Outdoors

Second blog today!  I got up at 10 this morning because I had a skype date with Ellie!  I was really tired and I planned on going back to sleep afterwards, but Ellie and I ended up talking for about an hour and I wasn't tired after that.  I also skyped with Emma for a little bit.  I woke her up and she was grumpy with me, so the conversation was short.  Then I went and had a breakfast and an hour later, we had lunch, so I didn't eat much.  I laid in my bed for a little while and skyped with Emma for the second time, but this time she was much more happy!

Janie came over at 3:30.  We finally made brownies with the mix I brought and it was very interesting because they don't have any measuring cups here and Lorena only had corn oil, so we were hoping they would turn out okay.  We let them cook for a little less time than it said because they were super thin, but they probably could've cooked longer because they were gooey when we took them out.  They were still good though!  We cut them up into small pieces so that our friends can try them later.

Then Janie and I decided to go out to get gelato (yes, right after we made brownies) but most of the shops were closed so we went back home, grabbed our ipods, and headed out again to just go on a walk.  We ended up finding a cafe that was open and that had gelato, so we got some and kept walking.  After about 30 minutes, we came back home for about 10 minutes and then went back out again to go to the chalet.  It started raining 2 minutes after we left but it was nice because Janie and I both like the rain.  We got to the chalet and hung out for an hour and then walked back home.  Janie was dropped off and we had dinner and now I plan on going to sleep early tonight!

Another short blog because it is Sunday and I slept half of the day. It's also my second blog today, so I don't feel like writing much.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Saturday Night

First of all, I apologize for not blogging last night, but I am doing it now instead.  I did my normal routine yesterday morning and then I went to school.  At school, the first hour was English where we pretty much did nothing and then the second hour was biology where everybody read from their textbook and I attempted to read along (not successfully).  Then we had P.E. and it is way different than where I live.  They don't have a gym at the school so two classes got on a bus and we drove about 7 minutes to the gym and then went and got changed.  My class went outside and we ran for 10 minutes and then did a bunch of other stuff.  When we went back inside, we stretched and then I got really confused because I was just following a couple of my friends around and they went into the locker room and we all just sat there for a while.  Then we went out and hit a ball back and forth with tennis rackets and then went back in the dressing room and changed.  We were at the gym for two hours and then we got back in a bus and drove back to school.  (The buses they use are just public transportation buses, not school buses.)  When we got to school, we all went home.

For lunch, my host parents and I went to a family member's country home.  When we got there, they showed me around and there was this one point where you could see different towns and the mountains and it was so beautiful!  I wish I had brought my camera.  Then they brought me into the house and showed me a room made of brick where they make wine!  It was super cool to see how they do it.  They had just done the grape squishing process that day so I got to see all the squished grapes in this big concrete bin thing.  They also had red wine that they made last week in a barrel and I got to taste a little bit of it.  It was very good and sweet.  Then all of the family sat down at a big long table and we ate... forever!  I was finished eating before everybody else.  I tried to eat as much as I could because everything was so good, but I got full really fast.  We just hung out for another hour or so and then went home.  The only bad part about the country home was that there were a ton of mosquitos everywhere, but I never got bitten!  It may have been because I was super paranoid so I kept wiping my face and neck with my hands to make sure a mosquito hadn't landed.  I also got to taste this really really good freshly made grape juice.

A little before 6, Giulia dropped Janie and I off at the chalet and we met up with our friends and talked for a couple of hours.  Then Janie and I had to leave early because we went to have dinner at Janie's house.  We had pizza and then we went into Janie's room and she got ready for a party that we were going to.  At 9:30, Lorena came and picked us up and brought us to her house and I got ready.  At 10:15, we went and met our friends at the chalet again.  At 11, Filippo brought us to the party in a town that was about 10 minutes away.  We were there until 12:30 and we danced and talked with people.

When we got home, I got to skype with my friend Kat for a little bit and then I was too exhausted to blog, so I just got ready for bed and fell asleep really fast.  Now there will be two blogs for today!

Buongiorno!
~Devon
 

Crazy Weather

This morning, I reluctantly woke up and I was dead tired because I didn't get good sleep last night.  It was way too hot in my room.  There's no air conditioning in this house, so when it's hot outside, it's hot inside.  I was also trying to track down this mosquito that was in my room.  I saw it before I turned the lights out and I tried to squish it but then it got away.  When I turned on my reading light in bed, I saw it again, but it was too hard to squish because I had to find it by holding up my light and I couldn't get it with one hand.  I was paranoid that it was going to suck my blood when I was asleep, but for some reason, mosquitos don't like me (yes!) and I was mosquito bite free in the morning.

When I got to school, we had an hour of philosophy and an hour of history.  Both of these classes are basically just reading in the textbook, so I worked on my doodles.  Then we had a class meeting, which was like a really boring assembly and we went back to class an hour later for Italian.  I was in class for the first hour, and I just sat there staring off into space until my private Italian teacher came and got me for the last two hours of the day.

When I got home, we had lunch, as always, and then I went to my room and took another nap!  I'm not sure how long I slept, but I was woken up when Giovanna called me to tell me she could pick me up to go to the gym.  So I got ready really fast, and then she arrived.  I went with her to buy a new earring and then we got to the gym about 5 minutes late for the step class.  It is so hot when we do the step class and everybody sweats like crazy! I don't know if it's from the heat, or because we are working hard, but I like to think it's because we are working hard!  After the class, we walked on the treadmill for a little bit and talked and then Lorena picked us up.  On the way home, we dropped off Giovanna and picked up Janie for dinner.

During dinner, we were talking about how Janie and I were going to prepare a big Thanksgiving feast since they don't celebrate it here.  We are just going to have a mini Thanksgiving.  The only problem is that Janie and I don't know how to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, but we have two months to figure it out!  After dinner, Janie and I went on a 25 minute walk around Fabriano because we didn't know what else to do.  We talked and listened to our ipods.  We went a new way, but this time, we didn't get lost and we made it back at 10 o'clock sharp!  Then we just talked some more and laid on my floor because it is super hot in my room!  We were laying by the window so we could feel the small breeze.  I guess it's unusual for it to be this hot during this time of year in Fabriano.

When Janie left at 10:45, I took a quick shower and now I am obviously blogging, so I am not getting to bed early tonight.  I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter, I always take a nap in the afternoon anyway.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Very Warm

When I got up this morning (10 minutes late) I really didn't want to go to school.  I just wanted to sleep all day long.  That's why I pressed snooze an extra time on my alarm clock.  When I did get up, I ate less cereal in order to get me back on schedule.  When I got to school, we had two hours of math to begin with.  It was really embarrassing, because in the beginning of class, the teacher had one of the students go up to the board and teach me a math concept in English.  So everybody was staring and me and when they asked if I understood, I would just say yes because I wanted them to get back to their normal lesson.  I didn't like how they were holding up the class for my purpose.  Then the teacher taught something new for the next hour and a half and I kept up with it in the beginning, but then it just got way too confusing and I didn't really understand it in the end.  She passed out our graded tests before the bell rang, but she didn't give me mine, she just said it wasn't going to count for me, which must mean that I did pretty dang bad...

