Goodbye for Now

It is really strange to think that this is my last day in Maryland. Although I have been saying goodbye for the last few months, it still has not quite hit me yet that I, Sara Cochran, will be going to Italy for high school, and staying there for 10 months. No coming back for thanksgiving, or Christmas, or any other time for that matter. None of that. Honestly, I am not nervous at all. Just a bundle of happy and sad mixed in a blender and poured into me. Emotion smoothie, yes, that is what I shall call it!

My emotion smoothie tastes great at times, disgusting at others, and just kind of bland the rest of the time. I have really had a great summer. I went to Ross Mountain Club like we do every Forth of July to visit the Niemanns. I went to Long Beach Island New Jersey to go to the beach with my cousins. I went to Bethany Beach earlier this month with my parents and sister, yet we met up with a lot of our friends who happened to be there that week. 5 out of 7 nights we ate dinner on the beach. Yes, that was very awesome!

This past month my mom and her friend decided to become the local liaison because the old one decided to step out. She took many tests and worked so hard, but I think it really paid off. Just this past weekend my mom and Mrs. Engel (the friend) hosted a welcome party for the 3 exchange students in St. Mary's County. That was a TON of fun! Saya is from Japan, Alessandro is from Italy, and Bernadette is from New Zealand. Bernadette has two little host brothers and I really had fun playing with them, and they made me excited to see Enrico and Nicola. Saya seems shy at first, but she is really fun to be around. She reminded me of my two Korean friends from Ryken. Alessandro is very nice and quite amusing, he says he thinks that American girls are crazy...but he says it with a smile so I bet he likes it. I would think that he could be pretty popular back in Italy too...well, maybe not if Italian accents not accents, just the every day way of speaking.

I would like to thank my parents (I love you! Thank you for supporting me throughout this!), my friends (I love you so much! I know you kind of thought I was crazy when I first put out the idea of going abroad, but you still have supported me. I will miss you so much, but I know that you will be here for me when I get back! <3), Mrs. Moreno my Spanish teacher (you are so special to me. Thank you for supporting me and helping me figure out what program was best for me.), my sister Isabel who I will miss dearly but I know that we can catch up in July! Have a great sophomore year of college, and lastly my doggies. Holly and Bradley I will miss you so much. Always wanting a pat, somehow always putting a smile on my face, too bad you don't fit in my suitcase when it is packed.

After that mixture of blog and letters to my loved ones, I guess I should tell you that on Friday I finally finished the required level one of Rosetta Stone!!!! I know it will help me a little when I am over there, but still man that was sooooo boring! You may also want to know (or maybe not) that my bags are 100% packed! 1 VERY LARGE bag, one carry on for my orientation clothes, and my backpack are ready to go. Just need to add my toothbrush, brush, and my ipod and we shall be on our way!

We will leave for New York tomorrow morning at 8am, I will stay overnight and leave at 10pm on Thursday from Newark airport. We will arrive in Switzerland, and then head off to Rome, and arrive there at 2 o'clock. I will FINALLY get to Monselice Padova on Sunday to meet the Rosi family!

Talk to you in Italia! Arrivederci!

Getting Ready to Go

Ciao!

Well, my VISA came. It was really quick, we got it back 3 days after the appointment! This week has been kind of crazy with a bunch of appointments! On Monday I got my braces off, yesterday I had my 2 year post op appointment (had scoliosis surgery two years ago, now I am pain free!) and that went well, today I had a dentist appointment, tomorrow I have something else, and Friday I will get my haircut! Goodness me (or should I say "Mamma mia!" haha)! On Saturday evening I will go to a picnic near me to meet the local AFS host students. I hear there is a guy from Italy so I hope he knows enough English to understand me and I can figure out where he is from :)

Today is exactly one week until the orientation in NYC! AFS students going to Egypt, Spain, France and Italy from the USA will all be at the orientation. I think it will be a lot of fun! 9 days until my feet step onto Italian soil. 11 days until I finally meet my Italian host family!

I am going to complete Rosetta Stone level one today! Tomorrow I will begin level two.

Arrivederci!

The Italian Consulate



Just thought I would share some pictures from my visit to the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia on Monday. It was a very long wait for some reason but the actual appointment was only like 15 minutes. The preparation was very stressful for my mom, but the actual handing over the papers was not difficult at all. They kept my passport, so I hope that it arrives on time! Only 2 weeks left! The lady says she assumes it will be sent out on Monday (27th) so I hope everything falls into place. Much of this process is all about faith, and just believing everything will turn out okay.

 Suite 1026 :)

More Host Family Info!

I just received more information on my host family. It was a PDF that contained a few pictures of my family, more school information, and basically most all of the things I think they had to complete for being a host family. The school mentioned on there though is LICEO SCIENTIFICO CARLO CATTANEO MONSELICE. Although on my AFS account, it says my school is "Instituto Scolastico Cattaneo". So who knows! It's probably not a big deal, maybe it's like saying I will be attending St. Mary's County Public Schools and Leonardtown High School or like saying a Xaverian Brothers School but called St. Mary's Ryken. I was also quite relieved that neither of my host parents smokes. Apparently Nico and Enrico are into Rugby. I think it will be fun to watch their games but I am certainly not trying to play because that was the one sport other than football that my spine doctor said I could not play. The document also says that school is 800 meters from my house. Not exactly sure how far that is, but it says I can either ride a bike or walk to school so it must be really close! :)

Oh, and this is a picture of my host family.

The other thing that is exciting is that there are only 22 days until my adventure begins! :D
Orientation in NY on September 5th-6th
Fly to Switzerland and Rome on the 7th
Orientation in Rome September 7th-8th
Meet up with my host family on September 9th (not totally sure, but I think that's true)

My friend Anni is already packed :O I have not even started. We are still shopping around for some things that I don't already have. (Like well made shoes (that are cute...hard to find!), a black backpack, new jeans). I am thinking I will buy shampoo, toothpaste, etc. and school supplies when I get there.

A lot of other AFS Italy participants have received an email from their local AFS/Intercultura chapter in Italy. I have not. So I will be interested to see who my liaison is and who else is in my province. :)


Well that is all for now. Arrivederci!

Skype with Mia Famiglia!

So this afternoon I skyped with my host family (and my host...uncle?...I guess). They were all so nice. Alessia (my host mom) seems to know some English, and my host uncle knows a good amount of English. Skype was really choppy the connection always seems to act funny. But I really can't wait to get there on September 7th! Nicola and Enrico seem very nice and funny :) They say they like to watch cartoons, so I wonder what type of cartoons Italians watch...hmmm. Enrico and Nicola showed me one of their bunnies and their bird. The bunny looked very adorable, but it also looked kind of panicked like "ah! Whats going on! Why is this boy picking me up? What is this screen?!" hahaha!  I think they said that my host school is near by, and so is the train station so they wont have to walk very far to get me. I can't wait to talk to them again. It's slowly getting more real that I will be staying with these people and going to stay in Italy for a year. It's so hard to imagine, it's such a dream!

It's late. I am going to bed. Till my next post...
Arrivederci! :)