EDIT: I just realized today -- a week after I wrote this entry -- that I saved it as a draft instead of publishing it. Niceee.
I find it ironic that when nothing was happening over the summer, I would still blog on a regular basis, but now, when everything has really been set into motion, I have yet to put in a good entry. Blah. This excuse for writing will have to suffice for now.
Everything started on the 2nd of September -- the day before I was set to leave -- when we picked up my visa (cutting it close much? nahh...), said goodbye to my friends, and scrambled to pack 10 months worth into one suitcase and a carry on. Like most, that day came and went in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, I was on a plane to New York the morning of September 3rd -- the day I had been waiting for.
Upon getting to New York, I asked three people where the correct terminal was before I actually found it due to my severely popped ears, and the fact that I didnt want to make the same person repeat it. There were about 6 kids already there, and we just had to wait around until the van came to take us to the hotel. At the hotel, there was around 200ish kids headed to places like Spain, Turkey, Ghana, South Africa, Portugal and Italy. Italia was pretty dominant, having accounted for around 65 of those. The first day was pretty grueling, with a lot of spare time to just play cards, make small talk, or stare at a wall. The activities were your typical corny metaphors for what we could expect on exchange, mostly stuff we have heard many times before. I ended up having the room to myself, but I still didnt sleep too well.
The next day seemed to last an eternity. The morning was more of the same from the day before, but in the afternoon it came time to pack up and head to the airport. It took ages to get all 65 Italy-bounds checked in, through securtiy and to the gate. The flight seemed shorter than the actual 8 hours it took us, and I was lucky someone lent me a hoodie because I had forgotten mine in my supposed carry-on (too big). I didnt sleep for beans, even with a dramomine, but it wasnt too bad. The bad part came when we landed in Zurich and had an almost 4-hour layover. Heather and I walked around the airport wasting time, as we both were feeling the lack of sleep. Finally, with droopy eyes and blistered feet, we boarded the plane that would take us to Rome.
In Rome, my first thought as I approached the baggage claim was, "What the fuck?" Hah, I usually dont swear much, but seriously. My brand new luggage was plastered with black oil from who knows what. Whatever, I will get over it. We were placed in groups and put on a bus to our hotel, and during the ride I spoke to a Belgiun girl, whose native tongue was french, in Italian. So what if it was your basic travel talk, it was still Italian :]
When we got to the hotel outside of Rome, I settled in with my roommates Vanessa and Ellie. Aside from some socializing with some Aussies and Germans, not much happened before dinner. For dinner, we ate pasta, zucchini, fish and fruit. A few card games and meeting people from around the globe, and it was time for bed.
The next day, it was time for the actual orientation, which took place in a school just up the street. More cheesy activities, basic language tips and a packed lunch of three sandwiches (who eats three sandwiches?), fruit, and a mini-pastry/cookie. We returned for dinner, when I sat a group from Japan with my roommates. The night was ended by a gathering (I am losing my vocabulary -- cant think of a better word.) in a tent up the hill from the hotel. Think of it as a motivational speech in which they told us that this was to be our "re-birth", so to speak.
With my endless luck, my group (headed for Milano) was set to leave at 6:30 in the morning, which meant a 5:30 wake-up call. Wonderful. We took a bus to the station, waited around, and finally got on the train. The ride was around 6 hours, which I mostly spent sleeping, reading, listening to music and eating (more sandwiches!). In Milan, the huge majority of the group finally met their host families, but myself and three others still had another train ride until we reached Domodossola. At this point, we were escorted by two twenty-somethings who provided a slightly amusing commentary of Domodossola. According to Agnese -- who seemingly enjoys the word fuck, to which she adds an ah (what the fuck-ah? haha) -- there isnt much to do here other than drink and smoke, although there is only one disco, which can only be described as GAY. Her exact words of advice were, "Just dont become an alcoholic...but if you do, dont blame us." What a good outlook for the four of us :]
After a picture-esque (sp?) ride through the mountains and past a lake, we pulled up to the station with sufficient nerves spread among us. Here, I met Marzia, Emanuele, and my sister Giorgia. Jeff (America), Leandra (Germany), and Katrin (Iceland) headed off to Villadossola, while I headed towards Crevoladossola, only a few short kilometers from Domo. For dinner, we had pasta and roast beef, followed by fruit and una torta that said, "Welcome Elyse." Giorgia put on Ice Age in Italian, but I was so beat that I fell asleep almost instantly.