After break, I had two hours with my Italian teacher and we had to go into the library today since the room we usually go into was being used.  It was harder in the library because we had to be super quiet. It was also a very hard lesson today and I didn't really catch on to what the teacher was trying to teach me.  The last hour of school was physics.  We also learned something new in that class but there was no hope for me to follow along.  The teacher mostly just talks to explain stuff so I didn't understand anything.  The only part of the lesson I got was the last part because that's when she wrote some formulas up on the board.

Roberto picked me up from school today because we were going to his parents house for lunch since Lorena was in Ancona.  His parents live about 10 minutes away and when we arrived, lunch was already ready.  Everything was delicious.  Roberto's mother is a very good cook.  Right after lunch, we had to leave because Roberto had to get back to work.  He dropped me off at home and I decided to take another nap (yes, I probably take a nap about every day).  I think I was half asleep the whole time because I could still hear my music.  Then I went to the chalet around 6 and hung out with some of my friends for a couple of hours.  At 8, I walked back home and we had dinner.

Today it was super hot.  I've been wearing my jacket since I've been here, but today it was way too warm.  When I walked to the chalet, it started to rain a little bit, but it was still warm and when I got back to the house I couldn't even stand how hot it was.  I opened my window in hope that some cool air would come in, but that's not happening.  Looks like I will be sleeping above my covers tonight.

Ciao!
~Devon

Short Day

I didn't sleep very well last night, but it made it easier for me to get up this morning because I wasn't totally asleep when my alarm went off.  When I got to school, the first class I had was physics, and of course, we had a test.  She gave it to me in English as well, and it makes me feel more stupid because I don't know how to do the problems no matter what language they are in!  She saw me blankly staring at my paper, so she told me I could use my notebook with all of the example problems we had done.  It made it easier and I think I did better on this test than my math one. She also had to help me a little on one of the formulas in order for me to do a problem.  I went with my Italian teacher for the next two hours and then school ended at 11:15 today.

I walked home and Lorena was at the apartment in order to let me in, but then she had to leave.  I decided to take a nap/listen to music, since I had nothing better to do. Lorena and Roberto got home, we had lunch, and then they left again.  I skyped with Janie, my mom, and my dad, and then did my homework.  At 5:30, Lorena took me to the bank so that I could get money out of my bank account for my gym membership.  I'm so happy that it was so easy!  Then Lorena took me to the gym, I payed for a membership and then I did a step class.  After the class, I ran for a little bit, and then I was picked up by Roberto around 7:45.  Giovanna didn't show up at the gym today so I was all alone and kind of nervous, but I made it through the class without having to speak a word!

We had dinner, I took a shower, and now I am going to go to bed early again.  I always want to try to get to bed before 10, just to see how I feel in the morning with so much sleep, but it's pretty much impossible since we have dinner at like 8:30.  10 will have to do.

Ciao!
~Devon

Good Company

Today I dragged myself out of bed and I was actually ahead of schedule, which was nice.  At school, I went straight with my Italian teacher for the first hour and then went back to class for math.  During math, we went over the test problems, and even though I haven't gotten my test back, I know I got probably one and a half questions right. Half way through the corrections, a couple of my classmates started teaching me some things that I hadn't understood and then everybody started shouting.  I looked up, and the teacher was telling me to come up to do one of the test problems on the board, even though I was sure I failed every one of them.  I shook my head 'no', but she made me come up anyway.  I guess it was the one question that I had gotten right, but I solved it in a weird way on my test so I didn't want to do it on the board.  She ended up walking me through the whole problem and I felt like an idiot in front of the class.

After math, I went back with my Italian teacher for the third hour and then went back to class for the last two hours.  We had English and my classmates don't think that the teacher really even knows English very well so they were telling me that I should talk with him and see if he could keep up with the conversation.  If he couldn't, they want to go tell the principle so that they can get another teacher.  I thought their plan was kind of harsh but I went along with it a little bit.  I asked him to translate something for me, and they are right.  He seems like he knows less English than the girl sitting next to me.  Like yesterday, he only had one student come up to the board and write a couple of sentences and then we had the rest of the class to goof off. I played this game with some of the people sitting around me, and it is kind of like scattegories. It was really fun!  Then we had physics and the teacher doesn't explain things very well, so I was totally lost the whole time and I asked one of my friends what was going on, but she didn't really know either.  Neither did the kids behind me.  They said I wasn't the only one.

After lunch, my host parents had to go back to work, but Janie came over around 3.  We just hung out and talked for a couple of hours.  We also skyped with Emma and my sister.  At 6, we walked to the chalet and hung out with more of our friends.  It was nice to talk with everybody.  I feel like school ends so early (at 1:15pm) and I pretty much have the whole day ahead of me still.  It's nice to get to go out in the afternoon.  We had to leave at 7:30 because Janie was being picked up at 7:45.  When we got home, Janie left and I had dinner.  Now my plan is to go to bed early.

Ciao!
~Devon

Perugia

I was so tired this morning, but then again, when am I not?  I almost felt like just going back to bed and being late to school, but I ended up getting up.  The first class we had was English this morning. It was very interesting because the teacher only had three students come up to the board and write down a sentence in past, present, and question form, and then he sat down at his desk and the class just talked for the rest of the hour.  Then we had informatics and I didn't understand one word! That's probably the worst class I've had so far.

For the next two hours, I went with my private Italian teacher, and then I went back to class for two hours of math. It was terrible because we had a test in math and the teacher gave me my copy in English, but I still didn't know how to do the problems because I didn't understand her when she explained them the previous week!  There were only four questions and I think I got half of ONE right... I skipped two of them because I had no idea how to do it and I just did some random stuff on the rest.  When the teacher came over to look at my test, I tried to hide it because I was embarrassed by my work, but she kept looking at it and then she told me "that graph looks right" and there were like 4 graphs on the paper.  Just one "looked" right.  Oh boy.

After walking home and eating lunch, I got ready to go to Perugia.  At 3, Giulia, Janie, and her host parents picked me up.  The drive to Perugia was about an hour and I listened to my ipod and almost fell asleep.  When we got there, we helped Giulia move into her apartment because she is going to a university there.  While Giulia and her friends cleaned the apartment, Janie, her host parents, and I, walked around Perugia for about two and a half hours.  It was extremely beautiful and I took a lot of pictures.  It is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen thus far.

Janie and I

The Center of Perugia

At around 7:30, Giulia met up with us, and we went and got pizza.  Yes, more pizza.  It was delicious! I ate so much.  Then we went and got a tiny gelato cone, which was delicious as well, of course.  We left Perugia after that and it took another hour to get home.  Janie and I were originally going to go to the church group tonight, but we got home about 30 minutes late and I am super tired anyway.  I am glad that I might get to bed before 12 tonight.  I almost fell asleep in class today.  I don't know if it's because I'm bored or because I just haven't been getting enough sleep...

Ciao!


~Devon

Lazy Sunday

Today's blog is going to mighty short because I didn't really do anything.  It was a lazy Sunday.  I woke up at 11 and I had breakfast by myself because my host parents went to their country house.  Then I took a shower and just relaxed for a while.  Janie and I were going to get together to make brownies, but she ended up going to a soccer match with Giulia. I didn't really do anything. Like I said, it was a very lazy Sunday.

