Ringraziamento (Thanksgiving.)

WE DID IT!

We prepared enough food for 21 hungry italians. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, carrots, deviled eggs, green beans, and three apple pies. Everyone loved it. My Rotary counselor even said, "We need to have thanksgiving more often!". My host dad, who is a very picky eater, ate everything and enjoyed it all.

The favorite- the turkey, of course. We got a 7 kilo turkey. It was the biggest that anyone here had ever seen. Even at the check-out line the cashiers were all trying to get pictures with it. Kelsey's mom sent a turkey bag, so we used that and cooked it for around 3 and a half hours. Nobody believed us when we told them that the turkey would take that long to cook. Kelsey's host dad, Salvatore, could not understand because none of the meat he has made has ever taken that long. After about two hours he was going to make us take it out, but we convinced him to let us do it. Since we were the ones with turkey expeirence. When the turkey was finally ready, it was time to carve it. Earlier that day we had Tim watch a youtube video on how to carve a turkey over and over again. So, when Salvatore started to hack away at it, Tim was a little disappointed. Her dad did a great job, even though it was defnitely not the proper way to carve it. He got every piece of meat off the turkey, and we actually had leftovers. The turkey turned out wonderfully, and everyone enjoyed it very much.

Dinner started at around 8:00pm (early for Italians), and people went home at around midnight. The process of making the food started ar around 10:00am that morning (after pancakes and maple syrup), and it didn't stop until the turkey was done at 8:00pm. It was a very long and tiring day, but it was all worth it to have everyone together trying new things. Today, the day after thanksgiving, I was so tired from all of the hard work. But,

Nature...

We found it.

Some said it didn't exist here. But we found it. In a big city called Nuoro where we had a Rotary meeting this last saturday. After the meeting we drove around for awhile with Salvatore and he drove up to the top of the city where we spotted beautiful green forests. We just had to explore. Here are some pictures from our first encounter with real nature on Sardegna.

Well, that was interesting.

So, yesterday my friends Kelsey, Stephanie, Gianluca, Paolo and I went to a theatre to watch what we thought was going to be an opera. We were sitting at the top, inside our own private booth. It was a very old and beautiful theater. The lights dimmed out and we all got quiet as we watched a guy come onto the stage with a saxophone around his neck. He started some recorded music and then picked up the microphone. He started making noises that sounded like a bass guitar and moving his hands like he was playing one. Opera? I think not.

We laughed quietly and enjoyed every bit of the concert (Well, maybe Paolo didn't enjoy every bit of it. He was tired and hungry. Poor Paolo.). Even though it was the opposite of what we had expected, we still had a lot of fun. After the concert we walked to the Piazza di' Italia and I got to check off one thing off of my "Things To Do Before I Leave Italy" list. I was in the Piazza with nobody else around. Whenever I have been to the Piazza, there has always been at least 10 people. I have been wanting to do that since I came to Italy and saw how busy the Piazza was, so I am happy that I got to.

There will be pictures up of us at the theater later, but I can't upload them right now.

Two Months, Eleven Days.

I have been here in Italy for two months and 11 days now. It has been the most amazing two months. I would not change anything. I have made the best friends here, we have already all become so close. There have been some bad times, but the good over power the bad. Being an exchange student is incredible. Wherever you go, there is somebody interested in you. Somebody that smiles when they see you go by. I always laugh when the street venders yell, "Hello!" as I pass by. I didn't think it was that obvious that I am a foreigner.

I live in an apartment in the center of my city, Sassari. I live a two minute walk from the Piazza di' Italia and a 15 minute walk from my school. My favorite candy store is just a block away. There is only one problem with my house, and that is that it kind of feels more like a hotel than a home. I wish I felt a little more welcome. I wish that the keys in my purse felt like my keys and not the keys of a hotel room that are due back at the end of my stay. I'm sure this feeling will pass, but right now it is something that I feel whenever I walk through the door.