And now, three (I think it has been three...?) days later, I am still tired, but have started to really settle in Italy. I will write more about what I have actually done so far, but I am sure this post is outrageously long already. For now, I am looking forward to the weekend, and then my first day in my Italian school. I am still undecided as to whether it is actually excitement, or suppressed nerves. We shall see.
Ciao ciao.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Visas Were Created by the Devil
So I just got back from a two day trip in Michigan, and it honestly feels as though I spent more time in the car driving to/from there than I actually spent with my relatives. Ah, well. I guess that's just the way things have to work out sometimes.
I was happy that I got the chance to see them before I leave, and it was a shame I couldn't see more of the family. The whole goodbye thing was weird, although I suppose this is to be expected. It just feels different when you know you're saying goodbye to someone for such a long time. I don't know -- this sounds lame right now -- but I can't seem to find the proper words to explain it.
Aside from that, my main focus is my mission to burn my visa application papers. Seriously, I think the consulates must use medieval methods to process these visas. How can something that has been done so many times be so complicated? The earliest appointment we could get when we called was the 21st of August -- which is cutting it too close -- but I won't even be in town that day. This means I cannot get an appointment in Chicago until the 29th of August. Somehow, I don't think three days is going to cut it. Yeah...
This basically means I would not be able to attend the orientations in either Rome or New York, which also means that all of my flights would have to be rearranged. On the flip side, I might not even get a visa. Depending on what happens on the home front, I might just go over on my passport.
Normally, I'm sure AFS wouldn't allow this, but things have gotten pretty surreal lately. It turns out I may be spending more than just 10 months in Italy. More on that later.
Until then,
Αντίο αγάπη και πάντα
P.S. Oh. My. God. I only have one month left in the US...and I have absolutely nothing done.
I was happy that I got the chance to see them before I leave, and it was a shame I couldn't see more of the family. The whole goodbye thing was weird, although I suppose this is to be expected. It just feels different when you know you're saying goodbye to someone for such a long time. I don't know -- this sounds lame right now -- but I can't seem to find the proper words to explain it.
Aside from that, my main focus is my mission to burn my visa application papers. Seriously, I think the consulates must use medieval methods to process these visas. How can something that has been done so many times be so complicated? The earliest appointment we could get when we called was the 21st of August -- which is cutting it too close -- but I won't even be in town that day. This means I cannot get an appointment in Chicago until the 29th of August. Somehow, I don't think three days is going to cut it. Yeah...
This basically means I would not be able to attend the orientations in either Rome or New York, which also means that all of my flights would have to be rearranged. On the flip side, I might not even get a visa. Depending on what happens on the home front, I might just go over on my passport.
Normally, I'm sure AFS wouldn't allow this, but things have gotten pretty surreal lately. It turns out I may be spending more than just 10 months in Italy. More on that later.
Until then,
Αντίο αγάπη και πάντα
P.S. Oh. My. God. I only have one month left in the US...and I have absolutely nothing done.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Pre-Departure Orientation
I suppose I should write about the PDO I had to go to back in May before I completely forget what even happened. It wasn't terribly boring, but it wasn't too exciting either. There were only six or seven students that were going to be outbound this year, and there were a couple of adults who were holding it there as well. One of the supervisors was actually the same woman that interviewed me before I got accepted to the AFS program. The interview was pretty quick; I just had to answer a few questions that were supposed to help them place me.
