Sudoku

The first two hours of class today were history and philosophy.  I really wanted to do my sudoku puzzles, but unfortunately, we had to go and get the computer so that I could read about stuff.  My friend and I went to find the computer and it took us about ten minutes to finally locate it in the nurses office.  When we got back, I had to read about the Scientific Revolution the whole time.  It was also really cold in the classroom and the teacher went and opened the window! I was freezing to death until the teacher noticed my friend putting on her jacket and scarf and decided to close the window again.

During break, I finally got to take out my sudoku book and I did a couple of puzzles.  Then I gave it to a friend to do one.  I thought I would be able to do it during physics but she had me read about something else and then I just stared at the board the rest of the hour.  The last two hours of class were chemistry and I was doing sudoku when the teacher came in, hoping that he wouldn't say anything, and he didn't! Except that he doesn't know how it's helping me learn Italian... well.... uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove.  Wah lah!  I ended up working on sudoku the whole two hours and the teacher would sporadically come over to see what I was doing and I would just look up and smile.  I feel like I'm getting really good.  I have a whole sudoku solving system now and I moved on to the difficult puzzles!

After lunch, I browsed the internet until Janie came over at 4:30 and we walked to the center of Fabriano.  We sat on some steps and she started to sketch the fountain while I worked on more sudoku. Our hands started to freeze and it was hard to write, but then Giulia and Angela showed up and we went with them to the pub.  More friends showed up and some of them helped Janie and I work on sudoku.  We stayed at the pub talking and doing sudoku until 7:30 and then I was dropped off at home.

I am so glad that tomorrow is the last day of school this week! I still haven't decided my Halloween plans yet though... hmmm.

Ciao!
~Devon

The Cold is Here

The school schedule was very interesting today, but I liked it.  When the Italian teacher came in, he said that there would be two hours of Italian because the Physics teacher wasn't at school today, and that was supposed to be our second hour.  I read my Italian book the whole time and it was almost impossible to keep my eyes open. I was very tired, and bored.  I wanted to get my sudoku book out, but I was scared that the teacher would get mad at me since it doesn't help me learn Italian.  During the break, I finally got it out and started on the first puzzle.  Then one of my classmates came over and we ended up doing sudoku together for the next hour because I don't think the English teacher was there today either, so there was another teacher watching over the class and we just got to sit there and do whatever we wanted.  The last two hours of class were spent in the computer lab and I was able to understand what was going on during the first hour because they were doing graphs on excel, but during the second hour, which was all informatics, I got out my sudoku book and did some more puzzles.  I think that I probably finished around 10 to 15 today.

I sped walked home because it was freezing today.  It was weird because it suddenly just got cold yesterday afternoon.  The weather was fine before that, and then there was a huge drop in temperature. Time for the big jackets.  After lunch, I relaxed and then I walked to school in the freezing weather at 4.  The lesson was only an hour today, which is what I prefer because two hours is just too long.  I was dropped off at home afterwards and then Lorena and I went to the police station to pick up my ID card thing that says I can live here.  It only took about 10 minutes and then I had some time to get ready to go to the gym.  I did my step class and then came home for dinner.

Janie and I are skipping the church group today because we are both exhausted. Probably from the lack of sleep we got this weekend.

Ciao!
~Devon

Saturday and Sunday

I am combining Saturday and Sunday because I spent the night at a friend's house last night and I couldn't write my blog.

Yesterday, I went to school as always and for the first two hours, I read my Italian book and tried not to fall asleep because I had only gotten 3 and a half hours of sleep the previous night.  Then we had 2 hours of gym and most of the day consisted of jump roping.  We had to practice doing backward criss-crossing and stuff and I was terrible at it.  Then I learned that we were going to have a jump rope test.  The teacher was testing two people at a time and one of my friends said that I was going last, by myself, so that my friend could translate what the teacher was saying.  Most of my friends were tested in the beginning and then went to sit down so I was standing there by myself while the rest of the class was being tested.  I decided to practice.  I followed along with what the other students were being tested on and I think I got pretty good!  When it was finally my turn, the teacher ended up saying that I could do any jumping tricks I wanted to, I just had to jump for a minute.  So I did all the stuff I was really good at and I ended up getting a 10.  I want to buy a jump rope now because I find it very enjoyable.  Then we came back to the school for an hour of art and I searched stuff on google for that time.

I came home for lunch and then around 5, Janie and I were dropped off at our friend's house in Matelica.  We went out shopping and the only thing that Janie and I bought was the same exact sudoku book so that we could start doing something in class other than staring at the wall.  I think it's something that my teachers would approve of too.  Then we went to the grocery store to get junk food and we went back to her house.  We listened to music for a little bit until dinner was ready and it was delicious homemade pizza.

After stuffing ourselves, we got ready and went to the pub in Matelica.  We only ended up staying about 30 minutes because we got bored and just walked around the town for a little bit.  Our friend's dad picked us up and we went home and watched a movie.  We had picked out 4 movies, but we only stayed awake for one.  We had to change our clocks back one hour, so we ended up going to bed pretty early, but that's okay, because for some reason, we woke up early too, at around 8!  Then we watched another movie until Janie's host dad picked us up and dropped me off at the pool where I watched my host cousin swim in a race.

Then we went home to get ready to go to Roberto's mom's house because it was her birthday and the birthday of another of my host cousins.  There was a ton of food, but I wasn't very hungry so I didn't eat much.  We stayed at their house until around 4 and then came back home.  I've just been relaxing the whole day and I haven't done anything interesting.

I'm going to try my hardest to get to bed early tonight since I barely got any sleep this weekend.  I'm very excited to start my sudoku book tomorrow!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Long Day

My internet was not functioning last night.  If it does this every time it rains, I’m going to start never having internet.  This blog was written in a word document last night.

The first two hours of class today were History and Philosophy.  During this time, I typed up the final draft of my Rotary speech and finished the English version of my art homework.  I still have to translate it to Italian for the teacher with the help of my friends.  During art, I studied for the English class test that we were having next.  I basically read the textbook page 5 times to make sure that I totally understood it.  During break, I asked my friend to help me with the English conjugation of verbs such as present simple and present continuous because I had no idea what that was for the English language.  Everybody was laughing because an Italian was teaching me English, but then I explained to them my predicament and they agreed that they don’t really know this stuff for Italian either.

English was very interesting.  The teacher made me move to the front corner of the room so that I couldn’t help anyone.  You may think that the test was easy for me, but it was super confusing.  For one of the questions, there could’ve been two right answers, and for some of the verb conjugating sentences, I just put whatever I though sounded right and I don’t even know if it’s the form of the verb that the test asked for.  The last two questions required a written answer, and even though I memorized that portion of the textbook, there was still some information that the teacher had talked about one class (that I couldn’t understand because of his strong accent and because he spoke Italian a lot of the time) that wasn’t in the textbook, so I’m not sure that I answered the question completely, even though I wrote a ton.  When I turned in my test, the teacher looked it over and then he pointed at a word and looked very puzzled.  He kept saying something in English, but I couldn’t understand him. Then he wrote on the board “travelling” and told me that I had spelt it wrong because I only put one L.  I told him that it was spelled with one L but he kept saying it was two.  Then he asked some other students and everybody said it was with two L’s.  I was starting to doubt myself at that point and I was getting embarrassed because I didn’t want the whole class to know that I spelled an English word wrong.  I got out my dictionary and luckily found the word “traveling” with only one L!  I showed him and a bunch of other kids in my class and they were all very confused because I guess they’ve been spelling it with two L’s for their whole lives.  My mind was finally at rest.

