Near Crevoladossola
Crevoladossola
Domodossola
Not Too Far Away
Somewhere in Crevoladossola
Friday, July 4, 2008
Le Fotografie
Near Crevoladossola
Crevoladossola
Domodossola
Not Too Far Away
Somewhere in Crevoladossola
10 Days in Cabo
I guess I didn't really mention "Why Italy?" in my last post. Put simply, it was a no-brainer for me. I've always wanted to visit, always wanted to learn the language, my parents lived there for a few years and my brother was born there. I'm also half Italian by my dad's side. Can you tell? My other choices were Portugal, Spain or Switzerland.
Anyways, on to Mexico. We left on the 29th, and I won't go into too much detail because I don't know who would want to read about that. In short we spent 10 days in Cabo San Lucas, and I actually got the e-mail from AFS with my host family right in the middle of our vacation. I was paying for an hour on the computer in a cafe, so I didn't have much time to look it up. Details to come in my next post.
The main highlight of the vacation was deep sea fishing with my brothers and my dad. We got up at six in the morning and spent around 7-8 hours out in the ocean. Right away we caught a striped marlin that weighed around 140 lbs, and my brothers named him Dontrelle. I was assigned photographer for that part of the trip; the pictures are on my facebook if you are bored enough to look at them. After around 3 hours of absolutely nothing, we came across another marlin but lost it. In the same area there were tons of dolphins, so that was fun to see. Then came Clarence the 3rd [this is the phenomenal name I came up with for him]. Somehow I got roped into reeling him in. Turns out it was a Jack Caravelle, which isn't a marlin by any means, but it is by far the biggest fish I've ever caught. Again, pictures are on the facebook. On our way in my dad caught a bonita tuna, so our amigo Martin filleted it right there, and we ate if for dinner later. Haha -- now this sounds so gross, but it was really good!
Aside from the fishing, it was mostly just laying out in the sun and swimming in the ocean. I read three different books (dork much?) and managed to get a sufficient sunburn. All things considered, it was a good vacation.
Adiós y Adora Siempre.
Anyways, on to Mexico. We left on the 29th, and I won't go into too much detail because I don't know who would want to read about that. In short we spent 10 days in Cabo San Lucas, and I actually got the e-mail from AFS with my host family right in the middle of our vacation. I was paying for an hour on the computer in a cafe, so I didn't have much time to look it up. Details to come in my next post.
The main highlight of the vacation was deep sea fishing with my brothers and my dad. We got up at six in the morning and spent around 7-8 hours out in the ocean. Right away we caught a striped marlin that weighed around 140 lbs, and my brothers named him Dontrelle. I was assigned photographer for that part of the trip; the pictures are on my facebook if you are bored enough to look at them. After around 3 hours of absolutely nothing, we came across another marlin but lost it. In the same area there were tons of dolphins, so that was fun to see. Then came Clarence the 3rd [this is the phenomenal name I came up with for him]. Somehow I got roped into reeling him in. Turns out it was a Jack Caravelle, which isn't a marlin by any means, but it is by far the biggest fish I've ever caught. Again, pictures are on the facebook. On our way in my dad caught a bonita tuna, so our amigo Martin filleted it right there, and we ate if for dinner later. Haha -- now this sounds so gross, but it was really good!
Aside from the fishing, it was mostly just laying out in the sun and swimming in the ocean. I read three different books (dork much?) and managed to get a sufficient sunburn. All things considered, it was a good vacation.
Adiós y Adora Siempre.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Beginning
Finally, I've found the motivation to start this blog. And yet, I still have no idea where to start....?
I first thought about studying abroad only a few months ago; October, I think. I had talked Catherine into joining International Club, and one of the meetings was a presentation from AFS. At first, I jokingly brought it up with my mom. As expected, she flipped out. It wasn't until a month or two later -- at which point I couldn't stop thinking about it -- I brought up the subject again. This time I was dead serious; I'd finally decided I'd wanted this, or at least I thought so.
And so the panic ensued. Surprisingly enough, it was mine. For a while I couldn't grasp the idea of leaving my family for 10 months, diving head first into a language I didn't speak, and leaving Pewaukee behind for good. This was probably the reason I almost missed the application deadline, and that wasn't until the end of March! That's really how long I had to think about this before finally deciding it was so beyond worth it.
Since I was such a lame brain, I waited until Spring Break to start on the application, and just as luck would have it, I needed transcripts from school. I also needed to write a two page letter about myself (yuck!) and compile some pictures, and I had to fill out a bajillion papers. Then there was this whole issue with my doctor because he was too busy to fill out my papers, then he was on vacation, and then he called in sick! To convey just how close I cut it, we had to gun it from Kinko's to the FedEx place, and we barely sent it out by the 5:00 pick-up on March 30th -- it was due on the 31st! We even had to fax the medical papers a day late because there was such a hold up.
For some reason I was accepted a day or two later, but it is supposed to take them around a month to process it. I guess I was lucky that I didn't have to wait around worrying about my acceptance to the Italia program. Now all I had to wait for was a host family. Great.
Three months later, here I am with a host family. This post is getting atrociously long, so I'll start a new post about my family, and one small one about my trip to Mexico.
Ciao é Amare Sempre.
I first thought about studying abroad only a few months ago; October, I think. I had talked Catherine into joining International Club, and one of the meetings was a presentation from AFS. At first, I jokingly brought it up with my mom. As expected, she flipped out. It wasn't until a month or two later -- at which point I couldn't stop thinking about it -- I brought up the subject again. This time I was dead serious; I'd finally decided I'd wanted this, or at least I thought so.
And so the panic ensued. Surprisingly enough, it was mine. For a while I couldn't grasp the idea of leaving my family for 10 months, diving head first into a language I didn't speak, and leaving Pewaukee behind for good. This was probably the reason I almost missed the application deadline, and that wasn't until the end of March! That's really how long I had to think about this before finally deciding it was so beyond worth it.
Since I was such a lame brain, I waited until Spring Break to start on the application, and just as luck would have it, I needed transcripts from school. I also needed to write a two page letter about myself (yuck!) and compile some pictures, and I had to fill out a bajillion papers. Then there was this whole issue with my doctor because he was too busy to fill out my papers, then he was on vacation, and then he called in sick! To convey just how close I cut it, we had to gun it from Kinko's to the FedEx place, and we barely sent it out by the 5:00 pick-up on March 30th -- it was due on the 31st! We even had to fax the medical papers a day late because there was such a hold up.
For some reason I was accepted a day or two later, but it is supposed to take them around a month to process it. I guess I was lucky that I didn't have to wait around worrying about my acceptance to the Italia program. Now all I had to wait for was a host family. Great.
Three months later, here I am with a host family. This post is getting atrociously long, so I'll start a new post about my family, and one small one about my trip to Mexico.
Ciao é Amare Sempre.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
