Sunday, November 5, 2017

#33 Packing back and Post Scriptum



Contents of this post: a guide to try to help future exchange students packing for going back home.


Actual contents: a desperate try to explain how you should plan your luggage, when in reality I'm freaking out figuring it out myself.


Plan: I'm flying with Lufthansa so my carry on has to be 8 kg (they never check so even 9 or 10 it's fine) and a big luggage of 23 kg. I decided to bring a second luggage because it's cheaper than shipping stuff to Italy.



Baggage_Fees


Packing is always easy to put off until a few days before (cough...the night before) leaving. When I left Italy ten months ago packing has been so much easier. The week before I wrote a list of everything I had to take and the day before leaving I put everything in my suitcase and I was pretty much done.

Well I'm finding out that packing all up again it's not as easy as I thought it would be.

I bought another suitcase, a duffel bag to be precise, on amazon at a really good price (link below and price may vary). It's 33 inches long, which is the max possible in order to not pay any extra fees; it looks really big, but I suspect it won't be enough. Obviously.


https://www.amazon.com/Olympia-Pocket-Rolling-Duffel


Fun Fact: I started the carry on luggage, I filled just one side of it, then I tried to lift it and felt that was already heavy. I decided to weight it just to check...it was 7.9 kg....out of 8...just one side of it ๐Ÿ˜ถ Yeah I need to do some more organizing.


Know that you are going to need more vacuum bags that the ones you came with, and if you didn't use them I really don't know how you did it.


If your parents are coming to get you and then you're flying out together I really advice you to consider asking them to come with a almost empty bag or an extra bag for you to fill, so that you don't have to pay additional fees for the second luggage at the check-in.






Hope you have a safe flight back to where you came from ๐Ÿ’ž and don't hesitate to contact me if you're curious about anything.






P.S. I'm posting this now...and IT'S SEPTEMBER guys...I'm sorry but my life has been so extremely busy since I got back in Italy.


School has started, volleyball season has started but I'm still figuring out how to put the new and old pieces together again.






P.P.S. I decided to carry on with my blog and keep posting about what happened when I was back and what's happening now and what am I going to do with "this experience in my pocket"!!






I miss my host family ssssso much ✈✈


















Friday, June 2, 2017

#32 Trips and Tales

Welcome back on my Blog ♡

A three days weekend trip in Southern Oregon.
The two coolest host parents in the world, six little children, three teenagers exchange students, a big white van, a lot of love and happiness and let's hit the roaaaaaaad at 8:30am......hours later......"So are we leaving or not? What time is it?"

First of all I have to say that we (my hfamily and Chiara with us too) were supposed to go to some friends house for the nights, but it turned out that they were sick and since we really wanted to go anyway, we decided to camp in their yard. Easy peasy. So Friday we packed everything we needed up, tends and sleeping bags included, and.... I was struggling putting together my bag for a three days trip...which is pretty funny if you think that I have to pack EVERYTHING in a week. EVERYTHING.
Anyway, Saturday morning at 9am we were all ready to go with blankets and pillows and a very much filled van. We went get coffee and then we took the highway to drive down there. Twenty minutes later I noticed that I had forgotten my toothbrush, my teeth-brace and staffs like that, so we came back home (bless my hmom) and then hit the road again, this time really determined to leave.
After hours of stops and lovely children gently screaming and arguing in the car we got to Medford, the Dutch Bros store where we wanted to go (the only one that exists in the whooole world) was obviously closed during the weekend and on Memorial Day too, so we sadly changed our plans and decided to go to a park so that the children could play around for a bit and we could rest. After that we stopped at Walmart, where I found some super cool pair of bluish slippers for 98cents (very happy with this price), and then we went to In & Out for dinner, sorry but I really don't get why everybody think it's so good, I mean it's worthy to go there at least once to say that you've been there, but other than that....in my opinion nothing special.
Finally at 9pm we got to the friends' farm, set up the tend, a big big pretty red tend, laid out our blankets and....me and Chiara stayed to until like midnight watching the stars. What a sight, out in the country with almost no lights bothering the splendid vision of the starlit night sky.
Basically I slept maybe three hours that night, we didn't really have time to set the "sleeping area" up in a decent way, it was so hard and we were so cold. We three girls were at one end of the tend and even if we were really close to each other we were still freezing.
That day we drove to the Redwood forest and it was really really worthy, those big sequoias were amazing and then we also stopped at the "Welcome in California" sign! Luckily I brought my instax camera along so I took a lot of pictures. In the evening, back at the farm, me and the girls helped Nancy to cook dinner for 20 people. I'll leave a picture of the big table down below.
The next day, after a way more comfortable night thanks to extra blankets, it was time to drive back home, but not without passing to Crater lake first ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜
I have to say that was one of the best landscape I have ever seen in my life, just breathtaking. And it was in the mountains, so even better. Yes I miss my mountains a loooot.











