My Week With Lally! Day 3-5

Day 3!!
My step-momma Kim, took Lally and I to New Market to stay at my grandparents house before going down Toronto the next morning. That night we ordered Chinese food from the Mandarin, sooo good!!! About 10PM we decided to hit the hay since we had to be up at 6:30AM for Tuesday Morning.


Day 4!!
The next day was good and bad, but before I get to the good lets start with the bad. We left the house at 7:30AM and we hit rush hour traffic on the 404 almost right away :( Thankfully the Italian Consulate is always late so even though I was late I was still on time! When we got there the women working called me up to organize my package. She took like 30 mins to come back to us and started to go through it. Apparently Lally and I didn't put in the right order because she re-did it anyway.


After we got that all sorted out she told us that we were missing my moms signature on the affidavit!! Which FYI the lady from the last time told us we since it was only my dad supporting me on exchange that I didn't need her signature! so frustrating >:( So since we didn't have a computer at my grand parents house we had to go to the UPS store email a copy of the affidavit to my mom. She had to sign it and have it notarized and then sent back to the UPS store where we picked it up after shopping.


While we waited for my mom to get the affidavit back to us Lally, Kim and I went shopping at Upper Canada Mall. I got a new messenger bag to take with me to Italy as my carry-on as well as my back pack for when I start school. It is a really nice bag, it is roots leather, so awesome!!!


Day 5!!
The next morning we set back down to Toronto to give the women at the consulate the photo copy of the signed affidavit, while Karen at my dad's office had the original sent to the visa office. Once we got there we had to wait over an hour, before she would see us. But is was all worth it because we finally got my visa!!!
After the visa office we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, the original one on Young and Dundas, so that Lally could get a T-Shirt.  After that Kim and I went to the Pickle Barrel to have lunch while Lally did a little under ground shopping :)


After we left the Pickle Barrel, we drove through a lot of traffic to get back to my grandparents house where we picked up my puppy dog Jake, and headed back home to Collingwood! That night my mom made tacos for dinner which were really good. Than Lally and I watched Greys Anatomy for the rest of the night!


Next post will be about the adventures of Thursday night where we go to Wasaga Beach!


Ciao,
Amanda

My Week With Lally! Day 2

On the second day with Lally, Monday, mom let me take her car and we went up to the Village at Blue Mountain. We walked around for a little bit than we went into this folky, gift shop store called The Olde Stanton Store. Lally found some soap in the shape of a Canada Flag so I bought a bar to take with me to Italy. After the Village we went up to the top of the Mountain to the Scenic Caves Look Out, which was great for pictures! We walked along the top, where all the ski lifts where and than me turned around and went home. I made Lally grilled cheese for lunch, she had never had it before and she loved it. I also made her blueberry pancakes for breakfast, which she had also never had before and loved them as well but she did find the Maple Syrup to sweet for her tastes. 
In the afternoon my step-mom picked Lally and I up to go to New Market, where we stayed at my grandparents house until we had to go down to Toronto the next morning. For dinner we ordered take out from the best chines food chain in Ontario. We ordered way to much food and barely ate 1/3 of it!
In the next post you will learn all about my struggles with the Italian Consulate!


Ciao

My Week With Lally! Day 1

On Sunday my friend Susan who is the Youth Chair for the Rotary Club of Collingwood, drove me to the North Bay bus station. We left Collingwood at about 9:15am, and with a gas stop and Timmies break we still made it to North Bay with about an hour to wait. So while we where in North Bay we went to the mall and just walked around for a bit until Lally's bus came in at 1:25, or so we thought. It turns out that she didn't take the bus all the way from Kapuskasing but actually stopped in Cochran, than took the train the rest of the way to North Bay. So she didn't actually arrive until 1:45. After picking up Lally we went to a Mexican restaurant in North Bay where funnily enough the owner recognized Lally's jacket as being a Rotary exchange jacket and asked us where she was from? and where I was going? As it turns out her best friends daughter, Katie went to Denmark on exchange as well, 2 years ago, and Katie was also the girl who talked to us at the parent/student orientation meeting in North Bay back in March! Small world eh?

On our way home to Collingwood we stopped in Washago, at Susan's family cottage, for a break and her mom, dad, and brother were their so we had a chap with them before heading on our way.

Once Susan dropped us off at my mom's house, we ate dinner, tacos to be exact. We talked all through dinner and then Lally found out that I owned the 2.3.4 seasons on Grey's Anatomy which is one of her favourite shows so we ended up watching Grey's Anatomy for 3 hours before going to bed. 

The Trouble of Packing for a Year

Only 25 days to go!! Which means it's time to start packing! Not literally of course since all my clothes would get wrinkled, no today I started packing in my mind. I spent the better half of the day cataloguing my entire wardrobe. Now if you are a boy and have no idea what I'm talking about well than pay attention because this is my OCD talking now. First I made a chart, naming the columns; Dresses/Skirts, Pants/Leggings, Shorts, T-Shirts, Sweater/Wraps/Shrugs/Jackets, Tank Tops, Pj's and Shoes. Than I divided by entire wardrobe in to those 7 categories. Once that is done, and believe me it takes a while, I started to cross items off that I either weren't planning on taking to begin with or just weren't practical under the circumstances (50lbs limit on luggage).
I'm still struggling with the shoes. It brakes my heart to leave them behind :)
I've narrowed it down quite a bit now all I have to do is figure out what luggage I'm taking and hopefully my clothes and all of my belongings I can't live without will all fit into it :)
I also found out that I have to pay a special baggage few for my guitar :(
It is completely worth it though I don't think I would be able to live without my guitar.


