Pompei!

     Some friends and I went to Pompei yesterday and had ourselves a little look around. Lucky for us it didn't rain so we got a bit of sunshine and (I think all) had a really nice time. We went yesterday because there was another manifestation. Also no cars needed, just a bus and a train ride then we were there.


     We only got to see 2 "bodies" though because the main place where they keep them was closed. Anyways there was still plenty to see, I didn't really know it was a whole city they had on display! The other thing I didn't know was about "Erotic Pompei". For anyone like me who didn't know this, Pompei was a super erotic city when it was..alive, like apperently there was a big house where a lot of the unmarried women lived and there were sculptures of naked men all over. When we left and were looking at the gift shops/stands they had Erotic Pompei calenders, penis sculpturs, and naked man sculpturs, I thought it was pretty funny. Yeah, and I guess we learned a bit of history too. ;)
   Americans! C'mon! We make such a bad impression on the rest of the world, even I was laughing when the groups of tourists would walk by, and definately look/act like tourists. There were people from all over the world there though, so we had fun playing the "guess their nationality game" without people knowing. 

Tabea, Carlotta, Ya, Zara, and Laurance
Great Day!

Happy Halloween!!

     Yeah, I know Halloween was a few days ago, but I havent been online because I was in Minory again! <3 and also was just too busy/lazy since I got back. Halloween here isn't as big a holliday as is is in America, but some kids still dress up and go trick-or-treating in their apartments and at the shops in the corso. Buuttt, there's not many decorations and (from what I saw) no teenagers pulling pranks! Nah, most go to parties or stay with their friends instead. Oh but we do get Halloween off from school, and the rest of the week too because of the day of the dead holliday. Most people go to the cemetaries on these days, but by the time we actually got to the cemetary after coming back from Minori, I'm not sure why but they weren't letting anybody in.
     For Halloween, Laura and I had planned to to go to a "mascarade" party/disco near Minori with her German friend Clelia. This was the night before her mom and Silvio came down to Minori. The whole drive down there it was pouring rain, coming down in buckets, and the strong winds and curvy road on the Amalfi Coast didn't help much either. Mamma was yelling at Laura the whole drive down, like it was her fault. I felt bad for Laura, but she was yelling back at her too. This is normal though, for them it's just like a conversation, but.. louder.


     Anyways, we got dropped off at Clelia's house, all in our costumes (me-vampire, Laura-zombie, and Clelia-black cat) and walked down to the bus stop, which btw was very hard for Laura and I because heels + cobblestone = not fun. There we found out...the party was canceled because of the rain. Darn, oh well. Right after that it stopped raining too! So we went back to Clelia's house and spent the night there, but she had to go back to Germany in the morning. :( She was really nice too! Hopefully she'll come back to Italy before I leave.

     I know this is just a little event here, but I want to remember it. It was just so pretty! The morning after Halloween it was bright and sunny, but because it had rained the night before the buildings and ground were still wet. The way the light was hitting the old buidings and the sun on the water from the ocean was just perfect! The whole town looked like it does in the pictures that make you want to go to Italy in the first place.  
    

Happy Birthday Laura!

     Last Friday we had our "group councelling" meeting (hanging out in the park, eating, shopping) and ended a little earlier than usual. Laurance (from Quebec) and I didn't quite feel like going home yet though and decided to join her host brother and his friend at the movies in a nearby town. We found out there was no room in the car for us, so jumped on a bus and headed to the ciniplex. The thing is, when the bus went up to that town, it took a different rought than what we were used to and also didn't pass directly by the ciniplex, so by the time we had asked the bus driver where it was, we had already past it long ago, so we got out and started walking. All I can say it that it's a good thing we're used to walking a lot now because we were out there for a long time, at least an hour (partly because we got a little lost, oops!). In the end I'm almost glad that happened though because even though we didn't see the movie, this was a lot more memorable and was an adventure!! When we reached the main road that takes us there and could finally see those golden arches (McDonalds sign) from right next to the movies, we started yelling Gooooaaalllll!! I even took a picture to remember xD

