we got inside, Lauri confirmed our tours and then we went to walk around by ourselves! The Colosseum really is beautiful and everything people say it is! When you walk in all you see are these massive stone archways, and then all of a sudden you are enveloped into the past where it is just one breath taking view after the next! Even though the Colosseum is not as well preserved as the arena in Verona, not by any stretch of the imagination, the colossal size of the structure alone can take your breathe away. The reason it is not as well preserved is because of the amount of earthquakes and piliging (the removal of goods for the use of new building projects) that the Colosseum has undergone. Interesting fact,il Colosseo (the Colosseum) is not the original name of structure, original it was named the Flavian Amphitheatre, after the Flavian Emperors. It was only after the erection of the colossal statue of the Emperor Nero standing beside the Colosseum that it adopted the name. Colosseo derives from the Latin word colossus, meaning colossal.<br />
Since Lauretta and I had different tours, Italian for her, English for me, she left with her group 20 minutes before me. As I waited for my tour to begin I sat down on a large, cylindrical, piece of marble laying along the floor, it was a column. I had actually sat on history! When my tour guide finally arrived, I was the only one waiting, so it ended of being just her and I, my own private tour of the Colosseum! She took me up to the third level, where only the tours were allowed and it was amazing. From the third level, looking away from the Colosseum you could also see the Arch of Constantine, the largest arch in Rome. I could also see the entire arena, including the underground level, which I would have been able to see on the tour if not for the massive flooding that flowed through Rome not more than a week before. Even still the the third level was amazing and my tour guide was great. She told me all about the games, the structure and the history of the place. Some of things I had already learned from my history course that I had taken last year, but most of it was new, so I learned a lot from the experience! By the end of the tour Lauri and I had already spent almost 4 hours inside the Colosseum. Since we were both tired we decide to call it quits and walk back to the hotel, where we read and relaxed until dinner!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VdwrKMPUu9c/TrcCWIJj95I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/V3PHw_p5U2U/s1600/IMG_1188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VdwrKMPUu9c/TrcCWIJj95I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/V3PHw_p5U2U/s200/IMG_1188.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me inside the Colosseum.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M29ZjhpIRgc/TrcCZ2s9HNI/AAAAAAAAAWY/EVVhmqTzzc4/s1600/IMG_1209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M29ZjhpIRgc/TrcCZ2s9HNI/AAAAAAAAAWY/EVVhmqTzzc4/s200/IMG_1209.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a reconstruction of how the seats<br />
would have looked like.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H0IaDqIHqIE/TrcCiq4BDmI/AAAAAAAAAWg/aZbj2N3uW9k/s1600/IMG_1213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H0IaDqIHqIE/TrcCiq4BDmI/AAAAAAAAAWg/aZbj2N3uW9k/s200/IMG_1213.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-36_gEOcT0wY/TrcCp7fl2lI/AAAAAAAAAXI/m6d9f2uqB2E/s1600/IMG_1220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-36_gEOcT0wY/TrcCp7fl2lI/AAAAAAAAAXI/m6d9f2uqB2E/s200/IMG_1220.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a part of what is left of a very<br />
large basilica. One of the largest in <br />
Ancient Rome. </td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z2WsMQV3DiI/TrcCobcOQxI/AAAAAAAAAXA/elaDpOG4_CM/s1600/IMG_1219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z2WsMQV3DiI/TrcCobcOQxI/AAAAAAAAAXA/elaDpOG4_CM/s200/IMG_1219.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arch of Constantine.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u7oWl0jqWvY/TrcCq22dMcI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/jnrDzDnrvvc/s1600/IMG_1221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u7oWl0jqWvY/TrcCq22dMcI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/jnrDzDnrvvc/s200/IMG_1221.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Third level view of the Colosseum.<br />
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When it was time to go out for dinner we walked along one of the main streets of Rome that was close to our hotel. We decided to eat at an Argentinian food chain restaurant, that I can't remember the name of. My food was very good I had something resembling that of a Canadian stew and Lauri had a pork chop.<br />
After dinner, we went on a city lights tour of Rome. We started at the Arch of Constantine and finished at a archaeological site near our hotel. This I was thankful of because by that time it was 11:00pm and I would have given anything to climb under my sheets and go to bed. Which I did as soon as we got back to our room!<br />
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That is the end of Day 2! I will update you on the rest of my trip just as soon as I have more time!<br />
Ciao Tutti,<br />
Amanda ♥</div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-33379136041553201012011-10-20T10:28:00.001-07:002011-10-20T10:31:46.196-07:00Girls Not Brides<br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Humanity,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The issue of child brides has been bothering me
for a long time now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I am a 17 year old girl from Ontario, Canada. I am
just a teenager, not old enough to drink, vote, enlist in the military, or to
