Start planning the parties people. I'm home in 2 months!

So I have broken my record for not writing my blog. Congrats to me but sorry to everyone else who actually tries to keep up with my movements on here.

So as previously mentioned in the blog before, nearly 3 months ago, I went to MALTA at the end of February with my class for a week (27th Feb – 6th Mar). I spent a week in heaven! Sun, heat, right by the sea, decent food (British), Cadbury chocolate and ENGLISH! As MALTA was a British colony (now a republic in the EU), it has a big British influence but also because of its position geographically, it has adopted many Mediterranean elements such as building styles, types of food and a relaxed lifestyle – an exchange students delight really when your in Italy from either NZ or Aussie. The others from my class had to go to an English school for the week but because I don’t really need that, I got the mornings to spend how I pleased. That generally meant that I got more sleep and shopping. Also the supermarkets were packed with brands familiar to the average NZer so I think I gained around 3 or 4 Kg just from trying to get a taste of everything. In our time there, we managed to visit Valetta (the capital), Sliema (the part where we were staying), St Julians (where all the rich people go) and Mdina, The Silent City (named this because only around 40 families still live there). I got to know Sliema pretty well in my wanderings and it is a very beautiful place, positioned right on the waterfront with a largish harbour that they share with Valetta. Its a beautiful place packed with aging British tourists who want a holiday in the Mediterranean but without the language difficulties and with familiar foods etc.

The next week I spent at home but I found out on the Monday after Malta that I was going to Milan for exchange week – Monza to be more precise – the following week (14th Mar – 21st Mar). So once again I packed and went to Bari to catch a plane for the next journey. I stayed with a family there who had hosted a girl from Iceland 2 years ago. They had 3 daughters (9, 13 and 15) who were lovely and I got along with my new host parents almost immediately. I enjoyed my stay there immensely and revelled in the freedom I got as they allowed me to use the public transport without problems whenever I wanted. We went to an art school for the week, which was in the Villa Reale, the home where the royal family used to go on vacation, to complete a photography project about the town we stayed in, Monza. The assistants there were lovely and they took us to see Lake Como, Milan and of course, Monza. Milan is about a 15 minute train ride south and Como is north by about 30/40 minutes. From Como it takes a 5 minute drive until you’re in Switzerland, so it kind of gives you a picture of how close things all are up there. I really liked Milan, though it wasn’t like anyone from Gravina had told me it would be. They said the people would be cold and the traffic would be terrible (Ok I give them that. It was) and there was always smog and rubbish covering everything. 3 of the 4 things I failed to see but that again shows the differing attitudes of the south for the north and vice versa.

Again i was at home for another week before I received a phone call to tell me that AFS were finally letting me go to Lecce for a few days (27th Mar - 30th Mar) to go and visit everyone there. It was finally nice to be the one doing the travelling instead of Massimo, who was forever coming to see me. Since then I have been to Lecce again (5th-9th May) for Albin’s (Sweden) 18th birthday and travelled ALONE to the nearby town of Matera to visit my friend Edin (Bosnia). Also Natalie from Wellington, who is on exchange in Sicily this year, came to visit for a few days, from the 4th till the 11th of May. We went to Lecce together and Matera to do all the touristy stuff but the best part of her visit was having someone to talk to, who would understand everything I said whether I talked too fast or about Shortland Street (NZ drama show) or quoted the Handy paper towel ad. As for family trips, on the 25th we went to the north of Puglia to see a few of the attractions there and then from the 30th April to the 2nd May, we went to Villapiana in Calabria, where my host parents have a Bach. So in short for the last few months I have been relatively busy. Its good though. Earlier in the year I was worried I wouldn’t be able to see as much as I wanted to see of Italy but now those worries have been safely put to bed and I am content.

The only downside to my life at the moment is the thought about going home. It both excites and frightens me. It scares me because I have to leave people who I love and have become very good friends with over the past 8 months but then of course I am very excited to go back to life in NZ, see everyone and just enjoy being back in my routine. But this thought in itself causes more problems then good. Because I am getting so close to the time when I depart, I find myself thinking about home a lot more than I used to, getting a kind of home sickness that is not like the one I experienced at that start of this exchange. This is more a longing for the normal. A normal where I can relax and be myself without worrying about the consequences or whether I’m breaking some rule which could get me sent home. Also freedom to live my own life is dangling like a carrot in front of me. Here I am reliant upon so many other people. I just want some responsibility and independence! I know I sound like a typical teenager but this is not just because my parents have grounded me or something along those lines, it’s because I am ready. Mature and old enough to do this without having someone looking over my shoulder all the time telling me to be careful. Despite all this, I would never have done only 6 months. It’s not long enough. Not long enough to learn a language fluently or to integrate in to a culture fully. A year gives you time to appreciate what you are really doing and the consequences of spending a year away from home, which are mostly good for me.

