Last weekend, Megan came to visit me. Megan and I flew to Amsterdam together, and we've kept in touch via facebook. She lives in north-east Italy, as I live more north-west, so we hadn't seen each other in all the time we've spent here. Here are the highlights of her stay:
She arrived in Milan on Friday. Friday night, we went out to dinner in my town, and there just happened to be a French festival in the center, so we wandered around that, too. We bought real eclairs, which were delicious, then we walked back to my apartment. We stayed up late talking, but not too late, as we had a train to catch the next morning.
Saturday, we hopped a train to Milan, met up with Kailee the Austrailian, Kristen, Taylor, and Heather and Ray, girls from Cremona. We went shopping, got gelato more than once, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Megan reminded me to put on sun screen (bless her!) so I did not turn into a tomato.
On the way home, Megan and I were seperated. We got to the station at 6:28, and the next train to my town left at 6:30. We ran to the train, and right after I hopped on, the doors slid closed, leaving Megan on the platform. A nice man stuck his arm in the doors to try to stop them from closing, but they closed anyway. I frantically pushed the button on the doors, trying to open them, meanwhile yelling "NO! NO! FERMA! FERMA!" The train started to slide away from the platform, and Megan lifted her hands in a "what can we do?" gesture. I screamed "take the next train!" knowing she probably couldn't hear me. It was then that I realized everyone in the car was staring at me, as if I was insane.
Not caring, I whipped out my cell phone, dialed Megan's number... and a recorded voice told me I didn't have enough money to make a call. Thankfully, Megan called me, and I was able to explain to her which train to take, which luckily arrived at my city 5 minutes after I would arrive. Trying to calm myself down a bit, I pulled out my iPod to listen to some nice, light music. Then the iPod battery died.
Megan got to the station just fine, and we had a lovely dinner outside a restaurant I know. We decided to go for drinks, but I was low on cash, so we stopped at an ATM. The ATM did everything it should have done, except give me money. It gave me a reciept, but no money. Deciding we should head back home so I could call my parents and ask them to work things out, we started on our way back towards the apartment. We had taken two steps away from the ATM when it started to sprinkle. In the course of thirty seconds, the sprinkle turned into a downpour. We ran home, and arrived at the apartment soaking wet.
Despite all of this, we really did enjoy our day!
Now, Megan left on Sunday. Monday morning, I was at school at 6, waiting to board the bus that would take us to Switzerland.
Here are the highlights of my trip(s) to Switzerland:
We got on the bus at 6:15, and arrived in Geneva at 11:45. We were given until 1:30 to eat lunch. I had packed a sandwhich, but had forgotten something to drink, so I went in search of bottled water. Luckily, there was a little bar in a nearby park. I walked up to the bar, unsure of what to do, and asked in terrible French for a bottle of water. The guy at the bar looked at me like I was an idiot, and I stared back at him. Luckily, there happened to be a nice lady who spoke English, and offered to help me out.
She ordered the water for me, I payed, and while I was waiting for the guy at the bar to get it, she asked me where I was from, mentioning she was French. "I'm American" I said, after thanking her for my help. "Oh" she replied in a disgusted tone, and she turned away from me. The bar guy gave me my water and change in Francs, I thanked him and the lady and was on my way.
After lunch, we went on a rather uneventful and slightly uninteresting tour of Geneva. People told me that I spoke better Itailan than the guide did, and I had trouble understanding her. After the tour, we went to our hotel, which happened to be in France. We ate at the hotel, then everyone boarded the bus again to go back to experience the night-life in Geneva. We got back to the hotel just before midnight, and I went straight to bed.
Tuesday morning, we had a leisurely French breakfast (croissants and baguette! yum!) then boarded the bus for Geneva. We went to the UN headquarters for a tour, which was actually very interesting. We got to sit in on a convention, in which people from China, the U.S. and other places discussed the internet and how to reduce spamming. There were headphones to put on, and a knob to turn to hear what people were saying in different languages. You could see the translators as they translated, and one of them waved her hands all over the place! She wasn't Italian, sadly.
After the UN headquarters, we went back to the hotel in France for lunch. All of the Italians were disgusted by the fact that they were served potatoes that still had the skin on them. Evidently, no Italian has EVER eaten potato skin. Once again, we boarded the bus and returned to Switzerland. This time, however, we did not go to Geneva, we went to Cern.
