CIAOOOOOOOOOO
How is everyone?? Good I hope.
Well now I'll do my duty of updating y'all. Yep, the Italians say y'all all the time. No actually..they don't... but that would be funny.
This last weekend me, Sandra, and Giuseppe went to there friend's (Paola and Stefono) beach house in Baccumandara, this little peninsula. It was gorgeous. Bellissimo. The house was cute and medium sized.. white with red roof. There was a pathway in the backyard down to the beach. In the summer this beach is very crowded, but at this time of year it was basically empty. Giuseppe fished.. I swam.. We all just relaxed. Then Paola went to the house and came back with snorkling gear! So me and Stefono geared up, and snorkled awayyy!!! It was so fun I absolutly love snorkling. Stefono are both scuba certified also, I am so jealous! There wasn't too much sea life but I still loved every second. In the evening we had a homecooked dinner. Like I have every day for lunch and dinner. Home cooked, fresh, amazing Italian food. I love it more and more every meal. The next morning Stefono drove me on his motorcycle to Cagliari to meet my friend Erica who is another exchange student. We walked along the beach Poeto, then went back to her home. She lives in one of the hundred apartment buildings. They are all so cute. We ate some bread for lunch, and then she showed me around Cagliari. It is amazing. I love all the colorful buildings and tiny streets. It makes me so happy to see all the clothes hanging to dry, and the mini scooters. I love the tall buildings and the old architecture. I especially love the old churches and squares. All the stores were closed because it was sunday, so it was very peaceful and just a good day! After that.. back home!
School is going great. It is still very hard to understand. Even though I am understanding more and more each day, it still just isn't quite enough to get the major point across to me. But, taking notes and translating works just fine. I love my beginning German and French classes, even though I'm in the 14/15 year old class haha. But boy is it hard learning GERMAN and FRENCH in ITALIAN when I speak ENGLISH! haha but its ok I'm getting it! I think.... Anyways.. biology is great, I can understand most everything because they are all words I can relate to. Italian literature and Philosophy on the other hand are a bit harder... and Art history is almost impossible. But again.. the note translating procedure is great. English is easy of course and so nice on my brain haha. I still like my class very much. Everyone is super nice. AH I just can't wait to understand and talk at regular pace!! In good time.. I know.. but I can't wait. Other than that everything is good good! It is getting colder though.. dang it. Good thing I packed some winter clothes!!
Volleyball is great!! Yesterday we had our first in-door, with volleyballs practice. Before we were just conditioning on the track. It was so fun yesterday. I like being one of the tallest! I wonder if the net is a little lower here than in America... haha. It will be nice to understand all the stuff my coach says... I'm sure that will come in handy. For now, people just ask capito? And I say uhhh poco.... and then they explain in their best English haha. Today I don't have volleyball.. but am going to Cagliari to play........ SOCCER! woo hoo!!! Or maybe just futsal, but either one, I am SO excited. I'm going to play with Paolas sisters team. I'm not sure exactly whats going on, I will have to tell you later. But yeah, any way to play is great!
Well... nothing else is too new! My family is great, I meet more friends everyday, I am adapting smoothly without any problems. I love it!
Pictures on there way!
Arrivederci!
Laurie
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
People in front of me on our 4 kilo walk to the cheisa.S. Maria... well I'm pretty sure that was was they were saying. In the cheisa
Some of the stands at the festival
Me at the beach, Poeto
Marina Piccola
Some of the stands at the festival
Me at the beach, Poeto
Marina Piccola
This is what an Italian cemeteries look like. Those are all the tombs. Sandra is putting flowers in her father's.
This is the parade outside our friends house in Sarrda, a city close to Sanluri.
This is one of the family group things.Monday, September 17, 2007
SOo where did we leave off...
On friday I had my first volleyball practice. It was good! Of course I didn't really understand very well, but this girl Simona was wayy nice and helped me the whole practice, knowing what to do with the drills and stuff. Oh man it felt so good to just be playing sports again! Goin to practices! I miss it a TON! It was a good work out, all went well. Since girls don't really play sports here at all, the team is made up of the girls that actually wanna play. So that means my team is made up of a range of ages from 14-28 or something hahaha. It was different, but all good. In America I didn't really stand a chance of being a super good volleyball player because I am not 7 feet tall like the rest of them. But here its perfect, I am one of the tallest. That night we had dinner with best friends of the family, Francy's Godmother and Father. and their daughters who are adorable. It was way frustrating not understanding them because they kept talkin to me and I wanted to talk back so bad! They were soooo cute. We had pizza. The little kids pizzas had hot dogs and french fries on them haha. The other pizzas had horse meet, which is very popular, and there was a veggie one..I had a cheese one but tried this zuccini one which was good. Yeah...pizza here has some crazy stuff on it I'm learning. After dinner, friends from the neighborhood came and picked me up and we hung out at the piazza. It was fun.. we just sat on a bench then lots of other teenagers come, join you, and all hang out. You just talk and take it easy.