At around 8, we had dinner and it was a bunch of new food that I have never had before.  I liked some of it, and I didn't like some of it.  I wasn't very hungry tonight either.  Then Janie called and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner with her, Giulia, and Giulia's friends, so I did.  We all went to a chinese restaurant and we talked.  I didn't get anything because I was full, but I did try some of the dishes and they were very good.  Italian chinese food. Hmm.  Then they had dessert and it was fried nutella and fried ice cream.  I had a bite of both, and they were delicious.

It's really weird because movies come out in theaters here about a month or so after they come out in the U.S. and it's because they have to be translated.  So Finding Nemo in 3D is coming out soon and we are going to go see it.  It will be interesting to watch the movie in a different language with different voices.  It will be better than seeing a movie I have never seen though, because I pretty much know most of the words to that movie anyway.

I also forgot to say in my blog that a couple of days ago, Janie and I saw our first truck.  We were sitting on the balcony and a truck drove by and we both jumped up and stared at it as it drove off. We wanted to take a picture, but it turned the corner.  It looked so strange here because all of the cars are small.

Anyway, I need to get to bed because I have to get up early tomorrow :(  On the bright side, I have my first English class! I want to see what it's like for Italians learning English.  It will also be the first class that I fully understand! Hopefully...

Ciao!
~Devon

Chalet

I keep waking up later and later in the morning, but I am never late getting out of the house, so I guess I don't really need to worry too much about my routine.  My private Italian teacher isn't at school on Saturdays so I was in class all day.  We had two hours of Italian and I just sat there and looked up words in the dictionary.  I also did the same when we had two hours of P.E. because they were reading from the textbook.  The teacher also had me try to read a paragraph in the textbook, but I didn't really understand it.  I only recognized the bigger words that were similar to the english word.  When I got home from school, I ate lunch and then I took another nap, but I never really fell asleep, I was just listening to music.

At 5:30, Janie and Giulia came and picked me up and we went to the chalet.  There are a ton of people there on Saturdays.  Chiara, Valentina, and Penelope met us there and after a couple of minutes, we all walked to the park.  We just talked about a bunch of stuff and played on this really fun swing thing for kids.  Then we went back to the chalet and talked some more.  We walked around the town for about an hour or so and went to the supermarket and then Janie had to go to a birthday party and I went to Chiara's house for dinner with some other people.  I feel like I'm understanding more of what people say, but only when they are talking slowly, and directly to me.  If they are talking to other people, they are always talking super fast, so I can't even understand what Italian words they are saying, which makes it impossible to translate to English.  I also carry a dictionary around with me so that we can all translate words when we don't know what each other are saying.

At 10, we left Chiara's and went to the chalet again.  I was introduced to a bunch of new people and we all talked.  The chalet on a Saturday night is a very interesting place.  Later on, we walked to the pub and I met up with Janie and Giulia again.  Then around 12, Lorena and Roberto came to pick me up, and we went home.

Today was a super fun day, after school at least.  I love Saturdays, and tomorrow I will get to sleep in!  I am super tired now, which is why my blog is short again.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Rotary

I thought waking up 2 minutes late would throw me off schedule! Today I woke up 6 minutes late and I was checking the clock about every thirty seconds until I finally got back on schedule.  When I got to class, I went straight to my private Italian teacher for 2 hours and then I went back to class for physics.  I can somewhat follow along in that class, but the teacher doesn't really explain any of the problems and one of my classmates even said that they didn't get it, so I didn't feel too bad.  Then I had math class, which is becoming my favorite because it is the easiest to understand, and I was called up to do the homework on the board.  It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be because she called on me for an easy problem.  I'm starting to feel more accomplished in that class because I can actually do the work without a ton of help, and sometimes without any help at all!

After walking home, we had lunch and I took a nap, about 30 minutes just laying in bed and then another 30 minutes actually asleep.  Then Janie came over at 3 and we hung out, skyped with Emma, and talked.  Janie has also been dying to throw something from the top of the stairs of an apartment building to the bottom through the middle of the stairs, so we also tried that, and the eraser she dropped landed a floor above where I was standing because it hit the railing.  At 6, we went to the chalet and hung out for an hour until I had to walk home. It was the first time walking home by myself!

A little after 7:30, my Rotary counselor picked me up and then we picked up Janie and went to a restaurant to have dinner with the current Rotary club president, the past Rotary club president, and his son.  There was a ton of food, and again, I probably ate way more than I should have, but everything was so good!  It was also really nice to talk with everybody.  I looked at my clock about half way through dinner and it was already 10! At that point, I just wanted to come home because I was exhausted and I'm usually in bed by 10.  It also takes me about 20 to 30 minutes to blog and I just want to go to bed.  This is why my blog is so short today.  But now I may be able to test my theory of going to bed late and seeing if I wake up less tired tomorrow.  The nap I took may also help.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Friends

This morning, I got up two minutes late, which threw off my rhythm! But I got back lost time with breakfast.  Then when we walked to school, it was very lightly sprinkling and I was hoping it wouldn't rain a lot because I was wearing my white pants!  At school, we had math class first and I was able to follow along, which gave me hope!  But at the end of class, the teacher told me that she was going to call on me tomorrow to go up and do a homework problem on the board (she always calls on students to do homework problems on the board) but I'm super nervous because if I do something wrong I won't understand what she is telling me to fix and I will have to give her the blank stare!

Then my Italian teacher came to get me and we did our normal thing for two hours.  I went back to class for art, but it turns out we were learning about art history, so I just did my Italian homework and doodled.  It didn't seem like the class was very interested either because some of the boys in the back of the class were playing a card game... and most people were just talking.  After class we walked home and I did my math homework, then had lunch.

At 3:30, Janie picked me up and we went to her house.  We just hung out, talked, went on the computer, and skyped with one of her friends in Germany.  Then we went on a mini adventure down her street and on this path that led to this little field with trees.  On the way, we found a family of cats that all looked the same (which is why we guessed they were a family).  There was the mom, and two little cats, and then we saw another cat, which we decided was the dad, a little farther down the path.  We watched them play around and one of them ran and jumped on a tree and just sat there for about 20 seconds and then jumped off.  It was really funny because they were mostly white with gray patches and I was wearing white jeans with my gray sweatshirt!  (Maybe not so funny...)

Then Janie and I went back to the house because of the fear of being eaten alive by mosquitos.  At around 6, we went to the chalet and met up with Giovanna, Chiara, and Valentina.  In the car on the way to the chalet, we drove through a bunch of narrow streets and on one of them, Janie stuck her hand out of the window and was touching the wall!  At the chalet, we sat around and chatted until around 8 and Janie and I learned the names of all of the Italian cards.  Janie and I walked home and then she was picked up by her host dad and I had dinner.

I've been going to bed a little after 10 for the past two nights and I'm probably going to do it tonight, but I don't get why I am always so tired during the day! Maybe I should do as the Italians do and have some coffee or something... or just go to bed later and hope is has the opposite effect...