Can you see the tiny McDonals sign way
in the back? GOOOOOAAAALLLL

     I would also have gone to a Halloween party with Laurance the night after, but my host family and I spent the weekend at Nonno's house in beautiful Minori! Even though it was pouring rain almost the whole time, it's still one of the prettiest places I've seen here. Its just such a cute little village with old buildings and little tunnels going between and through them with a big beach at the front of it all. On a walk, Laura took me to see one of the gems in Minori, the Villa Romana. Its this ancient Roman villa that has been excavated like 3 times because of floods and cave-ins and is now is on display for the public. When we signed the visitors book I wasn't sure weather to put California or Avellino as my home.. I put Avellino and smiled.

Villa Romana and some buildings in
Minori. Btw not my picture :P its from
google.

     And as the title of this post sais, it was Laura's birthday yesterday! We started the morning with me jumping on Laura, who was still in bed, and telling her happy birthday. xD Later in the day we got to sit in the freeeezing appartment stairwell because we accidentally got locked out and had to wait for her mom for half an hour. And ending the day with a party for her with 10 or so of her friends. We all put in money and got her a new phone that she's been dying for. Overall, I think it's been a pretty exciting last couple of days.

There's Gunna Be Some Changes Around Here!

     Well hello there! So I'm going to try making shorter more frequent posts instead of procrastinating and bunching up all this information into giant, boring piles of words. But unfortunately that's exactly what I did.. again, so we have write a huge story today. Bare with me haha. Also I'm going to try posting pictures with these as well so those of you who are not friends with me on facebook can see what I'm talking about too. And we're going to be going a little our of order today, ok? ok!
     Allora, today at school we all got to leave after the 1st hour because there was an assembly that only people who want to go, go. They talk about problems with the school and I guess they have one like every month or so, so that's cool. Well Laura, her friend Lucia, her big sister, and I went to Napoli, which I was pretty excited about because everybody in Avellino it seems just loves it there. And they're right to, it's a beautiful city! but even still, the day turned out to be... less than expected. Not because of the city, but because I felt alone in it. The trip started just as I would have thought, as I'm used to and totally fine with, Laura and Lucia talking in Italian and me, next to them listening and seeing what I can understand. Va benne. Fine. That helps me learn, no problem. The thing is, after about an hour of listening to a conversation you can only understand about half of, you start to lose interest and just find day dreaming to be the more interesting option. With that, when you start to fall behind, it doesn't make much a difference, day dreaming right next to them, or a bit behind. The sister of Lucia (both of them are very nice btw) saw I wasn't really having a great time came over and taught me some more Italian (thank you!). Still, not my ideal day, but I did love getting to see the beautiful city, the ancient castle, and a building (i forget what its called) that is almost identical to its twin right next to the duomo in Milano. I know this is just part of the exchange and I'm sure that it will get better in time when I start being able to speak more of the language.

The Castle in Napoli

     One of the bad things about getting to day dream so much when you are homesick is that home is pretty much the only thing you think about. I kind of just miss having parents that are my parents. Like I definitely feel like Laura is my sister, but my host mom (as nice as she is) feels like the mom of a friend instead. I don't even call her mom like most of the other exchange students call their host parents. Plus, when she introduces me to people, she introduces me as "a friend of her daughter". That just gets me every time. Also all my life I have grown up with dogs around, just always had a dog or two, and the past few years, with my moms dog sitting business, had more than just a couple around the house. But here...niente. I mean, yeah, they have a cat, but he's like bi-polar friendly and he's just not all that cuddly or playful. So most of the days after school(which ends at 1 here don't forget) I have nothing to do! Some nights we do go out, but even then not till 8. Let me paint a picture, it's like 3 o'clock, Laura's sleeping and her mom is out somewhere. Been home for a few hours now, already eaten lunch, checked facebook and emails, what to do now?.. Oh I know! I could play fetch with.... noo. Or I could take for a walk the d-... darn! I guess there'll be something funny on youtube then. :/  (You'd think with all this spare time I'd blog more often, huh? ;) )
     I know I said that the other exchange girls and I would be going to Sorento in the last post but we ended up just going to school instead because we found out the morning of that they cancel the trains that go there when it rains...and it rained. Instead, last Saturday we went to the market in Avellino that's only open on Saturdays. It was great and a lot of fun, made that way mostly because of the awesome friends that were there, love you guys! I also brought back a little present for my host mom, some gorgeous bright yellow flowers and some white lilies, she loves them so that made me really happy.
     So sorry that I've been complaining a lot this post and thanks for putting up with my little vent. Lets end this post on a happy note. :) One of the most amazing, beautiful places in the world that I am absolutely in love with and am so happy we got to drive by is the Almafitan Coast. Because the nonno lives in Minori, the host mom and I drove all along there one day last week to pick him up and hes been staying here since then because it was his birthday yesterday. It was also great to go with someone (host mom) that knows the area so she was able to point out cool things that I might have missed otherwise.