So after all that philosophy, I bid you all farewell. I hope for your sakes I write before I go home. I swear this time I will make a bigger effort – well I will try to anyway. The events for the next month are the end of stay camp from the 8th till 11th of June in Castellanetta Marina, my 18th birthday on the 18th of June and hopefully another trip to Lecce. School finishes on the 9th of June I think, so I will finish up on the 7th. Still can’t believe its all coming to a close…

Write soon, Amelia.

PS The birthday has been mentioned so I expect at least some acknowledgment. Presents, Letters and Cards will suffice. That is all.

ROME wasn’t built in a day…

Neither is it possible to see everything properly in one day, but we managed the main stuff. Yes that's right! I, Amelia Midgley, have seen ROME!!! Would have been possibly one of the best days I have spent here had i not had my cell phone stolen on the bus, but it was still pretty up there. But I'm going backwards. I should start from before Christmas…

So first up. Sorry Mum and everyone else for taking so long to write this. It has been 2 months since I last wrote, and I know you are all hungry for news (of course you are!), but every time I go to sit down and write it, I get distracted by people or things other than writing the blog. Decorating the blog is also proving to be a relatively distracting thing in itself too and I have spent nearly 2 hours doing that exact thing today with out getting very far with it. Difficult and time consuming stuff this blog thing. But now that Windows Live have kindly provided me with a blogging program for my computer, I may be more regular with posting…

And where do I start. The last post was in the middle of December so obviously some relatively big events since then. Christmas, Crispiano, New Years, holidays, finding condensed milk (this is a huge thing!), Carnival break, ROME and a little school in between all that.

So Christmas was good. Not really as big as I thought it would be. We had dinner at my aunts (Papa’s sister) house on the 24th and then went to midnight mass at church then went home to sleep around 1.30. Christmas day we got up around 10 and then opened presents at home before doing the rounds to the aunts and uncles houses around Gravina. We ended up at my Aunts house from the night before where we again ate lunch. After lunch we all dispersed around the house for sleeping and playing cards and Mamma and Papa went to Church again. And that was pretty much it for Christmas…

Boxing day is not a holiday here but Lorena’s (Paraguay) assistant from AFS had organised a trip for the students of our chapter to a town south of us called Crispiano where every year they have a live Nativity scene and people dress up and play the parts in the scene. This year Mary and Joseph (Maria and Giuseppe) were played by 2 of the exchange students, so the host father of “Giuseppe” had organised for some of us to live with local families for a few days and participate as “commoners” in the nativity scene. The day we went down (26th) was a lovely day but of course as soon as we needed to start preparing for this thing it started to cloud over. It didn’t rain until half way through the night (we were there for 4 hours, just wandering around this hill side, eating free fruit and deep fried bread stuff, looking “natural” as a lot of TV cameras were around from the new stations. And of course the people who came to see the nativity scene wanted us to look “authentic”) but because it was outside on a hill side and there were around 30/ 40 people beside us (around 15 exchange students) the ground quickly got trampled and turned to mud. so by the time it came time to go home with our host families for the few days we were well soaked through. good fun. The family I stayed with though were so lovely and they really made an effort to make use of me while I was with them. I had a little brother (Giuseppe, 7) and a little sister (I can’t remember her name, I didn’t really see her a lot, 4). on the Sunday (27th) my parents took me shopping in the big city near Crispiano called Taranto. This city is one of the oldest cities in Europe, even older than Rome which is pretty much as ancient as you get. There’s not much before Rome. Nowadays, its a big industrial city with a huge port as it is in the arch of the boot, a good position for accessing Africa, Sicily and the eastern Mediterranean sea. We went back to the small town around 1 and had a big family lunch with my dads parents, sister, her husband, his other sister and her kids. It was so good and they all talked to and questioned me with out the prejudice which I am so used to. The people in Gravina know me and don’t think i can answer their questions, despite the fact that I can, and having new people around that didn’t know me and asked me questions all the time and allowed me to answer was very refreshing. My family didn't speak any good level of English and you would not believe how much better my Italian got in those few days where I was speaking Italian all the time. Very tiring though and after a few hours I usually had a bit of a headache. Again that night we participated in the Nativity but again it was raining so we finished early and had a bit of a party at the house of one of the students in Crispiano. we went home the next day (28th) but before we went to the bus, Lorena, Shun (boy from Japan one town over from Gravina) and I went with the chapter president and his wife (who happens to be regional president for Puglia and Basilicata) for lunch and some shopping in Taranto. and to my pleasant surprise, when I got home to Gravina, there was a nice pack from NZ sitting on the kitchen table. Good way to arrive home from a long 3 days.

