NATALE (Christmas!) in Italia!

My Italian Christmas has already passed and I miss the Christmas-y feeling already. Even though, the weather here was unusually similar to that in springtime. At first it felt a little strange for me not being with my family on Christmas Eve (La vigilia di Natale) when we usually celebrate, but it the feeling dissipated when my host family showed me the way they celebrated my favorite holiday. I felt like I really was a relative, a part of the family at dinner.


L'albero di Natale e il presepe (The Christmas tree and nativity scene) were both up right after I got back from Amsterdam. It seemed to me that il presepe is a larger Italian Christmas centerpiece that the l'abero-the tree. It could also just depend on how I saw it, but accompanied by the tree, there was without a doubt always il presepe. In the house of mia nonna (host grandmother), there was only a presepe.

Il presepe in nearly every home!

My family's Christmas tree!

On Christmas Eve, we went to the relatives of my host mother, and we arrived around nine at night and left at two in the morning. Usually in America, we begin and end three hours earlier. It was super fun though even when your eyes start to close uncontrollably. The meal was delicious, but didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary cycle of cooking in Italia. We started with the antipasto of formaggio (cheese) and salsicce (sausages) and bread (there will always be bread, don't worry!). Then there was the primo piatto, which was ravioli or some sort of pasta, and then there was the porcetto sardo- buttery delicious pork.

The table is set! Let's eat!

Lastly came the fruit and dessert-tiramisù and un'altra torta (and another cake).

Cake with a mini nativity scene on top! Che bellina!

After dinner, we lit fireworks and Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) came for all the kids at midnight, but he didn't come from the chimney or when the children were sleeping. He just arrived and dropped off the presents and left during the party!

Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) brought me some delicious smelling soap!

Christmas Eve and we lit some fireworks (fuochi d'artificio)!

Before concluding the night, we played a game called "Tombola" which is similar to Bingo except you can win at different degrees. You win when you get two in a row, three, four, until you feel the whole board.

On Christmas day, we opened presents, all went to church, and everyone wished each other Merry Christmas or Tanti Auguri! with kisses on the cheek.

I gave my host sister a plane ticket for Christmas!

The splendid church in the little town where I live!

We had Christmas lunch at the house of my host father's relatives this time, but we even took a drive (abbiamo fatto un giro in macchina) afterwords and relaxed. Lunch was very similar to the dinner we had the night before, but equally delicious.

Il primo piatto-Natale

Pranzo a Natale (Lunch on Christmas Day)

Cosimina (aunt!)

Zio Ciccio...(my host uncle)

Me and my host sister!

Host cousin and host sister!

Host cousin!

Best host parents ever!

Nonna-Grandma

Marcella, my awesome and beautiful host sister!

We took a drive...

I even skyped with my family back home! 

The stockings are hung up, but we won't use them until the Befana (another Italian holiday on January 5th).  The Befana is an old women who delivers gifts to children.

I've never been felt like I've belonged to something this much after only three months. I feel at home now. At the beginning, it was like I had just moved into a different house and everything felt fresh. 2012 ends tomorrow and this year has probably been the most diverse and thrilling so far in my life. Right now, I can say I will have to return home next year, but in only a day I will be saying I'm going home this year...My indifference has now become not wanting to return home. I don't have to think about that for six months. I can enjoy my belonging to this place.

Un sogno dentro un sogno: Amsterdam

Ciao cool people! I just returned Saturday from Amsterdam where I went with my sister and eight of her classmates in a sort of gita (high school trip). I kept thinking about the theme from that movie Inception with Leonardo di Caprio (DiCaprio) and directed by Christopher Nolan: "a dream within a dream" or "un sogno dentro un sogno". This trip in Italy sometimes feels surreal and dreamlike, and then going to Amsterdam brought me to another surreality. Amsterdam was a lovely city and my host sister's classmates were fun company. I like how much simpler it is to become closer to people my age here. They seem more open to new friends and like saying hi to each other. The girls even link arms when they're walking together, and it makes you feel like you belong there with them.

The city was narrow house filled, a bicyclist's dream (I have a bicycle obsession), and full of English speakers. So many vices are legal in Amsterdam, and although I didn't delve into any I still found the city super thrilling, chilly, and relaxing (I don't think those adjectives work very well together! :). It reminded me of Berkeley (UC Berkeley), a city near where I live. Liberal. The trip itself was una bella pausa (a nice break) from school everyday. I think it even helped my italiano improve more than going to school everyday. I was constantly speaking with the other students, rather than listening to a professor talk for two hours about something awesome that happened 300 years ago.

Mi piacciono le foto (I like photos!) do you? Here are some from the trip:

C'è freddo! (It's cold!)

The clog or Klomp from the Netherlands! Here's more about it: Click for Klomp!

La città delle biciclette!

The group! My host sister (Marcella) is taking the photo! (I'm wearing an overly bright red jacket!)

Elisa, Marcella (my host sister), and me

Siamo ritornati! All'aeroporto ad Alghero

Otherwise frigid weather is slowly infiltrating Sardegna, and my follow exchange students and I have been forming a better relationship with italiano.

In other news...I might change schools in a little bit. Right now I'm at the Magistrali, but maybe I'll change to the liceo scientifico of the city...  It's difficult to decide whether I want or need to change my school. Sometimes I like my current school and other times not so much. Especially after three months you build a sort of comfort zone around your current situation. We'll see how things proceed over the next few months... That's another thing this exchange program has been making less complicated for me and many others... Our problematic and stressful days (bad days) don't seem so terrible. We can go with the flow of our lives this year. After all the embarrassing moments (at least once a day one will occur), we can finally say "fregatene, non importa" (forget about, it doesn't matter). I don't find myself being humiliated or self-conscious very much anymore. I can take the imperfections of the day with a smile.

E poi dicembre inizia!

Well, November passed and left a sort of normality. I feel at home here. This is my room (at least for another seven months) that I'm writing this in.
I'm still looking for changes in my school. It's been a drawn out ordeal, and sometimes I feel like I want to go to my current one (Magistrali - different programs you can choose to study including: economics and human sciences) and other days I just want to go to liceo scientifico (scientific high school that focuses more on math and sciences).
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Amsterdam with my host sister's class. Facciamo una gita (We're going on a trip in high school with the class). It'll be a pleasant pause, but I'll still be speaking Italian and with Italians. At least for the rest of this week, school won't worry me.

Oh by the way in November, I performed songs in Sardo (the Sardinian dialect) with the local choir of my town and also songs from Senegal to entertain at a day recognizing foreigners, witnessed an Italian student strike (which seemed to me more like a parade), took a DJing course at my school, and gained a greater ability to understand Italian (Wow, 60 % overall now!). Why doesn't everyone want to be an exchange student?

Stolen from facebook! All the exchange students in Nuoro (from Thailand, Iceland, Chile, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dominican Republic, and America), a few volunteers, and some of the Italians who went abroad with AFS last year (to Sweden, Germany, America, Thailand, and Argentina). Being an international group is awesome.