Dicember: Bologna, Snow, Gymnastics and Birthdays

Ciao a tutti! :)

Like I said in my last post it's getting hard to think of things to right about as this becomes my 'normal life' because I wouldn't normally write a blog about something that seems so natural but here goes...

Today is the first day of the Christmas holidays which are going to last 2 weeks. I am SO happy they're finally here. When I woke up this morning my first thought was "schooooooolll" and then "no school!" I could have cried with joy, it was an amazing feeling. School has definitely improved since the start but it's still school and in most of the classes I don't really understand much so it can really drag. I'm hopefully getting a personal timetable next year so I'll just focus on 4 subjects which I've chosen; Human sciences, Philosophy, Chemistry, Italian and then PE twice a week. I will HOPEFULLY be changing classes throughout the day so I only have these classes, and then helping the english teachers sometimes if they need it.

This month we had some snow which was super exciting, but it wasn't much. It was snowing on and off for about 2 days but it didn't lay here in Cesena. My whole class and family knew how excited I was for the

snow so everyone kept mentioning it to me and the first time it was snowing was in the middle of the night so my host sister came banging on my door while I was sleeping and was like "EMILY, EMILY" hahahaha. Last weekend I went up in the hills above Forli with my host family and Ida to go for a walk using Ciaspole (don't know the word in english). They're big flat things that attach to your shoes so you don't sink into the snow when you walk. It was so much fun, but quite tiring and half way we stopped at a restaurant in the middle of the hills. It was like something out of a movie because it was just randomly there! I don't think I'd ever seen so much snow in my life and it was an amazing day.


Since the last post I've also been to Bologna (the capital of my region) twice, once with family and once with my host sister and Ida. Bologna is a really big city and it's beautiful, and full of graffiti. Some of the graffiti just makes it even prettier but some really makes it look so dirty. The first time we went we went in the car which took about an hour and a half and we ate at a restaurant called Bolpetti which is "Bologna Polpetti". Polpetti is meatballs in Italian and that's literally what this restaurant sold! It was PACKED and everyone ate meatballs but they had all different kinds like different kinds of meats, then different sauces and different ways of them being cooked and everything. I chose some chicken ones in a creamy, salsa sauce and they were really yum. We then walked around the city as it got dark and visited the Ghetto which is where the Jewish people of Bologna lived in the 16th century and it had shops and everything, with only three entrances which were only opened in the mornings. Now it's obviously open to everybody and there's signs explaining what the area used to be. It had heaps of narrow streets and shops and one of the shops was a shoe shop and we could see the man inside making shoes, it was so cool! Also because it's nearing Christmas all of the lights were up around Bologna and it made it so beautiful especially on the two towers which are famous in the city. The second visit to Bologna was for an exam that my host sister had for university. We took the train together and while her and her friend had their exam Ida and I walked around Bologna and revisited the ghetto because it was Ida's first time. We also went to a fruit and vege market and found avocados which neither of us had had since being in Italy so they were like heaven. We sat outside the market with a plastic spoon trying to get into them when a man came up to us and asked if we wanted him to open it as he pulled a knife out of his pocket hahaha.

A couple of weeks ago I also had a gymnastics show which was interesting... it was fun but so embarrassing because I've only been doing it for a little while. We took one of my host sisters friends to the show because she was also doing a dance with her gymnastics club and she told us that the thing I was doing was a challenge, or competition thing and I didn't even know hahahaha. So yes it was a very random day but I'm glad it's done now.

First pineapple lumps in 4 months = heaven

This last Friday was the last day of Italian lessons with AFS which is so sad because we always have so much fun at the lesson, and before because we always have lunch together. Our teacher brought along 2 typical Christmas cakes of Italy; Panettone and Pandoro. As well as Ida, Fran and Jan we now have a new member of our Forli/Cesena family, Danielle from... get ready... NEW ZEALAND!! It's really cool to have someone from New Zealand here and when I first met her at the start of the month she was the first New Zealander I'd met since leaving NZ so it was so weird, even hearing the accent was crazy.

For Jan's birthday at the end of November Ida, Fran and I took the bus to his town San Piero and spent the

night there. We went to "Jan's bar" and met some of his friends in the evening after a HUGE dinner with his host family. His host parents and brother are SO lovely and his Mum made these delicious fried things which pumpkin inside. It was such a great weekend!!

On Friday I'm going to Milan with Ida and her host family and I'm so excited!! For Christmas I'm going to be with my host family and we're having a big, family lunch on Christmas Eve and then going to church at midnight for the Mass. When we come home at about 1-2AM we will open presents before going to bed! On Christmas day we have another big lunch and that's all I know for now but it sounds like it's going to be really different to my normal Christmas so I'm really excited... even though I don't have any presents :'( Haha

Time here is going SO fast I can't even believe it so of course when people ask me the question "Do you miss home?" I have to say yes because who wouldn't, but I always know that I'll be back there before I know it and so I have to make the most of everyday HERE
while I am here and not there. Peace out :)