P.S. I was nominated among the female athletes of the year, I didn't even know what it was until everyone started to congratulate me. I'm so happy and it's been such an honor!


Bye guys, love you all ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’™

Friday, May 19, 2017

#31 Exchange Student Tag

Hi guys! I've decided to do this tag so you can get to know me and my adventure a bit better.

❤ What is your name, age, nationality and company?
I'm Emma, I'm 17 (18 next month), I'm from Italy. My Italian travel organization is WEP and my American one is CHI. I give you the links if you are interested in taking a look at their websites.

https://www.wep.org/

https://www.chinet.org/


❤ Where are you living your exchange year?
I'm currently in the United States, in the city of Salem in the state of Oregon, on the west coast.


❤ Why did you decide to be an exchange student?
There were always some exchange students in my Italian high school from different places every year and I always admired them just for being there. Two years ago I met this Austrian girl and she told me the name of her organization so I did some researches, read a loooot of blogs, spoken with a loooot of people, did a loooot of things and here I am. I needed to do this to go beyond my limits and experience something new, and I can promise you it's completely worthwhile.


❤ What did you think when you first stepped out of the plane?
I think I already mentioned it in another post, but anyway, once I stepped out of the plane my only thought was to find my luggage. You should know that before departing I had all the plans in my mind about what to do at the airport, so as soon as I walked out of the plane my mind was set with "Find your luggage and then find your family". It probably sounds crazy but I wasn't ready to see them before my luggage.


❤ What is the weirdest thing you have tasted so far?
It might sound banal but I have to say that the weirdest thing for me was pineapple pizza. You have to understand that as a small, innocent Italian I had just heard about this myth of pineapple on my beloved pizza. Well, after almost 10 months in the U.S....I like it. Yes I actually really enjoy pineapple on pizza or on everywhere else.


❤ How do you like the school in your host country?
I really like some aspects of American high schools but I also think that there are some lacks in thus system. Students are provided a wide range of courses of all kinds (from cooking classes to pottery and mythology, forensic science and engineering) and of all levels (from basic math to college classes), the only problem is that it's all really simplified and since students are not required to take all the classes they don't really have a general basic culture of a little bit of everything. I'm not talking about all the students, because those ones who want to learn are really prepared, but I have the impression that they are not enough.
I like the fact that teachers focus more on working in class than giving a bunch of homework and the relationships teachers-students are completely the opposite of what we have in Italy. I also love that the school supports and encourages sports and other extracurricular activities like clubs or others.
Overall though, I have to say that the Italian system is really strict and it requires to study hard, but it also prepares students better. (Personal opinion)... just to be clear this doesn't mean that I'm missing my Italian school. Not at all.


❤ How do people dress in your host country (in your opinion)?
At school everyone can wear what he/she wants. No one id going to judge you if you show up in your pijama or in green and bright pink. I noticed that at school people dress up either really casual or really fancy. (because America is either all or nothing hahaha).


❤ If your exchange year was a song, what would it be?
Probably I Lived by the One Republic. Listen to it and you'll get why.


❤ How do you imagine the day you are going home?
Well, this may be even crazier than the luggage thing. I had a dream about me going home. In this dream I was looking at myself from the outside, meaning my point of view was as an outsider watching what was going on. I dreamed myself open the front door of my house in Italy, stepping inside with all my stuff, seating on the new couch that my parents bought while I was here, and just looking around completely lost for who knows how long.


P.S. 21 days til graduation.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

#30 Prom

Festeggiamo il 30esimo post di questo blog cooooon....un bel post sul Prom. Quando sono arrivata qua ad agosto quel giorno sembrava lontano anni luce, un miraggio e una specie di coronazione di quest'esperienza. Ho passato ore ad immaginarmi quanto magico sarebbe stato ed ora eccomi qua, due settimane dopo, a realizzare quanto tutto stia passando velocemente.
Vediamo se riesco a riassumere tutto e darvi un'idea di come รจ stato.
1. LE PROVE
E si ragazzi, non pensate di arrivare il giorno del ballo e non avere un piano d'azione per la giornata! Mercoledi' 19 Chiara e io abbiamo passato il pomeriggio a fare le prove per le acconciature con tanto di piastra e trecce di qua e di la'. Alla fine ho deciso di farmi fare solo i boccoli cosi' non avevo da stare li ad aggiustarmi ogni cinque minuti. Venerdi' invece la mia fantastica, e I mean really really awesome host mum mi ha cucito la chiusura del vestito dietro, l'ho provato ed era perfetto.