Cern is the 27 km loop used for particle acceleration. We saw a little presentation which I found enthralling, and then we went to see the Large Hadron Collider in the making. We put on hard hats and took an elevator 100 m below the surface, where we saw people working on the collider itself. It was pretty fantastic to see, although most of the stuff the physicist said went right over my head. On our way back up, the physicist told us that one of the more unusual things about working at Cern is the fact that there are no stairs. There's only one way down and one way up, and that would be the elevator. That was rather disconcerting, but then the physicist said that the waiting room for the elevator was pressurized, so if there ever was an outbreak of fire, we would be safe.
Leaving Cern, we started our journey back to Italy. We went through France, then passed by Courmayeur, which is the town I spent Christmas vacation in. We arrived home at about midnight, and my friend Mari gave me a ride home.
Yesterday, nothing really interesting happened, besides the Rotary meeting I went to. I thanked the club for hosting me, we had lunch, and as usual, a speaker stood up to discuss a certain topic. My tutor, whom I was sitting next to, has never really enjoyed these discussions. He always has difficulty concentrating, but this time, he came prepared. A few minutes after the speaker began her speech, my tutor pulled out his laptop and began showing me pictures of his cats.
Today, I went to school as usual, then Mari and I went to visit our classmate Clara, who is in the hospital. She has cystic fibrosis, and isn't doing too well. Prayers are appreciated.
Next week, I'll be going on a trip to Rome, and not long after, I'll be on a plane back to the U.S.!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Stories of the Day: The Mafia and an Unrelated Funeral
Alberto's wife's father died a few days ago, from natural causes. His funeral was yesterday. Gianna left the house at 2, telling me she'd be back by four o'clock. Four passed, then five passed, and at 5:30 I heard the elevator coming up to our floor. Gianna and her son, Michele, came in saying "Sorry we're late, but something happened at the funeral.." Oh my, I thought, I hope everything is alright! Before I could ask what had happened, Gianna began recounting the events of the funeral. First, I should mention that in Italy, privileged families don't bury their dead. They build a family mausoleum, where the caskets are kept in comparments in the wall.
Well, after the funeral in the church, everyone went to the cemetery to see the casket being put in the family's mausoleum. The casket's spot was rather high up in the mausoleum, thus requiring a machine to lift it up and put it in it's place. As the machine was lifting the casket, something in the machine malfunctioned. Black oil sprayed everywhere, dousing the people standing closest to the machine, and the casket slipped, balancing precariously on the machine. A quick thinker managed to wedge a ladder under the casket, stabilizing it. The family waited for the machine to be fixed, and the casket was properly placed in the compartment. I suppose Alberto's wife's father wanted to go out with a bang.
After Michele left, Gianna and I decided to go grocery shopping. (Michele had pretty much cleaned out the fridge, and we were in need of food for dinner.) As we were unloading the groceries from the car, Gianna pointed out some graffiti painted on a wall. She told me Michele's friend painted it, and I made a disapproving face.
"Oh, but he was a troubled youth" she said. "His father was a lawyer, and the Mafia shot him in broad daylight in the center of Gallarate."
"What?" was my reply.
"Yeah, he defended someone in court.."
"But the Mafia is only in the South!"
"Oh, well they come up to the North to kill people sometimes."
Well sheesh. I was shocked that the Mafia had killed someone in the center of my town, but also shocked that nobody had ever mentioned it before.
Today I'm staying after school to help paint the backdrop for the school's play, and there's no school tomorrw. I'm heading back to Lecco on Saturday, so this may be the last post for a few days. Happy last day of April!
Well, after the funeral in the church, everyone went to the cemetery to see the casket being put in the family's mausoleum. The casket's spot was rather high up in the mausoleum, thus requiring a machine to lift it up and put it in it's place. As the machine was lifting the casket, something in the machine malfunctioned. Black oil sprayed everywhere, dousing the people standing closest to the machine, and the casket slipped, balancing precariously on the machine. A quick thinker managed to wedge a ladder under the casket, stabilizing it. The family waited for the machine to be fixed, and the casket was properly placed in the compartment. I suppose Alberto's wife's father wanted to go out with a bang.
After Michele left, Gianna and I decided to go grocery shopping. (Michele had pretty much cleaned out the fridge, and we were in need of food for dinner.) As we were unloading the groceries from the car, Gianna pointed out some graffiti painted on a wall. She told me Michele's friend painted it, and I made a disapproving face.