Then we had Biology and I organized my Rotary email because there were too many emails in my inbox and I wanted to put them into different folders.  By the time that was finished, we had math and I tried to study online, but I ended up talking with some of my friends and doodling. 

After lunch, Janie came over and we frantically worked on our PowerPoints to go along with our speeches because we had to go to Italian lessons soon.  I finished most of mine and Janie was still working on hers, but then the internet quit so we headed to the school and Janie took her laptop.  When we got there, we asked the teacher if we could work on our speeches the whole 2 hours and she said it was fine.  We ended up going to the computer room and I got to add more pictures to my PowerPoint and finalize everything.  Then Janie and I practiced reading them out loud a couple of times, and by then, it was time to leave. 

There was a big fair thing going on in Fabriano today with a lot of street vendors, similar to the one that we went to in Matelica.  Janie wasn’t in the shopping mood, and I’m never in the shopping mood, so it was a little annoying because there were people everywhere!  We prefer it when it’s in another town.  Fabriano was barely recognizable to us.  The fair only lasts for today though.  We met up with some friends and walked around for an hour until Janie and I had to walk home to change for the Rotary meeting.  We were ready within about 15 minutes and then our Rotary counselor came to pick us up. 

We went to a hotel near my school where the meeting was being held and we met a bunch of new people.  We also met the Rotaract group, which are teenagers our age.  We got to sit at a table with all of them for dinner.  We listened through some people talk, and then it was our turn to go.  I felt like my speech went pretty well.  I only stumbled on a couple of words, but I felt like my pronunciation was good overall.  Janie went after me and she did very well too.  She had a little bit more trouble with the pronunciation, but she had a lot of personality and some of the Rotarians were helping her when she got stuck on a word.  After we were finished, we took a bunch of pictures with some of the Rotarians and then we got to sit back down and talk with the Rotaract students again.  

The meeting formally ended around 11, but everybody ended up talking until 11:45.  We also found out that a lot of the Rotarians are willing to take us on small trips to different places around Italy.  Janie’s host mom finally got us out because we still have to go to school tomorrow, no matter how hard we tried to persuade our host parents that we would just be too tired!  (We tried about 4 times, but to no avail.)  I got home at 12 and it is currently 1 in the morning.  I don’t feel really tired right now, but I’m sure it’s going to be terrible tomorrow.  Maybe if Lorena sees that I look like a zombie in the morning, I won’t have to go to school??  I don’t think it’s going to work though…

Here’s to a tiring Saturday at school!

Ciao!

~Devon

Speech

The first two hours of class today were spent in the Biology lab, which isn't really a lab at all.  It's a classroom with a limited amount of counter space.  Everything was very cluttered and I just kept thinking about being told all of the lab rules by my chemistry teacher, Mrs. Crowley, last year.  We had to keep everything extremely clean and organized.  There was also an oil lamp with an open flame and the students had to hold the glass slide over the top of it with their fingers in order for the liquid on top to dry.  It all seemed very dangerous to me, but it's just a culture change! Then we looked at the stuff through a microscope and sat around and talked.  

After break we had English when we were supposed to have Religion.  I'm not really sure what was going on.  During that class, the teacher was talking, but I don't think any of the students were listening. A group of kids starting using the computer at my desk to do who knows what while I worked on my Rotary speech.  Then we had Physics and I continued to work on my Rotary speech, as well as finalizing my Chemistry quiz and emailing it to the teacher.

We had English again for the last hour of the day and it was very interesting.  I wasn't paying attention, but then I guess the teacher asked for a boy and a girl to be tested on the textbook material that they had been reading.  Everybody started shouting my name, and that's when I started to pay attention.  Then the teacher said "why not?"and he called me to the front of the room as well as a boy in the class.  I grabbed one of my friend's English textbook and speed read some of the paragraphs so that I could refresh my memory on what I had read about 4 times in previous classes.  The teacher asked us questions about the paragraphs, such as "talk about Henry VII," "talk about Elizabeth I," "talk about.... etc."  Nothing was very specific.  I ended up talking most of the time because I had practically memorized all of the paragraphs.  I also talked extremely fast when I answered so that I wouldn't be caught if I said something wrong. I don't think the teacher understood a word I said.  I said one sentence and he stopped me and said he didn't know if I was correct and so I opened the textbook and showed him the exact sentence that I had just said.  Then he "realized" that that was what I was saying. Afterwards, he had to write down our grades in the grade book, from 1 to 10, and all of my classmates kept yelling "10" for me.  He took longer than I expected to write it down though.  I pretty much read the whole page of the textbook to him by memory and I would've been a little mad if he had given me anything less than a 10... not to sound conceited or anything.  

After lunch, I worked on my speech again and watched some tv.  Then I walked to my Italian lesson, which was only an hour, and Janie and I worked on our speeches... surprise surprise.  After lessons, Janie and I walked to a cafe and re-wrote our speeches.  Then we went to a Rotary members house for 2 hours to practice and to further correct our speeches.  Speech speech speech...  

We dropped off Janie, and then I ate dinner.  I am supposed to type my speech, but I am going to save that for tomorrow during school when I'm not doing anything.

Buonanotte!

~Devon

Schoolwork

I felt like I actually accomplished something at school today.  The first class was informatics, and since the teacher downloaded that English tutorial, I am able to understand what it is teaching me!  The next class was art and since the teacher realized that I can't really do anything relating to drawing, he told me to read about the Renaissance and then write a summary about what I read in Italian.  After the break, there was 3 hours of Italian because there was a class test that I guess would take 3 hours to finish.  I had emailed my Rotary Speech to myself, so I spent about 2 hours copying down what I had on my email, onto a piece of paper because it was both the English version and the google translated version of my speech.  Then I finally decided to do the Chemistry quiz that I was supposed to do at home.  I finished that, I just have to translate it to Italian, unless the teacher is okay with it in English.  I will find out tomorrow.  The last 30 minutes of class, I worked on my Renaissance summary and I only have another paragraph to go before it is finished, but I have until Saturday.  I felt like I was in the groove today with my schoolwork since I haven't had to do anything for a long time and it was something familiar.

After lunch, I watched a little bit of tv and then I worked on more of my Renaissance homework until I had to leave for my Italian lessons.  Today we had 2 hours of Italian and we are finally starting to learn past tense verbs, which I feel is going to help me a lot with being able to start speaking Italian better!  The last 45 minutes of the lesson was spent trying to correct all of the errors in my google translated speech. It was a lot of work, but we finally got it done. All I have to do is write the final draft with all of the corrections. I'm going to save that for tomorrow when I have nothing to do in class.

