Like a Roller Coaster

Well, this last week and a half have been so up and down I don't know where to start. So, here I go.


 1. Everyone told me before I left that exchange was hard, the hardest thing that they have ever done. And I tried to understand that before I left, but I didn't ever truly grasp the concept of it until this last week and a half. And it is so true, it is so hard, but at the same time I absolutely love it. My feelings are so complicated right now that I doubt that I could explain it correctly.

2. School. Oh gosh. So, school isn't hard yet, I just started on Monday, and most classes we just sit and talk and the teacher just sits there and does who knows what. The classes that I have taken so far are:
English- My easiest class! Even though my teacher uses the completely wrong grammer. example: she tried to pluralize "you" even though you don't really need to, and made the students write "use" "Why do use need to learn English?" was the question. I was too scared to correct her.
P.E.-Another easy one! We played volleyball, and yes, I fell.
Math- I understand this too, because they are learning something I have learned before, so I feel like a genius in this class. :) Plus, the teacher speaks English and told me that he will give me English assignments that also have Italian written on them so that it will help me learn!
Biology- So, I have taken biology for the last 2 years, (human biology, and regular biology), and I pretty much understand what we are learning. Mendall's Laws. And the teacher has an English textbook that I use which helps.
Latin- During this class my mind is like "...What the heck?" I pretty much don't even pay attention, and the teacher doesn't expect anything from me, so for now that will do. I think that I am going to switch out of the class soon. Hopefully at least.
Italian- I don't understand 99% of what goes on in this class, because it is complicated Italian grammar stuff. The teacher hasn't really said anything to me, and I am pretty sure that I am switching to the lower class for Italian.
Physics- We haven't really had class yet.. I'll let you know when we do.
Philosophy- Nothing is understood. Niente! Probably switching out.

So school, it goes from 8:30am to 1:30pm, and we have 3 classes a day. About 15 minutes into our second class we have a 15 minute break, which kids usually use to smoke or eat breakfast, and then we go back to class. All my classmates are really nice, and all talk to me and help translate things. And for any of you that are on exchange you understand how amazing and nice this is. We speak together in a mix of very bad English and very bad Italian, and hope that one another understands. My only problem is how fast that they talk. I understand so much more if they slow down. "Like you need to talk at an uncomfortably slow pace." -Nicole DuBois. (Another exchanger). Oh and we have school on Saturdays. So much for TGIF.

3. I love the beach. I have been like 3 times since I have been in Sardinia and it is beautiful. Sunday I went boating and the water was so blue and clear and beautiful. The beach(and chocolate) solves all problems.

that's all I can think to say right now, more to come. Here's a few pictures:

A beach about 15 minutes from my house

Ilbono! And kind of Lanusei (the bigger town next to Ilbono)

Clear blue water on a beautiful day

View from the family beach house

A different beach at sunset

Nicole and I at Orientation! 

Marine, Jacqueline, Nicole, and I at orientation

The Americans! (sorry about the blurriness) 

Orientation with Hungarians

Some of the Americans at the New York orientation

Well CIAO!
Rachael

Safe and Sound

Ciao!
This is my first post from Ilbono, Italy. I arrived to my host family last night.

Right now, everything is still so new, and I understand about 5% of what people say to me, but other than that, everything is good. It's beautiful here. I am not using my computer right now, but I will post pictures as soon as I can use mine. Also, I am not used to this computer, so I apologize in advance for my errors.

It is still so surreal that I'm here, and not going to lie, I am more homesick than I ever have been. I can't help but think ''what am I doing here?'' but things will get better. So now for what I did for that last few days.

New York: I am not going to tell you day by day what I did in New York, but it was amazing. But, I decided that I couldn't live in <Manhattan. too many people. But I still loved it. Times Square-beautiful. We went there almost every day, and I canàt even tell you how much fun it was. We ended up going to Chicago. On Broadway. Which was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done.. and it was on my best friend's birthday, which was a plus. I slept through my NYU tour.. oops, but to justify it, if I hadn't have slept I would have been awfully cynical anyways.

Orientations: New York was well... pretty boring. But I met some really great people. Everyone who was at the Rome orientation was Italy, Spain, France, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Bosnia, and I think there are more, but at this point I really don't remember. (Sorry). We ate kind of gross food the first night, and curfew was 10:30(what the heck! Half of us didn't even sleep that night.) And we weren't allowed to use the pool. The next day was just as boring and resulted in us playing musical chairs. We needed a distraction. We left the Hilton at 6:00pm that day with all of our luggage.

Flights: You'd think that a 7 hour flight and a 2 hour flight with 47 teenagers would be fun, huh? But no, I got almost 0 sleep, and I was acting like a crazy person by the end. Literally. Plus, we almost missed our flight to Rome from Zurich because of customs and what not. But we made it.

Roma: I love foreigners. So much. And all I can say is I'm not sure if they are actually this attractive or if they are just foreign. It was really boring, but really fun at the same time. Does that make any sense? During the day we pretty much sat in the same place, but at night we got to talk to everyone and it was so fun. We played games, and the brazilians played songs on the guitar while everyone sang along, cool right? And I think the most sleep I got in those four days was about four hours a night. So I am exhausted.

Current: I got to Ilbono last night, and I am exhausted. I have a hard time speaking with them, and I am having a hard time with being away from home. Which is weird, because I never really get homesick. Things are hard, just like everyone told me it would be. I'm not going to sugar coat it, I have cried a few times, and today is only my second day here. But I am overall excited for my experience and excited to learn a new language and new things. I'm going to stay positive. I just needed a little bit of familiarity, so I am on my computer.

I love it here, and I can already feel my Italian getting better. Next orientation camp is in 5ish weeks:) Can't wait to see all the Sardinian AFSers again.

Stay lovely,
Arrivederci,
Rachael.