buongiorno, principessa! <3

Ciao, everyone!

First thing is first: Mi dispiace (I'm sorry) if there are numerous spelling errors and strange words within this post; the computers here are kind of hard to get used to because the keys are all in different places!

Sorry I have not blogged in forever, but SO MUCH has been going on lately that it is kiinda hard to keep up with this! I guess I should start my blog from the beginning, whichis the plane ride from Arizona to (my state) to New York (where the first AFS orientation would take place). So, at4:30 AM Wednesday morning, on September 9th, I went to the Sky Harbor airport in order to catch my plane. There were heartfelt goodbyes on both mine and my parents side; however, I expected myself to cry and I didn't at all! My mom did though... Ugh, why did I not cry! I was just so happy to get on that plane and begin my new Italian life that I didn't. But word of advice for future AFSers: CRY. Haha. It's okay to cry, and completely normal. Don't hold your feelings inside.

Anyway, I walked towards the terminal after saying goodbye to my parents, and was greeted bya friendly AFS face - Giselle! She is from Arizona as well (duh) and it was good to have company on the long, ridiculously tiring flight to NY. Finally, we arrived at the JFK airport whre we were greeted by red AFS shirts and the wonderful volunteers that wore them. Hmm, aside from the fact that we got to meet other people going to Italy, there isn't much to say about the NY orientation. It was boring, and all we did was go over some rules, regulations, and watched some videos. But in a social aspect, it was really fun to talk to people who are going to be sharing the same experiences as me for the upcoming year. Then, at 12 PM on Thursday, we left to go to the airport and to Zurich. There were about 45 kids going to Italy from the USA, so getting through security chekpoints were a long, vigorous, and boring process. Add one flight to Switzerland and another to Rome, and you get a full day of NO sleep. Literally 24 hours without it. And by the time we arrived in Rome for our final orientation before arriving at our host towns, we were dead tired. At least, I was. Once we got to Rome though, we were immediately greeted by people from around the world! There were approximately 400 of us in total, and meeting everyone was soo amazing. God, is it just me or do I now type like an Italian trying to speak English? I hope that's not the case! :/

Anyway, after the Rome orientation came one train ride to Torino (7 hours...ahhhh), Italy, with multiple stops along the way. At each stop, about 5-10 AFSers left to go and meet their host families. It was so cute to see their exstatic face when meeting their family, and it made me all the more nervous to meet mine! But finally, the big, indelible 'Torino' sign came, followed by a 'BIENVENUTI JULIA!' poster from the Barolo family as I walked off the train.

I've been with the Barolos for about a week now, and since I got off the train, I have not stopped smiling. Every day is a new adventure! I feel bad for not thinking about my family in America much, but I am sure they understand how amazing an opportunity this is. I love waking up in the morning, thinking to myself, 'holy SHIT, I am REALLY in Italy!' followed by the Barolo family at breakfast, shouting 'buongiorno, julia!' and 'buon scuola!' Haha. But I'll go into more detail regarding the Barolo family in my next post, as well as my first day of school, Italian food (DELICIOUS, by the way!), and Italy in general.

Until next time, Baciiiii,

Julia xoxoxoox