After lessons, I went to the gym and then I came home for dinner.  I may possibly get to bed before 11:30 tonight, but that's if I don't get caught up in the book I'm reading, which is Into the Wild, in English.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Walking Around

The first two hours of school today were history and philosophy.  I had the computer, so I had to search for information about the Renaissance.  I found a really long wikipedia page, and I read that the whole time.  I had to concentrate very hard on not falling asleep. I felt like I read the whole page without comprehending anything because I was so tired and there was so much information.  For break, it was one of my classmates birthdays and one of my friends baked him a cake, so we had a mini birthday for him.  For the last three hours of school, we went to another room where there was a guest speaker person who talked a little about our future and personalities and stuff.

After lunch, I watched a little bit of tv, skyped with my mom, and did stuff on the internet because nobody was at home.  Then Janie came over at 4:30 and we went out.  She wanted to buy a sketchpad so that she could draw some of the buildings in Fabriano so we went to a shop near my house.  We were trying to figure how to ask the lady if she had blank paper and she saw our puzzled look, so she said to speak English and she ended up speaking English very well.  She has family that she visits every year in San Francisco.  The shop didn't end up having what Janie wanted, so we went to a grocery store to see if they would have it.  They didn't have anything either so we just bought chocolate and walked to the center of Fabriano.  We sat on the steps of a church and ate some m&m's and then we walked around for an hour or so.  We decided to go to the library to see if we could find some English books, but we never found anything and we didn't know how to ask the front desk if they had any.  Then we went to the pub, but our friends showed up about 10 minutes later and we walked back to the center.  A little bit later, Janie and I were picked up and I was dropped off at home.

I had dinner and then I skyped with Emma for a while because we had to catch up on everything we've been doing.  Now I'm going to read a little bit and go to bed.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Fun Monday

At school this morning, I was told that there was an assembly for the first two hours of school.  I guess that meant that all we would do is sit in class doing nothing for two hours, because that's what we did.  The students also brought up to the Italian teacher, and to the principal that the English teacher doesn't know English very well and they want to be taught better.  They wrote a letter to the principal and then I guess the principal talked with the English teacher.  The class after break happened to be English, so the whole class was very silent in the beginning.  The teacher talked with the class about the problem, but I didn't really understand anything. Then we proceeded to the English lesson, and I have to say, it was the quietest English class we've had so far this year.  The teacher even asked me to read a paragraph for the first time, and it was funny because it was super silent when I was reading, and I could hear some people in the background saying the words that I just said because they were realizing what the pronunciation was.  After English, there was another hour of doing nothing and at 12:15, the people who had their parents sign this paper thing, were allowed to leave.  I forgot to give it my host parents, so I had to stay at school for another hour with some other kids in my class who also forgot to have their parents sign it.  It didn't end up being too bad because we just went to the computer lab and I got on facebook and showed some of the people in the class my family and stuff.

After lunch, I hung out in the kitchen with Lorena for an hour or so and we talked about horoscopes and some of my goals for this year.  Then I walked to Italian lessons.  After the lesson, which was only an hour, Giulia picked us up and we went to this restaurant place and sat outside for about an hour with some friends.  At 6, Giulia took me to the gym and I did my step class.  When I got home, we had dinner and I was going to go to bed soon after, but then I remembered about the church group, so I had Lorena call Janie's host mom to see if she was going.  I kind of wanted to go to bed, but Janie was going, so I got ready and we went.

During the group, the people talked, and then we watched this short film that was in English, but it had Italian subtitles.  It was nice because Janie and I could understand something in this group for once.  Then everybody had a discussion about the meaning of the movie (I think) and then we went home at 10:30.

I am not looking forward to waking up tomorrow since I'm not going to get much sleep tonight.  It's already 11:30.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Rest

I did a whole lot of nothing today.  Janie and I woke up at 11 and had breakfast.  Then we watched tv for a little bit.  We went back to my room, and for about 30 minutes, we put songs from my itunes onto her ipod, until Roberto and Lorena got home and they took her back to her house.

After she left, I hung out with Lorena in the kitchen and then I finished my movie on my computer right before we had lunch.  I was going to go to Janie's house, but she decided to take a nap and never get up, so I was stuck at home for the day.  I did miscellaneous things on the internet and I studied Italian verbs.   I watched tv and I laid in my bed for about an hour listening to music.

Then we had dinner and after I read a little bit of the Italian book I'm reading, in English, online.

I wish I could write more, but I didn't do anything else today.  Now to start the week of 6 more days of school.  At least I will be well rested for tomorrow.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Good Company

My internet was not working last night so, yet again, I wrote this blog in a word document to upload today.

The first hour of school today was Italian.  I just read my Italian book the whole time.  Then we had Chemistry, where I read my book again.  I think I was supposed to have a test, but he said that I could do it at home! After break, we took the bus to the gym, but one of my friends who speaks English in my class said she wasn’t going to dress out so I didn’t want to either.  We ended up sitting on the bleachers and talking with people.  When we got back to the school, we had an hour of Art, and I read my book once again. 

After lunch today, I chatted with some people on facebook and then I watched Iron Man because I was bored and that was the only movie I had on my computer.  Around 6, Janie came over and we met up with her host sister and friends in the center of Fabriano.  Then there was this flash mob thing where different groups of people did a dance to a different song.  After that, we sat down at a table at this one place for a little bit until Janie and I returned to my house to have dinner. 

After dinner, we went out again.  Giulia told us that she was at her friend’s house, so we went and hung out with them for a while.  Then we all walked to the pub and stayed there until 12 talking.  Roberto picked Janie and I up, and then we came home and watched some tv.  Tonight is our first sleepover!

It is late and I am very tired, but it doesn’t matter because I get to sleep in tomorrow!

Ciao!

~Devon

Back to School

I woke up this morning with a small headache and a sore body.  Luckily, my headache went away, but the soreness has not.  At school, the first 2 hours were philosophy and history and it took the first hour to translate all of the information again.  Then the computer started malfunctioning and a lot of things didn't save, so I had to go back and translate the information again. By the time I was done, I had about 30 minutes to read the information a couple of times.  The next class was art, and since I don't know how to draw or do the things that the other people are doing, I showed some of the people sitting next to me where I live, where my school is, and some other places in Reno using google maps.  After break we had the unproductive English class and then Biology, where I sat and stared at some information for an hour.  I was trying to concentrate on not falling asleep. The last class of the day finally came and it was math.  I took out the math packet that the teacher gave me and I read through some of it for the whole class.

After lunch, I studied a little bit and then I sat around in my heavy jacket (because I was super cold) until I had to go to my Italian lesson at 4.  The lesson was 2 hours and Janie and I were super tired by the end of the first hour.  At 6, I changed, and then Nadia picked Janie and I up at the school and dropped me off at the gym.  The class at the gym today was harder than usual, but I think it may have been because I was already really sore.

We had soup for dinner, which made me super warm, but I try to remind myself to cherish the warmth while it lasts since I am always so cold during the day!

The whole day has felt like a Monday for some reason.  I think it's because I didn't go to school yesterday and it felt like my weekend.  I'm so glad that tomorrow is Saturday though!