Saturday was cool. So.... this weekend it was a holiday I guess and you celebrate St. Maria... I am pretty sure that is her name. It is hard to completely understand as I am sure you can guess why. ( Knowing italian would help.. ah Im learning!) We went to Sarrda, a neighboring city, and met up with family friends. There was like a little parade on the street... it is hard to explain...but families dress in their historic clothes.... hmm you will have to see the pictures to get what I mean. So a bunch of families pass, and St. Maria is the end of the parade. At one point I leaned over and asked Irene, a girl my age who, now, is my friend haha, anyways I asked her what do we do at the end and she leaned over and told me in her shotty english, that we all go under the Saint. I was soo confused. But a few minutes she was like OHH no no no, not under, we all go behind her! So it made more sense. SO when S. Maria passes , everyone follows for 4 kilometers. It is tradition. So we walked and walked and walked way slow... to the big church where there was a big festival. I was with Irene and her friends, it was fun, they were all very nice.
The festival was cool. There is music playing everywhere, a mini carnival of rides and games and such, and a bunch of stands. The stands sold all kinds of things, whether it was food, jewelry, shoes, purses, underwear (yeah .. weird haha), food, clothes, basically anything. Just like this big flea market or something. They have like these really really long grills with all kinds of meet... whole pigs (gross looksin) swards with eels cooking on them.. all kinds of fish and stuff. yeah...Um all the sellers were african american.. I don't know if that has any significance..but I have never seen black people just living normally in Italy..they are always sellers and stuff. Hm who knows. So me and my friends just had fun lookin at the stands and eating and whatnot. Since I have been here I haven't spent more then 5€. They buy me everything!! I ask and try but nope they won't have it. Even food at stands, Irene insisted on paying. I really do try. I can't say I don't like it haha, but it is different! They are very relaxed with their money. Certainly no tight wads haha. Sunday we went to Irenes house again and had a hudge lunch with friends and just hung out. It was funny, the big meals have like 5 courses or something.. I am not sure how many, i will count one day. They are always bringing out more food..but anyways this man was passing me some meet to try and he was lookin in the dictionary to see what is was called and he was like "meet of kid!!" I was like... what the............. lemme see that. so i looked and sure enough it said kid. So I was really confused, but then saw above it the word for goat and then remember a baby goat is called a kid. Ha so no worries, Italians aren't canibals. Also, after lunch, you just stay at the table and talk and talk and talk and talk. People go take naps in the house, then come back and talk and talk and talk. Its fun! I got tired, went inside on the couch, slept for an hour, came back, and continued talking. Or in my case, saying ridiculous sentences all in the wrong order that make probably little sense. but hey, im trying.
School! I got up around 7:30, got ready, and Sandra drove me to school which is really close and I will probably start walking soon. When I got there, Sandra pointed to a group of people and told me those were my class mates. She called one over, Hilary, and I went with her to meet everyone. Its weird, most of them were smoking..just right there in front of the school. No biggie, everyday thing ha. They were all dressed super nice even in the hot weather. Everyone was just outside talking.. all the what.. 150 students at my school? I know, thats so much. The kids go from elementary to highschool. So quite a range of ages. But since I go to private school there are only 11 in my class and probably like 200 max students in all haha. So different, but I like it! I like the people in my class, and am excited to become very good friends! I don't think i could handle going throught all of highschool with the same class though..I would get so bored.. but this year will be fun. My english teacher was soo nice and is very good at english (of course) so that was nice talking to her. When the principal enters the room, everyone stands up. I picked up on that one haha. So after like 20 minutes we went to the little chaple or whatever in the school and had this mass kind of thing. It was.... interesting!! I didn't understand a word. And randomly we would all stand up and sing and sit down and stand up and sit down. And repeat things. After that, school was over! It was only 2 hours today. And tomorrow and the next day. Then it goes until 12:30 until the end of October. Then from then on 8:30-1 or 1:30. Woo hoo.
WOW that is way too long for anyone to read. But if you have made it this far, ciao!