2. LA PREPARAZIONE
Sabato 22 mattina mi sono svegliata intorno alle dieci, fatto colazione, skypato con la mia migliore amica, e poi ho cominciato a girare per casa a fare cose a caso perche' non volevo cominciare a prepararmi troppo presto. SBAGLIATO! Prima cominciate meglio e'! A mezzogiorno mi sono lavata profumata e ho cominciato a truccarmi. Mi raccomando se i capelli ve li nfate da sole lavateli la sera prima e non il giorno stesso se no non stanno. Chiara e' arrivata a casa mia verso le due, sua mamma si e' occupata del suo trucco ed era veramente wow. Dovevamo uscire verso le tre per andare a fare le foto al parco, ma ovviamente ci abbiamo messo anni a farci i boccoli e quinzi siamo uscite quasi alle quattro.
Non vi dico per farmi stare su il vestito che abbiamo dovuto inventarci, non so perche' ma la sera prima andava bene e poi sabato cascava! Allora mia mamma con tanto di ago e filo mi ha letteramente cucito il vestito addosso, e poi siamo dovute andare al supermercato a comprare il tape per vestiti per farlo stare su. Ce l'hanno fatta i nostri eroi? Ebbene si, come notate dalle foto e' andata bene hahahaha.

3. SERVIZIO FOTOGRAFICO
Dico solo una cosa: 642 foto, 2 parchi, tanto divertimento e quattro fratellini annoiati a morte haha.

4. LA CENA
Anche per questa dovrete avere un piano, perche' tutti vanno a cena fuori  prima del Prom, quindi dovrete assolutamente prenotare in anticipo per non trovarsi poi con tutti i ristoranti vicini alla location pieni. Io sono andata con un gruppo di amici alla Spaghetti Warehouse. Bocciato alla grande ma va be e' la cmpagnia che conta. Consiglio vivamente di non abbuffarsi se il vestito vi sta stretto o giusto, e anche perche' poi dovrete ballare.

4. PROM ๐Ÿ’œ
Finalmente alle 8:30 siamo saliti al secondo piano del Red Opera Downtown Mall, dove c'era una pista da ballo, un dj, dei tavoli e un angolo con il fotografo allestiti per la nostra scuola. Le decorazioni erano semplici ma d'effetto e il posto era abbastanza piccolo per il numero di persone ma non aveva molta importanza.
Subito siamo andate a farci fotografare e poi via alle danze fino a mezzanotte! Si lo so e' assurdo che il ballo di fine anno sia dalle 8 alle 12, ma qua va cosi'. C'era per lo piu' musica pop intervallata da lenti smielati.

5. AFTER
Siccome a mezzanotte it was over, io Swantje Jocelyn e Chiara abbiamo deciso di andare al bowling per una partita veloce e poi Jocelyn ci ha riaccompagnato a casa. Sono andata a dormire alle 2 e la mattina dopo ho dormito fino alle 11, per me e' una conquista considerando che non dormivo fino a cosi' tardi da mesi.

6. SUMMARY
E' stato un giorno bellissimo, mi sono divertita tanto nonostante almeno il mio prom non sia stato davvero come quello che mostrano nei film, ma alla fine quasi niente lo e'. Ah e ultima cosa, non rinunciate ad andare al prom solo perche' non avete un date, tante persone sono nella vostra stessa situazione e secondo me e anche meglio perche' cosi' potete stare con i vostri amici.
E se siete un exchange student dovete per forza andare al prom. Punto.

It's picture tiiiiiime ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

me and my dwarfs

don't judge my shoes


Wednesday, April 12, 2017

#29 Mente aperta

Eccola qua, e' gia' iniziata. Quella sensazione che senti dentro, che ti stringe lo stomaco e ti fa venire il groppo in gola. Quella sensazione che non sai cos'e' e se e quando arrivera'. Sono sicura che ogni exchange student sa di cosa sto parlando, e se siete un futuro exchange o semplicemente state leggendo questo post perche' non avete nient'altro da fare (o perche' sono coooosi brava e coinvolgente e vi manco talmente tanto che leggete il mio blog ahahah sure) cerchero' di spiegarlo come riesco.
Non si tratta necessariamente di una sensazione negativa, ma nuova  e diversa da qualsiasi altra. La sensazione che quando tornero' non riusciro' a far capire alle persone a cui tengo che cosa ho provato, che quando mi chiederanno "Allora com'e' l'America?" "Dai raccontami qualcosa di strano sugli americani!" io non riusciro' a trasmettere che cosa voglio veramente, che cosa significa, che cosa mi ha cambiato.
Mi assale la paura di ritrovarmi da sola seduta sul mio letto nella mia cameretta in Italia, guardarmi attorno e semplicemente chiedermi "E adesso?".
A questo punto dell'esperienza comincio a capire veramente che cosa vuola dire quella frase che ho letto talmente tante volte