Anyways, when I first got to Arrowhead High School (where it was held), no one else had arrived yet so I just kind of talked with the supervisors by the doors. Once we got to the library, most of the students had already arrived through a different entrance, so we had basically been standing there for no reason at all. It started off kind of slow and no one seemed to want to talk, but as the day wore on, it got better. We had to introduce who we were, where we were from, and what country we were going to. Seeing as I've waited so long to type this, I can't exactly remember what country everyone was going to, and who it was that was going there. From what I can recall, Karen was going to Germany; Lucas was going to France; another boy was headed to Japan; one girl was going to Hungary; another girl was going to Spain; and I can't for the life of me remember where the last girl was headed. We did a couple of corny exercises that were supposed to give us an idea of what the culture shock was going to be like. We had to write a few things with our left hand (which I was hilariously terrible at), and it was supposed to be the whole thing where it feels so awkward at first, but after a while you would get used to it until you don't even see much of a difference. After that, we drew pictures of what we expected to gain from foreign exchange, and then what we were worried about. I think I did something lame and generic like Perspective and Not Knowing the Language. In between eating bagels and drinking lemonade, we wrote a letter to ourselves that our parents are supposed to send us when we're halfway through our exchange just to see how things have changed, and how we had felt at that time -- this was probably my favorite exercise. Lastly, we did a quiz on how well we knew the AFS program and its history; we were supposed to read a booklet they had sent us a couple of months ago, and I ended up reading it the night before the orientation at 11:00 at night -- hooray for procrastination!
With around an hour left, our parents showed up as well as three people who had returned from foreign exchange in the last couple of years. One had gone to France, another to Argentina, and Mikhail -- who went to my school -- had gone to Austria. Luckily, the parents left for a while and talked with one of the supervisors, because the returnees had to start doing these cheesy role plays to try and show us how to handle potentially dangerous situations. It was pretty hilarious. One was about not letting someone of the opposite sex lead you off into 'the sand dunes' alone. I assume you can see where that one went. The rest was mostly about drinking and hitchhiking; those of us who were headed to Europe were basically told that we can expect a lot of alcohol during our foreign exchanges. I had jokingly told my mom prior to this that I was sure to come back as a complete wine-o. We started making jokes about all the drugs we were going to encounter, and so some of us started asking really stupid questions about what we should do. Someone asked what would happen if our host parents turned out to be drug dealers, and the mattress they gave us was stuffed with pot. I couldn't stop laughing at that one.
After their exuberant theatrical skills were displayed, everyone sat down to ask questions about how the returnees' foreign exchange experiences had gone. After that, it was pretty much over. With all things said and done, it took around 3 hours. It was worth it in the end, and it made me look forward to this experience that much more. I wish I could freeze time, though, because I don't want it to end and it hasn't even begun yet. I'm not even sure if that makes sense, but maybe it will in a year.
Tot ziens en Hou van Altijd.
Anyways, when I first got to Arrowhead High School (where it was held), no one else had arrived yet so I just kind of talked with the supervisors by the doors. Once we got to the library, most of the students had already arrived through a different entrance, so we had basically been standing there for no reason at all. It started off kind of slow and no one seemed to want to talk, but as the day wore on, it got better. We had to introduce who we were, where we were from, and what country we were going to. Seeing as I've waited so long to type this, I can't exactly remember what country everyone was going to, and who it was that was going there. From what I can recall, Karen was going to Germany; Lucas was going to France; another boy was headed to Japan; one girl was going to Hungary; another girl was going to Spain; and I can't for the life of me remember where the last girl was headed. We did a couple of corny exercises that were supposed to give us an idea of what the culture shock was going to be like. We had to write a few things with our left hand (which I was hilariously terrible at), and it was supposed to be the whole thing where it feels so awkward at first, but after a while you would get used to it until you don't even see much of a difference. After that, we drew pictures of what we expected to gain from foreign exchange, and then what we were worried about. I think I did something lame and generic like Perspective and Not Knowing the Language. In between eating bagels and drinking lemonade, we wrote a letter to ourselves that our parents are supposed to send us when we're halfway through our exchange just to see how things have changed, and how we had felt at that time -- this was probably my favorite exercise. Lastly, we did a quiz on how well we knew the AFS program and its history; we were supposed to read a booklet they had sent us a couple of months ago, and I ended up reading it the night before the orientation at 11:00 at night -- hooray for procrastination!
