I am a Terrible Blogger

So it has been about a month since my last post, and I've been meaning to write down everything that I've done, but I keep getting distracted and then I forget. But for right now, let me catch you up on all the "happenings" since my last update. 

Florence is just as beautiful and interesting and amazing as when I first got here. The weather is a little bit colder, but there are still so many world travelers right by my house!! (I live right next to the Galleria dell'Accademia, which is where the real Michelangelo's David resides) I love hearing all the accents when I walk to class and get stuck behind a tour group. It's amazing how many Italian tourists there are--it just dawned on me the other day that you can be a tourist in your own country. I've never thought of it that way before. All the times I've been to Disney, Ohio, Atlanta, or Wisconsin, I was a tourist. Huh. 

Anyway, I left off in early September, about ten days after I had arrived in this beautiful foreign country, and I want to share my travels before they all pile up on me!

The day after my last post, I went to Monza with two friends for the Formula 1 race! It was like a dream, I have always wanted to go to a Formula 1 race, and my dad said that this is one of the fastest tracks in the series. Of course, I was surrounded by Italians, so when Sebastian Vettel won, and I cheered, they all looked at me like they were going to murder me. "Yayyy, Alonso!..."  Haha, oops. When the race was over, which I'm sad that it didn't take that long, we all got to walk on the track! It was so exciting!

Our journey was smooth sailing for the most part; we arrived in Milan with no problem and there was already a huge mob of people waiting to catch the train that would take us right to the race track. Once we got to Monza however, was a different story. We arrived at the train station which is somewhere in the upper left-hand corner, right near the light brown section that looks like a baseball field. Now, if we had gone up to the top, we would have found buses to take us to where we needed to be. BUT, we were told at one of the ticket booths to walk, all the way around the track, with no map. We had to get to the ticket booth located further down the road (& off the map) that starts in the bottom right-hand corner.

It took us over an hour, one phone call to my dad, three track employees, five officers, and a shuttle bus, to get us where we needed to be. Which we never would have found if it weren't for the nice cabby who drove us (Thank you sir, for making my day). The race had just started as we were walking into the track area, thank gawd, so we only missed the first two or three laps. The way out was much easier, as we just followed the swarms of people flocking towards the buses which, were all the way in the top left-hand corner of the map... again. 
We had dinner in Milan, because we had about an hour before our train home arrived, and that is where I had possibly, the best slice of pizza in my life along with a scrumptious little honey melon tart. YUM. I'm hungry just uploading these photos for y'all to see... The slice of pizza was cheese, basil, and prosciutto BTW :) and I went back for another slice--I was so hungry, but they didn't have the prosciutto one anymore so I got plain cheese. Still delicious, and the best pizza I've had so far in Italy. Totally worth it. That day was amazing, and I am so thankful that I was able to have this once in a lifetime opportunity and I will cherish it forever. Viva Monza!

Culture Shock #02 and #03

I am SO FREAKING HUNGRY.

Culture Shock #02: The past few times that I have been grocery shopping, I haven't seen anything that looks remotely edible and I don't know what most of it is. Don't think I would even if I could translate the descriptions on all of the packages. Which brings me to Culture Shock #03: even after four entire semesters of Italian, I can barely function over here. I am not confident whatsoever in my speaking abilities and I've forgotten most of my vocab even though I have four semesters worth of notes with me (and have looked through them several times).

My TA Chelsea told me this would happen and in order to speak well and or fluently, I'd have to get used to being embarrassed and get over it. Ugh. Why can't this just come naturally? I embarrass myself all the time at home, and I have absolutely no problem with it. But back to culture shock #2:

I miss my American snacks. I miss frosted flakes, I miss salted Ritz crackers, I miss PB&J, I miss salted butter (apparently they have it but I can't find it), I miss red meat--this is a big one for me. In the giant Mercato Centrale near the Piazza di San Lorenzo, they have a ton of meat, but it's still in animal-shaped form... I don't even know what to ask for--but it's all pork. Pork is HUGE over here, and don't get me wrong, I love pork, but where's the beef? I like my beef tenderloin, my ground beef, my strip, flank and any other kind of steak you can possibly think of.