perche' veramente tu arrivi qua, ce la metti tutta per integrarti e quando finalmente ce la fai...boom back home. E lo so che qua ci potro sempre tornare poi, e non e che non rivedro mai piu' nessuno, pero' non rivivro' mai MAI quello che sto vivendo adesso, e questa cosa per quanto normale sembri e' difficilissima da accettare.

 La consapevolezza di aver vissuto una realta' completamente diversa, aver esplorato una cultura cosi' lontana da casa ma ormai cosi' vicina a me.
La paura di sentirmi da sola perche' nessuno capira' cosa ho provato. Fortunatamente ho l'impressione che mia mamma un po mi capisca, dato che anche lei ha vissuto all'estero e ad esempio le racconto cose che a me spiazzano lei non si scompone una virgola hahaha. Poi mi dice sempre "Mente aperta Emma, mente aperta", che e' diventato un po' il mio motto.

Cambiando discorso lo scorso weekend ho finalmente trovato il vestito per il Prom, pagandolo solo 10$. Grazie ad una cordinatrice della mia organizzazione partner ho trovato questo evento in una citta' non lontano da salem. Era un negozio che solo per un giorno offriva tantissimi vestiti costosi e di marca, donati a questa associazione, a soli 10$. Siamo stati in coda per tipo un'ora emmezza  ed e' stando in coda che ho notato questo bellissimo vestito in vetrina sul manichino. Mi sono venuti gli occhi a cuoricino e quando l'ho provato e' stato amore. Ne ho provati tanti altri ma quello era semplicemente gia' mio.
No non ve la posto la foto del vestito, dovrete aspettare il Prom!

PROM: In the United States a prom, is a semi-formal (black tiedance or gathering of high school students. This event is typically held near the end of the senior year (the last year of high school). Proms figure greatly in popular culture and are major events among high school students. 


In the US Prom is a BIG thing.
















P.S. Ci stiamo attrezzando per andare a fare Paintball  *EXCITEMENT*

Sunday, April 9, 2017

#28 Spokane and Spring Break

I apologize for the delay, I really want to post but I've kind of the idea that every time I do it...it means that another chapter of this adventure is closing, and believe me it's so overwhelming...

Spokane volleyball tournament was a success! We placed fourth out of forty!(we would have been third if they didn't count the sets)
My spring break started a day earlier, on Thursday 23rd, so that we had time to drive up to Spokane, in Washington before the tournament started on Friday. it's a 7 hours drive... but it took us 12 hours hahaha.
Driving there we stopped first at a big mall in Clackamas where we did a little bit of shopping, and then we did a stop at one of the little lake on the Washington border. It was pretty cool.
The hotel was a little room rental place, really nice. Our room had three big rooms and there was also a little kitchen. We played every day three games, so we were done always around 3pm.
On Saturday we went to the main park in Spokane downtown and saw the big red wagon, ne of the symbol of the city. reaaally cool too! After that we went out for dinner we all the team and parents at Buffalo Wild Wings. I think so far is one of my favorite restaurant eheh, the chicken is ssoo good. By the way another restaurant that I really like is Chipotle, a Mexican place.
Anyway, the last day of the tournament was awesome, we won or brackets and the championship match against a team from Texas. Fortunately we had the room for Saturday night too, so we didn't have to rush home after the tournament was over.
We went to dinner at a sushi place and everybody enjoyed it, even my hostdad that never really appreciated sushi!
It's been an amazing three day weekend <3, I couldn't have asked for any better.

The rest of Spring Break was more low key since we ended up not going to Southern Oregon as we've planned to. the family of friends hat we were supposed to go to was sick, so we'll go down there another time, when I'm gonna have a Friday or a Monday off from school.
Last Saturday I went shopping in Eugene with my mum and her sister, and on Sunday me and my family went to Tillamook, to the cheese factory and to the beach. It was a nice one day trip, and I got to put my feet in the ocean for the first time of 2017!