Ciao!
~Devon

Exercise

Today I woke up and did my normal stuff.  I have my routine down perfectly to where I know what time I have to be done with something so that I don't get behind schedule.  It's kind of fun.  Anyway, we walked to school this morning and the first class was biology.  We had to go to a different classroom with the chairs that have the little desks attached to them.  Then the teacher turned on the projector and projected the textbook on the wall. All the light were off and it was so hard not to fall asleep! Despite the fact that I got about 8 hours of sleep last night, I could barely keep my eyes open.  Half way through the class, I decided to finish up my Italian homework, which took me about 10 minutes, and then a little while later, class ended and my Italian teacher picked me up.

We did the usual stuff for two hours.  Just different exercises and small conversations in Italian.  Then I went back down to class for the last hour, which was math.  We were learning something different today, and some of it looked vaguely familiar, but the teacher did the examples so fast that it was hard to understand the steps to solving the problems, and I couldn't understand what she was saying.  It was funny though because she wrote "funzioni" on the board and then she wrote "functions" in parentheses next to it and the class started applauding and looking at me because she was using English.  When she was putting the homework on the board, she also wrote "homework" above it for me.  It was quite nice.  Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to do the homework even though it's probably super simple.

After walking home, we had lunch and it was delicious.  Lorena put this meat on my plate and I asked her what it was and she said rabbit! I'm not sure I've ever had rabbit before, but it was very good! We also had these yummy potato things and bread.  Then Lorena and Roberto left for work and I skyped with my dad and Janie and I caught up with "So You Think You Can Dance" with a series of about 15 youtube videos because apparently they don't show full episodes on the website in different countries!  Anyway, I am very happy with the results of the show.

At 6, Lorena took me to the gym so that I could do a class with Giovanna again.  We also decided that I am going to get a 3 month membership! Woo hoo! I did the step class for the second time and it was a little harder than last time, but so much fun! I think I got a hang of it now.  Then after that, Giovanna and I did another workout by ourselves until around 8:10.  I love love love going to the gym. Not only does it give me something to do, but it also makes me feel accomplished and leaves me less guilty about eating so much food!  Afterwards, Giovanna's mom said she would meet us at this shopping center so we had to put our hoods on and run to center in the pouring rain, trying to avoid puddles as we went (unsuccessfully).  More exercise! It was fun!  We were really wet by the time we got there.  

Then for dinner, we had another interesting dish.  It was onion and zucchini roasted in the oven with breadcrumbs on top (very good), this stringy cheese stuff (very good), and more bread.  Now I'm wondering whether not I should go to bed early since it obviously didn't keep me awake during the day! But I like sleeping, so I'm going to anyway.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Art

When I woke up this morning, nobody else was awake, which was odd, because I'm used to my host parents being in the kitchen.  But after about 5 minutes of me walking around in the dark, they woke up and started to get ready. It wasn't as cold as it usually is when we walked to school this morning, but I think the forecast said that it is going to get colder tomorrow and possibly rain.

About 10 minutes after class started, my Italian teacher came and got me and we did a bunch of exercises for 2 hours.  I think it's weird how I can pretty much understand most of what she says even though she doesn't speak any English, but I can't understand anybody else.  It's probably either because she speaks slowly or because she is purposely using words I already know.  I wish everybody spoke slowly, I may be able to pick up more that way, but Italian's conversations just seem like one big, long word.  Then we had art (or design) class after break for two hours. We went to another classroom and we all had to get out this big paper and rulers and stuff.  The teacher talked for about 45 minutes and I stared off into space, and then he came over to me and started my drawing for me.  He probably did about half of it, or at least the hard part (we are learning about perspective) and then all I really had to do was to measure some stuff, draw some lines, and connect the dots.  When I took it to the teacher for a final looking-over, he seemed like he was happy that it looked good but I just thought in my head 'it should look good, you basically did it for me'.  I think he was also being so nice because even if it looked bad, I wouldn't understand anything he would say.  Just smile and wave.

After school, we walked home and I had lunch, as usual.  Then I just did nothing for a couple of hours. Right before I started to get ready to go to the post office with Roberto (my host dad), my mom and sister skyped me.  We only talked for about 10 minutes before I had to go.  At 4:30, Roberto and I went to the post office to do something, or to mail something.  I just signed a couple things and showed my passport and then we were out of there. I didn't really understand what went on.

At 6, Giulia and Janie picked me up and we went to the chalet and hung out for a couple of hours with Giulia's friends until I had to be dropped off for dinner.  Dinner was simple tonight, soup and a grilled cheese and ham sandwich.  Oh! And I found the cousin to American cheese.  It's a white cheese in the same type of packaging as American cheese, and it has that weird, not good, fake taste.  Then I ate some figs from Lorena's garden, which were delicious!

I actually think that I'm going to get to bed at 10 tonight and I am so happy!  I didn't get to be until 12 last night, so I need good sleep.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Matelica

I hate waking up early! I wish I could just sleep all day long, but I did get to bed at 11 last night, which is a reasonable hour considering we eat dinner around 8:30.  I did my usual get ready for school routine this morning and then I walked to school.  I could see my breath.  Before we left the apartments, Alessio and I were waiting for another kid to walk with us to school, but he slept in and so we left him. I guess this is what happens every Monday, according to Alessio.

During the first hour of class, we had a free period, or something like that, and an English teacher was watching over our class.  I'm always surprised when the English teachers can't speak very good English, or if they can't understand me when I speak English, which is what happened today.  Then we had physics and it was easier because of the formulas.  Once I learn the formulas, I will be able to do the work easier.  After break, the Italian teacher who teaches me in private came to get me for the last two hours of class.  I feel like I'm able to understand some things that people say in Italian, but I'm not any closer to speaking it.

When I got home, we had lunch and then around 3, Janie and I went to one of Janie's friend's house in Matelica (about 15 minutes from Fabriano) and Elisabeth, the friend, speaks very good English.  We met up with two more girls and we went down to the center of the city because there were a bunch of street vender-ish shops all down the streets.  Before we got to the center, we stopped at a beautiful church to look around.  The priest also gave us a tour of this house place that this one person stays in sometimes.  I can't really remember what it was, but it was pretty! And I guess not many people usually get a tour of it, but the priest was very enthusiastic about showing us everything.

The church

The ceiling of a room

  Janie and I

When we got to the shops, we walked around forever! I don't like to shop, so I just gave my opinion about the stuff that the other girls picked out.  The center of Matelica is super beautiful and I would've taken a picture, but there were a ton of people around and I don't like to look like a tourist.  Of course I took pictures of some of the other streets because nobody was around.  Anyway, around 7:30, we ended our shopping and walked backed to Elisabeth's house.  We hung out until around 8 and then we had pizza! Again, there were like 5 different kinds, and I tasted almost all of them! I also had my first Italian beer (just a little bit).  After drinking some of it, the other people were mixing it with pepsi, so I tried it, and odd enough, it tasted really good.

We were picked up around 9 by Janie's host dad and dropped off at the church where we had this church group thing again.  There was a bunch of talking that I didn't understand, and around 10, when I was ready to go home, we played a game that took another 45 minutes. I'm not getting to bed early tonight.  Today was fun, but my feet hurt and I wanted to be to bed like 2 hours ago!