Ciao!
~Devon

Trekking

What a day! I woke up at my usual time and got ready to go trekking!  At 8, Roberto took me to the meeting spot and I met up with Janie.  Then we took about a 15-minute bus ride to the start of the trail we were taking.  Janie, a group of our friends, and I were in the front group.  It was very beautiful and I took 225 pictures. 

I would say that it was nice to breath the fresh mountain air, but unfortunately, there was a chain smoker in front of us and we didn’t get in front of her until a little later on.  Then we got to breath the fresh mountain air!  We ended up stopping halfway through the hike, after one of the steepest parts, and we ate something.  Then we continued on!

Stopping to eat

The second part of the hike was the best.  It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  I don’t know if the pictures I took will do it justice.  I had my camera in my hand the whole time.  When we reached the top after a little over 2 hours, we were all tired and happy.  There were some buildings (I think it was a hotel and a restaurant) at the top of the mountain and there were tables so everybody sat down and ate some more.  Our group of friends went to this big field, sat down, listened to music, sang, and danced.  It was very fun, and I kept thinking about how grateful I was to be able to go today instead of sitting in a classroom!

The Buildings

The field

Then a little later, we all went to this fire pit where everybody was cooking sausages over the fire.  Janie’s host dad made ours for us because Janie dropped the first one she tried to do in the fire.  Then we went back to the field.  After eating and lying in the sun, Janie and I decided to walk up the hill a ways, through a bunch of trees, to see what we could find.  It ended up opening up to a small road and then a very steep side of the mountain on the other side.  It also gave us a spectacular view because we were at one of the highest points of the mountain and there was barely anybody up there, so it was very peaceful.  Janie and I stayed up there until someone told us when to be back. 

The top of the mountain

When we got back, we packed up our stuff and started walking back down. Another 2-3 hours.  I thought that it was harder to go down because it was a little bit muddy and very slippery.  I kept hearing people yelling around me because they were slipping, and I almost fell a number of times as well.  It also seemed like it took longer to get down, and my feet were starting to hurt at that point, but it was fun because we were all singing and dancing around. 

We finally reached the place to wait for the bus and sat down on the ground.  Then the buses arrived and everybody ran to them to get a seat because there are only a few, and the rest of the people had to stand up.  Since we were one of the first groups to get back from the hike, we got a seat on the bus.  We had to wait about 20 minutes for everybody else to get down and then we drove back home. 

Janie came over for an hour and a half and we just hung out.  She has terrible blisters on both of her heels because she didn’t wear the right kind of shoes.  It was kind of gross.  She took her shoes off the minute she got into the house and she didn’t even put them back on when her host dad came to pick her up.  I can’t imagine how her feet feel when my feet hurt and I was wearing good shoes!

Janie's blister

When she left, I had dinner and I am going to sleep right now because I am exhausted and it's super late!

Buonanotte!

~Devon

Cold

The first hour of school this morning was informatics.  There was a class test during the whole hour, but I didn't have to take. I will have to take the next one.  The teacher put a tutorial thing onto my computer and then he spent the hour teaching me directly about the programming language C.  I was shocked at first because he can speak very good English and he's never spoken English to me before.  I was also shocked because I understood most of what he was teaching me, which was only the basics, but I was still happy! I copied the tutorial onto my flash drive so that I can study it at home too.  The next hour of class was art and we didn't really do anything in that class.  My friends just helped me with my physics homework.  The third hour was physics and I read my dictionary the whole time.  My friend and I also went to drop of my signature thing at the office.  The last two hours of class were Italian and it was super boring because I just read my Italian book the whole time.

When I got home we had lunch and I helped with the tortellini, which consisted of me stirring and straining... not much.  Then I found out that I will be going on the hike tomorrow for sure!

I was extremely cold today, and yesterday too.  The windows are always open in my classroom when it's not raining, so I always freeze my butt off! It ends up making me cold for the rest of the day, so after lunch, I bundled up in a big jacket and worked on a powerpoint to go along with my Rotary speech.  I also found the book that I'm reading in Italian, in English online! So I started reading that so that I could see how much I've really understood.  It wasn't totally different from what I imagined, but there were definitely a lot of things that were cleared up by reading the English version of the book.  I started dozing off while I was reading so I jumped in by bed and fell asleep almost instantly.  I think I ended up sleeping for about an hour and then I woke up and had a snack with Lorena.

Lorena and I walked to a shop similar to that of a gas station shop and she finally taught me how to put money on my phone. It is super simple!  The lady had a small machine thing and you have to tell her what phone service you have, the number of your phone, and how much money you want to put on it, and that's all!  I haven't had money on my phone for about a month, so now I can actually message people.  I was going to go on a run with Janie instead of going to the gym today, but she didn't get home until later, so I just went to the gym with Giovanna, like usual.

For dinner, we had frittata, which is one of my favorite things that Lorena cooks.  I actually suggested that we have it tonight, so we did!  Now I must get ready for my fun filled day tomorrow and then get lots of sleep!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Hopeful

I understand that my blogs are becoming extremely repetitive, but that's because I pretty much do the same thing everyday.  I am starting to have a routine.  I am mainly writing my blog for myself so that I can always look back and see what I did, day to day, in Italy.

When I got to school this morning, my computer was all set up and the first 2 hours of class were history and philosophy.  My friend who sits next to me spent about an hour trying to google translate information from the internet into English.  So that was one hour of school down!  Then the computer started malfunctioning and that was another 15 minutes or so.  The last 45 minutes, I just read the translated information and then I started writing down more words from my dictionary into my notebook.  After break, there were two hours of math and I spent those two hours trying to study trigonometry online.  I was also called to the secretary's office to drop off a signature thing, so I went with one of my friends and we made sure to walk extra slow!  The last hour of school was chemistry and I read over the same information as always and then wrote more in my notebook.

After lunch, I skyped with my mom, worked on my Rotary speech some more and then I sent it to my counselor for him to look over it.  I'm happy that it's finally finished.  Then I went over to Janie's at 4 and we watched two movies and chilled out until Roberto came to pick me up at 8.  Everybody ended up talking for about 30 minutes before we left the house.  I understood most of what they were saying too! I even participated in the conversation.  It started when Filippo (Janie's host dad), who is a P.E. teacher at Janie's school, said that about 220 kids from their school are going on a 15 km hike all day on Thursday.  Janie said that she didn't want to do it, but I piped up and said that I wanted to go.  Of course I was joking, because we don't go to the same school, but then we started talking more about it and I might be able to go after all! I am super excited!  I think my host parents are going to talk with my principal about it and see if I will be able to skip school that day.  We also talked about something that we have planned for Sunday and about our possible trip to Venice in February!

When we got home, we ate a quick dinner, and then I came to my room to find a response email from my counselor.  All of my feedback was good so now all I have to do is add a powerpoint presentation to go along with my speech. Oh, and I need to translate my whole speech to Italian as well...