Wednesday, March 15, 2017

#27 Travel

I found this quote some time ago: "Travel, it leaves you speechless and then turns you in a storyteller". Mi ha fatto pensare tanto a cosa vuol dire davvero viaggiare. Non รจ soltanto voler vedere posti nuovi perchรฉ sono belli, รจ qualcosa di diverso, di piรน profondo, viaggiare รจ un po come cercare di ampliare i propri orizzonti. Che tu lo voglia oppure no, se viaggi e vivi in posti diversi da quelli in cui sei cresciuto cambia il tuo modo di vedere le cose, cambia il tuo modo di vedere le persone e cambi tu. Capisci tante cose di te stesso che prima non sapevi oppure davi per scontate.
Quello che voglio dire รจ che se ne avete la possibilitร  viaggiate, andate, partite e scoprite cose nuove. E se non ne avete la possibilitร  ma volete, non smettete di provarci, inseguite questa voglia di andare al di lร  di quello che giร  conoscete; perchรฉ alla fine noi siamo quello in cui crediamo, ci comportiamo in base a quello che sogniamo e che abbiamo sperimentato.
So per certo che al mio ritorno ai miei occhi tante cose saranno diverse, so che sarรฒ piรน sicura di me e piรน indipendente, e nonostante le difficolta auguro questa esperienza a ognuno di voi. Ci sono tanti modi per uscire dalle nostre aree di comfort e capire di piรน su noi stessi. Si tratta poi anche di riuscire a trovare i propri equilibri, magari nuovi equilibri, con quella cosa pazzesca che spaventa tanta gente: lo SPIRITO DI ADATTAMENTO. La vera sfida e' imparare ad apprezzare cose nuove e adattarsi ad un modo diverso di fare e pensare le cose. All'inizio si etichetta tutto come "diverso", perche' non e' come lo abbiamo sempre visto o provato, ma dopo un po' diventa normale e quando pensi a come facevi prima e' quello che ti sembra diverso. E alla fine quindi capisci che e' tutta questione di prospettiva, una prospettiva che si amplia sempre di piu' e ti fa sentire piccolo rispetto a quanto e' grande il mondo.
Per farvi un esempio pratico vi spiego un esperienza personale: quando sento mia mamma al telefono le dico sempre che mi manca mia sorella, e lei mi risponde sempre che non capisce perche' abbiamo praticamente come tutte le sorelle non siamo mai andate troppo d'accordo, sia perche' abbiamo abbiamo 5 anni di differenza sia per altro. E le do tutte la ragione del mondo, ma e' proprio quando ti mancano le cose che davi per scontate che capisci quanto sono importanti. Sento che mia sorella sta crescendo tanto mentre io non ci sono e mi dispiace non essere li, mi manca averla nella camera accanto e mi manca litigare per cosa guardare in tv. Ah e Bianca non ti preoccupare che non mi lamentero' mai piu' delle carte della merenda sul tavolino (maybe). Non vedo l'ora di riabbracciarla e di recuperare non solo quest'anno ma anche quelli prima.

Dato che mi sento poetica vi lascio con un pezzo di una canzone di Marco Mengoni che mi piace tanto tanto.

"Mi sentirei di dirti
Che il viaggio cambia un uomo
E il punto di partenza
Sembra ormai cosรฌ lontano
La meta non รจ un posto
Ma รจ quello che proviamo
E non sappiamo dove
Nรจ quando ci arriviamo"



P.S. Post on Volleyball tournment and updates coming soon! Se avete suggerimenti o idee su argomenti che potrei trattare in particolare o volete chiedermi qualsiasi cosa relativa alla mia esperienza commentate qua sotto <3





Thursday, February 23, 2017

#26 Vegas baby

I am currently on the flight from the layover in San Francisco to Portland. I'll probably post this tomorrow when I can check everything with my laptop.