Laurie
On friday I had my first volleyball practice. It was good! Of course I didn't really understand very well, but this girl Simona was wayy nice and helped me the whole practice, knowing what to do with the drills and stuff. Oh man it felt so good to just be playing sports again! Goin to practices! I miss it a TON! It was a good work out, all went well. Since girls don't really play sports here at all, the team is made up of the girls that actually wanna play. So that means my team is made up of a range of ages from 14-28 or something hahaha. It was different, but all good. In America I didn't really stand a chance of being a super good volleyball player because I am not 7 feet tall like the rest of them. But here its perfect, I am one of the tallest. That night we had dinner with best friends of the family, Francy's Godmother and Father. and their daughters who are adorable. It was way frustrating not understanding them because they kept talkin to me and I wanted to talk back so bad! They were soooo cute. We had pizza. The little kids pizzas had hot dogs and french fries on them haha. The other pizzas had horse meet, which is very popular, and there was a veggie one..I had a cheese one but tried this zuccini one which was good. Yeah...pizza here has some crazy stuff on it I'm learning. After dinner, friends from the neighborhood came and picked me up and we hung out at the piazza. It was fun.. we just sat on a bench then lots of other teenagers come, join you, and all hang out. You just talk and take it easy.
Saturday was cool. So.... this weekend it was a holiday I guess and you celebrate St. Maria... I am pretty sure that is her name. It is hard to completely understand as I am sure you can guess why. ( Knowing italian would help.. ah Im learning!) We went to Sarrda, a neighboring city, and met up with family friends. There was like a little parade on the street... it is hard to explain...but families dress in their historic clothes.... hmm you will have to see the pictures to get what I mean. So a bunch of families pass, and St. Maria is the end of the parade. At one point I leaned over and asked Irene, a girl my age who, now, is my friend haha, anyways I asked her what do we do at the end and she leaned over and told me in her shotty english, that we all go under the Saint. I was soo confused. But a few minutes she was like OHH no no no, not under, we all go behind her! So it made more sense. SO when S. Maria passes , everyone follows for 4 kilometers. It is tradition. So we walked and walked and walked way slow... to the big church where there was a big festival. I was with Irene and her friends, it was fun, they were all very nice.
The festival was cool. There is music playing everywhere, a mini carnival of rides and games and such, and a bunch of stands. The stands sold all kinds of things, whether it was food, jewelry, shoes, purses, underwear (yeah .. weird haha), food, clothes, basically anything. Just like this big flea market or something. They have like these really really long grills with all kinds of meet... whole pigs (gross looksin) swards with eels cooking on them.. all kinds of fish and stuff. yeah...Um all the sellers were african american.. I don't know if that has any significance..but I have never seen black people just living normally in Italy..they are always sellers and stuff. Hm who knows. So me and my friends just had fun lookin at the stands and eating and whatnot. Since I have been here I haven't spent more then 5€. They buy me everything!! I ask and try but nope they won't have it. Even food at stands, Irene insisted on paying. I really do try. I can't say I don't like it haha, but it is different! They are very relaxed with their money. Certainly no tight wads haha. Sunday we went to Irenes house again and had a hudge lunch with friends and just hung out. It was funny, the big meals have like 5 courses or something.. I am not sure how many, i will count one day. They are always bringing out more food..but anyways this man was passing me some meet to try and he was lookin in the dictionary to see what is was called and he was like "meet of kid!!" I was like... what the............. lemme see that. so i looked and sure enough it said kid. So I was really confused, but then saw above it the word for goat and then remember a baby goat is called a kid. Ha so no worries, Italians aren't canibals. Also, after lunch, you just stay at the table and talk and talk and talk and talk. People go take naps in the house, then come back and talk and talk and talk. Its fun! I got tired, went inside on the couch, slept for an hour, came back, and continued talking. Or in my case, saying ridiculous sentences all in the wrong order that make probably little sense. but hey, im trying.
School! I got up around 7:30, got ready, and Sandra drove me to school which is really close and I will probably start walking soon. When I got there, Sandra pointed to a group of people and told me those were my class mates. She called one over, Hilary, and I went with her to meet everyone. Its weird, most of them were smoking..just right there in front of the school. No biggie, everyday thing ha. They were all dressed super nice even in the hot weather. Everyone was just outside talking.. all the what.. 150 students at my school? I know, thats so much. The kids go from elementary to highschool. So quite a range of ages. But since I go to private school there are only 11 in my class and probably like 200 max students in all haha. So different, but I like it! I like the people in my class, and am excited to become very good friends! I don't think i could handle going throught all of highschool with the same class though..I would get so bored.. but this year will be fun. My english teacher was soo nice and is very good at english (of course) so that was nice talking to her. When the principal enters the room, everyone stands up. I picked up on that one haha. So after like 20 minutes we went to the little chaple or whatever in the school and had this mass kind of thing. It was.... interesting!! I didn't understand a word. And randomly we would all stand up and sing and sit down and stand up and sit down. And repeat things. After that, school was over! It was only 2 hours today. And tomorrow and the next day. Then it goes until 12:30 until the end of October. Then from then on 8:30-1 or 1:30. Woo hoo.