I'm hoping tomorrow is a more eventful day in school, but I don't think it will be.  I'm just excited about the possibility of going on the hike with Janie's school on Thursday!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Better

I woke up this morning fully rested because I didn't end up watching my movie.  Maybe not fully rested, but not dead tired either.  When I got to school, the first hour was Italian and I read my Italian book again and continued to make up a story in my head with the few words that I could understand.  The next hour was physics and there was a class test, so I just read my dictionary.  Something about reading my dictionary makes me happy and I don't know why.  I was looking up a lot of verbs and writing them down in my notebook to study later.  After break, we had English, and it was somewhat productive.  We took about 1/4 a page of notes, but then the class started talking and the teacher got mad, but didn't really do anything about it.  The next two hours of class were spent in the computer lab and I was paired up with someone because I didn't know how to do anything.  I ended up learning a little about excel and how to do some of the math they were doing, but then they started doing informatics and using the language C or whatever and I have no idea what the heck was going on.  The informatics teacher told me that I have to take the class test though, so now I have to do some intensive studying with the aid of google so that I can get above a 0%.

After lunch, I walked to the school for an hour long Italian lesson with Janie.  We just looked over and corrected our speeches for Rotary.  Then Janie's host dad picked us up and brought us to their house.  Janie and I started another movie, but we had to stop it about 45 minutes through because I had to go to the gym.  I did a step class with Giovanna and then Roberto picked me up.  When we got home, I had dinner really fast and then I got ready to go to church group.  Janie came over 10 minutes early so we just listened to music.  We walked to the church in the rain and it started right when we got there.  Today, we were split up into boys and girls and we talked about how we are now and how we want to be in the future.  We did this until about 10:45 and then we walked back home.  Now, Janie is waiting for her host parents to pick her up, and my Internet is out… again, so I will be posting this blog tomorrow.

Hopefully I can get to bed in the next 30 minutes because it is already late!

Ciao!

~Devon

Relaxing

This morning I woke up at 10:30, which is really early for me on a Sunday!  It shocked me when I looked at the clock.  I got up about 15 minutes later and I had breakfast.  Then I skyped with Emma for a little while, until Lorena and Roberto got home and we had lunch.  Afterwards, I relaxed for a couple of hours because I didn't have anything planned until around 4.  I skyped with Emma again, and we just talked about everything that has been going on in our exchanges.

At 4, I got ready and then I was dropped off at Janie's.  We hung out for about an hour and talked and then Angela picked us up to go to a basketball game.  The basketball game was the same place that the soccer game was last weekend, and it was her friends playing again.  We watched them play until the game was almost over, and then we had to leave because Janie and I had to be home by 8.  During the game,  Janie kept calling out when there was a foul or something or she would comment on the shots being made because she plays basketball.

Janie was dropped off first, and then when I got home, we had dinner.  Sunday is pretty much the only day where I can skype with my friends from home because when it is about 9 at night here, it is noon at home and nobody is at work or at school.  I ended up skyping with Heather and my dad tonight.

Right now, I have the urge to watch a movie, so I might start one that I have on my computer... I know I'll regret it tomorrow when I have to wake up, but I don't really care.  I always feel the same when I wake up, whether I go to bed early or stay up late.  It will probably be at school when I have to fight to stay awake though.  We'll see what happens.

Ciao!
~Devon

Quiet Saturday

My internet was out last night so this is the blog I wrote in a word document!

I almost pressed snooze one more time than I was supposed to this morning, but I avoided that disaster. I actually ended up getting up 5 minutes earlier than usual!  When I got to school, the first class was Italian and I decided to read the Italian book I brought from home with the assistance of my dictionary.  It's kind of fun reading a book in a language that you don't know because it's almost like making up your own book.  I don't understand half of the words I am reading, if not more than half, but from the words I do understand, I try to put the story together, and it's probably nothing like how it's supposed to go.  It will be interesting to read the same book in English and see what's really supposed to be going on.  Who knows, maybe some of it will be similar to what I have made up in my head.

The next class was Chemistry and I re-read and re-re-read the stuff on carbon hybridization.  I guess I have a test on it next week, so I have to read it some more before then!  Then we all got on a bus and headed to the gym.  We did some weird exercises on the floor and then we played volleyball for the rest of the time.  I was terrible.  I barely touched the ball, but when I did, the other team usually got a point. There was a couple times where I saved the ball, but I was embarrassing myself for the majority of the game.  I also had to serve the ball... After a while I was okay at it, but there were the times when the ball didn't make it over the net, the ball flew to the side, and when I missed the ball completely.  The last class of the day was art and I just watched other people draw and I read my dictionary.

Then I came home and had lunch and then relaxed for a couple of hours.  Of course, right when I was about to go out, my sister woke up and skyped me, so we only got to talk for about 10 minutes or less because Janie and Giulia arrived to pick me up.  We went and got coffee with some friends and then shopped for a little bit.  We went to an indoor soccer match after that and then we went back to Janie’s house for pizza.  Some of our friends came over and we just hung out and talked for about an hour or so.  Then everybody got ready to go out, and we went to the pub.  We sat at a table with more friends and talked some more for another hour.   Janie and my curfew was 11:45, so we were picked up by Roberto at that time, which is when everybody usually goes out, but we were both really tired anyway. 

I’m so excited that I get to sleep in tomorrow! I need to enjoy my one day!

Ciao!

~Devon

Extra Sleep

There was a strike or something today so school didn't start until 10, which meant that I got to sleep in until 9!  I wasn't in a hurry this morning and it was very nice.  It was raining a little bit on the way to school, but not enough to use an umbrella.  At school, the first hour was art and we went to the art room to work on art... I didn't really do anything because the class was really short. I just worked on my own doodles.  Speaking of which, I finished the thing I have been working on since the first day of school today! I am so proud.  Then we had English class and do I even have to say that we got nothing done?  The next class was Biology and I just read my dictionary the whole time.  The teacher asked what I was reading, and when I showed him, he laughed.  Maybe I should start reading a real book.  The last class of the day was math, and the teacher gave me a packet to read in English that explained what we are learning in class.  I understood about half of it, but I am still as confused as I was before with the other important stuff.

My masterpiece!

It was raining when school ended, but still not enough to use an umbrella.  When I got home, we had lunch and the internet was out, so I organized some of my photos and watched a little bit of tv.  At 3:50,  I walked to the school for two hours of Italian lessons.  Janie and I used the computers for the first hour and a half to do some exercises and then during the last 30 minutes, the teacher helped me correct the speech that I had written for Rotary, but we aren't done yet.  That's how many mistakes there were!  Janie was picked up at 6 and I speed walked home so that I could get ready to go to the gym. I ended up making it in time and I did my step class, as usual.  After I was picked up, we had dinner and now I am going to bed soon.  Not as early as I would like, but there's nothing I can do about it now!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Rain!

My alarm on my phone has been malfunctioning lately and I don't know why! Good thing I kind of have an internal clock.  Around 7:15 this morning, I jumped up to look at the time and then got ready really fast.  The first class this morning was Biology and we had a test.  We just had to write a summary on what we had studied.  I got to write in English and mine was about 3/4 of a page long.  Shorter than everybody else's, but I wrote about everything I studied.  I think the teacher may have given me less to study.  I felt very accomplished after that class because I feel like I did pretty good on my summary.  I have no idea how the teacher is going to grade it though, since he doesn't know any English.  Then we had Chemistry and I read about the same thing I have been for the past few days.  It's starting to make a little bit more sense.  After break, we had Religion and I did my English homework in that class and then read the English textbook.  I still didn't follow along very well in Physics.  The last hour of school was English and we didn't get anything done.

