November 28, 2016

Hello Everyone!

I have been in the beautiful city of Siracusa, Sicily for almost 3 months now. It is crazy how fast the time is going. I am really starting to settle in and find my niche and routine in my everyday life. I go out with friends with school, go to the movies, hangout with my family, and everything else a normal teen would do.
In the past month, I have been so blessed to have so many more amazing opportunities that have enabled me to see more of this beautiful country!
At the beginning of this month, my host brother, Davide, who is studying at University in Milan came home to surprise my host mom. It was my first time meeting him, and he was so nice! It was a nice change to have another kid in the house! Davide, myself, and my host brother from my third family, Christian (Davide's cousin) went out for the evening to shop and get gelato. They reminded me of my brothers from back in New York, and we had so much fun together.
Later on in the month, my current host parents had to go on a business trip for the weekend, and so I wasn't home alone for 4 days, I went to Christian's house! Christian's girlfriend Marta, has a cousin who plays semi-professional volleyball on the mainland, and she had a competition that weekend. So, me, Christian, Christian's parents, Marta, Marta's parents, and Marta's aunt and uncle all piled into a huge bus/car and drove to the competition (we took the ferryboat)! It was amazing to watch and Marta's cousin was soooo good!!
I was then lucky enough to visit Davide in Milan with my host mom! We took the plane (about 2 hours) to the Milan airport, and the second I got off of the plane, the temperature that winter SHOULD be hit me! It was actually cold opposed to the 70 degree F that Siracusa has right now. From the airport we took a bus to Davide's apartment that he rents with his friend. It was a surprisingly large apartment only a 10 minute walk from the spectacular Milan Duomo. The Milan Duomo has a Gothic style structure, making everything look both scary and delicate at the same time. When you stand in front of the massive church it feels like you're in a snow globe, it was amazing... However, in front of the church, there are hundreds of gross pigeons that climb onto your hands and shoulders. A man came up to me and put corn in my hand and immediately birds were flying all up on my hands and shoulders and my host mom tried to get a picture, but they didn't turn out too well (see below) and I refused to do it again. We walking along streets with huge designer clothes and shoes (Prada, Versace, Gucci, etc...), and even got a tour of a huge castle in which the old ruler of Milan used to live. On my last evening there, we got tickets to view the original "Last Supper" painting. It was stunning, and significantly larger than I thought it would be!
When I returned, I had a pretty mellow few weeks until Thanksgiving. I was very nervous because Thanksgiving was my first big holiday away from my family. However, Rotary worldwide celebrates the holiday! So, every exchange student in Sicily came to Siracusa to celebrate! We all went to a huge dinner with about 80 people there, including a journalist! The students from the US got to cut the two massive turkeys while everyone else watched. Then we feasted on turkey, gravy, blackberry sauce, mashed potatoes, corn bread, bread, and so much more. All of the US students had to say a tradition we hold at home on Thanksgiving as well as something we are grateful for. Being all together with my new "family" on the holiday made it so much more bearable, (even when I had an allergic reaction to something in the wine...)
The following days, with the other exchange students, we were able to show them our beautiful city. We went to the Greek Theater, as well as a gladiator fighting arena, walked through Ortigia, and shopped. While we were walking through Ortigia, I spotted the Portuguese National Handball Team!! So natural I enlisted the help of my Portuguese speaking buddy, Pedro, we took a picture with them!!! Do I follow handball? No. Did I fan girl anyways? Naturally.
I feel so blessed and thankful for this experience that I am having, and I can't wait to see what else it has in store!!

Love, Michela

The gladiator arena

October 24, 2016

Hello everyone!


I have officially been in Siracusa, Sicily for over a month. The time is already flying bye with new people and experiences. My language progression has improved drastically since my last post. I now understand about 83% of what I here, and am able to respond. It is becoming easier and easier to express myself, and I am now even able to joke around with native Italian speakers! It is such an amazing feeling, because it was starting to feel very lonely for me.


It is definitely harder than I thought to make friends. Back at home, it is very easy for me to talk to people, and befriend just about anyone, but here has been very difficult. Everyone has their friends, and while having a new girl from New York (not NYC much to the dismay of many) was very cool for them, it quickly got old, and I could no longer rely on the story of the time I saw Central Park... I now have friends outside of the other exchange students, friends from other classes as well as my own. On Saturday's we go to Ortigia and walk around in a big group speaking in very very fast Italian. I know it has only been a month, but I truly have no idea how I will say goodbye to everyone when the time comes...


Some adventures I have had in the past few weeks: I went to Palermo, Sicily with my friend Claire (another exchange student from Michigan, USA), my second host mom, Franka, and my third host family (Claire's second host family). It was amazing, we walked around the city exploring and eating amazing food such as cannoli, arancini, and pasta! We went to Palermo Cathedral which was built in 1184, during Sicily's Norman period. Archbishop of Palermo, Gualtiero Offamiglio founded the cathedral on the site of a Muslim mosque, which had itself been built over an early Christian basilica. The archbishop's main aim was to surpass the glory of the magnificent cathedral of nearby Monrealem and the Palermo Duomo became an architectural battleground for "The Battle of the Two Cathedrals." 

Another adventure I had, was on a warm day (everyday is warm, but this one was especially warm), Claire and I left my house for a day of exploring. We walked to the city of Ortigia where we found an authentic Sicilian restaurant overlooking the amazingly blue Mediterranean. We stuffed ourselves with amazing lasagna (my favorite dish here) and gelato, and walked around. Later in the evening we watched a soccer/football game of some of our friends, it was a very fun day!