This is what my day consists of:
1. Wake up at 7:10am for school.
2. Ride the bus at 7:45am and arrive at school at 8:20am.
3. Sit in a class for five hours.
4. Ride the bus home at 1:30pm
5. Lunch, and then host family heads off to work.
6. This one depends. Sometimes my friend Kelsey will come down and we will go to a caffé, or sometimes I do what I am doing now. Sit on the computer.
7. ITALIAN CLASS. 7:00pm-9:00pm
8: Dinner, bed. Done.

Weekends are much better :)

Sometimes I wish that I had more things to do. I could walk around the city by myself for awhile, but I have tried that and it gets old. I could try and call my friends to do something, but they do not go out until 7:00pm. Please refer to number 7 on my list. I absolutely hate that class. It is pointless and a waste of my time. I don't learn anything in it, and I could be out with my Italian friends. Which would definitely be more helpful than sitting in a class for two hours. I have tried explaining this to my host mother, and so has my two friends. But, the teacher of the class is my host mom's friend, so there is no way I am getting out of that one. She says that I can stop going at the end of December. Maybe. I am supposed to be almost fluent by that time, so why should I still have to go? I can't take it. I am sitting in that class and all of my friends are out at the Piazza.

Oh, well. There is my complaint. Everything else is going wonderful. My school has been protesting a lot lately because they are trying to pass a bill to change the schools. I don't think I could have chosen a better year to come to Italy. My host mom told me that last year they had no protests, and so far I have had about 5. Another expected for Friday. I am in love with how the students come together for these. They all march around the streets holding their protesting signs, singing their protesting songs. I love being apart of something so big. It makes me feel important, like I belong with with them here.

Let me introduce you to my friends...
My friends are the best thing about Italy.

Paolo Costa: Paolo is the first Italian I talked to before coming to Sassari. I was on facebook at my dad's house and found my school in Italy's facebook group. I joined, and started looking through the members. I don't know why I chose to add Paolo, out of all the 200+ members, but I did. He started talking to me on chat that day, and it just went from there. He was so helpful right from the beginning, telling me that the water that bordered Sardegna was a sea not an ocean. I met him at a caffé when my exchange student friend, Tim, pointed him out. His first word- "Altissima!". I should have warned him I was so darn tall!

Gianluca Trudda: Paolo introduced me to Gianluca a few days after I started talking to him because he said that Gianluca knew more english than him. I got a friend request from him, and immediately we started talking. He was also very helpful, and if I remember right, he also had to correct me about the difference between a sea and an ocean. Meeting him was amazing. We all went out and walked around the city because there was some kind of festival going on. After, we all went to the University Pub and had dinner. Except the waiter took too long on our food, and I had to leave before I could eat. That is where the title of this blog comes from. The day after we went to this pub, me and Gianluca got really sick. We ended up staying home from school for three days. Talking on msn the whole time. Gianluca said, "Well, that's what we get for a dinnerless saturday!".


Giorgio Gaetani: Giorgio is hilarious. He is in the same class as Paolo and Gianluca, and I was introduced to him at a Caffé one afternoon with Gianluca. I didn't know he liked Basketball, so when he asked me if I liked it my answer was, "NO!!!". Then after I learned that basketball was his favorite sport and I felt like an idiot. He is so cute when he talks in english, which he doesn't do too often. I love chatting with him on MSN because he teaches me so much. We try to talk only in Italian, unless we have to speak in english. I am so happy to have been introduced to him, and I can't wait for the rest of the year.

Kelsey Shaw: Kelsey is from the cooler part of California. She is also an exchange student to Sassari this year, and I am so happy to have met her. We have the same taste in music, and she put 838 songs on my iPod for me. We had so much fun together in Rome. We are going to travel to Africa before this year is over. I am happy to have another exchange students here that I can tell everything to. It relieves so much stress. Just going to a Caffé with her, talking. It doesn't matter what we are talking about, it always makes me feel better. I can not wait for the rest of this year with her!

Stephanie Vancil: Stephanie in another exchange student from Hawaii and lived with me for the first month that we were here. She helped me so much in the beginning with learning Italian and I am so greatful! I am really happy that we have been able to become such great friends! When we hang out we are always laughing. Even when we go to Italian class we manage to have some fun. I can't wait for the rest of this year with her! And once it is over, I am coming to visit her in Hawaii...Right Stephieee??

I do not know where I would be without those people.