get married! However, if circumstances were different and I was born in a place like; India, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Kenya, or the Congo, there is a 1 in 3 probability
that I would have been married off at the age of 8 or 9, even as young as 5
years old. My husband would most likely be 20 to 30 years older than me and
probably extremely abusive. I would no longer be allowed to go to school and
any chance I would of had at a job and a descent future would be
washed away. As soon I started to get my period I would have been forced to
bare children, possibly dying in the process and with an even greater chance
that my baby would be dead within the first year! If I survived long enough to
see my 17th birthday I would most likely have 5 or 6 children under my care,
stricken with poverty and no way out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">That is the life for over 64 million women, between
20-24 years of age, who were married or in union before the age of 18! Help
stop the injustice! If you are just as disturbed by what has been happening,
and will continue to happen so long as we stand idly by, than please
join in my quest to spread awareness of this horrible tragedy. Too many
times we go on with our lives not realizing how lucky
we truly are to live in a part of the world where we are free to live
our lives the way we choose!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Please help spread the word, in the
hope that one day this will no longer be an issue and that many more girls will
be able to live their lives in the same fortunate circumstances that I am
luckily enough to find myself in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For information on this situation and for ways to
help go to the website, <a href="http://girlsnotbrides.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #234786;">http://girlsnotbrides.org/</span></a>,
an organisation dedicated to the irradification of child brides!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The voice of the silenced!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-45737400499401891702011-10-17T14:20:00.000-07:002011-10-17T14:23:50.215-07:00My Fun Filled, Adventurous Weekend!<br />
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On Friday I had my first vocal performance with my choir! We were performing at a school so that meant that I was able to leave school early to sing. I went to my italian lesson in the morning until 10 am and than I had to bike to Aselli, my school, to show them my justification for not staying in for rest of my classes. Next I went home, changed into my black dress and then went to meet Louisa, my friend in the choir, and Michele who was driving us. When we arrived at the school we ran though a few of the songs and then waited for the the auditorium to fill with students. Once we were finally ready to start the mistero introduced the choir as a whole but then he did something that surprised me, he introduced me alone, saying that I was from Canada and that his choir was now officially international. To be fare I have no idea if that was how he said it or not because I only understood a few words. The performance went really well and I felt proud that I was able to learn 12 songs, some that were even in Spanish, in only 2 weeks. Although I did not feel the usual rush that I normally get when I sing solo, I love performing in front of a crowd all the same!<br />
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On Saturday afternoon, Lauretta and her mother, took me to Valeia Romana. A small Roman town in the mountains. It was a beautiful day and the leave were just starting to turn. It reminded me of Canada at the end of September! The drive took about an hour and once we reached the mountains it was like being on a roller coaster. The road we were on was so windy and up and down and it would curve to the right and then severely back to the left it was crazy! When we finally arrived at the archaeological site of Valeia Romana, I was feeling a little queasy. The site was small but the ruins were still pretty well preserved. I saw the Thermal baths, there was one for cold, medium, and hot water, those Romans were sure smart when it came to their bathing techniques! There were also the remains of the houses and stores that made up the small city. As well as the Basilica, where the day to day proceeding took place!<br />
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It felt so strange to be standing where these people lived 2000 years ago!<br />
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On Sunday Lauretta took Kayleigh, Ashley, Elizabeth and I to Verona!!! I was so excited and could not wait to see La Casa di Guiletta (Juliet's House...Romeo and Juliet). We drove to Brescia before boarding a train the rest of the way to Verona in total it was about 2 hours of travel time. When we arrived at the station in Verona we all needed to go to the bathroom but big shock here, you had to pay 0.80 cents to enter the washroom. I have never seen that before, and it wasn't as if the bathroom was immaculate it was very dingy and the hand dryers didn't even work!<br />
The first thing we did when we left the station was walk to the Arena, a smaller, older version of the coliseum in Rome. I definitely think that it was my favourite part of Verona.<br />
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The Arena can hold up to 30,000 people and is now used for opera's!<br />
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After the Arena we walked to La Casa di Gulietta. Which was a huge disappointment, it was very crowded and not at all like how it is in the movie <u>Letters to Juliet.</u> However I did get my picture taken with the statue of Juliet and I touched her boob for good luck. It was funny because you could actually see that the boob and surrounding area was much more faded than that of the rest of her statue!<br />