A smaller street in Matelica

The view of the center of Matelica

Ciao!
~Devon

Food

Today was a pretty uneventful day.  I slept about half of it, until 11:45, and then I got up and had breakfast.  At around 12:30, my host parents came home from wherever they had been and told me to get ready because we were going to Janie's host parent's house.  I got ready super quickly and then we left the house.

When we got there, a bunch of my friends were there too.  We all sat down in the living room and talked.  I just listened to everybody talk and wasn't able to contribute anything to the conversation because I didn't understand anything.  Janie and I would frequently exchange the "I have no idea what they are talking about" glance.  About 45 minutes later, we all sat down at the table and started to eat.  There were a ton of different types of pizza.  Cheese, tomato, onion, rosemary, meat, and the flower of zucchini or something like that.  I tried about three of them.  There was sooo much to eat, and I stopped eating long before everybody else.  I waited about 30 minutes and then everybody else was done eating as well.

Then dessert was brought out.  The first thing was like this pastry thing with honey on it and it tasted vaguely like a donut. It was really good! And then there was this other type of cake with nuts on top and creme in the middle.  I explained to everybody that Italian lunch would be considered an American dinner.  When everybody finished, we all sat down again, talked, and watched MTV videos on the tv.

All my friends left about an hour later and I ended up staying until about 6.  It was super boring because I couldn't understand anything and the adults were just talking amongst themselves.  Finally, Janie and I went with Janie's host sister Giulia to go to the chalet.  We just sat there and talked until around 8 and then I was dropped off at home.  It is starting to get really cold in Fabriano.  I was glad to be going home because I was freezing.

I had dinner and now I am going to attempt to go to bed early so I don't have to struggle to stay awake in class tomorrow.

Buonanotte
~Devon

Walking

I want to make this blog short because I am exhausted, but then again, I have so much to say! I woke up and did my normal routine this morning.  Luckily it didn't rain today so I didn't have to use an umbrella.  My Italian teacher wasn't at school today, so I had to stay in class.  We had physics, math, and Italian.  Physics was okay, and I was able to understand a tiny bit of it just because of the formulas on the board, but math class made me feel stupid.  They are doing stuff that I haven't learned yet and it is so hard to follow along.  I feel like I should be better at it since it is my favorite subject, but I'm not.  Then we had Italian and I just doodled and skimmed through my English-Italian dictionary.

When I got home from school, I had lunch and then relaxed for a couple of hours until Janie came over at 3.  We decided we were going to explore Fabriano by ourselves for the first time.  We walked around the public gardens and down to the center and we were talking like crazy.  I had forgotten what it felt like to speak English fast.  The people we walked by would always look at us weird.  Then we went to the Scale and played cards.  Neither of us knew many card games so we just ended up playing Go Fish and an Italian game with our American cards.  At around 6, we met up with some other friends and walked around to different shops, then we decided to head home at 7:15.  We stopped in some shops along the way and we thought we would try a different way to get home... bad idea.  We got so lost! Good thing Fabriano is a small town.  We were walking around small narrow streets for about 30 minutes until we finally found the center and took a familiar route home, getting there at 8.  We had to speed walk like mad women to get home on time.  On the bright side, the views were amazing and the weather was nice! I love the small Italian streets and the old buildings.  And now I'm glad that I know my way around the center of town.

Right when we arrived home, we left the house again to go to a small town about 10 minutes away for the Festa dell'uva with my host parents.  It means the party of the grape.  When we got there, we had dinner (too much food!) and Janie and I had our first (small) glass of wine in Italy with my host parents and their friends.  It was a wine party after all.  Then we went off on our own and walked around the town some more.  Everything was so loud.  People were drinking and talking and it was hard to understand what Janie was saying and she was right next to me.  Janie and I were ready to go before the adults were.  We finally left around 11:30 and I couldn't even keep my eyes open during the car ride home.  Now I'm struggling to keep them open now. Good thing I get to sleep in until noon if I want tomorrow. And my feet hurt so bad from walking around all day, but it was good exercise.

Well, it looks like I kept this blog somewhat short.

Until tomorrow! Ciao!
~Devon

Rain

I woke up a little late again today (around 7), but not enough to make me rush.  I had my cheerios and got ready for school.  Around 7:45, Alessio came and got me and we walked to school.  It was raining harder than yesterday, but still not enough for me to use my umbrella.  When we got to school, I talked a little bit and then the teacher started teaching.  I sat there and doodled for 30 minutes and then the Italian teacher came and got me to do private Italian lessons.  We worked for about 2 hours until break and then I went back to my class to stay there for the rest of the day.

I was in class for chemistry and I continued to doodle because I couldn't follow what he was doing and then after an hour, the math teacher came in.  She wanted me to follow along and do the examples that she put on the board.  The examples were mostly about circles, parabolas, and ellipses, which I could do, but then there was other stuff they did that I hadn't learned yet, and it was impossible for me to follow along in Italian.

When school ended, we walked home and I actually used my umbrella this time.  I hate walking with an umbrella because everyone had one and it was really hard to walk on the sidewalk without poking someone's eye out.  My umbrella also kept hitting the buildings.  When we got home, I rang the doorbell and nobody was home so I sat on the stairs to wait, but then Alessio's dad came down the stairs and invited me up to their apartment.  I only stayed for about 5 minutes before Lorena showed up and I went back to my room.

We had lunch and I went to my room to take a nap because I could barely keep my eyes open in class today.  I slept on and off for about 2 hours and then I got up.  At 6, Giovanna came and picked me up and we went to the gym again.  We did a step class, which was super difficult because for one, it was in Italian, and two, the combinations of the stepping were super confusing and hard to follow.  I eventually got it down though.  Then after that class, Giovanna and I did a pilates class, which was relaxing and hard at the same time.  Hopefully I'll be sore tomorrow because it makes me feel more accomplished.

I got home at 8:30 and had dinner, took a shower, and now I am going to try to go to bed early for the first time since I've been here, unless I start listening to music or reading, which is what usually happens.

Tomorrow is Saturday! The last day of the week for school! I am going to cherish my Sundays!  But tomorrow I don't have any private Italian lessons so I will just have to work on my doodles, or maybe try to learn if we have something like math.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Progress

Today I woke up at 7, and it is already getting easier! I think it's just because I'm still in a foreign environment and I don't want to be late to walk to school.  It was really overcast and rainy this morning and I loved it.  I don't really like the rain, but I do like the overcast weather.  It was funny because a lot of the Italians were saying how cold it was and how they don't like it, but it didn't really feel cold at all to me.  When I got to class, we started learning right away (or at least the other students did).  I just sat there daydreaming until two teachers walked into class and asked for me.  One was an English teacher and the other was an Italian teacher.  We went up to an empty room and talked for a while about what the plan will be for me.

The Italian teacher is going to work with me privately about two, possibly three hours a day, when I would normally be in physics or math or something, and instead of not being able to understand anything, I will get to start from the basics of Italian and work my way up slowly.  Today, we did about an hour total of Italian.  It was basically a review for me.  Some verbs, the days of the week, months, introductions and so on, but it will get more difficult as we go.  I told the Italian teacher that I wanted to go back to class for art because I thought it would be something easy to understand without having to know Italian, but I guess he just spoke about perspective and drew some stuff on the board for the whole class, so I didn't understand anything. Then I went back to private lessons until the end of the school day, which was just until 12:30.