Ok, so not Minori, but it's Salerno. :P Beautiful place!

     Ok, one last thing before I close this, something my sister (real sister) might enjoy hearing. So at one of the riding lessons they put me on this other horse Sara, because another girl was already riding Blu, the horse I usually ride. Now Sara is fine for beginners because shes very old and slow, but for me, not so much. For me, she walks half the track, then the other half when I finally get her to trot, she tries to gallop. So frustrating, but after that I decided to call her instead Ponita because the whole lesson in my head I kept saying, "Ponita is the silliest pony" xD
     Hope you enjoyed reading :) I'll try to post again soon. Ciao!

Laura, not so happily riding Ponita, the silliest pony.

Strike!

     Today we had our first strike of the year! (apparently these happen a lot). Here is is called a "manifestazione" and what happens is that students protest for their rights and problems they want fixed and they do this by everyone not going to school. Well, almost everyone. Laura and I still had to go because I had missed school yesterday getting my Permisso de Sogiorno from the police station and Laura had missed 10 days just a little bit ago because of a fever. The teachers still go to school but just sit around and talk to each other, and the few students that do go do the same and watch movies. This manifestazione, they were protesting that students get in trouble a lot or miss school because the buses are late. I guess it's ok that i went today though, because tomorrow I am going to Sorento (a town in the Almafitan Coast that I heard is lovely) with some of the other girls here on exchange.
      All the girls here on exchange try to meet up once a week after school and just shop, eat lunch, and just hang out. There are a few girls from Australia, one from New Zealand, one from Germany, a few from Taiwan, and some more that I don't remember where they're from, but all of them are very nice and a lot of fun to be with. Two of the girls from Australia and the one from New Zealand though have been here almost a year already though so it will be sad to see them leave in about a month.
     So a few weeks ago I went to the school where my host mom teaches English at because her students all wanted to meet me. It was really funny seeing how their questions for me changed as I met each class from different grades. The second graders were very curious to know things like my favourite color and what animals I like, while the fifth graders were more interested in knowing if i had a boyfriend and what I do when I go out with friends on the weekends. One of the nice students from a lower grade brought me a grammar book for students in second grade and I have just finished reading it a few days ago. It was very helpful actually because it had a lot of short stories written in very simple words and in the back, a few exercises to help with grammar.

Snow was trying to help me learn Italian.

     Another thing I have done so far while I have been here is started horseback riding, and at the last lesson I got to go over a jump for the first time with an instructor! I love that I get to do this because a lot of the time here during the week, you sit home or eat, or at most just walk around but not much exercise. After a few lessons though we had to get our own helmets and the only store for that is in Salerno. So one night last week at almost 8:30 my host mom just said, "ok do you guys want to go to Salerno now?" and really I was surprised because we had school the next morning, even though I shouldn't have been because we always get out late here, everyone does. Unfortunately by the time we got there and had finished walking around, the store was closed, but I'm still happy we went because we got to walk through the old part of the city which is just beautiful, and also the coast! Bellissima! One thing I found out while there, all fountains here are safe to drink from, even the ones that we use only for decoration. I already knew they had certain fountains all over where people come to drink, fill up bottles for later, wash dishes and clothes, but really all of them here are for that.
     I guess that's the rest of it for now, sorry it took me so long to make this blog post. If there's anything you guys want to hear more about or have any questions for me you can leave a comment and I'll be sure to answer it in the next post. :)  

Orientation, Festivals, and the First Day of School!