With around an hour left, our parents showed up as well as three people who had returned from foreign exchange in the last couple of years. One had gone to France, another to Argentina, and Mikhail -- who went to my school -- had gone to Austria. Luckily, the parents left for a while and talked with one of the supervisors, because the returnees had to start doing these cheesy role plays to try and show us how to handle potentially dangerous situations. It was pretty hilarious. One was about not letting someone of the opposite sex lead you off into 'the sand dunes' alone. I assume you can see where that one went. The rest was mostly about drinking and hitchhiking; those of us who were headed to Europe were basically told that we can expect a lot of alcohol during our foreign exchanges. I had jokingly told my mom prior to this that I was sure to come back as a complete wine-o. We started making jokes about all the drugs we were going to encounter, and so some of us started asking really stupid questions about what we should do. Someone asked what would happen if our host parents turned out to be drug dealers, and the mattress they gave us was stuffed with pot. I couldn't stop laughing at that one.
After their exuberant theatrical skills were displayed, everyone sat down to ask questions about how the returnees' foreign exchange experiences had gone. After that, it was pretty much over. With all things said and done, it took around 3 hours. It was worth it in the end, and it made me look forward to this experience that much more. I wish I could freeze time, though, because I don't want it to end and it hasn't even begun yet. I'm not even sure if that makes sense, but maybe it will in a year.
Tot ziens en Hou van Altijd.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Dall'America a Italia
So I finally booked my flight from Milwaukee to New York a few days ago. It was kind of a weird feeling to be booking a one-way ticket, but it was still exciting.
The plan is to catch my flight in Milwaukee that leaves at 6:55 am (let's add lack of sleep to the insanity that is sure to ensue) and arrives in New York at 10:00 am on the 3rd of September. This should give me plenty of time to grab my bags and find the AFS volunteers that are supposed to meet us at LaGuardia airport. At some point between then and 2:00, we'll have to make our way to the hotel that we'll be staying at for the gateway orientation in NYC. The gateway orientation is overnight, so on September 4th we'll catch a flight from New York to Zurich, Switzerland. We won't get there until the next day because the flight is over 12 hours long! From there, we have to catch the connecting flight that will fly us into Rome, Italy. If I remember correctly, we'll have a 2-day orientation in Rome, and then it is on to our host families. I'm not sure if I'll have to catch a train or maybe even another flight since Crevoladossola is over 6 hours from Rome. By this point, it's likely I'll be completely deaf from my ears popping so much, haha.
From what past AFSers have said, the gateway orientation in NY is really boring, but Rome should be a blast. It will be so surreal to meet everyone that has been talking about going to Italy for months now. I'm still freaking out about the Italian, probably because I hardly know anything. Between now and September I'll have to find the motivation to get through my Berlitz tapes AND read all the materials I bought. Should be fun...heh, heh.
Au revoir et Aimer Toujours.
The plan is to catch my flight in Milwaukee that leaves at 6:55 am (let's add lack of sleep to the insanity that is sure to ensue) and arrives in New York at 10:00 am on the 3rd of September. This should give me plenty of time to grab my bags and find the AFS volunteers that are supposed to meet us at LaGuardia airport. At some point between then and 2:00, we'll have to make our way to the hotel that we'll be staying at for the gateway orientation in NYC. The gateway orientation is overnight, so on September 4th we'll catch a flight from New York to Zurich, Switzerland. We won't get there until the next day because the flight is over 12 hours long! From there, we have to catch the connecting flight that will fly us into Rome, Italy. If I remember correctly, we'll have a 2-day orientation in Rome, and then it is on to our host families. I'm not sure if I'll have to catch a train or maybe even another flight since Crevoladossola is over 6 hours from Rome. By this point, it's likely I'll be completely deaf from my ears popping so much, haha.