I walked home with the same people and had lunch (it's all starting to become a normal routine).  Then I had a couple of hours to myself again where I just read and listened to music.  At 4, Giovanna, Chiara, and Valentina came and picked me up and we went to the gym, finally! I've been waiting to go for a week.  It was so nice to workout again.  We just did some running and weights for about 30 minutes and then we went up stairs to do an aerobics class.  It was pretty easy, but it was fun, and it was good for me to review some of the body parts in Italian, numbers, and direction.

After the class, all four of us huddled under a small umbrella and walked to a store across the street to be picked up.  Then when I got home, we ate dinner, and around 9, I was picked up by Giulia (my future host sister), and Janie (the other exchange student).  We went back to their house (which will be my future house) and it is beautiful! It is like three or four stories from what I saw because I didn't get a tour or anything, but it is amazing!  Anyway, about five other people came over and we just hung out upstairs (like the third or fourth floor) and talked about random things.  Then at eleven, Giulia took me home.

It was a fun day, and I am super glad that I now have a private Italian teacher! Hopefully this will increase the speed that I'm learning!

Going to bed not so early tonight. Oh well.

Ciao!
~Devon

School School School

Oh waking up early... I haven't missed it one bit.  I woke up at 6:45 this morning to get ready for school  and then I walked to school with a couple of people.  When we arrived, they showed me to my classroom (luckily! Or I would have never found it) and I walked up to one of the only people in the class at the time and asked "Do you speak English?" She said she did a little and then she said I could sit next to her.  Then we went out to courtyard and talked with a couple of other people. Only for about 10 minutes though, because the bell rang, and we were back in the classroom where I met another girl who spoke even better english. I ended up sitting between the two girls.

The first class started and the teacher drew a graph on the board, reviewing the subjects of the last year. I asked the girl next to me if it was math and she said it was physics.  I don't really get anything that happened in that class, I was just copying the stuff on the board.  Then we had religion. (In Italian schools, the students stay in the same classroom while the teachers switch.)  During the religion class I didn't understand anything, so I just sat there and I was really bored.  After the second class (they are each an hour) we had a 10 minute break to eat something and hang out in the courtyard and then back to class. My third class was biology and yet again, I didn't understand anything.  I could pick up a couple of words like prokaryotic, fungi, plants, animals, and eukaryotic just because they are similar to English, but that's it. The last class of the day was Italian and I didn't understand one word.  The teacher was very interesting because all of the students had to stand up when he arrived and then it felt like he studied each one of us and then let us sit down.  From what I understood (because it was translated by one of the girls I was sitting next to) I will get more basic Italian assignments, which is good!

School ended at 12:30 and I met up with the people I walked to school with and I walked home with them.  Then I had lunch with my host parents and relaxed again for a couple of hours since Lorena and Roberto had to go to work.

I was picked up around 5 by Giovanna and I met up with my future host sister Giulia, and the other exchange student from Iowa who just arrived today, Janie. We walked around the center of Fabriano to show her around and then we went to the Scale.  When we all sat down, we were joined by a bunch of people and we talked about a lot of random things.  I was feeling really comfortable today, and I keep feeling more and more like myself.  It may be because of my new, english speaking friend, Janie, or because I am getting more comfortable with my Italian friends. I love them all!  We stayed at the Scale for about 2 hours and 30 minutes and then I had to get home for dinner.  So far, I have tried something new for dinner every night and it is no surprise that it is all wonderful!

My amazing friends!

The weather is getting worse now.  It has been sunny and warm since I've been here and now it is starting to get cloudy and it looks like it is going to rain, but I like overcast weather all the same!  I can't wait for my english class! It will be refreshing to understand something and be able to actually do work since all I did today was stare off into space until the bell rang.

Overall, today was pretty fun (after school at least). Ugh, I don't know how I am going to survive school from Monday through Saturday! Even if they are shorter days.

Anyway, I'm going to bed early tonight. For real this time!
Ciao!
~Devon

Day Before School Starts

I was woken up today by Lorena saying that we had to go to the police station to get my resident's permit.  I was kind of sad that she was waking me up, because she said she wouldn't, but then she said she was waking me up because the police station closes in the afternoon.  When she left, I looked at my clock and it was 11:30am! I guess I got a good night's sleep.  I love my room because it is pitch black when the curtains are closed, no matter what time it is during the day.  I still thought it was like 6 in the morning when Lorena woke me up.

I ate breakfast, got dressed and then we drove to the station.  It was a shorter process than I thought it would be. Only about 15 minutes.  Then we came home and had lunch.  Lorena went back to work and I went with Roberto to go to his office so that we could fix/get a new converter for me because mine was overheating and making a buzzing noise.  After about 45 minutes at his office, the problem was fixed and now my converter (my new converter) is cool and quiet!  On the way back up to the apartment, I met three new people.  One of the guys lives in an apartment above me and goes to the same school as I do, so we will be walking together tomorrow.  I also met another guy who people tell me is one of the smartest in the school, which is cool!  They were both previously my facebook friends before I even arrived in Italy, so it is easy to remember their names.

Roberto had to go back to work, so I just had a relaxing afternoon reading and listening to music.  At 5pm, my friend Giovanna came and picked me up and we went to pick Chiara and then meet up with Penelope and Valentina (all friends).  We shopped around for about an hour and then began to walk to the Scale.

I walked around a new part of Fabriano today and it was so beautiful! The streets were narrow and made of cobblestone and the buildings were tall.  I also noticed how different the fashion is here.  The teenagers wear stuff that wouldn't be considered fashionable where I live.  But I do love everybody's shoes!

Anyway, we never really made it to the Scale until later because on the way there, we stopped and talked with a bunch of people (whose names I can't remember ugh! I need to get better at that).  I met a girl who went to Alaska two years ago for six months and she spoke very good English.  She was excited to talk to me because it let her review English.  I didn't mind because I still can't understand anything that people say. I'm getting better though.

When we got to the Scale, we sat at a table and talked for a while.  I met my second host family's daughter, who is my host sister and she was very nice.  She goes to a university, so I think she will only come home on weekends when I live with her family.

Everybody started talking about tv shows and they asked me if I liked Jersey Shore.  I said I had never seen it and everybody thought I was crazy. They also asked me if I had ever watched Teen Mom and stuff, but again, I said no.  They watch these shows because MTV is the only American channel they really have.  I also thought it was funny because some Italians learn how to say stuff from Jersey Shore, and of course, it's not good, but it was funny.

Then I walked home with a couple of people and I had a delicious dinner.  I took a shower and listened to music.  Then I had a really good talk with my host mom and now I need to go to bed because my first day of school is tomorrow! Aaaaahhhhh!  I probably won't understand a word being said.  I don't even know where my classroom is!! Wish me luck!

Ciao!
~Devon

Good and Bad Day

I woke up today at 7:30am because Lorena and I were going to meet my principal and my Rotary counselor at the school I am starting on Wednesday.  I got ready and ate breakfast by myself and then we got in the car and left.  It's pretty much only 1 minute to get there by driving.  We waited at the front of the school for about 10 minutes for my counselor and while we were waiting, I met some of the teachers, one of which was my math teacher.  Then we decided to go into the school and meet the principal.  On the way, we found my counselor and then we all went together to the office.  The principal didn't speak any English, so I just sat there while everybody else talked.  I guess everything was alright because we left soon after one of the teachers showed me where my classroom should be.