"Oh, but he was a troubled youth" she said. "His father was a lawyer, and the Mafia shot him in broad daylight in the center of Gallarate."
"What?" was my reply.
"Yeah, he defended someone in court.."
"But the Mafia is only in the South!"
"Oh, well they come up to the North to kill people sometimes."
Well sheesh. I was shocked that the Mafia had killed someone in the center of my town, but also shocked that nobody had ever mentioned it before.
Today I'm staying after school to help paint the backdrop for the school's play, and there's no school tomorrw. I'm heading back to Lecco on Saturday, so this may be the last post for a few days. Happy last day of April!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Pancakes and Peanut Butter
The pancake party I had been planning was postponed time and time again. Today, after much planning and organizing, a group of 27 Italians ingested several varieties of cakes (made by them) peanut butter and jelly and peanut butter and banana sandwhiches, and pancakes with syrup.
A while back, the prof who suggested this party made fun of me for liking peanut butter and banana sandwhiches. Naturally, I made her one. I handed her the tinfoil-wrapped sandwhich, which she opened with a look of terror in her eyes. She ripped off a tiny piece, took a bite, chewed slowly, swallowed and said "Well. It's not awful." Then she ate the rest. I gloated.
Several other Italian children raved about the peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. I don't know why, but that gives me a huge sense of accomplishment.
The pancakes were by far the biggest hit. I made them this morning, and the nice lady at the school's bar stuck them in the oven to warm up, and several hungry Italian boys eyed them. Most of the kids in the class ate them plain, because somebody forgot to bring forks. The braver kids dipped pieces of pancake in maple syrup, and everyone asked for the recipe.
As I walked back to class after returning a tray to the bar, I ran into the English teacher, who is sort of my overseer. She said "So, I heard the party went well!" and I laughed. I asked her if she liked the school play (which was last night, but that's another story for another time) and she said it was probably the best play put on by students that she's seen. Then she told me that I'm the best exchange student the school has had, and that the other students "are very fond of me." That's probably the best compliment I've received the whole year I've been here. Today has been a very good day, so far.
This evening, I'll be having dinner with my first host family. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be on a train to Rome!!
It's ironic that I'm finally having fun here, I'm making real friends, I have a life, and now I have to go home. Nearly the whole year, I've been looking forward to the day I would get on a plane to return to where I belong, and now I wish that day wouldn't come.
I'll be back Sunday, and I'll be sure to recount all the adventures I have in Rome!
A while back, the prof who suggested this party made fun of me for liking peanut butter and banana sandwhiches. Naturally, I made her one. I handed her the tinfoil-wrapped sandwhich, which she opened with a look of terror in her eyes. She ripped off a tiny piece, took a bite, chewed slowly, swallowed and said "Well. It's not awful." Then she ate the rest. I gloated.
Several other Italian children raved about the peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. I don't know why, but that gives me a huge sense of accomplishment.
The pancakes were by far the biggest hit. I made them this morning, and the nice lady at the school's bar stuck them in the oven to warm up, and several hungry Italian boys eyed them. Most of the kids in the class ate them plain, because somebody forgot to bring forks. The braver kids dipped pieces of pancake in maple syrup, and everyone asked for the recipe.
As I walked back to class after returning a tray to the bar, I ran into the English teacher, who is sort of my overseer. She said "So, I heard the party went well!" and I laughed. I asked her if she liked the school play (which was last night, but that's another story for another time) and she said it was probably the best play put on by students that she's seen. Then she told me that I'm the best exchange student the school has had, and that the other students "are very fond of me." That's probably the best compliment I've received the whole year I've been here. Today has been a very good day, so far.
This evening, I'll be having dinner with my first host family. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be on a train to Rome!!
It's ironic that I'm finally having fun here, I'm making real friends, I have a life, and now I have to go home. Nearly the whole year, I've been looking forward to the day I would get on a plane to return to where I belong, and now I wish that day wouldn't come.
I'll be back Sunday, and I'll be sure to recount all the adventures I have in Rome!
Pancakes and Peanut Butter
The pancake party I had been planning was postponed time and time again. Today, after much planning and organizing, a group of 27 Italians ingested several varieties of cakes (made by them) peanut butter and jelly and peanut butter and banana sandwhiches, and pancakes with syrup.