From what past AFSers have said, the gateway orientation in NY is really boring, but Rome should be a blast. It will be so surreal to meet everyone that has been talking about going to Italy for months now. I'm still freaking out about the Italian, probably because I hardly know anything. Between now and September I'll have to find the motivation to get through my Berlitz tapes AND read all the materials I bought. Should be fun...heh, heh.
Au revoir et Aimer Toujours.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Love Giorgia
I had some issues with the e-mail I was given to contact my family, but luckily Giorgia sent me this e-mail. It's so perfect -- I can't wait to hear from her again!
Dear Elyse
we are waiting you with great happiness and I am very happy because I will have a sister that teach me English. I wrote late this letter because I was busy with the work I'm doing at my school: I am a helper-animator and I care children at the centre of my summer school. I 'm very fun, time passes me very quickly and in the evening I'm very tired. I have spoken of your arrival to my friends and also to my teacher and I am anxious to meet you.
I leave you my e-mail so we can keep in contact and know better.
Love Giorgia
Dear Elyse
we are waiting you with great happiness and I am very happy because I will have a sister that teach me English. I wrote late this letter because I was busy with the work I'm doing at my school: I am a helper-animator and I care children at the centre of my summer school. I 'm very fun, time passes me very quickly and in the evening I'm very tired. I have spoken of your arrival to my friends and also to my teacher and I am anxious to meet you.
I leave you my e-mail so we can keep in contact and know better.
Love Giorgia
La Mia Famiglia Italiana
The day has finally come where I can actually say I have a host family, and I know where I'm going in Italy. As soon as I saw the e-mail from AFS, I pretty much wanted to jump up and down. Needless to say, I didn't jump up and down; I didn't think it would go over well in a public cafe. Ah, well. I was jumping up and down on the inside, haha.
The city I will be living in is Crevoladossola, which is a small town about 30 km from the Swiss border. It has a population of around 4,600, but it's not too far away from the larger city of Domodossola, where I will likely end up going to school. It is located in the Piedmont region in the province of Verbania. I think it's about an hour and a half from Milano, and 130 km n/e of Torino. Since I'll be in the mountains, the winter will be looong and the summer will be relatively mild. The skiing should be pretty crazy!
My host padre is a fireman and my host madre is a physiotherapist. I will have a younger sister named Giorgia who will be turning 12 in August. I'll be sharing a room with her while I'm there -- this should be fun since I've always been the youngest and only have brothers. Apparently, they speak English (that's a relief!), German and Spanish in addition to Italian, and Giorgia plays the guitar and the flute. She also plays sports like basketball and volleyball. They sound pretty active as a family, so at least I won't be bored. Still, how can you be bored in such a beautiful country?
Hopefully I will find out more once I start e-mailing them on a regular basis. They seem pretty busy, so I might not hear from them as often as I might hope. I'll probably add other random details about the AFS pre-departure meetings and other items like that in the meantime.
Auf Wiedersehen und liebt immer.
The city I will be living in is Crevoladossola, which is a small town about 30 km from the Swiss border. It has a population of around 4,600, but it's not too far away from the larger city of Domodossola, where I will likely end up going to school. It is located in the Piedmont region in the province of Verbania. I think it's about an hour and a half from Milano, and 130 km n/e of Torino. Since I'll be in the mountains, the winter will be looong and the summer will be relatively mild. The skiing should be pretty crazy!
My host padre is a fireman and my host madre is a physiotherapist. I will have a younger sister named Giorgia who will be turning 12 in August. I'll be sharing a room with her while I'm there -- this should be fun since I've always been the youngest and only have brothers. Apparently, they speak English (that's a relief!), German and Spanish in addition to Italian, and Giorgia plays the guitar and the flute. She also plays sports like basketball and volleyball. They sound pretty active as a family, so at least I won't be bored. Still, how can you be bored in such a beautiful country?
Hopefully I will find out more once I start e-mailing them on a regular basis. They seem pretty busy, so I might not hear from them as often as I might hope. I'll probably add other random details about the AFS pre-departure meetings and other items like that in the meantime.
Auf Wiedersehen und liebt immer.
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