WOW that is way too long for anyone to read. But if you have made it this far, ciao!
Laurie
Friday, September 14, 2007
PICTURES!!!!
ok. I am not sure how to label right by the picture so here is how it goes:
My school
Cagliari
Beach
Rafaella, Martina, Sandra
Sandra, me, Giuseppe
Nonna from above.. I was on my front porch thing taking the picture down
The back court yard\garden
Street in front of my house
My room
Kitchen
View when you first walk in the house
Street from the balcony
Other exchange students, kristen, kevin, erica, cornelius, tiffany
Cagliari from the plane
My bed
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Let the blogs begin.
WELL! I made it! Here is my first "travel log." haha I feel like a dork saying that..but oh well. ENJOY
PLANE:
For the most part I like plane rides. But WOW that was one long flight! My first flight to minneapolis i was just trying to relax and calm down after that very sad departure. At my gate waiting to go to Amsterdam, I met Tiffany, Kristen, Cornelious, Kevin, and Erica- all exchange students. All on there way to Sardinia except Kevin, who is exchanging in Sicily. They are all super cool and nice. And of course we all related because we were all in the same position. The flight to Amsterdam was 8 hours. SOoO long, but I had my own tv, choice of movies, tv shows, games, and music. I watched a movie...slept a little... yeah. It was fine and went by pretty fast. I was soo disoriented with the time changes. Because we were stuck in the airport, we didn't even get to see much of Amsterdam, but it was still cool to be in Amsterdam. Then to rome we went. I was in Rome!! How cool is that. But...not that cool because again we were in the airport with a normal desolate airport surroundings. There we met up with 2 more exchange students, both headed to Sardinia. Then we boarded our small plane to Sardinia. When I got off the plane I found my luggage right away and was greated very warmly by my family and Francescas friends. It was cool! I was very happy. My mom and dad are young italian hotties. And my nonna (grandmother) is adorable. We then got in our little car and drove on a normal looking highways at a good speed to Sanluri, the city where I now live.
SANLURI:
Sanluri is soo cool. It is full of small twistly turny alley-looking streets lined with cute old appartments, houses, shops, cafès, botiques, etc. The streets are so small and you drive about 40 through all of them and use your horn a lot. Right around the corner from my house is the town piazza, or square. It is where teenagers hang out. It looks fun, I am excited to see what its all about. Most of the streets are one way streets. Ah, and all the cars are so cute. And the driver is on the left hand side, same as americans. My house is adorable, I love it. It is a small gated apartment looking building; you open the gate and my grandma lives on the bottom level (level with the street). Me, Sandra and Giuseppe live up the stairs. It is small but SO CUTE. My room is great. I have my own computer and small cute bed. The kitchen is nice and little..and we all share the bathroom. Which will take some getting used to, but isn't bad. Through the back door is a small court yard where the laundy hangs to dry and a small garden is found =) I love it. Also there is a small wash room out there and also a small shower. I like to use the shower out there its bright and fun. Its private, don't worry.
FOOD:
My first breakfast was gross... The leave there milk out and warm it up in a mug, then pour in the cereal. It tasted like hamster food. But no worries, later that day we went to the super pan ( grocery store) and Sandra insisted I pick out foods I like. So I got a few boxes of cereal. =) Anyways... Also with your cereal you usually have crackers or cookies..dipped in warm milk, cafè, or tea. They were good. You have lunch around 2. The food is similar to lunch food you would have in America. You snack once or twice until you eat dinner, which is around 8. Everyone sits down together.. and many plates with food are on the table. For example, a plate with cut pieces of beef... ALWAYS a basket with bread.. ummm chicken, pasta, slugs, over cooked veggies.. just all kinds of random little helpings of food. But I like it, it tastes good!! You take your time eating. Then sit and talk for like a million hours. Its not bad!! I am a fast paced girl, but I will get used to it easily! Maybe not when the homework piles up though.. we'll see. Anyways the food is good. The gelato is very good too.. haha =)
THE PEOPLE:
Everyone is so cute and instyle. I am the tallest girl in my town I swear. Italian women are TINY!!! And very cute. All dark hair and tan skin. The boys are also very cute. Cute hair and clothes. Everyone is really nice, I have felt welcomed.
