Here they are, Finally!

Ta-daaa! I finally got around to uploading all of my pictures! It took me a good two hours to do (seriously, two whole hours!) but now they're finally up.

These pictures go from oldest to newest. I'm going to refrain from writing too much about them, because this post is long enough already.

Trip To Milan, Early December

I had to lay on the floor of the Galleria to take this picture, but I think it's pretty cool.
Another view of the dome of the Galleria.
I'm sure you've all heard of Pannetone by now! But if you haven't; pannetone is one of the two traditional Italian Christmas sweets. It's essentailly rasin bread, with candied fruits inside, too. Pandoro, the other Christmas sweet, is a denser, slightly sweeter version of Pannetone, without the rasins or candied fruit.
Delicious.

Rotary Christmas Luncheon, Early December

The luncheon was held in an ancient villa. Did I already write about this, just not upload pictures? Well, anyways, the luncheon was for all of the exchange students. It was actually a lot of fun, we went to Mass, ate, then sang Christmas carols. Following the meal and singing, the owner of the villa gave us a tour. We got to hold documents from the 1200s, which was kind of cool.
Oh dear. No, not really, by now I've learned fine dining table manners!
Two other exchangees, Austin and Kristen.

Christmas Break in Courmayeur

The main street of Courmayeur. It's deserted, which happens only at dinner time. From 10 until past midnight, however, it's as packed as NYC.
It snowed our last 4 days there, without stopping! Everything was so beautifully white, but the roads were a mess!
Itailan Alps.
More Italian Alps.
Because skiing in the Alps isn't thrilling enough, these people decided to do it at night, while holding torches.

Christmas Eve, Torino

We went to Torino's film museum, and this was one of the exhibits. It was supposed to be the laboratory of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (or is it Hide?) Nonna decided the picture should be a scary one, so she's screaming.
From left to right: Older host sister Camilla, Younger host sister Bea, host cousin Allegra, and Host cousin Bennedetta. I'm the slightly chubby blonde one on the end.

My host father, Paolo, ordered for me. It was octopus. Disgusting as it looks, it tasted amazing!

My next course, Angelotti, a typical kind of pasta from Torino. Meat filled ravioli in meaty sauce. Also really good. (But heck, this is Italy, what isn't really good?)

Christmas Day, On the Slopes and in a Restaurant

The girls! I love them all!

And now, the restaurant. I want you to look at this picture very carefully. Try to guess what it might be.
It's a mountain goat's leg. There was still fur on it, and it wasn't cooked! Evidently, it's a traditional Valle d'Aostana thing to eat raw mountain goat.


There it is, the mountain goat meat. I tried it, and gave the rest to my host mother. Ok, some Italian foods aren't to my liking.

More raw meats, and some lard, too! Yes, I ate straight lard. Hmm, maybe that's why I've gained a little weight..

Crepes alla Valle d'Aostana: crepes filled with prosciutto cotto and cheese. These we're in a rich cheese sauce, and were mind blowing, they were so good! I remember that when my oldest brother, Ben, liked a food, he would mmm the whole time he was eating it. Well, Christmast Night, I took after my brother. It was just so delicious!

Chamonix, France, a few days after Christmas

My host family took me on a day trip to France, to a little ski town called Chamonix. It looked just like northern Italy, only everything was written in French. It was a bit bizzare, being in France, speaking Italian, even though I'm American. We walked around the town a bit, then stopped into a traditional French Valle d'Aoste restaurant. With my host family, every restaurant we go into must be authentic. I'm not sure if they do it for my benefit, but I sure do appreciate it!

Here's what I ate:

Typical French cheese, with prosciutto, salame, and bologna. The prosciutto was probably the best I had ever eaten. In the bowl near my plate were three boiled potatoes. I put a potato on my plate, mashed it, then cut up some of the meat and put it on the potato while the cheese was melting:
After the cheese had all melted, I tipped the metal melting thing, and all the cheese goo slid on to the potatoes and meat. French food is just as tasty as Italian food is. Well, at least this dish was, but I'm not so sure about what my host mom got!
Those are giant prawn! With the eyes still attached! I started to make disgusted faces at my host mom, and she said "Hey! I like them!"
Beatrice and I in the French restaurant. Please ignore how round my face is. (Actually, I've lost some weight since then)



January

Moving Day: Packing

I had a little problem with packing..

Clothes..
More clothes..
Whoops, left some clothes on the floor, too
Only one suitcase.

I did manage to get it all in, though!

I've changed host families since then. This new family lives in a town outside the city of Gallarate, called Cassano Magnago. I haven't had a chance to see any of Cassano, because the weather has been so nasty, and we spend most of our time at the grandmother's house. She lives in Cardano, which is right next to the highway. Not a whole lot to see there, but the grandmother's house is warm and inviting, and she's travelled the whole world, so she has a lot of interesting stories to tell. Plus, she makes the world's best ragù. My host father is a tall, quiet man, called Marco. His wife, Chicca, is shorter than I am, and is fun to talk to. They both work in the clothing industry, and I think they own a few companies. They have two sons, Matteo, aged 17, and Luca, aged 15. Both are nice, but, well, they're teenaged boys.

This weekend, Marco, Chicca and I went to their house in Courmayeur. Saturday night, we went to Shamonix. Only, I forgot to bring my Passport.. I was terrified the whole time that when we went back to cross the border, they wouldn't let me back into Italy, and I'd be stranded in France! Stranded in France, what a nightmare!

Actually going to Chamonix with them was really fun. We went with 2 other couples, one couple was French, the other was a French wife and Italian Husband. Everyone, except me, spoke French the whole night. I felt like I did 4 months ago, not being able to understand a word. Every once in a while Chicca would explain what they were talking about, but I still felt out of it. One of the French women asked me something in French, and I was at a complete loss how to respond. I haven't felt that way in so long, and I wasn't used to it! Turned out, though, that she spoke a bit of English, so everything was fine.

Before arriving in Courmayeur, we went to the meat shop to get some fresh meat for the week. that thing in the middle, the black and pink long icky looking thing, is the tounge of a bull. Europeans actually it that, can you believe it?

Here's the picture of the French couple's house. Every single article in the house was either wood, red, or some shade of white. It was a gorgeous little cottage, and looked like it belonged in a story book. The couple decorated it themselves, and now that they're finished, they're planning on selling the house. They're already building a new house to decorate. I guess building houses and decorating them is their hobby.
Here's a picture of some drink that I can't remember the name of. It's a lot of alcohol, with a little bit of coffee, and some oranges. The Italian Husband explained to me that it was a friendship drink, and you can only find it in the Valle D'Aosta. I tried it, and the French Wife laughed at the expression on my face, then told me she was waiting to see how I reacted.

At the French Restaurant, we had real fondue, and real French creme brulee. Both were, you guessed it, amazing. Actually, my Uncle Brud made Creme Brulee once, and I think his was better. Anyway, the evening was fun, the family is nice, but I just realized it's almost 10 o'clock, and I have school tomorrow.

Enjoy the [finally posted] pictures!