Hey everyone! I haven’t posted a blog in a while so I figured that now would be a good time. Last week was the worst feelings of homesickness that I’ve had so far and that made me really nervous for this week since Thanksgiving is coming up soon. Luckily, I’ve been feeling pretty good and I think a big reason that I have lost my sense of homesickness is because of my host mom’s family. On Wednesday, my host mom went to go see the Pope, so she was gone in Rome all day. She could have easily put something in the fridge for me for dinner that I could put in the microwave real fast and I’d spend the night at home by myself. Instead, my host mom’s daughter invited me to go come over for dinner with her friends and their kids. I was a little nervous about it because this was the first time that I would be somewhere without my host mom. But dinner was great and so delicious. There is a girl that I’ve gotten to know who is the daughter of my host mom’s daughter’s friend… if that was confusing enough for you. Her name is Ludovica and she speaks excellent English and I’ve been having conversation with her. She is only 13 but carries herself and acts like she’s at least 17 or 18. She’s really smart and her talent for language amazes me. After dinner, we all sat in the living room and watched Italian TV and they put on the subtitles and we joked around and Ludo translated and I really honestly felt I was like part of their group.
The yesterday, we had the traditional Sunday afternoon lunch with 9 people all around one big table eating ravioli and bread and we had FONDUE. And it was delicious. And my host mom made this cake that is basically like a big cream puff. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it was. After dinner, everyone has espresso and sits around and talks and some people take naps. Around 3:00, there was a Burraco (I’m probably spelling that wrong) tournament which is this Italian card game that is similar to Rummy. I played on a team with a boy that spoke pretty good English and he taught me the rules and scoring and everything. About an hour later, I was playing on my own against a bunch of Italians. They all had their glasses of wine or liquor and were yelling at each other across the table and getting super into the game. It looked like a scene out of a movie. I think my host mom thinks that being around that many people (about 15-20) when they’re all yelling at each other in Italian about how they are cheating or stacking their cards is overwhelming to me, but I absolutely love it. After about 5 hours of cards, we had dinner that consisted of homemade minestrone, bruschetta, polenta, and fresh vegetables. And of course more cream puff pie. Being surrounded by all of these people who 3 months ago were completely strangers that I now feel so comfortable around really makes me feel like I made the right choice in coming here. It doesn’t make the homesickness go away, because I obviously miss my actual family and my friends and everyone at home, but it definitely makes it a lot more bearable.
Finally, something that I’ve been meaning to write about is how lucky I am to still be connected to Baldwin Wallace while I’m here. At the end of September, I applied for and was selected to be Student Director of Orientation, which is something that I’ve always wanted to do and was really hoping to be. And just last night I found out that I was elected at the President of my sorority, Alpha Phi, for next year another thing that I was really, really hoping would work out. I was worried that being abroad would mess up my chances of getting these positions that I know I’ve always wanted so badly and I’m so lucky that me being in a different country hasn’t really effected anything. I feel bad missing out on the things I’m supposed to be doing right now at school for the positions, but I’m ready to kick it into gear when I get back. Baldwin Wallace is such an important place to me and it means so much to me that I’m still able to remain as active as I was before I left when I get back next semester. Right now, I’m really looking forward to everything that's ahead of me, both here in Italy (for my last 25 days) and when I come home.
And by the way, I booked that trip to Barcelona.
Until next time,
Ciao tutti!
The yesterday, we had the traditional Sunday afternoon lunch with 9 people all around one big table eating ravioli and bread and we had FONDUE. And it was delicious. And my host mom made this cake that is basically like a big cream puff. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it was. After dinner, everyone has espresso and sits around and talks and some people take naps. Around 3:00, there was a Burraco (I’m probably spelling that wrong) tournament which is this Italian card game that is similar to Rummy. I played on a team with a boy that spoke pretty good English and he taught me the rules and scoring and everything. About an hour later, I was playing on my own against a bunch of Italians. They all had their glasses of wine or liquor and were yelling at each other across the table and getting super into the game. It looked like a scene out of a movie. I think my host mom thinks that being around that many people (about 15-20) when they’re all yelling at each other in Italian about how they are cheating or stacking their cards is overwhelming to me, but I absolutely love it. After about 5 hours of cards, we had dinner that consisted of homemade minestrone, bruschetta, polenta, and fresh vegetables. And of course more cream puff pie. Being surrounded by all of these people who 3 months ago were completely strangers that I now feel so comfortable around really makes me feel like I made the right choice in coming here. It doesn’t make the homesickness go away, because I obviously miss my actual family and my friends and everyone at home, but it definitely makes it a lot more bearable.
Finally, something that I’ve been meaning to write about is how lucky I am to still be connected to Baldwin Wallace while I’m here. At the end of September, I applied for and was selected to be Student Director of Orientation, which is something that I’ve always wanted to do and was really hoping to be. And just last night I found out that I was elected at the President of my sorority, Alpha Phi, for next year another thing that I was really, really hoping would work out. I was worried that being abroad would mess up my chances of getting these positions that I know I’ve always wanted so badly and I’m so lucky that me being in a different country hasn’t really effected anything. I feel bad missing out on the things I’m supposed to be doing right now at school for the positions, but I’m ready to kick it into gear when I get back. Baldwin Wallace is such an important place to me and it means so much to me that I’m still able to remain as active as I was before I left when I get back next semester. Right now, I’m really looking forward to everything that's ahead of me, both here in Italy (for my last 25 days) and when I come home.
And by the way, I booked that trip to Barcelona.
Until next time,
Ciao tutti!