Emily Out Of Water: November 2013

I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship before I left New Zealand from the Sargood Bequest. As part of the requirements I have to write them updates three times during the exchange. Time has gone so fast and it's now time for the first one so I thought I'd share that with you here :)

Monday 25^th November 2013

Dear Sargood Bequest,

I’m writing this to you from Cesena, Italy which has been my home now for almost three months. Time has been going so fast and I can’t believe that a year ago this life was only a dream, however thanks to you, that dream has been realised and I’m now living it. With each new day I’m becoming increasingly more accustomed to the culture and way of life here, although I’m still discovering new differences between the Italian culture and New Zealand culture in everything I do. These differences are so exciting because they can be the smallest thing, which seem insignificant but when it’s something you use or notice every day, it takes a toll on your life and changes it in some small way. In these past three months I've had so many unforgettable experiences and learnt so much about the world, but also about myself, although it’s definitely not all been easy. So far the biggest challenges for me have been school and the Italian language.

Before arriving in Italy I set myself some goals for the beginning of the exchange and I’m very happy with how I managed to achieve them. One of these goals was to join some kind of afterschool club because I thought it would be a good opportunity to improve my language, meet new people and learn a new skill at the same time. I have now been part of a rhythmic gymnastics club for 2 months and more recently also joined an Italian language course. These two courses each take place two nights a week and I’ve met so many new people through them, while as I thought, improving my Italian and learning new skills. I’ve never practised gymnastics in New Zealand so this is completely new to me and I’ve learnt how to do so many things I’d never imagined being able to. As well as these courses AFS Italy organises Italian lessons two afternoons a week with the other exchange students in the area. These classes are great because we can ask any questions we may have, while also getting to see the other students who after going through so much together seem like my third family. I think keeping busy is a very important factor of this exchange because although ten months seems like a long time at first, it goes so fast and I need to make the most of every minute.

Although I’m loving it here in Italy these last three months haven’t come without their challenges. At the beginning of the exchange school was a huge challenge for me. I had never realised how much something could affect me but being so tired, not having friends and not understanding anything really took a toll on me and I had a number of sleepless nights dreading school the next day. The school situation is now improving as I learn more Italian and make new friends, I’ve also talked to my teachers so we both understand what we want from each other. In my first month or so all of the teachers ignored me and I didn’t have the language to talk to them, it turned out that the principal had said I wasn’t expected to do anything so they wanted to leave me to do what I wanted but I don’t think that’s the right way to go about school this year. Although I’ve finished school in New Zealand the subjects here are different and interesting to me, trying at school will also help me to improve my language, therefore I’m determined to work as hard as I can. Through this challenge I’m learning to have a more open mind and therefore although I’m not making friends similar to mine in Auckland, I’m making lovely friends nonetheless. I’ve also purchased the textbooks so that I can study as the other students and even find myself enjoying some of the subjects such as; philosophy, anthropology, pedagogy and religion.

After only a month into my exchange my host sister, Marta, had an exam in Rome and took my AFS friend, Ida from Denmark and I along with her. This weekend was one of the best of my life and I truly can’t explain how I felt standing in the Coliseum, it was so unreal! For me, it’s always been a dream to visit and I’m now lucky enough to say I have done. The Coliseum was so much larger than I could have ever imagined and I learnt so many incredible things about what went on there. We also visited Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Vatican City which was truly breath taking. Seeing these kinds of things makes me see the world as a bigger place, with so many possibilities and I genuinely think those sights will stay with me forever as my now broadened way of thinking.

I’ve had so many new, amazing experiences here so far in Italy and I can’t wait to see what else is to come. As I sit here now snow is starting to fall outside – something so normal for my host family and friends here, but something that I witnessed for the first time only yesterday. So thank you for allowing me to see the snow, the Coliseum and Saint Peters. Thank you for allowing me to live my dream. Thank you for so much for this opportunity. I could go on forever but I’m just going to say thank you for every little thing, because I honestly can’t name everything I owe you thanks for.

Every day is new and although I know that there’s still hard times to come, I know I’ll reach the other end as a better, stronger person.

Yours Sincerely,

Emily Clarke

Sorry I haven't posted in ages, everything's been so busy and then when I'm free I'm tired and too lazy to write, plus it's so hard to know what to write now that everything seems so normal. Heaps has happened this month and my Italian is (I hope) improving heaps! I can understand pretty much everything said in my host family, and normally answer anything I'm asked but it can be hard at school, or with people who don't know I'm a foreigner haha. Piano, piano.

I can't believe I've been here for over 2 months now! The time has honestly gone so fast and I know the whole year will too, it's scary. There's so many things I'm excited about for after the exchange which is sad in a way, but apparently it's alright to be excited about things in the future while still being excited for now so I hope that's right. It just shows how normal life here is now. I'm not so much excited for every little thing like I was at the start, but every so often it re-hits me that I'm in Italy and I get excited for those things, different things again :)

The highlight of the time since I last posted would have to be the AFS camp we had a couple weeks ago. It
was so much fun and seeing everyone was just amazing!! I got closer with so many people, and made heaps of new friends too. On the last night we had a talent show and I was in a group with Ida, Fran, Ecmel (Turkey), Arlo (USA) and Lara (Belgium). We did a random, cheesy dance to cheesy songs and it was so much fun. I don't feel like I would of even felt comfortable doing something like that, in front of so many people before this experience, so in some ways I think I've changed already which is weird to think. That weekend was one of the best weekends of my life, everyone gets on so well and we were pretty much in fits of laughter for the whole weekend.