A while back, the prof who suggested this party made fun of me for liking peanut butter and banana sandwhiches. Naturally, I made her one. I handed her the tinfoil-wrapped sandwhich, which she opened with a look of terror in her eyes. She ripped off a tiny piece, took a bite, chewed slowly, swallowed and said "Well. It's not awful." Then she ate the rest. I gloated.
Several other Italian children raved about the peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. I don't know why, but that gives me a huge sense of accomplishment.
The pancakes were by far the biggest hit. I made them this morning, and the nice lady at the school's bar stuck them in the oven to warm up, and several hungry Italian boys eyed them. Most of the kids in the class ate them plain, because somebody forgot to bring forks. The braver kids dipped pieces of pancake in maple syrup, and everyone asked for the recipe.
As I walked back to class after returning a tray to the bar, I ran into the English teacher, who is sort of my overseer. She said "So, I heard the party went well!" and I laughed. I asked her if she liked the school play (which was last night, but that's another story for another time) and she said it was probably the best play put on by students that she's seen. Then she told me that I'm the best exchange student the school has had, and that the other students "are very fond of me." That's probably the best compliment I've received the whole year I've been here. Today has been a very good day, so far.
This evening, I'll be having dinner with my first host family. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be on a train to Rome!!
It's ironic that I'm finally having fun here, I'm making real friends, I have a life, and now I have to go home. Nearly the whole year, I've been looking forward to the day I would get on a plane to return to where I belong, and now I wish that day wouldn't come.
I'll be back Sunday, and I'll be sure to recount all the adventures I have in Rome!
A while back, the prof who suggested this party made fun of me for liking peanut butter and banana sandwhiches. Naturally, I made her one. I handed her the tinfoil-wrapped sandwhich, which she opened with a look of terror in her eyes. She ripped off a tiny piece, took a bite, chewed slowly, swallowed and said "Well. It's not awful." Then she ate the rest. I gloated.
Several other Italian children raved about the peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. I don't know why, but that gives me a huge sense of accomplishment.
The pancakes were by far the biggest hit. I made them this morning, and the nice lady at the school's bar stuck them in the oven to warm up, and several hungry Italian boys eyed them. Most of the kids in the class ate them plain, because somebody forgot to bring forks. The braver kids dipped pieces of pancake in maple syrup, and everyone asked for the recipe.
As I walked back to class after returning a tray to the bar, I ran into the English teacher, who is sort of my overseer. She said "So, I heard the party went well!" and I laughed. I asked her if she liked the school play (which was last night, but that's another story for another time) and she said it was probably the best play put on by students that she's seen. Then she told me that I'm the best exchange student the school has had, and that the other students "are very fond of me." That's probably the best compliment I've received the whole year I've been here. Today has been a very good day, so far.
This evening, I'll be having dinner with my first host family. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be on a train to Rome!!
It's ironic that I'm finally having fun here, I'm making real friends, I have a life, and now I have to go home. Nearly the whole year, I've been looking forward to the day I would get on a plane to return to where I belong, and now I wish that day wouldn't come.
I'll be back Sunday, and I'll be sure to recount all the adventures I have in Rome!
Lecco and Lake Como
April 25 is the day the WWII ended in Italy, and it is a national holiday. This year, it fell on a Friday, and I didn't have school! I had invited one of my friends, Morgan, to stay at my house for the long weekend. Morgan, however, plays trombone in a marching band, and had to play on the 25th. Her host family graciously invited me to stay with them for the weekend, and of course I accepted.
On Thursday of last week, Morgan and I met up after school in Milan. We walked to the Castello, met up with Kristen and Kailee, got gelato, walked around some more, and then headed to the train station to catch a train back to Lecco. Lecco is a city on lake Como, one of Italy's most famous lakes. George Clooney has a house somewhere on Lake Como, and rumor has it he just bought another house in Lecco. I thought Morgan lived in Lecco itself, but I was mistaken. We ended up taking a 45 minute bus ride through the mountains to arrive in Barzio, the tiny little mountain town where she lives.
We didn't stay up too late Thursday night, because Morgan had to be at the marching band's meeting point at 7:30 the next morning. Morgan's host family plays in the band, actually. The two host brothers both play clarinet, the younger sister plays sax, and the host mom plays the cymbals. Dario, the host father, is instrumentally challenged, so he stayed with me through all the parades.
