After a week and a half on constant sunshine, my host dad said today "Well, 5 months until we get sunshine again". That's great, just great. A week and a half has brought new friends (Rotary ones, and a few more Italian ones), my first (and hopefully, last) Italian cold, school, slight improvements in Italian, the knowledge of my future parents and house, the hope of possible trips and swimming!
Last weekend, I went to Trieste, which is a beautiful city on the ocean about an hour from Udine, by train. Trieste was hosting Barcolana, the annual sailing regatta, which hundreds of heavy-duty and baby sailboats, even a pirate ship. I met a few new Rotary exchange students, mostly from the USA, who live relatively near me. We went out for dinner on Saturday with Trieste's Rotaract club. On Sunday, we went to a restaurant in a little town nearby Trieste, which was amazing. It was a Tuscan-feeling restaurant with a gigantic outdoor patio with one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. Looking out onto green landscape, endless ocean, hundreds of white sailboats, Slovenia, and probably Croatia, I was happy to be sharing it with our little Rotary group, but wished I could have flown some of my loves from home to show them the sheer beauty of it. One thing about Italy, is the meals are very drawn out. We arrived at the restaurant around 9:30am, had little pastries and champagne, relaxed, ate a few courses, relaxed, ate some more courses, relaxed, had dessert, relaxed, had coffee, relaxed, and left the restaurant around 4pm after eating SO much food. The meal is so drawn out, though, that you can continue eating without feeling too full; until you leave, then you never want to eat again. After an enjoyable weekend, and a train ride where we stood the whole hour and a half ride because there weren't any seats, I was exhausted. When I got back to Udine, I went to dinner with my next host family. There are a nice couple, old enough to be my grandparents, who live in a huge, old house. I literally will be living in my own apartment (It has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchenette, a little living room), whereas the kitchen and main living room is WAY downstairs. I feel like I will be living basically alone, which I hope is not the case, because if life stays similar to what is now, I will be even more lonely than I am now. Luckily, the couple's daughter and granddaughter( who is 17) live right next door, so hopefully that will end up being a good situation. I'll just have to see, now won't I?
I am becoming more accustomed to my life here, which is a good and bad. The life I am living here is not one that I would be happy with if I had a choice, it is much to relaxed and alone, but after living 18 years surrounded by close friends and family and engulfed in a life where I spent every moment staying busy with work, school, soccer, piano and my lovely friends, this life here is a slap in the face, but almost in a good way.   I will come back after living a completely different lifestyle, and can therefore be persistent in making sure I am happy with the way I am living, when I have the choice. I started swimming this week at the pool, which is a healthy waste of time, considering how much gelato I eat. I would like all of you to come visit me, for the sole reason of comprehending the utter goodness of Italian gelato. I could eat it all day, and eat nothing else, and not get tired of it.
I can now carry on conversations in Italian, and speak mostly Italian with my school friends, which is good, but as hard as I am trying, shop owners; barmen; customer service people still switch to English automatically when they here me talk. It is hilariously depressing. Last night, I attended a birthday party that was extremely fancy (the birthday girl's dress was fancier than my prom dress), but fun and almost a cultural experience. Some guy who I have seen around school, but is not in any classes with me, is not friends with anyone I know and has never talked to me before said Hi to me. In English. Do I really stand out that much that people can just tell I can't speak Italian..? I was too stunned to even ask how he knew I am from an english speaking, but I intend to find him at school and get an answer. I am trying so hard to learn Italian and these little incidents break my heart a little bit..! As my Italian is improving though (slowly), my English is deteriorating, which makes me miss writing essays and being knowledgeable at something. Next year, at university, I am probably going to have a hard time writing well, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Biking on my neon yellow bicycle makes me happiest, because I get to think of my best friend and be outside, on old looking streets, but I am afraid it is going to rain for the next... five months, therefore making biking a little difficult.
My Sunday was spent, for the first time in my life, at Ikea or as they pronounce it here Eekayah, which my host dad claims is how it is pronounced everywhere else in the world other than us stupid Canadians. He thinks that I live in a hole in Canada, because I don't know any Italian singers, when the only Canadian singer he could name was Avril Lavigne.  I know right?
Italy is getting easier for me, I think, but I have a theory also that maybe I am just getting more used to the feeling of homesickness, rather than it actually going away.
Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving, jerks; they don't celebrate it here. They also don't have eggnog, so drink some for me too (that means you, Britt).

I don't proofread these which explains the spelling mistakes..

