Since I last got around to writing, a lot and nothing has happened. Life has changed, yet has stayed the same. Christmas has come and gone. 2010, my graduation year, the year I spent so much time looking forward to, has now gone. Now onto my fifth month in Italy, life is becoming normal, which is both positive and negative. Positive, because I have ways to fill my days and enjoy myself and constantly put myself out there; negative, because life here is just normal, nothing special or exciting and a little lonely still (although I am getting very used to the loneliness). After switching families at the beginning of December, I am living in a huge and old house with 2 senior citizens both of whom I love. They like having some young blood around the house, and think I am a little crazy because I don't always where wool *gasp* (winter here is not like Canadian winter) and make fun of my accent constantly. I am living in a little apartment above the house, which is nice because it gives me my own space. Christmas in Italy was not a huge deal,  just a big lunch and a present exchange. I missed the soup on Christmas eve, the stockings and cinnamon buns on Christmas morning, the do-nothing of the day, and the big family dinner with turkey and stuffing, but hey next year will be twice as exciting and when will I ever be in Italy for Christmas again right? The Christmas vacations are just finishing up, and I can honestly say I have done nothing. I, unfortunately, have no cool trips or excursions to report, and these vacations have made me realize my lack of friends in Italy as I have seen none of my Italians over break! On New Year's Eve, I went to Gorizia to stay with my friend, and we danced and partied at a party in the city. When I think about New Year's in Canada, if there is no house party, the night is usually spent in the snow, so it was a nice change to actually have somewhere to go, even though we didn't really have anywhere to go. In Italy, the sixth of January is a holiday where they celebrate the Buffana (which is really just an old, scary looking woman who brings candy to children in stockings). A Rotarian took me and my friend to the celebrations in a small town outside of Udine, which consisted of a parade of people in traditional costumes and then in medieval costumes. Later, all the festival goers in town trekked a VERY slow 2 km up a hill to watch the bonfire getting lit. This bonfire is a tradition that is said to burn the bad spirits of 2010, and then depending on the direction of the smoke, a positive or negative prediction of the new year is made. The problem is, very typical of the interesting, but slightly unorganized Italian culture, was that they had predictions for if the smoke went east or west. The smoke blew south, so no prediction was made. Quite comical, in my opinion. After this ceremony, the Rotarian took us to a fancy Italian restaurant, which further proved the Italian expertise in the kitchen, as we ate very well that night. School starts on Monday, and it will be back to .... real life? I don't know what to call it. Hopefully it will result in a reconnection, you could say, with my class\school mates. I am still missing my friends, family, hockey games, and life back in Canada, but Italian is really cool and now I can speak it pretty well, which means I have accomplished at least one thing here in Italy. Happy 2011 and I hope this makes some Canadians happy!