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After that La Casa di Gulietta we walked to some old and beautiful churches, where we could see the tombs of past and ancient princes of Verona. For some reason they liked to have there tombs up high and on display for the whole world to see!<br />
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After a few more churches we stopped for a lunch an unfortunately very slow restaurant. We arrived there at 1:30pm and we didn't actually leave till about 3:30pm. Which if you ask me is way too long to be sitting at a table for lunch. Don't go There!<br />
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After lunch we walked to the river which had the most amazing views I have ever seen since I have been in Italy!<br />
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We walked around on the wall and on the bridge that stretched across the river and then we walked through the museum! The museum was the inside of the castle and it was incredible I have never seen anything so cool! Walked all along the inside of the towers and courtyard and multiple living areas turned art galleries. It was all very interesting!<br />
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Once we left the castle we walked for another 20 minutes or so to another church but it was different than the other churches we went to, this one was massive. It was so beautiful that when you walk in you are immediately stunned in to silence. People who know me know that I am not an overly religious person but even I felt the need to sit down and send a prayer to God. </div>
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Once we left the church we wandered around for a little while trying to find a bus to take us to the station but to no avail. Apparently city buses don't run on Sundays in Verona. Keep that in mind if you ever want to visit the beautiful city. So we finally made it back to the station, our feet where dead but we made it :)</div>
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The train was pretty full so we didn't all get to sit together like on the way there, so I just put in my head phones and relaxed. It is now a day later and my feet still hurt from all the walking we did!</div>
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So long for now!!</div>
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Amanda ♥</div>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-42650402608853090212011-10-11T05:10:00.000-07:002011-10-11T05:15:34.095-07:00Ufficio D'immigrazione!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This morning I had to go to the Italian immigration office in Cremona, by my self! I found the office easily enough. It was right next to the last government building I was in, across from the Ponchielli Theatre. I arrived at 8:30am, the office wasn't open yet but there was already a long line at the door. I knew right than that this would be a long morning. When I finally got inside, there was one seat left so I sat down. A few more people arrived and around 9:15am a man popped his head through the door and said something in Italian. He spoke really fast so I couldn't quite understand him. Something about appointments at 9:00am being pushed to 9:30am. I asked out loud that if any one spoke English, could they please translate for me. In response I had 12 heads turn to look at me with a confused/amused look on their faces. I guess not! Just then Matt walked in with his host cousin and her friend, thank god a friendly face. I jumped out of my seat and ran over to him but before I could reach him a had shot out and grabbed my arm. It was Sierra a friend of mine from my Italian course. Apparently she had been there for a while and I just didn't notice her. They wondered why I looked kind of freaked so I told them the story about what just happened to me with the staring people. Then Kayleigh showed up, it was like an exchange student party going on in the immigration office! After a while of Matt playing get to know you with Sierra, we started talking about war. Which then brought up the topic of religion and how Matt is Agnostic but Kayleigh is Christian and we got into a conversation about the legitimacy of God. Which than became a conversation about science and the theory of relativity and the String theory. Once we had exhausted all our knowledge on those subject we went on to play a couple of card games. Keep in mind that this was all going on within the waiting area of the Italian Immigration office! Kayleigh, Matt and Matt's host cousin played Briscola, an Italian card game played with Spanish cards. Sierra and I both found the game extremely confusing, so we just watched. Than we played a variation of the game spoons it was a lot of fun, but before we could play a 5th round it was my turn to go into the office. By this time it was already 10:45am. In the office the man looked at my passport, put some information into his computer than took all my finger prints and both of my palm prints. After that I had to sign a couple of pieces of paper. In all it took 2 and a half hours from the time I arrived there this morning to the time I left. It was definitely a much more enjoyable experience than that of the Italian Visa office in Toronto, but I still hate all government offices! </span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-67423990746153255362011-10-09T13:44:00.000-07:002011-10-11T05:44:34.570-07:00Success! Thanksgiving in Italy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao Tutti,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did it! I succeed! I cooked the perfect Thanksgiving turkey! Moist and succulent, everything a turkey should be! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today was a very long day of cooking and eating. I never realized how exhausting cooking a meal like Thanksgiving could be. I have much respect for all the mothers and grandmothers out there! </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jw-UVmHexdU/TpH4Tidl3BI/AAAAAAAAAPY/GcclDHFukC8/s1600/IMG_0641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jw-UVmHexdU/TpH4Tidl3BI/AAAAAAAAAPY/GcclDHFukC8/s200/IMG_0641.JPG" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my day started off with Angela waking Kayleigh and I up at 9:30am. Than I made pancakes with maple syrup for everyone! It was so nice to have maple syrup again! Then Kayleigh host dad picked her up and Lauretta and I got down to business. First we organised the cooking and prep times that would need to happen in a specific order. At 1:30pm we began preparing the turkey and all that the entails.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then at 2:30pm we put the turkey in the oven. Next we peeled and chopped all the vegetables. That took a long time because there were so many of them! Next we did the mashed potatoes. That was when Ashley came over to help. Since Ashley and I are the only two Canadians in D2050 we wanted to celebrate our Thanksgiving. Once we finished boiling the taters we moved on to laying the vegetables on to 2 baking sheets. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> When the turkey was finished we tented it with foil and let it rest in the microwave to keep it's heat. We didn't have it on though! Then we put the veggies in the oven and cranked it up to 230* C. While the veggies were cooking we made the rice. Once the veggies finished cooking and everyone arrived we put everything into bowls! Since neither Ashley or I knew how to carve a turkey we let Lauretta do the honours. All the food tasted amazing and we managed to serve everything hot. For dessert we ate the tirami su that Angela and I made on Friday! I had never tried it before and I really liked it! Although the gravy ended up being really thick and the cranberry sauce wasn't exactly how my mom or my grandmother would have made it was still a really good Thanksgiving dinner. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It did make me feel a little depressed. I was just sitting at the table thinking, here I am in strange country, celebrating a holiday that they don't even celebrate here, with people who are not my family. I'm feeling pretty low now. I miss my family! I miss seeing my cousins and my aunts and uncles and my grandparents. I miss the changing of the leaves and the crisp, fresh air. But most all I miss the security of knowing that everyone that loves me is sitting in the same room. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though I have been feeling sad periodically today, it was still a great Thanksgiving, and I'm so stoked that I was able to pull it off! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao Ragazzi,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda ♥</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-44693612327880989632011-10-09T03:49:00.000-07:002011-10-09T04:02:23.408-07:00Franciacorta<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday was just another amazing day spent with my wonderful new friends in Italy!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rotary took our district on another trip ieri (yesterday). We went to Franciacorta an area just north of Brescia, that is famous for producing wine! Before meeting up with the rest of the exchange students in Brescia, we stopped at a gas station where there were 5 red Ferrari just sitting in the parking lot. So of course being exchange students we all had to get out of the car and take pictures with them!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once all the exchange students were together in Brescia, we drove to Franciacorta to an old museum, where we saw old riffles and armour used more than 400 years ago by the Italian military! We also saw an old steel working building where they made all the weapons. It is still in use and they make farming tools for the local farms. After we left the museum we went to a cantina, the place where the pick, ferment and store the grapes/wine to be sold. The wine has to stay stored in the warehouse for 2 years before it can be sold to the buyers. To finish off the tour, Ana, one of the owners of the cantina, took us up to the roof, where we ate some food and tried some wine. The wine was vino bianco, sparkling white, and it was pretty good, a little bitter for me but it was still good.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next we drove to a local restaurant in Franciacorta, that served really good risotto, but even better birthday cake. Yesterday was Katie Li's birthday!! So the ristorante (restaurant) made a special birthday cake that was absolutely amazing, so much better than Canadian birthday cake!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ristorante had also put bottles of vino rosse (red wine) on the table, so Kellie asked Giorgio if we could try the red since we only tried the white wine at the cantina. I liked the red wine more than the white. It was a little more sweet than the white.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we left the ristorante we went for a walk through town to work off the many courses of food we just ate! Than we walked through this beautiful park, but it was more like a provincial park than a children's play park! It was really beautiful. We ended up finishing our walk at a gelateria where I had pesca (peach), banana, and yogourt in a cup so AMAZING!