But it doesn’t stop there. On the 31st we went to my Mamma’s sisters for lunch and then dinner. And at midnight we let off some fire works and had some champagne for New Years. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to go out with Lorena but it was fun none the less. I talked a bit with Douglas on the phone (who was in Germany at the time) too. The next day was Papa’s Birthday so we had a large family dinner at our house. I’ve never seen so many people squeezed in to our little apartment.

The 5th just happens to be a very important day on the holy calendar. I’d say close to the importance of Christmas. Because on this day it is the day of Saint Amelia. That's right folks, I have a saint day! In Italy when its your saint day, everyone kisses you and says ‘Auguri’ (congratulations) but because on the 5th we had another AFS trip to Bari, where I met up with the three musketeers aka Massimo (Denmark), Albin (Sweden) and Edin (Bosnia)and Lorena also met up with some of the South Americans, I completely forgot about it and when my Mamma rang and said ‘Auguri’, I was completely blanking on what she was talking about. I thought for a minute she thought it was my birthday!

The 6th was Epiphany and here that just means we have to get up at 5 in the morning to go to church (without falling asleep in the middle of service. It was a mission I tell ya) and then go to my Aunts (Papa’s sister) to get stockings filled with chocolate. Kind of like Easter but then at Easter we also get more chocolate, and the stockings are Xmas, so i guess its a mix.

The 7th we were back at school (unfortunately), and it was cold as ever in the classes. And just as boring of course.

9th (Saturday)was the 18th birthday for one of our friends from church and I must say its the first party I have gone to here and really enjoyed.

Nothing really happened until the 16th when Massimo came to visit from 4 hours away. I had no idea about it though and apparently he had planned it with Lorena. When he walked in to the cafe we were in, it was one of those moments where you go “holy shit am I dreaming or do I actually see them walking towards me”. Cheesy, I know, but I said the words “I may be dreaming but…”. Was a good surprise. I made tortillas for my family, Massimo and Edin that night. I had to substitute the tortillas for Piadinas, which don’t really fold so well so they just fell apart, but it tasted good none the less. I don’t think my family liked them much though.

17th (Sunday) we had a chapter lunch, with all the students, assistants and presidents. It was good and we spent the whole day just talking and eating. Very Italian of us, we know.

18th Massimo came again to Gravina from Edins house in Matera, which is around 30 minutes away. He got the train home in the afternoon and then Lorena, Maxime (Holland) and I went to Altamura (the closest city to Gravina) to see the movie Avatar, in Italian and 3D, with my assistants and their friends (oh yeah! I have assistants now. They are 20 and 23, sisters and I love them. They are very friendly, easy to talk to and fun to hang out with)

The 22nd was one of the most significant days I have had here. I was bored at home so I decided to go for a walk to the supermarket around the corner from my house and see what I could find to do some baking with. I grabbed a basket at the front of the store and was wandering down the first aisle, minding my own business, looking for chocolate chips and vanilla essence, when I stumbled across a very suspicious looking can. Its Nestle and has a few familiar pictures on it. So I pick it up and low and behold, I have found condensed milk! Excitement is not strong enough to describe the look spread across my face and I think I may have scared a few of the shoppers. 3 cans magically found their way in to my basket and I strolled happily up to the counter, paid, and walked out of the store and home again to get Nonna ask me what the hell is this stuff; “I’ve never seen it before or heard of it”. No wonder I couldn’t find it anywhere. The official Nestle Italian name is ‘incondensato latte interro zuccherato’. I’ll just stick with condensed milk, thanks.

After that monumentus event, nothing could really compare but i guess the new students arriving was pretty significant. They got to Gravina on the 31st and will stay here till July like us year long-ers. We have a guy from Florida (Adam), girl from Vienna (Victoria) and a girl from Argentina (Katharina). Adam and Katharina (aka America and Argentina) are at the Scientific school next door and Victoria (aka Austria – we call them by their countries to avoid confusion sometimes) is at my school. Finally some company! I can stop sneaking to go and meet Lorena in our schools mutual gym. Not that I do much sneaking. I pretty much just wander in. Looking a little lost helps sometimes.