Here is how the festivites went:
The band (and Dario and I, and some of the other parents of people in the band) piled into cars and drove to a small mountain town. The band then marched in a "parade" down the main street of the town playing "Bella, Ciao". The parade was led by the town priest, followed by the band, veterans of the war, the mayor, some police officers and military members, then people who lived in the town. Each town had a memorial to those from the town who died in WWII, so the priest would say a prayer, and the mayor would give a little rememberance speech. The band would then play the national anthem, we would walk back to the cars, pile in, and drive to the next small town.
Barzio was the last town the band played in, and the whole town was in the piazza to see the parade. I was recruited to help carry the memorial wreath in the parade, and I got to talking with the other person carrying the wreath. He was an enthusiastic old man, (he insisted someone take our picture with the wreath) and I mentioned that my great-grandfather fought near Lake Como in WWII. The man got all excited and ran off to tell the mayor. When we reached the memorial, the Mayor included my great-grandfather in his speech, and thanked the Americans for helping out in WWII. I felt proud to be American, and proud that all of my brothers are in the military.
After the parade, we walked home and had lunch. Later that afternoon, Morgan's host father took Morgan and I to Lecco to walk around. It was a beautiful day, and Morgan and I ended up sitting under a tree next to the lake, enjoying the weather and the view.
After dinner that night, Morgan, her host brother and sister and I ran around the town, pretending we were secret agents. After we got tired of that, we played charades in the front yard until it was bedtime.
Saturday morning, morgan and I slept in, then walked to the grocery store to get the fixings for an apple pie. Dario told Morgan that she wasn't allowed to return to the U.S. until she had maken an apple pie. We got home, made the pie, french toast, and pancakes, and the family ate breakfast for lunch. The pie turned out not-so-great (the crust crumbled to bits and the apples weren't cooked all the way) but Morgan's family loved it. Her health-conscious host mother even had two slices. Saturday afternoon, there was a market in town. We took Sara, Morgan's host sister. We got gelato, then browsed around the market for a few hours.
Sunday was a fantastic day. Dario took Morgan and I to Varenna, a small town on Lake Como. We walked around, enjoying the Italian-ness of it all, and of course we got gelato. After about an hour, we took the ferry (Dario took the car on the ferry!) to another town, Bellagio. Bellagio was beautiful. The houses were well kept, and there were flowers in bloom everywhere. Morgan did some shopping, we explored a little, and then got in the car to return home. Dario took us up the mountian to a place where there was a beautiful view of the lake, and a chapel devoted to the Madonna of Byciclists. I'm sorry to say my camera battery died while we were on the ferry.
Speaking of cameras, the computer won't let me upload pictures again. I tried to upload pictures I took in France, and there was an error of some sort. Any advice would be appreciated, but you guys may just have to wait until I get home to see all the pictures I've taken!
Monday morning, I caught a ride with Dario to Milan, then took the train home. Morgan's host mother invited me back this weekend, and I plan on going!
I hope everyone else is enjoying their spring as much as I am!
On Thursday of last week, Morgan and I met up after school in Milan. We walked to the Castello, met up with Kristen and Kailee, got gelato, walked around some more, and then headed to the train station to catch a train back to Lecco. Lecco is a city on lake Como, one of Italy's most famous lakes. George Clooney has a house somewhere on Lake Como, and rumor has it he just bought another house in Lecco. I thought Morgan lived in Lecco itself, but I was mistaken. We ended up taking a 45 minute bus ride through the mountains to arrive in Barzio, the tiny little mountain town where she lives.
We didn't stay up too late Thursday night, because Morgan had to be at the marching band's meeting point at 7:30 the next morning. Morgan's host family plays in the band, actually. The two host brothers both play clarinet, the younger sister plays sax, and the host mom plays the cymbals. Dario, the host father, is instrumentally challenged, so he stayed with me through all the parades.
Here is how the festivites went:
The band (and Dario and I, and some of the other parents of people in the band) piled into cars and drove to a small mountain town. The band then marched in a "parade" down the main street of the town playing "Bella, Ciao". The parade was led by the town priest, followed by the band, veterans of the war, the mayor, some police officers and military members, then people who lived in the town. Each town had a memorial to those from the town who died in WWII, so the priest would say a prayer, and the mayor would give a little rememberance speech. The band would then play the national anthem, we would walk back to the cars, pile in, and drive to the next small town.