Today was the first day that Lorena and Roberto (my host dad) had to go to work so I was home alone until 1.  I pretty much did nothing.  I was on the computer for most of the time, translating phrases in Italian, watching youtube videos, reading, and getting new music.  When they got home, Lorena made lunch, which was pasta! My friend called a little while later, and we made plans to go out to shop for school stuff and hang out with other friends.  When they arrived, we walked around town but didn't find any notebooks we liked, so we went the Scale.  There were a lot of other teenagers there, and we sat down at a table and played cards.  I learned two Italian games! The cards are very different.  They don't have numbers, just pictures, and the names of the cards are in Italian (obviously) so I had to learn them. I don't think I remember them now though.  I also brought an Italian dictionary with me this time, so when we didn't know what each other were saying, we looked up the word.  It was very helpful.

I met a lot of new people again today, and my brain is probably go to explode with Italian names, all jumbled up with different faces.  I can only remember about 3 names that go with the right person.  And again, it is terrible how much teenagers smoke! One girl came to sit with us and she started smoking. It sucked because I felt like I couldn't breathe and then another guy came over and started smoking as well.  It started to give me a headache, but everybody else is used to it.  I explained to everybody that not a lot of people smoke in Reno, or at least where I live.

When I finally looked at the time, I realized that I was a little late for dinner, so they got me home quickly and I made more plans for my friends to come and pick me up after dinner, around 9, to go to this church group thing.  When we got to the church, we all sat down in a circle, and for about an hour, the group leader talked, and one of my friends translated some of the sentences for me.  I didn't understand anything else the group leader was saying.

Around 10:15, the meeting was over and all of the other girls were going out, so they called Lorena and asked if I could go too, but she said no, even though my curfew was 11.  They walked me home and we said our goodbyes (a kiss on each cheek).

I guess I'm going to bed early tonight. Buonanotte.
~Devon

The Adriatic Sea

Today I had to get up early (...8:15) and get ready to go to the beach!  My house/condo only has one bathroom so I had to wait a couple of minutes until I could use it.  Before I got my bathing suit on,  I went and had breakfast.  I had cheerios, which was good because it wasn't too much food, and then I tried this thing called crostata which is like a pie, or a cookie thing with jam on it.  It's hard to explain.  Maybe a picture later.

The drive to the sea is about an hour and I fell asleep.  There are a ton of tunnels on they way there.  I was also told that we were going to visit my host Italian uncle, aunt, and cousins, and Chiara, who is one of Veronica's (my host sister who is Reno for her exchange) friends, and after today, I call her my friend too!  We walked to the camp, which is very different from American camping and I met everybody.  They were speaking a mixture of English and Italian, so it's safe to say I understood half of it.  Everybody was super nice though and we all headed to the beach.  It was very pretty, but I didn't bring my camera.  After setting up umbrellas and stuff and putting on sunscreen, well, me putting on sunscreen, we went for a stroll along the water.  Chiara, Chiara's sister, and my host italian cousin all know some english and so I would say something and they would all ask each other what it meant.  Chiara was also very good at explaining to me what I had said in Italian so that I could learn the phrase.  I think I learned the most Italian today out of all of the days I've been here (which is only 4).

The street full of campers

My host uncle's camp place

We went about half way into the water and I learned the names of some sea creatures like jelly fish (medusa), octopus (polipo), and shark (squalo), along with a myriad of other things, some of which I don't really remember.  Then we all went and sat in the shade.  We headed back to camp about 30 minutes later and had lunch.  Oh, Italian lunch! Tortellini, prosciutto, cantaloupe, bread, carrots, three different types of cake things.  Mamma mia!

Chiara and I went on a bike ride to the bar place so that Chiara could put money on her phone.  It's different than what I'm used to in the U.S.  It's basically like an itunes gift card.  You give the cashier money, and they give you a card worth that amount and you use a coin to scratch off the gray stuff that covers the code.  Then we rode/walked back to camp and met the adults at the beach again.  I was super tired, so I put my towel under the umbrella and fell asleep for who knows how long.  When I woke up, we packed up everything, went back to the camp, packed up more, and left.  This time, I didn't fall asleep on the car ride (until later at least) and I got to see the super beautiful landscape of Italy!

When we got home I hopped in the shower.  It was so confusing.  It's a bath tub, and it has a glass paneled door that folds out around the bath. (I will take a picture later because Lorena is drying her hair right now.)  They also keep their shampoo in the cupboard by the sink, which I thought was interesting, but I had my own shower stuff.  When I was out, dinner was on the table. Tonight, we had soup, which was delicious and simple.  It was just some type of watery broth with round noodles and olive oil. I also had some left over chicken, a tiny piece of pork, a piece of bread, and I finished off my strawberries.  I have also snuck in a couple of sour patch kids that I brought from home because I was craving something sour... and then sweet!

I'm going to bed early tonight because I have to get up early again tomorrow! This time, about 7:30am. Overall, today was a good day.  I met new people, I learned a lot of Italian, and I attempted to speak Italian!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

First Night in Fabriano

Before I forget what I did. I will write about my night (7-8-12).  Giovanna, my friend, came to my house at 7pm to pick me up and we walked around Fabriano.  She gave me a tour of the center and everything is very beautiful! The streets are like cobblestone and the building are tall and... Italian looking?  I didn't take any pictures tonight, but I will later.

When we were walking around, I was introduced to a lot of people, and I can't remember many people's names.  Only a select few.  At around 9, we went to this one guy's house, Luca is his name, and there were about 7 other teenagers there.  We had pizza and then after dinner, I tried espresso with sugar, which was surprisingly good since I don't like coffee.  They were also playing American music the whole time and I knew all of the songs.  I thought it was weird that they listen to music in English, but I like it.  I didn't understand anything anybody was saying and they tried to talk in English, but it was still hard to understand them.  I felt kind of awkward, because I just sat there, but some of them were asking me questions about the U.S. and I did my best to answer.

After awhile, we went to the Scale (pronounced shalae, I think) which is this hangout spot/bar where a TON of teenagers hang out.  It doesn't get busy until about 10 to 11.  I am surprised by how many teenagers smoke and I felt like I inhaled so much smoke.  In Reno, I always try to hold my breath when someone is smoking but it is obviously impossible to hold my breath for more than an hour!

I felt really left out because everybody was speaking Italian (obviously) and I really need to learn fast.  I want to be able to have a conversation! Then my host mom came and got me at 11:50pm and we drove home, which was about 5 minutes.  Everything is very close in Fabriano.  Then I talked with Emma on skype for a while about everything and now it is 2am.  I still don't feel tired.  Maybe it is the espresso?  Anyway, I need to go to bed because I have to get up at 8 tomorrow.  I think we are going to the beach.

Buonanotte
~Devon

When in Rome...