     So as you all know I came to stay with my host family a few days earlier than the first planned date, then about 3 days after getting here, I took a train all the way up to Milan for orientation. But what I didn't tell you yet, (but you probably already know anyways) is that is was beautiful there! The weather was sunny and warm the whole time and from the second you get off the train you can tell it's a beautiful place. Really! The train station in Milan is like a palace! Its huge and looks like it would have used to belong to a king. At the hotel I shared a room with 2 very nice girls from different countries in northern Europe (I cant remember which ones, sorry!), but I found out a short time later that  everybody at orientation was from northern Europe except me! The first day we were there we went to see the Duomo which was amazing. I especially loved the huge green doors with engravings of people etched into it. Very neat to see. But unfortunately we couldn't actually go inside because we were all wearing shorts which apparently isn't allowed, darn. Later at night after we went out for dinner (and had burgers and fries!) the half of us who didn't want to go back to the hotel quite yet stayed with the Manuela, the person in charge of us, and went to see the Navigli. They are 2 water channels that run through the streets and on the road next to them are so many restaurants and little shops that light up the path, along with the strings of light bulbs going over parts of the Navigli. The second day we actually had orientation in the morning which just went over the rules and what to expect and how to deal with problems, things like that. Not very exciting, but afterwards we got to go on one of those 2 story buses and take a tour of Milan which was great because you got to see more than what was just right next to the Duomo and hear a little background information on it. Then after the 2 days of orientation, I left early the next morning to go all the way back down to Avellino. Its about a 5 hour trip, and I took the fast train!


Duomo in Milano!



And it's beautiful green doors!

   Because my host family owns a second house in the "country" we were able to go to the festivals in the small village of Salza which is very close to the home. They were so much fun and it was great that I could go because it helped me make even more friends from Laura's friends. For I think 3 nights they had a big festival where the whole town was lit up with these giant structures and arches with colored lights making patterns and designs. Plus they had a stage set up where they had concerts and comedians up for hours. And the fireworks! Oh the fireworks were amazing here! I don't think they have any laws or restrictions on them here because they were wonderful! Laura, me, and some friends were at one of the friends house who lives in Salza and were sitting in the front yard when the fireworks started (even though people had been shooting off their own fireworks all day). But every time one exploded it was almost like you could feel it in your chest. They were shooting them off just down the road so at one point the shells of some of the fireworks fell down on the houses and on us. It seemed like they would never stop shooting them and like all the time was the "grand finale" but eventually they did end, which was when Laura and I were walking down the road to get picked up by her mom, and found the neighbor yelling at the firework people because of the shells. We just went around it but thought it was pretty funny.

     Also while we were at the country house we went just up the road to the horse stables to bring the horses some sugar and found out that if we wanted, Laura and I could take riding lessons. I love riding so I was so happy to hear this, and Laura had never ridden before so she was excited to try. We actually took our first lesson a few days ago and it was very fun except for when we had to stop for a little but in the middle of the lesson because it started pouring down rain on us.
     Finally, the last thing I have to tell you guys for now, was that today was the first day of school! We were surprised this morning to find it raining again outside because yesterday had been hot all day. I was put in the same class with Laura and some of her friends (yay!). The schedule here though is something I will have to get used to. Every day of the week the schedule is different and sometimes you will have 2 classes of one subject in a day and others you will only have twice a week! The good part it, school ends at 1:30, the bad part? School on Saturday. The teachers know that I don't speak Italian yet so they don't expect me to understand the lectures, but from the week I've been living here and listening to Italian everywhere, I've gotten to the point where I can't yet understand a whole conversation or lecture, but I can at least tell what the person is talking about and pick up the key words. Also since I'm at a Liceo Linguistico, I will be taking along with Italian; English, French, and Spanish. Plus the other classes like math, science, p.e., physics, and philosophy.