I went out with Roberto, his sister, and her daughter for lunch today and then Roberto dropped me off at home.  I watched a little bit of tv and then I started to walk to the school for Italian lessons.  Janie and her host dad saw me and picked me up after about 2 minutes or less of walking.  After our lessons, Janie and I walked home and watched some of "Pirates of the Caribbean".  At around 6:30, we started to walk to the chalet and then it started sprinkling a little bit.  Janie had an umbrella, but she was swinging it around like crazy and the top popped off, so we were officially without an umbrella.  Then it started pouring and we still had about a 7 minute walk to the chalet.  It was raining so hard and the drops were so big that the water was splashing off the ground.  A man with an umbrella walked up to us and let us stand underneath it for a little bit. He was speaking in Italian and I could understand a little of what he was saying, but Janie and I were just giggling the whole time.  Then we told him we didn't speak Italian and he attempted to speak English.  Then we said thank you and kept walking.  Janie and I were both soaked when we got there.  Especially our shoes and the bottom of my pants and Janie's tights.  After talking with our friends for awhile, we headed back home.  It was still raining, but not as hard.  Janie and I both like this type of weather, but my favorite is when it is really overcast, not when it's raining cats and dogs!

When I got home, I got the talk about wearing warmer clothes and better shoes and then we had dinner.  I think I'm going to try to look up youtube videos about how to do the things we are learning in physics and chemistry.  I really want to understand, but it seems impossible.  I'm still going to try to be in bed by 10 tonight, even though I never succeed.

Ciao!
~Devon

On The Go

Ok I lied. I didn't get to bed at 9:30 last night, but only an hour later! Really it was actually 11 when I turned off my ipod, but I was in bed at 10:30 because I skyped with my dad.  Anyway, when I got to school this morning, the computer wasn't set up, so I went and sat down in my normal spot.  Then a teacher came in and put the computer on the desk in the front of the class, so some people had to move around in order for me to sit there.  The first class was informatics and I ended up reading about the programming language C or something like that.  I don't think I am ever going to understand it, even if the class was being taught in English!  Then we had art class and I read some more about old architecture.  After break, I put the computer away and tried to understand physics, which was just as impossible as ever.  Then there was two hours of Italian, and I tried to avoid all eye contact with the teacher so that he wouldn't talk to me because he scares me a little bit.  I ended up writing my Rotary speech (that I have to give to the club in a couple of weeks) in English and then using my dictionary to translate it horribly into Italian.  I kept hiding my paper whenever the teacher walked by because I didn't want him to read it.  It was that bad.  And last time he looked at something of mine, he read it out loud to the whole class, and my speech was written in even worse Italian than the last thing he read.  It would've been mortifying, but thankfully, he never saw it.

When I got home, I had lunch and then I studied some Biology because we have a class test tomorrow. A little before 4, Janie and I were dropped off at the school for 2 hours of Italian lessons.  I am really starting to understand a lot better, but it's still hard to speak because I don't know how to put sentences together correctly.  I still don't understand anything in my actual classes in school though because the teachers are talking about subjects with a lot of words that I haven't learned yet.  I think my private Italian teacher purposefully uses simple words so that we can communicate easier.  We walked home after that, and I got ready really fast to go to the gym.  I was dropped off at 6:20, and I did the step class with Giovanna.  Roberto picked me up afterwards and we came home and had dinner.  Now I'm probably going to study Biology for another hour or so because I don't want to embarrass myself by failing the test.  I hope he gives it to me in English, or else I probably will fail.

I probably won't get to bed until 11 tonight.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Free Day

When I got to school today, there was a computer sitting at a desk in the front of the room.  I was told that I will now have a computer to use during class.  I had to move to that desk and I felt bad because other people had to move around as well.  The first two hours of class were philosophy and history, so my friend translated and copy and pasted a bunch of information to a word document so that I could read it during class.  I probably ended up reading it 3 times in a row because it wasn't very long.  At least I'm learning the information, but it's kind of confusing because Google Translate doesn't do the best job.  The next two hours of class were math, so I turned the computer off and tried to follow along.  I always end up just copying everything that is on the board into my notebook and not understanding any of it.  I don't know how I am ever going to learn this stuff.  The last hour of class was Chemistry and I read about the same thing I did last class.  I still don't get it, but I realized that after about the 5th time reading it, it is starting to make a tiny bit more sense in my mind.

Throughout the day, it was raining on and off.  About 15 minutes before school ended, it was pouring really hard and I had left my umbrella at home, so I was hoping it would lighten up so that I didn't get soaked.  It ended up stopping a little before the bell rang, so I got to walk home without getting rained on at all!  Right after lunch, I was dropped off at Janie's house (because Tuesday and the weekend are the only time I don't have Italian lessons or the gym), and we watched another random movie that we found on a shelf. It was called "Restless" and it was pretty good.  We were going to start another movie, but then we got distracted with facebook and music.  We ended up dancing around the room to different types of music for about an hour.  Then we got ready and Janie's host mom dropped us off in the center around 6.

We pretty much walked back and forth across town, from the park/chalet area to the pub without actually going into either of them. We just wanted to walk.  Janie has a weird obsession with the acorns that she finds on a tree in her yard, so before we left the house, she picked about 20 or more of them and stuffed them in her pockets.  Then as we walked around town, she would go up to random groups of people, grab their hand, put an acorn in it, close their hand, and then walk away.  They would usually laugh or yell after her, but she wouldn't say a word.  I tried to stay on the opposite side of the street, because I found it embarrassing, but it was extremely hilarious.  She dropped all of the rest of the acorns one by one on the street as we were walking, leaving a trail.  Sooner or later, everyone is going to associate acorns with Janie and know where she has been!

After walking around for an hour and a half, we headed back to meet Nadia (Janie's host mom), acorn free.  I was dropped off at home and I had dinner at 7:30, which I think is the earliest I have ever had dinner here.  It may even mean that I can get to bed around 9:30 tonight!  It will give me more time to listen to music!

I almost fell asleep in class today, so I need to get more sleep tonight.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Assembly

Today was a very interesting day.  I knew there was going to be an assembly, and I was told that it would go all day, and we didn't have any classes, so I almost wanted to stay home and sleep.  I decided to get up in the end because I wanted to see what it was like since there is one every month.  I didn't bring my backpack, and Roberto dropped me off at this stadium/gym place.  I stood there awkwardly by myself because I didn't know anyone and then a kid from my class who speaks English showed up. I felt like a lost puppy just following him around.  Then we went inside and sat down.  The girls I usually hang out with in class weren't there today, so I was all alone until a couple of girls from another class came and sat down with me.  We ended up hanging out for the whole day at the assembly and talking.  I have decided that I will probably stay home for the next assembly though. Sleep is better.