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night Francesco took Matt and I to meet some of his friends for dinner. It was our now mutual friend, Angela's birthday. We went to a really nice Pizzeria near the bus station. All in all I think there may have been 13 of us. It was a lot of fun! After dinner we all walked to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the duomo, where we met up with Kayleigh, Ashley, Elizabeth and Kurt! We walked around for few more hours, bar hopping, even though we weren't aloud to drink Francesco an some his friends did! It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of new friends and I am looking forward to the next Saturday night!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner with my other Canadian friend Ashley and my host mom! I really hope it turns out well because Thanksgiving if my favourite holiday and it really sucks that I can't spend it with my family and my mom and my grandmother's amazing food. I will tell you more tonight, once we have finished eating!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda♥</span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-42309550522088463692011-10-07T09:32:00.000-07:002011-10-07T09:35:22.035-07:00The Problem with Cooking Canadian Recipes in Italy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao Tutti!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hi All!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I just finished a trek to another super market but this one was very pleasant. Unlike the last one where it was over crowded and the people where pushy, this one was very nice and not at all annoying. It reminded me of Loblaw! Anyway we went to try an find my cranberries that I needed for thanksgiving but it was impossible, they weren't in season so they were not available. I decided that I couldn't have thanksgiving with out cranberry sauce so Lauretta bought a small bucket of cranberry marmalade that was quite good! I took my moms recipe she gave me and combined it with the marmalade. Adding the apples, oranges and lemon and leaving out the sugar since it was already sweet enough! Angela and I had a difficult time trying to get the food processor to work but we eventually got it running. The concoction actually turned out pretty good and I'm sure it will taste great with the half a turkey I am cooking on Sunday! If your wandering why it is only half it is because their oven is too small for a whole turkey!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Angie also taught me how to make Tirami Su today, which is surprisingly easy to make! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is the recipe!</span><br />
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<u><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingredients</span></b></u><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 Eggs</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 Tbls of Sugar</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">500 Grams of Mascarpone </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Biscotti (number depends on how big your dish is)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Separate 3 eggs into 2 large mixing bowl with the egg white in one bowl and the yokes in the other.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Add 6 tbls of sugar to the bowl with the yokes. Whisk well on high with mixer. make sure to use the flat whisks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Add 500 grams of mascarpone. Whisk well.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Whisk egg whites on high with the wide metal whisks until fluffy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Adding a little at a time, add the the eggs whites to the mixture. Mix well with mixing spoon.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Take a biscotti and soak in coffee, than place into dish. Repeat step making sure to place each biscotti 1 cm apart, until the bottom of the dish is covered. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Pour mix over the biscotti using the whole bowl.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. Repeat step six, placing the biscotti over the mix. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. Optional- sprinkle a ligh layer of coco power over top layer of biscotti.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10. Cover with lid/plastic wrap and put in freezer. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Please note that I am not a very good cook and if my directions lead to astray I am very sorry. That is what Google is for!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda ♥</span><br />
<br />
<br />Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-35403352659391512292011-10-06T13:12:00.000-07:002011-10-06T13:21:26.810-07:00Forgetful Me<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I almost forgot!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today marks my 1 month mark! Today is exactly 4 weeks since I first arrived in Italy. I can't believe I've been here for a month. On one hand I think, where has the time gone? But there is still a piece of me that feels that I have been here forever! It's hard to believe that I have been away from my home and my family and my friends for one whole month and that it will continue for another 9 months. 269 days left of my exchange. 