Oh my gosh!! I have been so busy the last three days and this is the first time I have internet.  I guess I will start with Day 1 on the plane.  I left my parents around 5am and I was surprised because I didn't cry as much as I thought I would.  The flight to LA was short and Rachel and I just talked the whole way.  When we got to LA, Rachel and I had to navigate our way to the bus to go to terminal 2 and then we had to use the machine thing to get our tickets.  It was super confusing, but we managed to do it by ourselves!! We found our gate number, got lunch, and then we pretty much did nothing for 7 hours.  About 20 minutes before the flight left, the other exchange student showed up and there was a lot of confusion, but we finally got on the plane.  Rachel and I weren't sitting together and our original plan was to ask somebody to switch but I think we were both so stressed that we just sat down and didn't bother.  I ended up sitting next to this really great Rotarian couple who were going to Italy to travel around some of the small towns for two weeks.  We talked a lot and it was very nice.  Then we had dinner and went to sleep.  By "went to sleep," I mean, curled up in a ball and periodically dozed off for about 7 hours.  I think I slept about a total of 2 hours.  There were individual tvs on each seat and you could choose your movie.  They had movies like The Avengers, The Lucky One, etc. but mine didn't work, of course, so I just listened to music.  Then we had breakfast and the plane landed about 2 hours later.  This is when things got difficult.  Rachel, the other exchange student, and I had to make a good guess as to which train thing we had to take to the baggage claim and flight connections and then we had to part ways.  I found my luggage by myself, which made me proud! Then I walked around to the exit and my host parents were waiting! We hugged and stuff and they took all of my bags!  We went to this food place and I got pasta and pesto rice and I pretty much stuffed myself because I thought it would be rude if I didn't.  I couldn't even finish the plate, and they kept asking if I wanted more!  After that, we got to the car and drove to the center of Rome where the hotel was.  

I had heard that Italians don't normally wear seat belts when they are in the backseat, but I always like to where a seat belt.  When I got in, I looked around and I saw that they had taken it out!  It was terrible! I felt like I had no protection whatsoever.  Especially with the crazy driving.  It's so hard to explain, the driving I have seen and experienced is soooooo crazy! Everybody drives really fast, even on small roads, and they stop super close to each other.  Sometimes, I don't even think there are lanes because cars are just swerving in and out through the traffic and there aren't lines on the road.  Pedestrians also cross the street everywhere and cars barely stop for them.  When the people are barely past the car, they speed up again.  And holy smart car!! I have never seen so many of them in my life!  I guess people drive them a lot because they are so small and easy to maneuver through small streets.  And a bunch of them were parked straight into a sidewalk like it was a parking spot.  Most of the cars in Rome are tiny, they are a little bit bigger than smart cars and they have a back seat.  When I took a taxi during my tour of Rome, we had to go through really narrow streets, and we were probably less than 5 inches from the parked cars.  I didn't really look, but I would bet that there are probably a lot of scratches on the sides of cars.  

When we got to the hotel the first night, I was really surprised because I got my own room! Once I saw it, I realized why though. I took a picture that I will put up.  I was secretly grateful to have my own room, because I needed some alone time after the stressful day.  We went out that night to shop, and since I am not much of a shopper, I was just looking at all of the buildings.  It reminds me a lot of San Francisco or New York, but more ancient looking.  Then we ate dinner around 8:30pm, which is the normal time Italians eat dinner.  

So,  there hasn't been a moment when I am hungry in Italy.  Italians eat SOOO MUCH, but everybody is skinny here!  I think I will probably gain weight.  They have breakfast, which is normally a lot of bread and sweet stuff.  Then they have a snack before lunch, which is like fruit or something, then lunch, which is basically an American dinner, another snack, and then dinner.  Whenever I would eat something, I would be stuffed even before I had finished one plate, and then they would keep asking me if I wanted something else! I finally learned the work "Basta!" which means "I'm done."  But the food is very very good here, and healthy too.

My first night, I woke up a couple of times to change the temperature of the room and because I had a headache and I had stupidly forgotten to bring advil.  I was even drinking a lot of water. When I woke up, I still had a headache and after breakfast, we went to the pharmacy to get aspirin. I took it later in the afternoon because we started walking to the metro after buying it, and I didn't have time to figure out how to take it (it is way different that what we have in the U.S.)  It looks like those little packages that you use to make kool-aid or flavored water, and you pour it under your tongue for it to dissolve.  It tasted like a pixi stick and it made my headache go away really fast.  

When we got off of the metro, we met our personal tour guide (who spoke english for me!) and right in front of me was the Colosseum!  It was absolutely amazing!!  We did so much stuff that day (9-7-12) I can't possible explain it all, but I will say the main things.  After the Colosseum, we went to another place that I can't remember... I can't remember a lot of the places, but they were big and beautiful and I have pictures of them all!  We went to the Vatican and saw the Sistene Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, oh and the Pantheon.  I threw a coin in the Trevi fountain!! We got lunch at this restaurant in this narrow street and it was really pretty! I had delicious spaghetti! I also had my first gelato in Rome! After 10 hours of touring, we went to dinner and then back to the hotel to sleep.  

Colosseum and host parents 

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Spaghetti!

Today, we drove 3 hours to Fabriano and the drive was amazing.  All of the hills and mountains are so green and the villages on the hills are so cool! I even saw some castles!  When we got to Fabriano, I got a tour of the apartment/condo, which is very cool and then I went to the supermarket with my host mom, Lorena.  It was very different.  For all of the fruits and vegetables,  you have to weigh them and use this computer thing that prints out a sticker with the bar code on it.  It is fairly easy to use.  Lorena kept asking me what I wanted to buy but I kept saying "I don't know" because I can't read anything!  When we got home, I unpacked and Lorena made lunch, which I explained it basically an American dinner.  We had roast chicken, potatoes, and strawberries.  Everything was delicious, but very filling!  Now I am blogging and I might go out with some people my age later tonight, but I'm not sure...

On the drive...

I still can't understand or speak very much Italian and I am soo glad Lorena speaks English, but I need to learn fast!  

Well, ciao for now! 

~Devon

Last Night in Reno

Tonight is my last night in Reno and I am just beginning to get nervous.  I keep thinking about my family and friends (and pets) and how much I am going to miss everyone.  I am overwhelmed because I don't know if I'm forgetting anything or if I'm packing too much.  I need to leave the house at 4:15am.  My plane leaves at 6am to LA where I will land at 9am.  Then a six hour layover and off to Rome at 3pm.  Eleven hour flight and then I will land at 12pm the next day because Italy is 9 hours ahead.  It will be a long day of traveling, but I will have Rachel, who is going to Sicily, to keep me company, and another exchange student whom I don't know that will meet us at the LA airport.

For those of you who don't know, I am a Rotary Youth Exchange Student who will be spending my 2012-2013 high school junior year in Italy.  I was lucky enough to be able to meet my host parent's daughter who is spending her year abroad in my city.  We have hung out about four times and she has taught me so much Italian! I am so grateful to have her as a friend.

I don't think I am going to sleep tonight since I have to get up so early anyway.  I still have so much stuff to do before I can feel more relaxed about leaving to go to the airport and I have no idea where to start.  Beginning my blog is one check off of my to-do list!

Well, time to start getting organized and figuring out everything I need to do in the next 5 hours...

Ciao for now!