I also have to add that I am not anywhere close to a vegetable person. I've tried 'em all and they're all disgusting. So I skip the vegetable portions of the markets and inside the stores. Fruit is fantastic--but they only sell what's in season. So I bought a whole load of oranges and clementines and kiwi. But I'm not a "meal-eater" per say... I like to snack. Very often, and every day. I don't have popcorn, I don't have recognizable chips, energy or granola bars. I don't have meat to make a small sandwich, and already, I'm sick of pasta because I can't make it like the restaurants do. I would love to have seafood pasta, gnocchis, raviolis, pasta carbonara, anything and everything, if I knew how to cook it and where to get the ingredients.

The final straw for me is the coffee. I stood in front of the shelf full of different kinds of caffe for an entire half hour and I walked away with nothing. I know what's espresso but I don't know if I can buy that for the "coffee maker" we have in our apartment. I don't know if the ground coffee (it looks like actual coffee) is caffe americano or not. I wouldn't even know if it was good coffee to buy or not, because we have SO MANY KINDS of coffee in the US, people develop preferences and then they're screwed when they leave the country.

Now that I've vented my frustrations on to the internet, I feel a lot better and I'm making myself a promise that I will try my hardest to learn to speak Italian, and to give myself a break because it's only my first week here. I have three more months in beautiful Florence, Italy and I'm going to make the most of it. So from now on, I'm going to try to not complain about things because I'm in Italy, and my family and I worked hard to get me here. From now on, I'm going to relax and only stress about school work, because that's the typical college student way of life.

Culture Shock #01

 Apparently in Italy--or maybe just Florence, I'll have to do more research on this one--when it rains, people stop what they're doing, and I'm talking about EVERYBODY, even the tourists. People stop what they're doing and they stand under the eaves of shops and buildings and wait for the rain to pass. Now, as this was our second day in Florence, my roommate Lauren and I had no idea. We had just finished up our placement exams for Italian, and we had to make it back to our apartment by a certain time to meet with our landlord. It was mandatory that we all be there from 5pm to 8:30pm and we couldn't leave until our landlord showed up and told us how to work everything. Of course, our placement exams ran long, and we had but 10 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other. So, naturally, we were in a hurry.

As soon as we stepped outside to walk home, it begins to downpour. It started out as just a light misting of rain and then BOOM, it downpours. We were the only ones walking in the rain. Literally, the ONLY ONES. We had people take pictures of us running through the piazza, and people laughing, making comments. All I could think about was, in America, we don't stop for the rain, we don't wait for it to subside. If its raining, we walk faster. Not in Italy my friends. 

Me and Lauren learned something new that day, and now we know to stand and wait like everyone else the next time it rains. Or check the weather and bring an umbrella. That may have been the smart thing to do.

Florence, Italy!

So, it's been about three years since my last post, and I have decided that I am going to use this blog as sort of a journal to keep record of all the things I'm doing (or would like to do) while abroad. That's right! Goodbye USA, Hello Italy! I am currently spending a semester abroad in Italy, mainly Florence, for half of my senior year as an undergrad. Graduate school will hopefully be coming up in the near future, but that's an entirely different story for another time.

I've been in my student apartment for a week and a half now, and I love my apartment-mates. You could describe our apartment as "country-chic" as it has very rustic colors, a lot of wood work, old school appliances, and stone floors.

I think it's adorable. I have my own room; it's on the smaller side, but I don't need that much space and I am only here for three and a half months. The only part that I don't care for is the fact that in Italy, there are only dryers at the laundromat. So my denim and my shirts may be a little stiff after I hang dry them... we'll see how this goes.

So far, my roommates and I have walked a great deal of the city, as well as across the river, had some of the best gelato, and at least a gallon of cappuccino's and caffè. We've crossed the Ponte Vecchio, walked along the Arno, been to a few fabulous restaurants and had some delicious looking (and tasting!) meals.