I had been promising pancakes to my host parents for a while now, and I had maple syrup to have with them, so enduring the pain of converting the measurements of every ingredient, I made some pancakes for my host parents and they LOVED the maple syrup!!


This past week, three exchange students from three different parts of Brazil organized a party for all of the other exchange students with Brazilian food and music. It was so amazing to experience another culture from another part of the world while still in Italy. The food was amazing and the music was very fun, and as always the other exchange students and I had so much fun together!


On Sunday, my host parents and I went to Catania, a city about 45 minutes away. We walked around the city, which is bit bigger than Siracusa with more shops and restaurants for the day. The emblem of Catania is an elephant, and all through the city there are elephant statues and pictures! It was a great day and very fun bonding with my host parents. 


On Sunday, I went to an orientation for all exchange students in Sicily, district 2110. It was amazing to finally meet the people we all had been talking to for months! We had a huge lunch and listened to students who just finished their exchange. However, my favorite part about the orientation was talking to the outbound students. I found this extremely fun and exciting to speak with them, because I myself remember being an outbound and meeting the inbounds. I found it not only fun speaking to them, but important. If any of them were still on the fence about exchange, I wanted to be the one to push them off. I wanted to share with them how I have only been here not even two months, and yet my life is forever changed. There were quite a few from many different parts of Sicily, and almost all of them want to go the United States! They were all so sweet and fun, and very complimentary of my Italian, which I wasn't complaining about!


I can not even believe the number of people I have met. People from Italy, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Finland, Belgium, Spain, Germany, France, and the list goes on. It's only been a month and a half, and I don't want to go home already!!

Love,
Michela

 

September 21, 2016

First Rotary Meeting: Two nights needle, was my first Rotary meeting. All of the exchange students went to give a short presentation about Their home country, city, and family as well as touch on our new host families. We each made ​​a power point That Showed pictures, and we presented in Italian to a large group of past, present, and future exchange students as well as their Families, and Rotarians. Everyone was extremely supportive and helpful During the presentations despite our lack of fluency. After the presentations, we each went to the front and Exchanged Rotary Club flags with the president of the rotary. It was an amazing evening.

School:  I had my first day of school on Thursday the 16th of September. The school day is very different than a school day in the US. For example, for the first 2 weeks to the two Sicilian grueling heat, the school day is only four hours long. The students stay in the same room where the teachers rotate to and from. All of my classes are very difficult and the teachers are not quite understanding That I am not here for grades, I am here for the cultures. However, I have many people at the school working with me to make sure That my time here is well spent. I love all of the kids in my class and was added to a class group chat, Which is only in Italian, so along with getting to know my peers, I am furthering my Italian !!

Sports:  Last night I had water polo practice. I have never done water polo, but the building where they practice is very close to my house so I Decided to try it out! It was so much fun! The I Practiced with about 8 people and everyone was extremely nice !! I cant wait to go back !!

September 9, 2016

Today is my fifth day in Syracuse, Sicily! In the past five days I have Already done and seen so many things, things most people could not even begin to imagine. On my first evening here, I went to see the ICF conoe Polo Championships right near my house. I have never seen anything like it, so many prideful Italians watching energetically, and when to Italy won ... it was crazy. The next day, I Began an Italian class, taught by a teacher named Guilia, the class taught basic Italian, and Syracuse / Sicilian history. The first 2 hours were in a classroom lessons on grammar and such, and the second 2 taught about the history, while walking around the city. We saw La Piazza Duomo, Arethusa, Ortigia, and The Catacombs. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know about Italy as well as getting to know the other exchange students! Today was the last day of classes Because We all start real school next week. After class, myself my friend Claire from Michigan US, Nina from Taiwan, and Pedro from Brazil went to the beach! The water was so blue and the sea glass was amazing !!
I have, as expected, tried some amazing food since I have been here. From pasta with homemade sauce to Swordfish, and I can honestly say That I have loved everything That I have had, Also expected.
My Italian is coming along as well. I can understand a lot of what is said to me, permitting That is spoken slowly and to me, otherwise I get very lost in the conversation and do not really know what is happening. Forms sentences That have bad grammar I'm sure, but they are understandable for the most part(I hope). I study for hours everyday as well as communicate with my host family. When school starts, I hope to become proficient in my Italian.
I have to say, the thing That is taking me the longest to adjust to and figure out, Is that words mean what they are. This sounds like a difficult complex, but allow me to explain. When people are learning a language, they are Constantly trying to take the word of non-native Their language, and turn it into Their native language (for me, to Italian to Inglese) So that they can understand the meaning behind the word. However, a word is its own word. For example, we will take the Italian word, "thank you". "Thanks" is TRANSLATED to "thank you", but "thank you" does not MEAN "thank you". Thanks means thank you. A word is its own word. Thanks is a word, a word That gives different feeling than the phrase and meaning thank you. It is a hard concept to understand, and thanks / thank you probably was not the best example, but the theory is still Practiced. I am coming to realize That every word / phrase has locked emotion. To unlock this emotion, you can not use Google Translate or something of the like, you have to understand the word and its implications, you have to experience the emotions in which that word brings you, and by doing so, you now have unlocked the words true meaning!

Michela