269 days before I return home. 269 days to grow into a new me! I know I shouldn't be counting down the days but some days all I want to do is count down to the day that I will get to go back to my old life instead of this completely new and scary life that I can not see the future of. Don't get me wrong I love Italy and my new friends and my host family but sometimes I just want to go back to the security of knowing exactly what my future holds. There is another part of me that is yelling for the insecure me to shut up. After all, this is what I wanted, to get out of Collingwood, to see the world and meet new people. So that is what I have to do. I need to stop thinking about all the things I would be doing if I was back home. Italy is my home now. I only have 269 days to become a citizen of the world, so I have better stop counting and start living! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's all for now,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda ♥</span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-35234720643900182592011-10-06T12:51:00.000-07:002011-10-06T12:51:40.451-07:00Singing in Italian<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just want to start this post by staying, I am SO LUCKY!! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Italy is affording me so many opportunities to sing and be apart of something so beautiful! Yesterday I had my first private singing lesson with my new teacher Monica, She is a native English speaker but is fluent in Italian so she is helping me with my Italian as well as my singing. Right off the bat she started to explain the anatomy of the body; the lungs, the diaphragm, the vocal cords. I have never had a teacher explain the basics of singing like that to me before it was really good! After we did some warm ups and breathing exercises, she had me sing a few song that I know. She said that I have a good, natural voice! YAY! At the end of the lesson she gave me two song for homework; Papa Can You Hear Me by Barbra Streisand and Ave Maria by Beyoncé, 2 pretty hard songs :S </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That night I went to Choir practise again. I'm really starting to get the hang of it. The Italian is pretty to sing and they are even singing a couple of English songs, one is called Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, I'm sure some of you know that song. Along with the two English songs we are also singing a couple of Spanish songs, which sound really pretty. I have my next practise on Friday and I can't wait!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today Edo, my younger host brother, took me to meet the director of Cremona's first youth choir. It is new this year and they are looking for people aged 12-25. Ideally they would like for it to be just teens, 13-19, but for now they are opening it up to more people. I really like the idea of this choir because they will be teaching theory as well as singing. So I would have two lessons a week, one theory and the other singing. I am really considering this because it would be a good way to meet more kids my own age who share similar interests. Also it would start in November, so hopefully by then my communication skills will be much better!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am also going to be participating in my school's talent show! I'm so excited!! I think I am going to sing Ave Maria by Beyoncé since I am already doing it for class and it is such a beautiful song (here is the link if your not sure what song I'm talking about, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRLfwwlJs6o">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRLfwwlJs6o</a>). Giada is going to play the piano and back up vocals and I am going to sing and maybe play the guitar! I love preforming so this will be so great! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also a singing competition at the end of this month that I would like to participate in but I am going to be in Rome with Lauretta! I can't do everything, but I am sure as hell gonna try :p There are also many other performance opportunities for me that are put on through my music school and my choirs, so I am sure by the end of my year here in Cremona, everyone will have heard me sing! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I made a promise to my self that one day I would set the world on fire! Well this is how I am going to do it, on town, country and continent at a time!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao e Buonasera </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda ♥</span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-54162622398061300992011-10-01T11:21:00.001-07:002011-10-01T11:33:27.474-07:00Week 3<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past week has been a week of new discoveries for me! Not that evey week in Italy isn't. It all started last Saturday night when I went to this bar, Lex, in the town's city center, with my friend Giada from school and a bunch of her friends. It was a lot of fun and kind of weird because even though I didn't drink, I was still at a bar, where I was technically legal! After a while some of my ofther friends found us and we went to a different bar. I deffinitely got to experience a whole new energy to Cremona. By 11:30pm we were all beat so, Francesco, Matt and Kayleigh walked me home before heading home themselves. All in all a very sucessful first saturday night! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The next morning my host parents woke me up at 8:30am to go for a bike ride with this large group of people all 50 and older, there was one guy there that was 87! Along the way my host dad, Roberto, told me a little family history about the town that we were riding to. Apparently during WW2, Cremona was an area that had been bombed, so Roberto's family and a lot of others picked up and moved to this little town 15km away. Then ,when the war was over, they returned. As I said before this little town was 15km away, which might not sound that far but on a bike it was long, 30km there and back! It took us an hour and a half to get there and another hour to get back. Instead of going straight back to Cremona the group had a huge lunch set up for all the cyclists. The meal was great but there was so much food that I was full after the first 2 courses! That night I went with Sam and Kayleigh, to watch our friend Matteo sing. He was sing with this large jazz band called the Swingers. He was really good! We stayed to watch a few songs by the band but Kayleigh and I were both tired to we waited for Matteo to finish and then congradulated him and said goodbye. Since we had school the next day we both didn't want to stay too long. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On wednesday night I thought I had an audition for a choir, so the past two days I was practising the song that I sang at the Barrie Kiwanis Music Festival last spring, On My Own from Les Miserables. I figured since I won first place with it that it would be a good song to sing. Much to my surprise I had misuderstood my host mom and it wasn't actually an audition, just more of a go, sing and see if you like it. I did like it and I had planned on going again to the next choir rehearsal on Friday but the next day I came down with a cold! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday was a bit of a wurl wind, I was really tired, feeling like crap and very much resenting school! But that afternoon I went with Giada to meet here her vocal coach and see how her lessons went. The teacher is very nice and originally from England so she speaks fluent English, now a nother of my many italian tutors! I really like her and she was the least expensive teacher I found, so we scheduled a time for me to come in next week and sing for her and see if I like her teachings. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned earlier I came down with a cold on Thursday, so as you could expect I wasn't exactly feeling amazing on Friday, but I went to my Italian lesson anyway because I had already missed Tuesdays' due to an appointment with the Italian tax registry people (not sure what their actual tittle is :P). After my Italian lesson I was feeling even worse so my teacher called my house keeper, the only person home at that hour, and asked if she could inform my school that I would not be attending the rest of my classes! I went straight home from there and slept for hours. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, Saturday, I still feel like my face is going to fall off, so I stayed home from school again. Staying home from school on Saturday, should be awesome right? Just watch movies and relax, well your wrong. I feel awful and it sucks. I have already drank 10 cups of tea today and each time I feel better but that only last for 20 minutes or so and then it's back to feeling shitty!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Va bene, heres hoping I feel better tomorrow! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda ♥</span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-40525797083961163642011-09-27T11:18:00.000-07:002011-09-27T11:18:34.974-07:00Inbound Orientation Weekend in Pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-17361599352105467272011-09-27T10:34:00.001-07:002011-09-27T10:34:38.430-07:00Inbound Orientation Weekend- Ponte Di Legno<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">This past weekend I went to Ponte
Di Legno with the all the other exchange students from district 2050 for our
inbound orientation weekend. We left Saturday morning at 7:15 am. I rode in the
car with Ashley and Sam. When we arrived in Brescia we met up with all the
other exchange students. I had mistaken the age of one of the students, Angelo,
I thought he was 27 and a supervisor but he is actually 18 and high school
graduate! Once everyone arrived at the station, we boarded the train, which was
really only exciting for the first hour and then I became bored! The train ride
was really long almost 3 hours! On the train I sat with Kayleigh, Kurt and
Corinna, who are all people I go to school with in Cremona. Once I got off the
train I was feeling a little sick, which only got worse when I got on the bus.
We also met up with 2 other exchange students from the district, Alex and Dani,
they are both very outgoing and fun to talk to! After a
very windy and long bus ride up the Alps we made it to Ponte Di
Legno, a small ski village in the mountains. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">After we dropped our bags off in
the hotel we drove even higher up the mountains until we got to a cute little
restaurant in the middle of nowhere. We ate gnocchi, pasta and beef, and I
had a piece of fruit pie for desert! After lunch we went for a 5 & 1/2 hour
hike through the Alps to a small village near the top called Case Di Viso. The
village was beautiful but also sad like it was slowly being forgotten. As we
were leaving, I was followed by this beautiful young colt. Laura went up to it
and was able to keep it still while everyone went up to pet it! On the way down
I walked with Kayleigh at first. We talked about horses, as it turns out we
both ride, we both love singing and we have so much in common. We became
friends instantly. Than we started to talk to Angelo about quantum mechanics
and the idea of relativity! It was nice to a real intellectual conversation
with people who are your own age and could actually hold up there end of the
conversation.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we got back to the hotel we
had free time for an hour, and since we were all already soaked from
the rain we decided to go swimming in the pool. I really missed being
in the water even if it was just a pool. At dinner all the exchange students
sat together at one large table so we decided to play a massive game of
telephone. It was so much fun, I hadn't laughed that hard since I got here!