I'm going in chronological order otherwise I know I'll make a mess.
This long weekend in Las Vegas for the volleyball tournament was one of the best vacation of my life. No kidding.
Friday morning I left Salem at 2:30am, me and my mum got my poor four sleepy siblings in the van and she drove me to the airport up in Portland (an hour away). When we got there she said "Remember that what happens in Vegas does not stays in Vegas" and "Do not get married over there because it is an actual marriage as everywhere else!" Hahahahaha, she was joking of course....I think.
Anyway, I took off around 4:30, after having had the best Capuccino I've had since I'm here, and around 7 I landed in San Francisco. I was so disappointed because the weather was really foggy and rainy, so I didn't get to see anything out of my window.
After half an hour layover, that I spend running from one gate to another one (San Francisco airport is huge) I got on the second flight for Laaaaaas Veeeegas baby.
As soon as I got there I saw slot machines everywhere hahaha, literally everywhere  (I noticed a small one in the restroom too). Heading out I met with two of my team mates and we walked out in order to wait for parents to pick us up. 
The house that we rented was exactly American/Las Vegas style: big, beautiful and.....with a POOL AND A HOT TUB! Omg I didn't know that until I got there. The vacation just started and I was already unable to contain my excitement.
We took a nap in the afternoon and waited for everyone to arrive. In the evening we went shopping to a big mall. I almost cried when I found Kiko makeup store, it was 7 months since I've seen one and it's so cheap compared to other brands popular here.
Some girls looked for prom dresses and then we came back to the house.
Saturday was first day of the tournament. We played in one of the three big pavilions of the Global Market Center. It sounds really cool but it wasn't actually, it was raining so much that it started leaking on the courts and every minute we had to grab a towel and soak up the water in order not to kill ourselves slipping on it. Also at a certain point, who knows why, the fire alarm started and didn't stop for at least twenty minutes. I'm glad we weren't playing but reefing (still got headache though). We played three teams and none of the matches went well. Sunday though was awesome! We won all three matches and had so much fun. We went to In 'n Out for dinner, a famous fast food really popular in California and other states. It was pretty good and cheap but I'm still not a fan of burgers and fries. I also got my dad a shirt of this year of the place, he said he loves In 'n Out so I hope he likes it.
On Monday we had a single, which means that if you lose you're out, well we lost. At around 2pm we were done so we went to the nearest outlet to shop and have lunch.
Since we had a little bit of time we had fun in the pool until it was too cold outside. 
Finally we started getting ready for the night. We went to the strip, meaning downtown of Las Vegas (center). One of the best day ever. Really walking through all those high skyscrapers and shiny billboards was great. We went to the New York  City part and we did the roller coaster, we went into the Bellagio Hotel, we walked through the gambling areas in the casinos, we saw the mini Eiffel tower. It was so cool. For dinner we went to Hard Rock Cafe and the owner/manager(/I don't know who he was) told us that we could go upstairs in the private concerts area.
We were all soo happy and we couldn't believe that we were there. It was like a dream. We went on the backstage and sat on the same couch where famous people like Imagine Dragons, Justin Bieber, Nirvana and so many others hang out before performing.
 After that (felt like a dream I promise you) we started our tour in the Strip and we walked in a lot of fancy hotel and Casinos. We watched the fountain show in front of the Bellagio Hotel and then we saw the world largest chocolate fountain. Everything was so big and shiny!
We were home around 2 and we were so much tired but so so happy. And that's not even all!
Next day since my flight was at 4, in the morning I went to the famous Las Vegas sign to take pictures and we visited the Pyramid Hotel and the Mandala Bay Center (me and one of my team mate with her mom).
Now that I' on the flight back I can't believe it's over, these girls are so sweet and I had one the best time ever in the fabulous Las Vegas.
I really hope this summer we'll stop them again with my parents during our road trip.

P.S. I just found out that my external camera is broken. I hate myself and my life. What in the world happened.

P.P.S. By the way at the tournament there were 200 teams from almost all the US. We played both in the pavilions and in some big high schools. We placed around half through so pretty good.

BEST THING WE DID: I think the best thing was having the chance to see (and touch the toilet) of the private stage and backstage of the Hard Rock Cafe, and see the city from its big balcony!!





Saturday, February 4, 2017

#25 Letter to myself

I opened it.
I opened the drawer of my desk, I pull out the wep folder and I grabbed it.
I thought i would cry, but I didn't, I had a smile on my face that was always bigger as I kept reading. I smiled because I wrote about the fact that I didn't have a host family yet, and I wished for one where I would be supported, understood, respected and involved in their life. 
Well, I now can say that that wish came true. When one morning my dad said: "Emma, sometimes I can't just be just that awesome guy that lives in your house, sometimes I have to be your dad" and I had to hold my tears back, cause I was happy.Or the moment when they asked me to help them choose the next exchange student for next year and I really had to keep myself from start crying right there, suddenly a sense of jealousy started to make its way through my heart, and I realized that it's already half of the way, half of this.
These six months have been fun, have been painful, have been surprising, have been hard, have been a lot of things, they've been full of tears, of love, of homesickness, of joy.
These six little kids are taking small pieces of my heart every day, and I can't stop them, I don't want to. I knew that at some point I would've been divided in two, as if my heart was made into two different part. And here I am, there's one half that doesn't want to surrender and every day it reminds me of all my friends, my family, my sister (gosh if I miss my sisi) and then there's the other half, which is expanding its roots here and will never want to leave. Because when you are an exchange student 90% of the time there's no balance with emotions, the minute before you are happy nad smiling and laughing and then booom, you see something, you remember something and you are lost for a range of time that can vary from second to hours.
Then I'm on the court, a volleyball court. Silence. Everybody is facing the flag. The anthem is playing. I look around and every time I think: "This can't be real, I'm playing volleyball on the other side of the world, I'm surrounded by Americans/Ketchup-eaters (no offense I love you all and I like ketchup too)". So I hold back tears, without even knowing if they are for joy or whatever.
Yes, sometime I feel really crazy, but I can take it. Also because there's always someone who brings me back to reality with questions like: "EEmmaaaaaa, if you are in the space and pee...does the pee go up or down?".