Here at last!

     Ciao! It felt like eternity but I finally made it to Italy! I had to take 3 flights with 2 layovers, the second one being painfully long and made even worse because I got sick. Bleh. But it was well worth the wait because I am here and it all seems perfect right now! We live in an apartment in the middle of town on the 8th floor. You can see everything from the balcony, including the high mountains neer the city. One of them has a church way up high on it and the mother told me she would take me there to see it one day. Last night I shard a room with my sister but I dont think I will the whole time because there is an extra bedroom too. The floors here are all marble and the mother is amazed that I dont wear shoes in the house because she thinks it is very cold on the feet but i dont mind it. Also she insists that I blow dry my hair after every shower so that I dont get cold. The shower here is new and is a little different but really cool. It has a radio in it and it can make the water come from either right above you, all around you, or with the hand held shower head thing that has a stand on the wall. It looks like something you would see in a scifi movie like a little shower portal xD And they have a bidet (or however you spell it) in all the bathrooms here. I have no idea how to use that so for now I think I'll just stay with using only the toilet haha.
     They also have another house in the country which we visited today because it is not too far. It has 2 floors and a huge balcony that surrounds 2 sides of the house and on one side is like a patio sort of. Besides their cat, Snow who lives at both places from time to time, the mother has started keeping these 2 stray dogs who came to her house and she named one of them Jo. They are as sweet as can be and they are getting fed very well. They get all the leftovers and anything left in the pot after cooking, and because I dont eat very much at one time, they get even more. Last night we just had pizza from the local Pizzeria and it was DELICIOUS. The crust is not big like in America, but like a thin bread. Yumm. But for lunch today was when we really ate. Lunch is very big for them. First momma made a big pot of spaghetti with pesto. I saw her put it on 2 plates and it was very much so I asked for a little less because i could not eat that much. The amount she gave me could still have fed 2 of me xD Then after that (I didnt know there would be anything after, I was already stuffed!) she put on new plates for us this delicious dish of chicken with peppers and olives and cut bread to soak up the sauce. It was soo good and i felt bad because I could only eat a little bit being that full from pasta. And even more after that was fruit, we had white watermelon, which i didnt even know existed. Whew I was full. We would have gone to see the horses that live in that city, but the place where they keep them was closed, so we will see them another day. We drove into the small town there with Laura's friend accompanying us and got ice cream bars. I couldnt believe we were still going to eat after lunch, haha but im not one to pass on ice cream! For a long time after Laura, here friend, and I walked around town, saying hi to people they knew and stopping at a few parks to sit.
     I have been walking a lot here especially. Yesterday, a while after I got back from the airport and showered we went walking and didnt come home till dinner, then went out again after! haha It seems like everybody does this here because we would constantly bump into some of here friends, walk with them a little bit or just say hi, then carry on our way. It is surprisingly fun really.
     Tonight we are going to a surprise birthday party for one of Laura's friends and tomorrow we are going to go to a celebration in the town where Clara (Laura's friend) lives so we will spend the night in the house in the country. I could write on and on about this amazing place but now I have to go get ready for the party. Ciao for now!