The 6th was the last day i saw my best NZ friend here in Bari. She lived in a town 2 hours away from me and had had enough of living here and felt it was time to go home so she left on the 10th of February. RIP Ashika’s Italian life…

But the 7th (Sunday) was a pretty fantastic day! My Mamma had organised, with the church, a trip to the mountain closest to my town (near Potenza in Basilicata for those who want to have a squizz) and Lorena, her host sister and I tagged along to have a day out. We were on the bus for a few hours but as we got higher and higher we saw more and more SNOW and I can definitely say I regret not being in a town where we get more snow. It was so beautiful to see the city of Potenza all covered in the white stuff. But when we finally reached the top it was snowing a little and there had been a fresh dumping the night before so everything was white and untouched – that was until Lorena and I got hold of it. Basically when snow shows up for people who don’t know how to handle themselves around it, they act like children and we had great fun throwing ourselves in to the snow, making snow angels, snow ball fighting, sliding down hills on plastic bags, making snow men and generally just rolling in the stuff. The snow was just like in the movies too. All soft and white. not like the crappy have ice stuff we get at home. But movies lie. (If there are younger readers, I advise parents to avert the younger members eyes) It is not possible, or so we think, to make snow men the way they do in the movies by rolling a snow ball round and round until it gathers enough snow to make a base. Believe me. We tried. Very disappointing I must say but we got there with our less exciting way in the end.

I have also joined a gym! Lack of exercise was getting to Lorena, Victoria and I, so we have joined a gym and go three times a week and work out. Hopefully that will stop the chubby fairy and her best friend, the blood pressure messing fairy, in their tracks.

Carnival break started in the 13th (Saturday) so we had 5 days off for that. On the Tuesday, we participated in a parade for carnival around Gravina. Its kind of like the Inglewood Christmas parade and around the same size. But during this break, AFS decided that Maxime (Holland) would be sent home because she was needing to change family for the second time where the family have kicked her out. She went home on the 19th (Friday) and I haven’t really talked with her since, but it all happened very swiftly. I guess that's the reason we try to follow the rules as much as possible. In the middle of this however, I managed to go and have a look-see around ROME. On the 17th, the 5th (last) year of my school were going to Rome to visit parliament for their studies so Victoria and I got invited to go along too. We left Gravina around 3 – 3.30 so i didn't bother to sleep the night before. We were at the bus stop at 2.30am and that's like 2 hours after I go to sleep. Arrived in ROME about 10am (VERY long morning bus ride) and went to see parliament which is in the centre of the city so of course we got to pass by a few of the many famous monuments. once we had finished at the parliament, we went for a bit of sightseeing around Rome and saw the Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Presidents residence, Roman forum and Vatican city. I love Rome and we thought it would be awesome to live there and just casually throw around ‘Oh I’ll see you at the Trevi in an half hour for coffee’. Obviously that's what all the cool kids do anyway… We didn’t get to see the Pope/Holy Father/Ruler of the world at The Vatican but we contemplated throwing a rock or something at his bedroom window to get him to come out. But we got a little scared of the man in jester outfits that turned out to be the Swiss guard. How anyone takes them seriously in balloon pants I will never know… Left ROME (Sadly and with heavy hearts on Victoria and my parts. We never got to use our casually cool sentences…) and arrived back home in Gravina around 11pm that night. For 12 hours in a bus and 36 hours of not sleeping, we got to see ROME for 6 hours but it was totally worth it.

Haven’t really been doing much in the last few days. I have been at my Italian teachers house doing some cooking for her and her husband. I made Mac and Cheese on Friday night and then Chicken Curry on Saturday night. Massimo also came to visit on Saturday and stayed at Edin’s in Matera again before coming back to Gravina on Monday and left for home that afternoon.

And this Saturday I am flying off to MALTA, about 90km off the south coast of Sicily, for my class trip. It will be great to hopefully speak a bit of English with the locals (Old british colony and all, they speak reasonably good English apparently) though Massimo has warned me that in his experience they are not the best English speakers. Oh well. We shall see.

I will try to write sooner than I have this time to let you all know how the trip to MALTA went but I cant make any promises. Sorry in advance. I know myself well enough (I hope anyway) to know that it probably wont happen. Maybe saying this will make it happen. Who knows. Its a confusing, busy and wonderful life here in Italy…

Ciao! xoxo - gossip girl (little thing Lorena and I do – ignore it if you will. Its more of an OCD thing for me now. I HAVE to do it)