Four Cheese Gnocchi from a small restaurant by the Cattedrale in Siena, Italy.

My favorite has actually been the seafood pasta--I love me some shrimp! It's weird that they have little tiny octopi in the dishes as well, like, whole octopi (minus the head). I've probably eaten more vegetables than I've ever had in my entire life. Surprisingly, I love eggplant. Especially when it's paired with mozzarella, a little meat, and smothered in red sauce. I love the salads here as well because everything is so fresh! There are so many markets where restaurants (as well as my housemates and I) can buy fresh produce for meals every day. Although, I do miss American dressing--creamy ranch, Caesar, Italian--I'm not a big fan of just olive oil or balsamic vinegar. Two things I have learned about food though since I've been here: I still don;t like tomatoes, no matter how many times or how many different ways I try them, they just don't taste appealing to me. I also discovered that tofu is disgusting and I could never be vegan/vegetarian. I've had raviolis, gnocchis, the best bruschetta I have ever tasted in my life, delectable paninis, and I think the best vending-machine coffee known to man. But enough about food, let me dive in to my most recent adventure:

Last Sunday, my roommates and I took a day trip to Siena! It was absolutely GORGEOUS, and it was nice to be in a city that wasn't as touristy and busy like Florence. Surrounded by greenery, Siena is tucked away into the countryside, about an hour south of Florence. I made the mistake of wearing flats that weren't completely broken in yet, to walk around the city of Siena. My heels are just recovering, and my box of band-aids has been considerably depleted. (I remember thinking while I was shopping in Wegmans for things I would need abroad, that I am ridiculously accident prone and I should get two boxes of band-aids, but I ended up only getting one. Rookie mistake.) We took a tour called the Divina bellezza: The complete Museum of the Duomo in Siena, and bought the OPA SI Pass which allowed us to see the Museo dell'Opera, the Panorama dal Facciatone, the Cript, Battistero, and Cattedrale, all for 12,00 euro.

View of Siena from the Panorama dal Facciatone

Inside the Cathedral

The outside of the Cathedral

Another view of Siena on the walk back to the bus station.

The only thing we didn't have time to see was the Piazza del Campo where twice a year, the Palio di Siena takes place. The Palio di Siena is an event with roots that lead all the way back to the 12th Century.
      For more information on this famous race, read on: Italian Site (Homepage) or English Version

All in all, I'd say this was a good first adventure out into the countryside of Toscana, Italy!

Who Hits a Horse?

I hit a horse. In the middle of the road. In the dark. On 5 & 20. The first weekend I was home from school. AWESOME.

This is Infuriating.

Not Cool.

What I'm Currently Looking Forward To

In order to keep myself going I've made a list of dates that will make the last five weeks of school go by so much faster. Although two of these weeks I can just sit around and relax (the two weeks after Darien Lake are for exams and I only have to take one on the Tuesday of the second week. :) )

May 12th: Superintendent's Day- No School!

May 17th-21st: Monday- Geek Day, Tuesday- Hawaiian Day, Wednesday- Celebrity Day, Thursday- Jungle Day, Friday- Color Wars & pep rally.

May 22nd: Senior Prom

June 11th: Senior trip to Darien Lake

June 13th: I turn 18!

June 26th: Graduation

June 27th: My Graduation Party

Now I just have to get the rest of my schoolwork done. And all of them are final projects.

AP Exams... Yikes?

Spring break is now over, and all I have to show for my time spent at home, is a seventeen page AP English poet paper.

Saturday, the first day of break, Sean and I just sat on the couch and watched t.v. all day. Five o'clock rolled around, and we hadn't moved at all. I turned to Sean and said, "Okay, so after today, we can't do this anymore because mom has to work downstairs and listen to the t.v. and dad's going to get mad that we did nothing but watch t.v. all day. We're going to have to find something to do, because we can't have another day like this." Sunday comes around, and I found something to do (I think, I don't really remember?). Sean just moved to the basement. Monday, I had my streak re-done, and Tuesday I spent all day reading books (of my choice) and by the end of Tuesday, I was starting my fifth. Sean was still in the basement either playing videogames, watching t.v. or on the computer.