P.S. Si piange e si scherza e intanto la mia sorellina qua mette il parmigiano sulla pasta e poi infila il piatto nel microonde...calma emma, mantieni la calma.






Sunday, January 29, 2017

#24 Why posts have to have a title???



It's 28 days I don't publish a post, I know it's a lot but it's not because I don't want to, it's just that I didn't have much to write about.
The volleyball tournament season started and so far we had two tournaments. One was three day long, the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr's. day, it was in Springfield near Eugene in Southern Oregon. We woke up on Saturday morning at 4:30 to be there by 7am....I think it's so illegal, it doesn't make any sense, first game at 8 am and last one at 1pm. In the afternoon we went to my hmom sister's house that was really close by and we spent the night there in order to not have to drive all the way down from Salem again the next morning. Since she was so nice and she hosted us I brought a Panettone (from Italy) to eat all together and I think they liked it.
On Sunday other three games and than back to Salem with one of my teammates, because my parents had to leave earlier for a friend's birthday party. I was so tired and my shoulder hurt so bad than when I got home I fell asleep at 8pm or so. Monday was the last day and we managed to get the first place in our pool, so we entered a higher pool in the championship.
Here the championship is divided in tournaments and not single games like in Italy...weird.
Anyway, the weekend after there was another tournament on Saturday, 5 games in a day,at least two out of three sets. We played really well and we got second place.
This week was finals week at school...which is exactly a week in which you just take a test for each course, no lessons. So everyday we were out of school at around 12. Everybody so stressed out for tge tests....they should come to Italy....and probably they will commit suicide. Example: history test, 1:30 long, 40 questions, I was done in 22 minutes...and the last question was choosing an adjective for the teacher. Yay. 
Math and Physics were the only two I was a little worried about, but I think I did good. I'm also really proud of my English paper, four and a half pages on global warming :)
Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester and so the courses change (not all of them because some courses are year long). 
My new schedule is: Physics, Painting, History, Weights, English, Computer Science, Calculus, Public Speaking. SSSSSo excited.

Tomorrow it's the 30th, which means that I get to open the letter that Wep made us write at the orientation last year. I don't remember what I wrote in it (I think that's the point) so 'm gonna write a post about it and if it's not too personal I'll take a picture to show you.

By the way I didn't know what to do with my shoulder, so I bought some Arnica cream...13 dollars for a tube of Arnica.

Post coming soon, and it's going to be more about feelings and reflections I think.
See yaaaa ;)



My sisi <3 We went to see Singing in the rain at school this Friday.





Monday, January 2, 2017

#23 Holidays are OVER

Lo so che sono una brutta persona perche' durante tutte le vacanze non ho fatto un altro post, ma non avevo mai voglia. Comunque adesso racconto di Natale e Capodanno.
Dunque, devo dire che sono rimasta abbastanza delusa da come festeggiano qua, se lo si puo' chiamare festeggiare.
Il 24 pomeriggio siamo andati a casa del fratello della mia mamma dove c'era quasi tutta la famigla di lei, qualcuno stva male quindi non e' venuto. Siamo arrivati verso le tre, abbiamo mangiato qualcosa tipo a buffet, aperto un po' di regali e poi verso le sei ce ne siamo andati, l'atmosfera era stranissima, livello di conversazione al minimo, i bambini giocavano e parte degli adulti guardavano un documentario alla tv. Booh vai a capire.
Quando siamo arrivati a casa il papa' ha letto ai bambini una storia che leggono da tradizione tutti gli anni "The night before Christmas", mentre i bambini praticamente manco ascoltavano. Poi hanno messo i piccoli a letto e abbiamo visto il film intitolato come il libro. Mamma mia che noioso, a me proprio i vecchi film non vanno giu', poi pure musical...insomma strano.
Una cosa che ho trovato carinissiama pero' e' che la sera di natale abbiamo aperto tutti un solo regalo a casa, un pigiama nuvo, che tutti abbiamo indossato per avere tutti un bel pgiama la mattina dopo quando si aprono i regali, anche questa tradizione.
Stanca morta vado a letto e la mattina dopomi sveglio alle 6.30 per fare skype con i miei, poi alle 8 tipo andiamo ad aprire i regali in salotto. Si, alle 8. I bambini hanno ricevuto talmente tanti regal che non riescono neanche a ricordarseli tutti, in salotto sembra sia esplosa una bomba di carta da regalo e io cerco di tenermi strette le cose che ho ricevuto per non perderle in quel caos pazzesco.
I miei hparents sono stati cainissimi, mi hanno regalto un sacco si cosine carine, io anche ho cercato di fare del mio meglio per trovare i regali perfetti per ognuno, speriamo apprezzino.
Alle 11am partiamo alla volta della casa di riposo a Portland dove alloggia la nonna del mio hdad, dove faremo pranzo con tutta la sua famiglia (quasi tutta). Il cibo non era male, ma mi sa che ho mischiato troppo dolce e salato perche' ho passato il pomeriggio a vomitare e la sera a letto. Merry Christmas! Dimmi te sto cibo americano schifoso.
La seconda settimana di vacanza continua tranquilla fino a quando ovviamente non mi prendo uno di quei raffreddori epici, perche' io o a Natale o a Capodanno qualcosa devo avere, quest'anno comboooo.
Meno male che c'e' Chiara che e' una farmacia ambulante e mi ha fornito di Vicks e spray per la gola.