SoOOoOo there are some basics! So far I have seen the city, been learning TONS of the language, and... today (wednesday) we went to the beach in Cagliari (the capital of sardinia) it was soo pretty!!! Crystal clear water. Very fine sand. I loved it. The weather here is PERFECT! Not to hot, cold, or humid. Seriously perfect. I feel comfortable all day. I love love love it.
Ok thats enough for now! Ciao! !!!!
PLANE:
For the most part I like plane rides. But WOW that was one long flight! My first flight to minneapolis i was just trying to relax and calm down after that very sad departure. At my gate waiting to go to Amsterdam, I met Tiffany, Kristen, Cornelious, Kevin, and Erica- all exchange students. All on there way to Sardinia except Kevin, who is exchanging in Sicily. They are all super cool and nice. And of course we all related because we were all in the same position. The flight to Amsterdam was 8 hours. SOoO long, but I had my own tv, choice of movies, tv shows, games, and music. I watched a movie...slept a little... yeah. It was fine and went by pretty fast. I was soo disoriented with the time changes. Because we were stuck in the airport, we didn't even get to see much of Amsterdam, but it was still cool to be in Amsterdam. Then to rome we went. I was in Rome!! How cool is that. But...not that cool because again we were in the airport with a normal desolate airport surroundings. There we met up with 2 more exchange students, both headed to Sardinia. Then we boarded our small plane to Sardinia. When I got off the plane I found my luggage right away and was greated very warmly by my family and Francescas friends. It was cool! I was very happy. My mom and dad are young italian hotties. And my nonna (grandmother) is adorable. We then got in our little car and drove on a normal looking highways at a good speed to Sanluri, the city where I now live.
SANLURI:
Sanluri is soo cool. It is full of small twistly turny alley-looking streets lined with cute old appartments, houses, shops, cafès, botiques, etc. The streets are so small and you drive about 40 through all of them and use your horn a lot. Right around the corner from my house is the town piazza, or square. It is where teenagers hang out. It looks fun, I am excited to see what its all about. Most of the streets are one way streets. Ah, and all the cars are so cute. And the driver is on the left hand side, same as americans. My house is adorable, I love it. It is a small gated apartment looking building; you open the gate and my grandma lives on the bottom level (level with the street). Me, Sandra and Giuseppe live up the stairs. It is small but SO CUTE. My room is great. I have my own computer and small cute bed. The kitchen is nice and little..and we all share the bathroom. Which will take some getting used to, but isn't bad. Through the back door is a small court yard where the laundy hangs to dry and a small garden is found =) I love it. Also there is a small wash room out there and also a small shower. I like to use the shower out there its bright and fun. Its private, don't worry.
FOOD:
My first breakfast was gross... The leave there milk out and warm it up in a mug, then pour in the cereal. It tasted like hamster food. But no worries, later that day we went to the super pan ( grocery store) and Sandra insisted I pick out foods I like. So I got a few boxes of cereal. =) Anyways... Also with your cereal you usually have crackers or cookies..dipped in warm milk, cafè, or tea. They were good. You have lunch around 2. The food is similar to lunch food you would have in America. You snack once or twice until you eat dinner, which is around 8. Everyone sits down together.. and many plates with food are on the table. For example, a plate with cut pieces of beef... ALWAYS a basket with bread.. ummm chicken, pasta, slugs, over cooked veggies.. just all kinds of random little helpings of food. But I like it, it tastes good!! You take your time eating. Then sit and talk for like a million hours. Its not bad!! I am a fast paced girl, but I will get used to it easily! Maybe not when the homework piles up though.. we'll see. Anyways the food is good. The gelato is very good too.. haha =)
THE PEOPLE:
Everyone is so cute and instyle. I am the tallest girl in my town I swear. Italian women are TINY!!! And very cute. All dark hair and tan skin. The boys are also very cute. Cute hair and clothes. Everyone is really nice, I have felt welcomed.
SoOOoOo there are some basics! So far I have seen the city, been learning TONS of the language, and... today (wednesday) we went to the beach in Cagliari (the capital of sardinia) it was soo pretty!!! Crystal clear water. Very fine sand. I loved it. The weather here is PERFECT! Not to hot, cold, or humid. Seriously perfect. I feel comfortable all day. I love love love it.
Ok thats enough for now! Ciao! !!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)