After dinner we went downstairs where they had a disco, I tried to get everyone
dancing but no one was really into it. I think it was around a 11:00pm when we
started playing cards. We played for at least an hour before people started to
drift up to bed. By 12:30am it was just Matt, Austin, Kelly, Kayla, Ashley and
I left down stairs, so we decided to play a couple games of pool, Austin and
Matt against Kelly and I. Kelly had never played before so along with teaching
her I also had to carry our team. She did pretty well though getting a couple
of balls in . The game was really bad though and it took for ever, eventually
we won. The guys wanted a rematch because apparently they had some
"mad" skills that just weren't obvious in the last game.
They did win the second game but it was not played any better taking almost an
hour to finish. By the end it was really late almost 2:00am so we decided to
call it a night. Ashley and I went up to our room to put our PJ's on
before going to Kayleigh, Kelly and Kayla's room to hang out with them and
Kurt. I was really tired so I went to bed a little before them, about
3:00am. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The next morning Ashley and I
woke up at about 8:30am, we grabbed Kayleigh and headed down
for breakfast about 9:00am. At 10 o'clock we had our inbound
orientation meeting with the Rotarians. It was really long and boring but
we did do our pin swap and now my blazer is so full, mostly with american pins!
We had some free time before lunch so Francesco, one of the Rotarians, took a
group of us into town to see the village, even though it was still raining
pretty hard! Ponte Di Legno is a really pretty town, like something you would
see in a European ski add! </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">After Lunch we all went up to our
rooms to pack then we boarded the bus. Halfway down the mountain I was feeling
pretty motion sick. I had cold sweats, I was shaking, and for some reason I had
lost feeling in my fingers. I have never felt like that from motion sickness
ever. It felt like a lifetime had passed before we finally made it to the train
station. When I got on the train I felt really low, I was tired and sick and
all I wanted to do was crawl under my duvet cover back home
in Collingwood and cry! It had finally hit me how far away from home I actually
was. I cried for a while on the train before my friend Kelly came over to sit
with me and comfort me. </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">When we arrived in Brescia I said
goodbye to all my new friends and headed back to Cremona. It is truly amazing
how a group of strangers can get so close after only two days. The people I
meet here will stay with me forever. I know now that there really is no suck
thing as good bye, only see you later!</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576469946999953815.post-3757419120443986142011-09-15T09:36:00.000-07:002011-09-15T09:39:43.747-07:00My First Week In Italy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my first week of school was not really what I was expecting... Italian school is much harder than it is in Canada. First of all my schedule is all over the place it is so confusing. Monday I have Science, P. E, Religion, and Math. Just so you know each class is 50 minutes long with only one 15 minute break between 3 & 4 period. On Tuesday I have Latin, History/Philosophy, Latin, and Math., and if you are thinking "wow she has Latin twice in one day! How weird is that?" then you are so right! On Wednesday I have Latin (again), French, Art, and Math. On Thursday I have French, Physics, Math, and Science. On Friday I have Latin, Science, English, and History. This week in English my teacher has asked me to make a presentation about myself and Canada and present it to the class. It is a good thing Rotary has kicked the fear of public speaking right out of me! Finally on Saturday I have 2 hours of Latin, P. E., and History/Philosophy. With Math you are not allowed to use a calculator so today all I did was brush up on my long division skills, they are pretty rusty! Their French is also way better than mine, even though I have been taking French since grade 4. Most of the kids in my class speak 3 languages plus they know Latin. The Italian school system definitely puts the Canadian one to shame!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately I don't have to go to school this Saturday because I, along with all the other Rotary Exchange Students in Cremona, are going to the Lake for the Inbound Orientation meeting! We are taking a bus to Porta Venezia, then we are taking a train the rest of the way! I'm so excited I've never been on a train before!! I can't wait to meet all the other exchange students, it is unfortunate that they are all mostly from the states it would have been nice if they could be from everywhere! But at least that means we don't have to worry about the language barrier, since everyone speaks English.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday, I went with my host mom Lauretta, to the music school in Cremona. We found out how much classical singing lessons would cost and they are pretty much the same as in Canada. 82 euros for 30 minutes a week, for one month. I still have to ask my dad but I'm pretty sure I'm going to do them because I need something to get me out of the house in the afternoon. And if I'm able to join a choir and play volleyball and soccer that will take up some more time! I just need to keep busy, that way I wont be thinking of home so much. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my next post I will let you know how the Inbound Orientation Meeting went!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ciao for now,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amanda ♥</span>Amanda Owenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09714472724979826767noreply@blogger.com0