Change of Plans

I had a nice blog post typed up about my plans for the weekend, and then I came home from school, and everything was ruined.
My host mom told me we're not going to Coeur Mayeur (I just know I'm not spelling that right.)

I had been hesitant about going in the first place, but then I was excited to go! All is well, though, we'll be going for Christmas, so I'll get to see it all the same. And I'll get to sleep in tomorrow!

My host mom gave me a lecture today about how I don't have any Italian friends. Which isn't entirely true, I'm friends with a girl named Silivia, but she lives in Milan. Anyway, evidently I need to make a clique of my own, here in Gallarate. Believe me, it's not like I've been turning the Italians away, it's just hard to make friends. Especially when I'm never home on the weekends! I haven't been home for the past 8 weekends, or something like that. I've spent 4 weekends away because my host parents have been gone, 1 weekend in Florence with them, 1 weekend in Piemonte with them, and 2 or 3 weekends in Milan with Kristen. So, I called up one of the girls from my school who I think is particularly nice, and we made plans to go out for lunch. I'm looking forward to that too, because the girl, Mari, really is nice. And going out to lunch is fun.

In other news, I got hit by a car today. I knew I had reason in being afraid to ride my bike in Gallarate. Ironically, just before the car and I collided, I was thinking about what Mike had said. He told me that I shouldn't be afraid, that Italians are very defensive drivers, but I always have to pay attention. Well, I was paying attention. I saw a car coming up to a stop sign, I saw the wheels start to slow down, and I saw the woman looking right at me, so I kept going. Only, the woman must not have been looking right at me, she must have been looking through me. And she wasn't actually stopping for the stop sign, she was just slowing down. So, she hit me and my bike, and I fell off the bike, and my bike got wedged under her car. She had to back up a little for me to get my bike. I'm fine, though, and so is my bike, thank goodness! I've come to like my bike quite a bit! The woman rolled down the window and asked if I was alright, then drove away. That's my interesting story for the day.

Also, here in Italy, we get to have a Christmas tree in school! I think that's so cool. I've also noticed that there's a crucifix in every classroom, but there are no clocks in the school. Roman Catholic countries are cool! We don't have school tomorrow because it's the feast of the Immaculate Conception!

On a final note, please pray for Margaret in Minnesota. She's pregnant and having some complications.