Saturday, May 26, 2012

Summer is Close, Still Don't Know

Hello everyone! Happy Memorial Day weekend!

So, I am STILL WAITING for my host family, host school, and other info. But I know of 2 AFSers going to Italy who have their host family. One is going to a small town called Volano, and the other is going to a small town called Llbono on the Island of Sardina. Both of these places look very interesting! I can't wait to find out where I am going!!! :-)

Today my mom and I went out to buy new four wheeled rolling suitcases (rather than the normal two weeled ones). I got one GIGANTIC suitcase, that if my scale is reading correctly (which it may or may not be) is 10 lbs. I am glad to have a lot of room, but I am NOT looking forward to getting that off of the baggage claim. I am soooo ready for summer! 2 more weeks of school (1 of classes and 4 days of exams).

 To other exchange students, both from AFS and my korean buddies from school, on the left-hand side of the page (-->>) there is a place where you can translate this to your own language, so you can understand it! How amazing! haha :-)

Well, thats it for now. I think I will stick with about 2 posts a month.
Arrivederci!

Friday, May 4, 2012

A Few Updates

Well I am still waiting for my host family. I was not going to post, but today I received an email from AFS about Rosetta Stone and what it is, how I need to complete one lesson to be refunded, etc. I found out how to access it and that I could start lessons may 11th. So that's 1 week from now! Pretty awesome! :-) I may or may not start it right away, probably will just to see what it is, but I can focus on it better in the summer when I have more time. Also, I was looking at the AFS blog today and was like WHOA! When I saw they added 5 more links to peoples blogs. Now I have even more places to waste my time! Haha! Well that's all for now.

Ciao!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Italian Kindergartener

Still waiting for host family info. I have seen on other blogs that they found their host family in late May to early June so we will see. Today I labeled some things in my house with their Italian names. (Like a kindergarten room) Then I made a little hanging thing on the window that has the days of the week. Sorry if its hard to see...


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Begining :-)

**Background Story**
This whole adventure would not have even come about if my sister had not told me about this girl she new from college who studied abroad in high school. I never thought my parents would let me go, but surprisingly they did! After much research about which program I should use (AFS, CIEE, Rotary, etc.) I decided to go with AFS because they seemed to have a lot of experience, and were much more organized than the other programs. I searched through all the countries, and it took a while to pick 3 and order them. I originally wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country, but the South American school year is different than in the US so it would be weird to try and get the credit. So I said I wanted to go to Spain, Italy or Portugal. Then I did not get into Spain, so then we went along with the process, and soon enough here I am today. (continue down to normal post)

**Today's Post**

Well yesterday was probably on my top 20 days in my life list. I was accepted by AFS Italy! I may sound a little childish, but when I saw the subject line of the email from AFS "Sara, You have been accepted by AFS Italy" I jumped out of the chair and ran around the house screaming. Yeah, maybe that was a little crazy, but that was the moment that the fact I will be going to Italy in the fall 2012, truly started to sink in.  I don't think anyone truly understands how exciting this was for me, and what going abroad really means. Some people seem to think that I am just going over there to have fun and travel and whatnot. Of course it will be fun, but I also chose to do the year program because I wanted to understand another cultures point of view, get a good grasp on the language, and represent: me, my family, town, state, country, and AFS. That's a large duty to have. Yet, I know that I will be able to accomplish it. It may be difficult, but that's another reason why I want to do this. I want to challenge myself, and see what I am capable of, and learn something new.

I am already trying to practice a bit of Italian, but I know Rosetta Stone will help this summer when I have more time...I may not post every day, but I will try to post every once in a while to keep you up to date on whats happening. I cannot wait to find out who my host family is, and where in Italy I will be staying.

Ciao!

PS In case your wondering, the title of my blog is Italian for "My incredible Italian adventure"