My First Week In Italy

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!


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.


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. 


In my next post I will let you know how the Inbound Orientation Meeting went!


Ciao for now,


Amanda ♥

My First Day's in Italia

On the 7th of September I left home for the first time by myself!!

It was sad but I survived and I am a stronger person because of it!

When I had to say good bye to my parents I only cried a little. When I got to the gate I cried a lot. When I was over the the Atlantic Ocean I cried for an hour, but now I do not cry. I do not miss my family yet, but I am sure I will soon. When I arrived in London, the plane was an hour early, so I had 3 hours to wait, instead of 2. The London airport is huge, there are stores everywhere, it is like a giant mall, all extremely expensive! My flight to italia was only 2 hours and I saw a lot of France. C'est magnifique!! When I arrived in Milano, it was very hot, it is still very hot in the afternoon. Lauretta picked me up and brought me to Cremona, which is a beautiful city along the River Po. Around 5PM I had a nap and then Lauretta and I went for a tour of the city, molto bellissimo!!! Today Roberto took me on his moped to show me the town and the club they belong to. The club is huge with tennis courts and pool and park! Tonight we are going to the pizzeria for dinner :) Surprisingly I haven't had pizza or pasta yet! We are also going to a concert tonight!

Tomorrow I am going to Giorgio's house for Aperitivo, it is like an appetizer party, with all the other exchange students! 

Ciao for now,

Amanda 

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.