Although my closest friends in Italy are other AFS students, I've also been hanging out with Italian kids my age and doing some things that they do... A couple of weeks ago Ida and I went out with some girls from my class to Luna Park which is a fun fair kind of thing. It was so much fun! We had piadina mmmmmm and then went on the bumper cars, a big slide and some mini roller-coaster thing. We also went to a vintage market together with a boy from her class another day. It's nice having Ida here in the same town because we often invite each other to things with Italian people who invite us.

The other night I also went to another friend from school's house and we had dinner and Russian pancakes because she went to Russia last year with Intercultura. With the pancakes we had this amazing Nutella which had butterscotch pieces in omg it was the best thing ever!! On Saturday I went to have pizza and then bowling with a different group of schoolmates from one of my new classes and that was great fun too.

Another highlight has been Arlo's birthday and the Cesena and Ravenna chapters surprised him with dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Ravenna. It was so much fun and because there were no trains or busses afterwards Ida, Fran, Jan and I got to stay at Fran's the night and miss school the next day woopwoop. Instead of school that day we went to a huge shopping mall and finally bought some winter clothes as it's been getting a bit cold lately.

Since I last posted I've also started gymnastics which I really love and I met lots of new people there. It's on twice a week and it's great because I've been eating so much gelato hahaha. Also that reminds me the other day I had a meringue gelato which was like whipped cream ahhhh it was so good!

School has improved SO much! I can't express how boring it was at the beginning, I think I wrote about that in another post but yeah it was just unbearable but I think it was also due to me not understanding a thing. Last week I talked with one of my teachers and we decided I would just study philosophy, anthropology, pedagogy, religion, English, italian and history. I like all of those subjects so I'm so happy! Having less subjects also means that I can actually keep up and try to do as the other students in my class do as my language improves. While my class has subjects like maths, Latin and physics I go into another english class and help the teacher, or an extra class of one of my normal subjects. It's working out really well so far so I hope it continues! The teacher of my extra English classes made her class do presentations on New Zealand and then she makes me correct them with their Maori pronunciation and it's so funny because half the time I have no idea but I give it a random guess and they're all like "...woooooooow". Hahahhaa anyone who actually spoke Maori would be embarrassed by me... I'm sorry.

I also have an updated list of differences, or random, funny things that I've been keeping on my phone:

My English teacher was teaching about do, make and have the other week and she made the whole class practice saying "Can you make me a favour?" The worst part is she's considered the best English teacher in my school...
When a teacher is away we don't have relievers so we don't have a lesson. We still have to be at school but we just sit around and talk until the next lesson. A couple of weeks ago it was a long weekend and the three teachers who were supposed to take my class' last 3 periods had taken the day off to make it an extra long weekend. This meant we had 3 hours in-a-row free but we had to stay at school, it was so strange.
Everyone seems to wear their shoes inside. I've tried to adjust to it but when I come into the house the first thing I do is take my shoes off without even thinking.
Italians (or at least my host family) really like fresh food. My host Mum goes to the supermarket everyday at least once. She buys fresh bread every single day, no matter how much is left over from the day before. Most days she goes before lunch, and then again before dinner buying the ingredients for each meal separately!
Most of the American programs on TV are dubbed with Italian, but the English is kept underneath and it's really strange before it's like having someone whispering throughout the whole show.
Shops close for lunch from around 1-3pm. It sounds like quite a good idea until you realise even most of the cafes are closed so it's difficult to find somewhere to eat lunch if you're out.
There's tabacco shops EVERYWHERE! You can't walk for 5 minutes in a town without spotting a couple. They're like little dairies but their main product is just tabacco and they're called 'Tabacchi'.
In most shops when you have to wait in a line there's a ticket system. When you join the line, or the gathering, you take a ticket and then the person at the desk will call out the numbers and when it's your turn you go up. It's a great idea at places with lots of people but they even have it at the Deli in the supermarket when there's only like 2 people and yet they still bother to call out the number as if there was a hundred...
Art history is really important at school, it seems to be referenced someway in every single subject, every single day.
Here blowing your nose isn't rude at any point, even extremely loudly during a meal is fine... or maybe everyone I've been with is actually just really rude.
At school there's women who walk around in red robes and bring notices to the classes and I think that's all they do. It seems strange to hire all of these women if that's all they do but most of the time they're just talking in the corridor and I can't figure it out hahaha
At lunchtime we have a full meal, like we would have for dinner in NZ, but then we still have another full meal at dinnertime.
The kids that go to primary school where robes to school. They don't have an actual uniform just these long robes they wear on top of their mufti. Apparently it's so they don't get chalk on their clothes during the day. The ones at the school in my town are blue, red and white and all of the children look like little Madelines it's so cute!
The flies here are so crazily tame! They'll just come and sit on you and when you shake to get them to go off they just stay hahaha. All of the houses have fly nets on the windows and most people seem to be so obsessed with making sure they shut them as soon as the door/window is opened and now I can see why.
Most guys have man bags, some of them are so feminine, they just look like any girl's handbag
When married women here keep their maiden name
When the principal comes into the class at school we have to stand for him
EVERYTHING is super Italian! I know that sounds obvious but I just can't believe to be honest. When I went out for Arlo's birthday the other day it was the first time I'd eaten something non-Italian in 2 months. I love Italian food so much, but it's so nice to have a change every once in a while.
MY HOST MUM DIDN'T KNOW WHAT NOODLES WERE :O :O :O Then when my host Nonna came over she tried to explain to her and she said it was like a "Chinese pasta"
Everyone seems to be born in the town they live in. At school we had to sign this thing to agree to something and it had our birth city next to our names. Out of about 25 kids in my class me and one other person were the only ones who weren't born in this city!

Because it's been so long since I last posted I know there's a whole heap of things that I've forgotten to write about, so I'm sorry, but here's some pictures:

After school 2-3 times a week I have Italian lessons with Jan, Ida and Fran. Usually we go get Piadina beforehand which is where this photo was taken :)