Expectations and Hopes for my New Italian Life

I saw someone do this on another blog before they went on their exchange and it was really cool seeing if their expectations were accurate after living in their host country for a while. I'm going to do it but more just my hopes of my exchange because after the orientation camp back in May I ditched a lot of my expectations, and they got downgraded to hopes haha

Hopes/Expectations:
1. To speak fluent Italian when I get home
2. To have an amazingly life changing time
3. To not have a hard time with homesickness (I've never really been homesick before but I guess I will since this is such a long time, so this is more of a hope than an expectation. I think I'll get the culture shock pretty bad and miss home but I don't know when that would become homesickness...)
4. To do lots of shopping
5. To become more confident in my choices and those sorts of things...
6. To make new friends from Italy, and around the world (this is definitely a hope more than an expectation hahaha, this year will be extremely hard if I'm friendless...)
7. To visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa (I realllllly hope I get to go here! It's under 3 hours from where I'll be living so hopefully sometime in the year. If I do I promise to take a undoubtedly fail photo of me holding it up :))
8. To visit Pompeii (I would so love to go here too but it's ages from where I'm living so maybe another time)
9. To take a gazillion photos
11. To limit my time on Facebook (I really hope I actually do this and don't waste time on it when I've been so lucky to get this opportunity)
12. To join a sports team (apparently everyone gets fat on exchange, hence the Another Fat Student abbreviation for AFS, so this should help with that and also meeting new people)
13. TO EAT LOTS OF PIZZA!! YAY!!

Under 3 days to go! I started packing today but it's pretty hard when I've already gotten rid of almost of the clothes I'm not taking with me, but I'm hoping to put the stuff I'm using now in on Wednesday so it's all done for the departure on Thursday. 

On Friday I signed out of school with my friend Lilly, who's also going to Italy. We both thought that would make it all sink in and I thought it did for a very brief moment but then it went back to really not seeming real. What that last day of school did do though was make me realise how much I'm going to miss my friends in NZ :( I got one of my school tops signed and reading the messages at the end of the day was actually really sad realising I couldn't experience this next year with them :(

At the moment it's not seeming real at all which I'm really disappointed about because I love the feeling of excitement I normally get when something cool is happening. I just wish I was feeling something, even nerves would be better than nothing :( I went to Rotorua this weekend with my family and when we said goodbye to my Auntie, Uncle and Cousin the "See you next year"'s seemed crazy because I kept thinking "Of course I'll see them again before I leave. We'll go for an impromptu curry one weekend..." but there's no more weekends, no more mondays, no more fridays. Just 3 days :O