So long for now,
Amanda

Dresses/Skirts	Pants/Leggings	Shorts	T-Shirts	Sweaters/Wraps/Shrugs/Jackets	Tank tops	Shoes	PJ's
Black AE	Lulu Lemon	Blue Button Denim	Purple & White SS	Brown Campus Crew	Navy Blue	Black Flips	Tweetie Bird
Blue H&M	Arie	Blue Ripped Denim	Pink w/ Flower	I Heart NY	Plain Black	Purple Flats	Monkey
Pink Minnie	Boot Leg Jeans	Dark 60's Denim	White Campus Crew	Tan Sweater Dress	Green Lace	Br Leather Bts	Pink La Senza
Blue Hurley	Dark Skinny	Yellow Denim	Oatmeal Singer	Purple Hoodie	Plain Purple	Gold Flats	Blue Polk-a-dot
Black Gap	Blue Stretch	Green Cargo	Pink, White & Purple	Black Knitt	Black Strapless	Burgundy boots	Black Padded LS
Black Zellers	White La Senza	Pink & Blue Knee	Lime Green	Red Knitt	Black Polk-a-dot	Running Shoes	Pink LS
White Cover up	Grey La Senza	Blue & Green Knee	White Graphic Tee CC	White Knitt	White	Black Heels	Black Tank
Black High Wasted	Grey Waist Band	Pink	Purple Shirt/Dress	Navy Blue w/ Hoody	Plain Yellow	Skate Shoes	Pink Checkered
White Wave	Black Warm	Dark Blue Denim	Yellow Tee	Grey Shrug	Burgundy	White Pumas	Pink Long sleeved
Brown Sweater Dress	Dark Blue Denim	Black Knee	Green AE	Pink Shrug	Black Razor Back	Black Pumas	Black w/ Cupcake
Brown Maxi	Faded Denim		Black Sleeveless	Grey/Pink Shrug	Coral Razor Back	Blue Flips
	Regular Blue Denim		Tangerine 3/4	Black Shrug	Red Razor Back	Pink Flips
	Fancy Black x2		Grey Lacy	Pinky/Coral Cardi	Brown Razor Back	Silver Heels
	White Cargo Capris		White 3/4	Purple Fleece	Black Empire	Blue Wedges
	Black Leggins x3		Tiger Tee	Vest	Coral Strapless
	Dark Wash Denim Capris		White AE w/ Colours	Grey Sleeveless Shrug	Purple Polk-a-dot
			Black AE	Grey/Blue Shrug	Lite Blue CC
			Salmon H&M	Black Cardi/Shrug	Black Sparkle
			Pink Long Sleeve	Dark Purple Mt Fleece	Black Biker
			White Sleeveless	Grey Campus Crew	Pink w/ Lace
			Purple Long Sleeve	Ivry Suit Jacket	Green Camo
			Black & Purple AE	White Shrug	Red
			Navy Blue Lacy Back	Grey/White Shrug	Blue Spaghetti
			Green & White	White AE Zipper
			White w/ thingies	Black Cardi
			White New York AE
			Yellow Empire Waist
			Blue Sleeveless
			Blue Silk

I Feel

I feel:
Scared, Nervous, Anxious, Excited, Nauseous, Conflicted, Worried, Hesitant, Proud,Unimportant, Free,Guilty, Lucky, Sulky, Ecstatic, Disbelieving, Important, Unsure, Vulnerable, Implosive, Fearful, Alive, Shaky, Happy.

Ottawa!!!!!

Buongiorno,


     During the second week of May I was in Ottawa with all the other exchanges students from are district (except Naomi! Missed you girl). It was so much fun. It is so amazing how close 35 people can get over two weekends.
     On Thursday I got picked up in Orillia with Jaz, Layla, and Jack, then we picked up everyone else at the other stops on the way to Ottawa. On the first night we got our rotary jackets and we had to do our speeches, everyone said that I did a good job and even the Spanish speaking people could understand a little of what I was saying.
     We got to see all the Canadian stuff like the Parliament buildings, the court house,  we went to the Diefenbunker, and we stayed at Ottawa University in their residencies. We also crossed the boarder into Gatineau Quebec, and we went to the museum of civilization, which I found really interesting, and we went to the war museum, which was much cooler than I though it would be!
     Over all I had a really GREAT time and I will miss my new friends so much as we embark on our own separate journeys. The last day was really sad saying goodbye to people I would never see again but I will never forget you and I hope you go on to do amazing things and since you are Rotary Exchange Students I know you will!
     Have amazing lives and I hope to see you all again someday :)
Your friend forever,
Amanda

Student Visa

Number of cars between the Italian Consulate in Toronto and me: 500000 (over exaggeration)

Number of minutes I had to wait for the Italian Consulate to open: 45

Number of minutes I had to wait in side the very crowded, very HOT visa office: 120

Number of missing items/documents that stood between me and my student visa: 6

Yes, that is right ladies and gentlemen the trip to get my student visa today did not exactly go well. Although I knew that my step-mom and I would get stuck in rush hour traffic, I was not fully prepared for the amount of cars that I saw on the road today. Once the Visa office opened  I had to wait 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment to even talk to the women.  Than I found out that I had to fill out a National Visa Application so I went and filled that out. Not getting off to a very good start. When I went back to talk to her, she had started the next appointment so we waited until they finished, but she started the appointment after that before we could even finish ours. So while we stood waiting in the crowded and very hot and did i mention small waiting room, Kim (my step-mom) and discovered that we were missing a whole lot more than just the application,, such as; confirmation of insurance, bank statements, cash to pay for the visa, an affidavit since I am a minor, passport photos, and photocopies of all documents and my passport. Which means Kim and I now need to go back down to Toronto at the end of the summer with hopefully all the correct paper work. Why do they always have to make these things so complicated? 

Caio for now,

Your very annoyed student traveller,

Amanda