After a month of school, I have officially decided that school in Canada is WAY more fun. Maybe I have a biased opinion, and maybe it will get better once I can, ahem, understand what we are actually learning about, but my observation as of now, is that there is absolutely no stimulation for the students. Everyone works hard, and studies hard so maybe that is an improvement to the Canadian system, but honestly I like being able to move around in between classes, and get know know more than just the 21 other people in the class, and be able to get to know the teachers, as you can go in for extra help in the mornings, lunch, and after school in Canada. I like doing activities in class, Mr. Lines' stimulating lectures, having lunchtime to socialize, and looking forward to traditions with the school such as graduation ceremonies, prom, sunrise, sunset, pep rallies, grad-napping, extracurricular sports and programs. Also, if we thought gym class at Pen-Hi was a joke, we didn't know the meaning of easy gym class. We only have an hour a week here, and the gym which is about the size on the old South Gym at Pen-Hi, is split between 3 classes, meaning there is no organization whatsoever, and the 35 minutes we have to actually do anything, is spent playing an unorganized game of volleyball or shooting basketballs. One thing I have noticed is that I can no longer speak French, when the mind is immersed all day in learning Italian, and considering how similar the two languages are, when the teacher asks me anything I say "Si.. I mean Oui" literally every single time, and I forgot words such as "peut-etre" that I should not be forgetting.
This week I learned how to ride a bicycle with an umbrella, which I should note takes serious skill, and honestly doesn't keep you all that dry. I learned that Italians are very honest about themselves, because when asked to write a paragraph on their strengths and flaws (English class, so I understood), they did not hold back, some explaining that they are jealous, others explaining that they are bossy and moody when asked about their flaws; which was extremely refreshing, as I can honestly say that if we were asked to write about our flaws at school in Canada, traits like jealousy and moodiness would probably not be stated, as it is a little too honest.
On Saturday, I got some drinks with some friends from school, and then went to Casomai, the local discoteca. It is much the the clubs at home, I would imagine, except being the opening night of the season, it was literally jam packed, impossible to move. Oh right, and it doesn't open until midnight, music doesn't start until 12:30 and most people stay until 4 or 5 am, but considering we eat dinner every night at 9pm, I guess that makes sense. The discoteca was fun, for sure, I went with Luca, his brother, and my exchange student friend, Milla. I was happy to have her, as I'm pretty sure I would have been alone, had it not been for her, but I am still at the point in this exchange that when I got home, I thought "Yeah that was fun, but it would have been soo much more fun if my friends had been there". I think that feeling with subside, though, with time.
Also, on Friday, the four Rotary girls living in Trieste came to Udine for the afternoon, and I can't explain in, but somehow rotary students just connect, right away, and I felt more comfortable with them, then I have with almost anyone so far. It was a comforting feeling, and the trains make seeing them fairly easy.
On Sunday, I went to a cute little town in the mountains with my host mom for an art show focusing on angels.  Udine is in the center of various small towns, some in the mountains and some near the ocean, all of which the teenages come to Udine for school. Not that I have been to Austria, but this town reminded me of stereotypical Austria. We went on a walk, which turned into an hour and half hike, but it was well worth it, as we ended up at a church way up in the mountains. The gloomy weather only accentuated the overwhelming peacefulness of the church, and the panoramic view of mountains and other surrounding mini-towns. It was beautiful to say the least. The angel art show, although the guide spoke too fast for me, was an incredible cultural experience, as there is honestly not too much culture like it in Canada. The paintings and sculptures were incredible, and I could feel the history seeping out of them. It would have been nice to know the story behind them. I, also met a family from London, who had just moved to one of the mini-towns with their 3 young kids. They said it was nice speaking real English to some, which made me feel happy because that is exactly how I feel sometimes.
Maybe this time in the mountains, or sitting next to someone in class who blows his nose every 5 minutes, caused it, but somehow I ended up with the worst cold I have had in a long time. My host dad keeps saying " I though Canadians were strong people" which eats away at me a little considering I have always been a strong person, and have gone to school and continued on daily life having a cold or not. The truth is, school here doesn't matter, so why not just lie in bed right?
After being here officially a month, it has definitely been far from easy, but I am becoming slowly more comfortable with life here. It has definitely made me realize how much I love Canada, and the way things are done there. I really like Italy, I honestly do, but Canada is still my home and I love it there. With my being sick, and my stuttering being the worst it has been in a long time, speaking a new language all the time is incredibly exhausting. Good thing is it such a beautiful language, because it's a pain in the ass! I will never understand why it is important to have masculine and feminine EVERYTHING, for goodness sakes.