Barzio was the last town the band played in, and the whole town was in the piazza to see the parade. I was recruited to help carry the memorial wreath in the parade, and I got to talking with the other person carrying the wreath. He was an enthusiastic old man, (he insisted someone take our picture with the wreath) and I mentioned that my great-grandfather fought near Lake Como in WWII. The man got all excited and ran off to tell the mayor. When we reached the memorial, the Mayor included my great-grandfather in his speech, and thanked the Americans for helping out in WWII. I felt proud to be American, and proud that all of my brothers are in the military.
After the parade, we walked home and had lunch. Later that afternoon, Morgan's host father took Morgan and I to Lecco to walk around. It was a beautiful day, and Morgan and I ended up sitting under a tree next to the lake, enjoying the weather and the view.
After dinner that night, Morgan, her host brother and sister and I ran around the town, pretending we were secret agents. After we got tired of that, we played charades in the front yard until it was bedtime.
Saturday morning, morgan and I slept in, then walked to the grocery store to get the fixings for an apple pie. Dario told Morgan that she wasn't allowed to return to the U.S. until she had maken an apple pie. We got home, made the pie, french toast, and pancakes, and the family ate breakfast for lunch. The pie turned out not-so-great (the crust crumbled to bits and the apples weren't cooked all the way) but Morgan's family loved it. Her health-conscious host mother even had two slices. Saturday afternoon, there was a market in town. We took Sara, Morgan's host sister. We got gelato, then browsed around the market for a few hours.
Sunday was a fantastic day. Dario took Morgan and I to Varenna, a small town on Lake Como. We walked around, enjoying the Italian-ness of it all, and of course we got gelato. After about an hour, we took the ferry (Dario took the car on the ferry!) to another town, Bellagio. Bellagio was beautiful. The houses were well kept, and there were flowers in bloom everywhere. Morgan did some shopping, we explored a little, and then got in the car to return home. Dario took us up the mountian to a place where there was a beautiful view of the lake, and a chapel devoted to the Madonna of Byciclists. I'm sorry to say my camera battery died while we were on the ferry.
Speaking of cameras, the computer won't let me upload pictures again. I tried to upload pictures I took in France, and there was an error of some sort. Any advice would be appreciated, but you guys may just have to wait until I get home to see all the pictures I've taken!
Monday morning, I caught a ride with Dario to Milan, then took the train home. Morgan's host mother invited me back this weekend, and I plan on going!
I hope everyone else is enjoying their spring as much as I am!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Oops.
Looking over my blog, I realized I haven't written anything substatial in quite a long time. Actually, I wrote a nice post a week or so ago, I just forgot to post it. Oops.
My lack of posting is a good thing, though! It shows I've finally found things to do. I've been hanging out in Milan more than usual, my new host mom (yeah, I changed families almost a month ago. 'Nother story for another time) has been taking me on nice little day trips and concerts, and I've started meeting with one of the teachers at my school to help her with English.
I'll continue being busy, too: tomorrow I'm going to Lecco for a Rotary function (I do believe we're having a scavenger hunt, although I'm not entirely sure about that) and I'll be staying the night there. Also, next week, the second year class is having an "American Pancake Party" hosted by yours truly: My mom managed to get me a nice big bottle of Connecticut Maple Syrup, along with a jar of Peanut butter and a Bottle of grape jelly, so I'll be making PB&Js, and enough pancakes to feed 30. Wish me luck!
In the meantime, I'll get to posting some of the pictures I've taken in my travels.
My lack of posting is a good thing, though! It shows I've finally found things to do. I've been hanging out in Milan more than usual, my new host mom (yeah, I changed families almost a month ago. 'Nother story for another time) has been taking me on nice little day trips and concerts, and I've started meeting with one of the teachers at my school to help her with English.
I'll continue being busy, too: tomorrow I'm going to Lecco for a Rotary function (I do believe we're having a scavenger hunt, although I'm not entirely sure about that) and I'll be staying the night there. Also, next week, the second year class is having an "American Pancake Party" hosted by yours truly: My mom managed to get me a nice big bottle of Connecticut Maple Syrup, along with a jar of Peanut butter and a Bottle of grape jelly, so I'll be making PB&Js, and enough pancakes to feed 30. Wish me luck!
In the meantime, I'll get to posting some of the pictures I've taken in my travels.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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