10 More Days!!

Hi guys!
     I'm almost there and I'm soo excited! :) I have only 10 days left  and a LOT to do. I was originally supposed to leave on the 4th but I get to go early and leave on the 2nd instead. My family invited me to come early to go on vacation with them to Salerno where their grandpa lives. I would be leaving on the 28th if the consulate would give me my visa before that, but they're too stubborn...and the lady who works there scares me...a lot O.o
      So I didn't make my $8,000 that I was originally supposed to, but I made almost $5,500 which I think is still pretty good for a teenager to make in just a few months. I didn't really fundraise that much but I did get a job working for my neighbor who turned her garage into a medical billing office. And let me tell you, working there is insanely boring but my neighbor/boss is reeaaly nice so it kinda makes up for it. Also my grandparents gave me $1,300 which was super helpful!
       My host sister, Laura and I have been talking a lot on facebook and once on skype and we still get along great! Oh and you wont believe what I found out today when i was talking to her! Ok so you'll probably believe it because it's pretty normal there but for me it will be crazy. The girls there cant wear shorts to school..EVER or even low cut shirts, or heavy makeup! I mean I don't wear thaaat much makeup so I'll be fine with that part, but the shorts and low cut shirts!! Wow that's practically my whole closet except for dresses and a few jeans. xD Laura doesn't like the rules either, I think especially the makeup rule. I cant wait to meet her and all of my new family! I hope they like the gifts I'm bringing them too. I got my mom a book of California which has pictures of big cities and national parks, things like that with information and history with each. For my sister I got a Santa Cruz sweatshirt that I'm kind of jealous of ;) And for my brother a San Francisco Giants hat, the one that's all black with the orange SF logo thingie on it.
     I know I know, I'm supposed to know at least some Italian by now. And I do! But emphasis on SOME. I got Rosetta Stone to help me learn it but I'm really bad at actually getting around to doing it. Plus the fact that its soo repetitive and aggravating doesn't help much either. So I'll keep doing Rosetta Stone, but I have a feeling I'm going to just have to learn as I go when I get there. And I'll write again when that time comes closer! Bye now!!
    
    

I GOT MY HOST FAMILY! YES!!

      that's right! i finally got my wonderful, amazing host family! i actually found out about them over the weekend but i was soo busy i haven't had time to make a post on here to tell you guys. im going to live in a city called Avellino which is in southern italy, right near naples. and the family sounds perfect :) i have a sister who is the same age as me, a brother who is 19, and a mom who is believe it or not an english teacher. so i didn't even find out my host family from CIEE, i didn't get my email until yesterday! xD what happened was this girl names Laura added me on facebook so i sent her a message asking if i knew her, and she said she was going to be my new sister!! i freaked out! i seriously screamed and my dogs who were downstairs then started barking. We've been massaging each other on facebook after that and she seems really cool! i can't wait to go meet her and the rest of her family. she says they live on the 8th floor of a big apartment building in the middle of town(cool!!), and that she has a cat named snow which she showed me a picture of and hes reaallyy cute!
     as far as fundraisers go, I've made about $150 so far but am going to start working next Wednesday. im working across the street for my neighbor who owns a medical billing agency thing. not very fun, but i have to pay for this trip somehow. :P also i remembered another bank account i made a few years ago with some money in it which i moved over to my main bank account. now with all the money in the account i have $4,000, so that means $4000 left to make. also, the garage sale is the weekend after next so i'm hoping to cut that amount down even more.
     thanks for the comments guys :) and no i'm not going with AFS, im going with CIEE because it's pretty much the same but a thousand dollars cheaper :P or at least for this years program it is. hmmm.. i never know how to end these posts, we should have a mini contest. leave a comment in the comment section below with a phrase for me to say at the and of each post and whichever one i like the best or maybe the one that you guys like the best i will say :) but until then, i'll write back when i have news, bye!! -piper

Spring Break!

hi guys! so about that interview i was telling you about, it was fabulous. it was more of a quick get to know me and orientation kind of thing though, and not really an interview, but there still were some hard questions. :P Also about a week ago i had a fundraiser where me and 2 other people in my schools foreign exchange club sat out in the pouring rain in front of Nob Hill Grocery for a few hours with a donation box, Italian flag, and sum music but it was actually pretty fun. Plus we made $115! haha now i just have $4,885 left to make...woohoo. At least i'm going to do another one of those this saturday so hopefully i'll get some more help with that fee. :) by the way, i'm sure you guys have noticed that i have terrible spelling and grammar, and i could try and like proofread these posts to fix them.. or i could just leave them messy. i like that plan better haha. As far as host family goes... nothing yet. absolutely nothing. o well, i'll just have to keep waiting like many other people going abroad next year, but it's hard. i want to know so badly who my host family and every day i keep checking my email for those special words "here's your host family!" or whatever they will say when they email me, but for some reason thinking about it all day isn't enough for them to send it. oh yeah! i totally forgot the title of this post! yeah it's spring break this week for me and as fun as it has been, i keep having this guilty feeling because i know that when i come home, my dad is going to ask me if i have gone through any boxes for the garage sale. we're having a garage sale to help pay for my trip and all the money goes to my $5000 or now $4885 that i have to pay. the catch u say? oh just that i have to do all the work! haha so i know that is what's fair and that it will be worth it ten times over when i get to italy, but right now there's just so much that needs to be done and it is not fun. hopefully i'll get my host family soon and that will motivate me enough to get away from the t.v. and start sorting things into garage sale and keep piles. :P that's all for now but i'll keep you guys posted on how things go!