Now I am going to try to explain the assembly...  It was way different than anything we have in Reno.  First of all, each class has to go to the center of the court and verbally tell some people who you are voting for as school president.  (I had no idea what was going on at that point.)  Then the rest of the assembly (about 3 hours) was dedicated to "welcoming" the first class into the school.  It was very interesting.  Every single first year student had to go through this obstacle course thing beginning with crawling through the legs of about 20 fifth year students who slapped their butts as they went through.  Then they hopped in trash bags and did some other stuff and what not.  After a while, there was also the most beautiful first year girl and boy contest where about 20 girls and 20 guys walked around and and were slowly eliminated if they didn't get enough applause. Talk about a self-esteem booster.  There was also random music playing throughout the whole thing.

The assembly ended around 12:30 and I walked to the supermarket with my friends because they had to get something.  Then we all walked home together.  I had lunch and then I skyped with my mom and Kat.  I went to my Italian lessons with Janie at 4 for an hour and then we went and got gelato and went back to her house to finish our movie that we started yesterday.  Janie's host mom dropped me off at the gym at 6:10 and I did a the step class with Giovanna.  I'm eating way too much food and I need to burn it off faster!  When I got home, I ate more food and then went to my room. Janie and I were going to go to the church group, but she got distracted and Giovanna wasn't going, so I didn't either.  I ended up chatting with like 6 people on facebook. I realized that I am very good with keeping up with a ton of different conversations.

Now I'm going to bed and I am going to listen to the new music I got today! Over and over again! I love it so much!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Soccer

This morning, I woke up at 9 from a weird dream.  I had a dream that it was my senior year and I was taking AP Spanish back in Reno.  There were only 3 people in the class so there was a lot of talking and I couldn't remember any Spanish! I could only speak in Italian and English and they were trying to get me to say really simple Spanish words, but I couldn't remember them.  I got really stressed out and that's why I woke up. On the bright side, at least I was speaking some Italian in my dream! Maybe my mind is trying to tell me that languages are being jumbled up in my brain.  Then I decided to go back to sleep because Sunday is my only day to sleep in.  I ended up waking up at 12:45 and having some breakfast. Literally 20 minutes after my breakfast, we had lunch, so I didn't eat much.

After surfing the web for a little bit, I got ready and Lorena took me over to Janie's around 3:30.  Then one of Janie's host sister's friends, Angela, came and picked us up to go to a soccer game.  It was just a small game with five people on each team.  We watched them play for about an hour or so and then Angela dropped Janie and I back off at Janie's house.  We went up to the top floor of the house (it's a big house) and we decided to watch a movie.  We picked out something random from the shelf, "The Family Stone," and we watched it in English with Italian subtitles.  We were going to watch it the other way around, but they were speaking too fast in Italian and I like to hear the actor's real voices.  Especially when they are actors that I know.  I was actually reading the subtitles though! I am very excited knowing that I can understand a lot of what I'm reading.  It shouldn't be long before I will be able to speak.  I just need to learn how to conjugate past and future tense verbs still.

Roberto came and picked me up at little after 8 and so Janie and I didn't get to finish the movie.  When we got home, dinner was ready and we ate.  Then I went back to my room and skyped with Janie for a little bit (even though we were just together).  She hung up on me though because she was going to bed (at 9 o'clock!).  I wish I could get to bed that early, but I need to blog.  I'm not even tired either because I got a lot of sleep today.  I will probably regret not going to bed early when I have to wake up early tomorrow. Oh well.

Ciao!
~Devon

A Normal Day

When I got to school today, I had one hour of Italian which consisted of me reading my dictionary.  It wasn't very interesting, but it kept me busy.  Then there was an hour of chemistry and the teacher gave me his ipad again so that I could read about the hybridization of carbon.  I didn't understand any of it.  I guess that teacher is going to let me use a computer in class so that I can google the class material in English.  Then there were two hours of P.E. so we took the bus to the gym.  We did some exercises on the stairs and then we played this weird version of baseball.  When we returned to the school from a bus of singing boys, we went to informatics in the computer lab and I just sat there and watched everybody do a whole bunch of confusing things on the computer.

When I got home, I had lunch, took a shower, and then Janie and I had a Rotary meeting where we just talked about our exchange so far.  When we were taken home, I went out with some friends for a couple of hours.  We went to the chalet and then we walked around the center for a while.  At 8, I returned home and we had pizza for dinner.  Then I went to the center of Fabriano again for this festival thing with my host parents and their friends. We met up with Janie and her host parents and then Janie and I were allowed to go off and do our own thing.  We ended up doing a lot of walking.  To the chalet, then to the pub, and back to the chalet until we had to meet our host parents in the center at 12.

From there, I walked home with my host parents and now I am going to go to bed as soon as I finish my blog, because for some reason, I am very tired.

Sorry for the short blog today, but nothing super interesting happened.

Ciao!
~Devon

Tired

I have not been getting enough sleep lately.  I get to bed at 12 almost every night and I don't get to take naps in the afternoon anymore because I have Italian lessons.  Anyway, I felt like a zombie when I woke up this morning like I always do.  I have my alarm set so that I have to press snooze like 4 times before I actually have to get up and I'm always the most tired on the last snooze! It's so annoying.  The first two hours in school today were philosophy and history so I worked on my drawing and I'm happy to say that I am almost done!  We had chemistry after that, and I worked on the english homework.  The next class was english and it was just as crazy and non-productive as last time.  Then we were supposed to have informatics, but the teacher didn't end up showing up until there were about 20 minutes to the next class, so everyone just sat around and talked.  The last class of the day was biology and the teacher gave me his ipad to read about meiosis in english.   I was so tired that it was really hard to follow and I felt like I had to read a paragraph about 3 times before I actually started to comprehend what I was reading.

When I got home, we had lunch and then I got on the computer until Janie came and picked me up at 3:50 to go to the school for our Italian lessons.  Today we worked in the computer lab for 2 hours and did a bunch of exercises.   When that was over, we walked home so that I could put my backpack in the apartment, but nobody was there and I don't have a key so I just had to bring it with me to the chalet.  When we got there, we sat down with Giulia (who is back from Perugia for the next couple of days) and her friends.  Both Janie and I were staring off into space a lot of the time because I was tired and Janie said that her brain was fried from too much Italian, which I can understand.  I got a ride home with Janie from the chalet and I had dinner.  I think I'm going to seriously try to get to bed earlier tonight, because I need to start being more lively!  And tomorrow's Saturday and Janie and I will hopefully get to go out with friends!

The earlier I get to bed, the more time I usually allow myself to listen to music too, and I just got new music!

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Post Sickness

I ended up going to bed really late last night because I skyped with my sister, so this morning it was a nightmare to get up.  Lorena asked if I felt good enough to go to school and I had to fight with myself to say yes... just kidding. I knew I needed to go to school today.  When I got there, we had religion for the first class, so I did my Italian homework, obviously...  Then we had physics where I understood absolutely nothing, but I think one of my classmates is going to help me more with it later on!  During math, I also didn't understand anything.  Then we went to another classroom for art and I had no idea what was going on, big surprise.  One of my classmates (who I assume is the best in art class because everybody asks him their questions) helped me, or basically did my whole drawing for me because I didn't understand how to do it.  I felt really bad, but I didn't know what else I was supposed to do.  The last class of the day was English and it was a mad house.  The teacher couldn't get everybody to be quiet and I think the students were purposefully making him angry. Or at least that was my perspective on the situation, so we ended up getting nothing done in class.