Adesso viene il bello, Capodanno, la festivita' in cui gli italiano eccellono, che c'e' gente che si compra l'armamento di botti stelline e fuochi da illuminare tutta la via lattea, la serata in cui la gente manco si ricorda che ha fatto tanto ha bevuto, il giorno in cui si cucina per ore e ci si siede a tavola alle 8 (dopo l'aperitivo ovviamente) e non ci si alza finche non e' mezzanotte meno dieci e fermi tutti che dobbiamo trovare un canale tv o radio che faccia il conto alla rovescia. E poi vai con lo stappamento dello spumante con i botto e sbrigati a metterci sotto il bicchiere che porca miseria tutti i soldi che ho speso per sta roba. Perche' per noi l'inizio dell'anno nuovo e' un bellissimo passaggio accompagnato dal tintinnio dei bicchieri che brindano sperando in un anno meno merdoso del precedente, un passaggio che spinge tutti ad augurare buon anno persino alla mamma della nuora della sorella del figlio del vicino di casa.
Ma qui no, New year's eve, almeno per la mia famiglia, non e' nulla di speciale...dato che neanche Chiara non faceva niente l'abbiamo invitata da noi e io e lei abbiamo deciso di fare una spaghettata aglio olio e peperoncino, fallita miseramente perche' con la pasta gluten free non sapeva proprio di nulla. Oltre a quello loro non hanno cucinato nulla, il papa' e' andato a prendere due pizze e gli amici hanno portato delle patatine e mezza torta al cioccolato...yayx. Dopo che i bambini si sono guardati un flm di baribie noi abbiamo visto "Now you see me" 1 e 2.
Alle undici il papa' si alza, va a prendere lo champagne e comincia ad aprirlo...io scandalizzata cerco di fermarlo e lo guardo come per dire "Ma che cavolo fai sono solo le undici" e lui risponde che ne beve u po' adesso e un po' dopo, cosi' mi risiedo shoccata sul divano ripetendomi che va bene non siamo in Italia. Al suono dello stappo mi si stringe il cuore ma tengo duro e abbraccio questa ennesima esperienza scherzandoci su. Ovviamente noi non ci lasciano puciare manco un dito nello champagne perche' "e' contro le regole" quindi a -2 min ci riempiano sconsoalte il bicchiere di Apple Cider (sparkling eh). Allo scoccare della mezzanotte i due amici dei miei dormivano e imiei genitori che li fotografavano...io e Chiara che brindiamo e diciamo buon anno a tutti e nessuno che ci caga.
"Festeggiamo" aprendo un panettoncino che i miei mi hanno spedito, finiamo il film e a nanna.
Mai avuto un capodanno piu' emozionante di questo devo dire.
Nonostante tutto non posso credere che il 2016 sia finito, e' stato un anno lunghssimo, pieno di cose belle e brutte, un anno che rimarra per sempre segnato dal fatto che ho lasciato casa per andare dall'altra parte del mondo.

Buon anno a tutti va e speriamo in meglio, che la speranza e l'ultima a morire.









P.S. Sinceramente se non avessi incontrato Chiara non so dove sarei o cosa farei adesso, non lo scopriro' mai ma mi sta piu' che bene, e' una persona fantastica che mi capisce perfettamente perche' sta vivendo un po' le stesse cose che sto vivendo io. A natale ci siamo regalte la stessa cosa, un tazza con a bandiera americana, assurdo lo so.
E no, non parliamo italiano tra di noi, parliamo inglese.

Kisses and happy new year guys <3