i feel so accepted! xD

         so i am home sick today and being the geek that i am i was reading other foreign exchange blogs from people who went to italy and i saw my email on another tab get the little (1) next the gmail logo. i checked it out and its an email from CIEE saying that i got accepted into the Italy program for the academic year 2012-13!!! yay! :D other than that i have my phone call interview with a representative next monday so i'll tell you how that goes too. i can't believe it, im actually going to italy next year! i cant wait! i'll write back when something that might be actually interesting to you guys happens but in the meantime dont forget to pleeaasee donate and help me go. i havent got any donations yet but i hope that'll change soon! byee now!!!  
       

Applications Applications and more Applications....

so I'm almost done filling out my applications and scholarship forms (yay) but it seems that when i think i have done just about everything, I'll look back through the biiiggg stack of forms and see i still have something like 2 more essays to write or maybe a form a need to get the doctor to fill out. sooo frustrating! xD but i know it'll be worth it soon!! not much else thats really exciting going on with the foreign exchange thing. im going to start doing a fundraiser with the foreign exchange club at my school. well actually a few fundraisers. we are making tee shirts with some cool design on them about foreign exchange and are going to sell them. also we're going to ask grocery stores if we can set up a table in front with a donation box. we will have things from the countries we're going to displayed too (like food, music, games, ect..). one that im doing by myself is that ill be going around to businesses and fast food places and asking them for donations/ to sponsor me. lets hope i can make enough!

my first post eveerr!!

Hi! My name is Piper Pontrelli and I’ll be using this blog to tell you all about the adventures, mishaps, delight, and homesickness I will come across throughout my year in Italy. That is, if I get to go. You see, as perfect and amazing this sounds (or at least to me it does) there is one small catch.. well a pretty big catch actually. the cost. 
My parents have generously agreed to pay half of the cost and the rest I have to come up with. I have about $2,000 saved but I still need to make $6,000 in order to pay my part. I am doing jobs like baby-sitting and fundraisers, and I’ll get a summer job when that time comes around but that wont cover it all. At the top right corner of this page there is a Donate button which will allow you to donate any amount. If you could donate anything it would be extremely helpful and no amount is too small. I would greatly appreciate it if you could also forward my blog to anyone else who you think might be interested in helping me make my trip to Italy possible. 
So now that I’m done with the soliciting part of this entry, lets get back to blog stuff. When telling people you’re going to do something as crazy as packing up and moving to Italy for a year, they usually have a few questions lined up. One of the most common ones that should be one of the easiest as well is, “Why do you want to do this?” Simple enough right? Well I surprisingly still don’t have an answer for it. Maybe it’s the adventure, maybe it’s learning a new language, or maybe I’m just a loon and should be put in a crazy house. (: I’m not quite sure about that one yet. But I do know that I want to do this and I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it happen.  For years now i have dreamed of going off to Italy, and now I might finally be going. There‘s no way to explain how excited I am. :) 
My Grandpa came over from Italy on a boat when he was 7 and it's always been one of his many topics of choice to talk about, so I've been hearing stories about Italy for all my life. It’s funny at family get-togethers listening to him and his brother yelling “Mangia!” at the dinner table like they speak fluent Italian still while in reality that’s pretty much all they know how to say in that language. 
Next school year (my junior year) I am leaving in the end of August for Italy and will be there until June comes around again. It's taken a long time of pleading and bugging my parents to get them to let me go and now I'm super excited to finally get the O.k. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Also I'll write again when I get more information on more interesting things like my host family and city where i will be staying!!