When I got home, we had lunch, and I can taste my food again! Hallelujah!  I got on facebook for a little bit because Heather was supposed to skype with me, but her alarm didn't go off!  Then Janie picked me up at 3:50 to go to our Italian lessons for an hour.  Then we went on about an hour walk, came home, dropped off some stuff, and then went back out to go shopping.  Or we went out so that I could watch Janie do the shopping.  She is a shopping machine! We went to the chalet a little after 7 and nobody was there so we left again and we ended up seeing our friends on the way out. After talking a little bit and letting them try our brownies (which they loved!), Janie got picked up and I walked home.  For dinner, we had frittata, which is my favorite meal that Lorena makes!

I just finished downloading three knew songs.  Not many, but I love them!  I heard one of them in a shop Janie and I went to today and I instantly knew it was Florence and the Machine so I looked it up when I got home.  Mumford and Sons' new album also just came out, so I am slowly listening to all the songs on their album to get to ones I like!

I think I might get to bed 30 minutes earlier tonight.  Slowly, I will make it back to getting to bed at 10... maybe.

Buonanotte!
~Devon

Stayed Home From School

When I woke up this morning, I felt terrible.  My head hurt and I couldn't breath out of my nose.  I also still had a cough, so Lorena let me stay home.  I went straight back to bed and periodically slept for the next couple of hours until I got up to have breakfast at 10.  Then I went on the computer for a little bit until I went back to bed from 11 to 12:30.  When Lorena got home, we had lunch and then had a talk about how I got sick because I don't wear warm enough clothes or because I don't dry my hair after I shower.  I explained to her that I got sick because of Janie.  Then I used the weirdest medicine thing in my life.  It looks like something you would find at the hospital.  It is this face mask thing that you hook up to a machine and you pour this liquid in the base of it.  It heats it up and makes it mist so that you can inhale it.  I had to sit there for like 10 minutes doing it.

At 3:15, we had to go to the police station to get some paperwork sorted out, but we forgot to bring passport pictures so we had to go to the grocery store to get them taken and then go back to the police station.  Everything ended up taking about an hour and a half.  When we got back home, Lorena had to run errands and Roberto went back to work, so I decided to watch some tv for pretty much the first time since I've been here.  The tv here is cool because there are a lot of American programs and you can choose what language you want them to be speaking and what language you want the subtitles.  I ended up watching CSI in English with Italian subtitles and I made a point to read the subtitles.  I actually understood more than I expected while I was reading.

When I went back to my room, I skyped with Emma for a long time and then we did a three way chat with International Club in Reno! It was super cool because we could see everybody, but it was only about 10 minutes because lunch was almost over for them and dinner was ready for me.  For dinner, I had soup and then I took a shower.  I got another talk about how I should dry my hair, but I said it would take too long so Lorena told me that if I was more sick tomorrow, it would be because of my hair :)  I had to use the weird medicine machine again tonight and now I am going to bed a little earlier than yesterday, but not by much.  I hope I can breath better tonight.

The worst part about being sick is that you can't taste your food! It's like torture in Italy! Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.

Ciao!
~Devon

Terrible School Day

I woke up this morning and my throat was more sore than yesterday.  I think it may have been because I didn't get a lot of sleep.  When I got to school, the two girls I sit next to weren't there, so I sat next to another kid who thankfully speaks English.  The first two hours of class were philosophy and history so I tried my best to keep my eyes open and I made some good progress on my doodles.  Then there was two hours of Italian and I did some of my Italian exercises.  I also read the dictionary and I don't think I can even remember the words I looked up. Towards the end of class, I started to scribble on my paper and then the Italian teacher told me to bring my chair up to the front of the room and sit by his desk.  At first, I thought I was in trouble for not doing anything, but then I saw that he had the paragraph that I had written for him about my stay in Fabriano so far.  He told everybody to be quiet and then he proceeded to read my very terrible paragraph full of mistakes in his outdoor voice! I was super embarrassed because there were so many errors.  Everybody also laughed when he read the part about me liking all of the Italian food and about how I didn't understand anything in class.  Then he finally let me sit back down at my desk.  The last hour of class was art and the teacher read from the textbook the whole time, so I just sat there and stared off into space.  Today was a pretty pointless day at school.  

On the way home, I was coughing up a storm, but then I felt better after I ate lunch.  I skyped with Janie for a while, who was feeling worse than I was!  Then I went on a small walk and then went to the chalet for a little bit.  When I got home, I had to wait on the steps for about 15 minutes before Lorena got home and then we went upstairs and had dinner.  

I skyped with Emma, Emma's sister, Janie and my mom tonight.  I always skype with Janie and it's funny because sometimes we don't even talk, we just keep skype up so that it's like she's always with me.  Now I think I've gotten more sick in the last hour.  I am still coughing and my nose is running now.  I think I just need more sleep.

Buonanotte!

~Devon

Sick

This morning I woke up with a sore throat and I knew I probably got it from Janie, because she was complaining about having one yesterday.  Anyway, when I got to school, we had an hour of physics and I followed along, but it was hard to understand.  Then we had an hour of Italian where I took out a book that I found in my room and tried to read it.  I didn’t really understand anything, but I also had my English-Italian dictionary to help translate.  After that class, we had English and the only thing we did was read three paragraphs out loud.  I think it’s really cool to listen to Italians read English because their accents are so cool and I always wonder if I have an American accent when I speak Italian. 

The last two hours of class were math.  We are learning something that is extremely hard for me to understand, so I just copied what was on the board so that I can try to make sense of it later.  Then we went to the computer lab and paired up on a computer to do something on excel.  I’m not exactly sure what they were doing or how they were doing it.  I just sat and watched and felt bad about not being able to help. 

When I got home, I had lunch, skyped with my dad, and listened to music.  Starting today, I no longer have private Italian lessons during school, which is why the day seemed so long to me.  Now I have the lessons after school everyday except for Tuesday and the weekend.  Janie is going to start coming with me now too.  Around 3:45, Janie and her host dad came to pick me up and we went to the school.  Then for the next hour, we had our lesson and it was a lot slower because now there are two people to teach. 

At 5, we were picked up by Janie’s host dad, and brought to her house.  At 6:20, I went to the gym and did a step class with Giovanna.  I almost didn’t go to the gym today because I was still feeling sick, but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t.   I thought it was worth it to go.  Then I came back home and had dinner.  At 9, Janie was dropped off and we walked to the church for the church group.  We all sat in a circle again and everybody talked for a little less than 2 hours.  Janie and I had no idea what was going on the whole time. 

I got home at 11 to discover that the Internet wasn’t working.  I think it has something to do with the weather (overcast and rainy), so I am writing my blog post in a word document while everything is fresh in my mind so that I can just post it tomorrow morning before I go to school.  I really need more sleep since I’m sick, but I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow to go to bed early.  I also ended up going to bed late last night too… ugh.

Ciao!

~Devon

P.S. I just got the internet to work! But it's 12:30... I'm going to bed now.