Then it was Wednesday. I have a runny nose and an itchy throat. "Its probably just allergies" my mom says. So I take my allergy medicine and ahh, temporary relief. On this day I planned on starting my poet paper. 10-12 pages in writing, not including a works cited and an appendix. My initial thought for this paper was to type single-spaced so that I only really had to write five or six pages. I was able to get page one done, and then Chelsea wanted to go run. Unfortunately, my sneakers are in my gym locker at the school. So instead, we play Frisbee, volleyball, some football and then go for a walk. After that it was time for work. When I come home, I'm not in the mood to write, so I shower and go to bed. Now its Thursday, and I take Sean out of the house to go buy James Cameron's Avatar. OHMIGOD, one of my favorite movies ever. We watched that Thursday night and it was still AMAZING. Mrs. Agar has already requested to borrow it. :) Friday, Saturday and Sunday all passed in the same fashion; me sitting at the computer, staring at the screen waiting for words to appear in my head so I could type them out, thus creating my poet paper.
This paper of mine, requires an appendix, and a works cited page. These are separate from my paper, and aren't included in the number of pages needed. My works cited was almost three pages of sources, and my appendix was four pages. All together, my paper was seventeen pages. Ten of which (I think) are solid pages full of interesting and relevant information. The extra bonus? I handed it in on time. WOO HOO. So proud of myself. So the next week was going over Native Son, and preparing for APs.
I have (now had) only one AP exam. English Literature and Composition. Now, if you ask me, the only was to really "study" for english is to remember everything you ever learned in your high school english career. Me, I had burned my English materials every year previously (excluding last year because I actually enjoyed Mrs. Borrelli's class). So, in a matter of speaking, I thought I was screwed. Not a very positive vibe going on huh? According to my teacher however, the best way to study is to practice, practice, practice. My class was giving multiple choice questions (or packets) and essay questions with the answer keys to the multiple choice, and writing examples from previous students for the essays. Now that's all fine and dandy, but how is practicing multiple choice going to help me on the exam? All the questions are different, and most of the time, I only got about half of them right (sometimes a little less). The essays, well, there was no way I could practice writing and be able to write better, or faster during the test. I'm a slow writer, just like when I draw, I take a little longer to make sure my details are correct and it doesn't look or seem like I rushed.
Today, I took the AP English exam. I started out fine but towards the end of the first hour designated for the multiple choice, I was in a bunch. Turns out I had been timing myself for four multiple choice sections, when there were really five. OOPS. So during the last 15- 20 minutes, I tried to get as much done as possible. Time ran out, and I had six multiple choice questions left. (OH NO.) So at this point I'm freaking out a little bit because if I can't even finish the multiple choice, there's no way I'm going to be able to write three good essays in two hours (that's forty minutes per essay for those of you who don't do math.) Now, writing in general makes me upset. I don't like to write when I'm only given what's in my head (from memory) or a short paragraph on the history of something, or a quote to base an entire essay off of. It's not fun. I don't enjoy it. I'm the kind of person that sits around doing nothing, waiting for an idea to START a paper in my head, before I can actually write anything.
Its a good thing I knew what I was doing for these essays because I had them all set up before I was done reading the excerpts. So I think I did okay... hopefully I'll pass. I didn't cry like I thought I was going to. I was so proud of myself. :D
And now, APs are over (for me anyways), I have my statistics exam at the end of the month, and the only exam I have left to take is the Regents Physics exam on the second week of finals at the end of June! Whoopee! So here I am, all the stress from English gone, and the stress of finishing all my art projects is going to hit me in a week or two... I should probably get to it.
Hahahahahaha, I'm so giddy from finishing this exam, and THIS NEW AMAZING LAPTOP THAT MY MOMMA JUST BOUGHT! its pretty sweet :)