The Fabulous Month of February

...January was good...February has been amazing....March will even be better. Life is good:)

Helllooo everyone! How are we all? Well I'll just jump right into this.

Soo January..wasn't the most exciting month, but it was very well used. I basically just focused on getting all my schooling and stuff in order for when I return. I applied and got accepted to the University of Utah and Utah Valley University, worked hard on applying for scholarships (and still am) which means writting tons of essays and answering lots of questions and blah blah blah we know how that goes. . and yeah just figuring all that out. Not that interesting. But around the last week in January, a friend of the families calls up and invited me to go with the AFS (another exchange program) exchange students to Terrabla for a week. Terrabla is another little town northeast-ish from Sanluri, not to far. So what was this all about? CARNEVALE!!!!!!!! AHH! Soo fun. Alright, so me and 55 other exchange students from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Brasil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Finland, Germany, Japan, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, New Zealand, Peru, Dominican Republic, Servia, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Hungary, and USA all went to this town for a week. We each stayed with week long host families. Mine was a cute grandma named Maria, and an EXCELLENT cook haha. We had a schedule of activities for the whole week, it was busy and extremely fun. We met the governer and went to a few important meetings, played a basketball game against an Italian team, had a huge talent show with all the exchange students and a big buffet, free time with families and friends..and then the best part....le sfilate per carnevale! Ok so the whole time I have been in Italy people have told me how great carnival is and how they look forward to it all year...so I was pretty excited..picturing all these different things in my head of what it would be like...and I wasnt let down! What it is, is a HUGE parade with tons of different amazing floats, that represent towns or businesses or groups. They all that have music blasting out of them, and a huge group of people dancing behind and around them. EVERYONE dresses up and goes CRAZY for the whole day! There are people dressed to match their float, and also TONS that are just free and go and dance wherever they want. Most everyone drinks the whole time, everyone throws confetti and sprays silly string, and really- the whole town is just in an uproar, partying and celebrating and festaging, the streets are a mess of color and everyones just out of control! Adults and older people line the streets to watch the parade, and it circles the city a few times, and really, everyone dances and parties the whole time! Our group of exchange students had our own float, it was a gigantic globe, and we all dressed up like people from different countries. I dressed up as a seniorita! Spaniola! We all got ready together in this big house, then followed our float from 3-9pm, dancing dancing dancing the whole time, and after, just kept on dancing in the piazza. It was soo fun. So these parades were on February 3rd, 5th, 9th, and 10th, each in different towns. The 10th is the biggest sfilata, and all the floats from all the cities come together...I think there were over 30. They were amazing. I had soo. much. fun. Sadly now..its over..my first carnevale Italiano. Beautiful. Ok but I have to jump back real fast, also us exchange students went to La Sartiglia, a REALLY cool sardinian tradition, in the city called Oristano. Its kind of hard to explain...there are a bunch of teams that come from each of the towns of Sardegna, which consist of 3 people on horses. They are all dressed up and masked and their horses are all decorated and stuff. Tons of people come watch these teams compete. The street is covered in sand, and closed off, and between two posts is strung a tiny star with a hole in the middle. A long ways down the street, one horseman will start and be sprinting and top speed with his sward out. The objective is to get it through the hole in the star, and if you succeed you bring good luck to your town for the up coming year. Look at this web page..you can see what the guys look like and the star at the bottom...and if you understand italian you can read a bit haha. http://www.sardi.it/sardegna/sartig1.htm Anyways, it was really cool, an awesome thing to be able to see. All in all it was an amazing week and a beautiful carnival. And meeting all those teens from everywehre was super awesome, they are all so interesting and I love hearing about what each of their countrys is like and just learning all about their cultures. At the end of the week we were all just such good friends, it was so neet to look around and thing wow...we all come from totally different countries..totally different backrounds...but here we all are friends and just...in reality..normal teenagers.. all alike. Yeah it was great.

So that is what I have been up to all February! But, not all of it was just partying. I have been working on school and stuff also:) haha. Oh, and the end of January my host brother Giovanni and his girlfriend came home from Australia, where he has been for a year and a half. They are staying here for 2 months and then going back. It has been cool getting to know them, they are both really nice, and fun to have around. Hmm what else...the weather is beautiful, its sunny and warm..I definatly have summer fever already. I just wanna go to the beach and be done with school! haha. The Italian is here. Its so weird to think...wow..I speak and understand Italian. Crazy. Friends are amazing, I make more and more every day, and can already see how sad it will be to leave them. I'm planning to travel the world and visit each and every one of them someday haha. Family life couldn't be better. School...is a whole different argument..wow...the Italian school system is so messed up. I won't go into depth about it here, but if you are interested to hear what it is like, let me know and I'll tell you. Anyways, that doesn't matter, I still go and do all I can. Italian food is amazing, did you know that? I am in the process of learning how to be an amazing Italian cook. I think you need to be Italian to really become one, but hey, I'm doing what I can. I am excited to come home and cook for you all some great Italian meals! haha. If only I could bring back a breadmaker...Hmm I'll see what I can do. And a pizzamaker.. yummmmm I could eat Italian pizza every night haha.

Well that is all I can think of for now. I am doing great, thank you all for sticking with me. Its been 5 months, can you believe that? I don't regret a second! I don't even miss you guys! Ha jk I do..a little. ;) Anyways, now its your turn to shoot me an email telling me how your lives are! Love you all!

Love
Laurie