So I'm
writing this safely in Italy! I love it here, it's a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Along the
journey I kept a diary on my phone so I'll just publish the most important
parts of that for this post :)
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| Kiwi students headed for Europe on the same day at Auckland Airport |
On Thursday we left New Zealand
bound for Rome. When we arrived at Auckland airport there were a group of Spanish students who were going
home, as well as some of the students going with me to Italy, Spain, France and
Germany. It was so nice to see them all because we met earlier in the year at
the orientation camp!
When it came time to go through
security we all said goodbye to our families and had a talk from the AFS
volunteer about safe travelling etc. A couple of people were a bit teary eyed
but not as much as I thought. I went through security with Holly (Sardinia)
because we were the only ones without kiwi passports. The lady in the x-ray
machine seemed to be worried that Holly had had a pen in her bag which was
strange haha...
We met the others at our gate
(about 20 of us in total) and waited for the first leg of our journey to Melbourne. I sat next to Gregory and Hannah and Lilly was on the other side of
Gregory in the 4 seats in the middle of the plane. In front of us was everyone
else going to Italy - Dali, Tilly, Holly and Te Arahi. On this flight I watched
Monsters University in Italian and slept a bit. The flight was quite nice and
it's fun having people to talk to. The kids going to the other European
countries were on the same flight but sat in different areas.
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| Lilly, Holly and I in Melbourne |
When we arrived in Melbourne we
were all quite relieved to be off the plane I think! I got some Pringles which were $7 something!! The others bought some food too and it was funny us all
trying to pay in different currencies and the man trying to work it all out
hahahaha.
The next flight was about 15 hours
- from Melbourne to Dubai, on Emirates again. This flight actually went really
fast I thought which was strange because I normally absolutely HATE long
flights! I watched some movies and tv shows that I had loaded on my phone. We
all also slept a lot because this flight was in the evening and they had the
lights dimmed which made it quite cosy, or as cosy as a plane can be. I was so
relieved when we landed in Dubai! That long flight was over and we only had the
6 hour one to Rome to go! I also couldn't wait to get washed in Dubai and get a
proper drink and food hallelujah!
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| Dubai |
Dubai airport was absolutely
massive! We had to catch a train to our gate plus elevators and walking heaps,
it was like its own city. Holly, Hannah, Lilly and I stuck together and went and
got smoothies. We then went on a looooooong walkabout trying to find
McDonald's. When we got to the gate all of the other Italian kiwi students were
there so we sat down with them and also a group of Italian afsers on their way
home from Australia! One of the girls is from Cesena and she knows my host
family which was so cool.
We all boarded the plane to Rome
and this time the two rows had reversed the seats so Lilly, Hannah, Gregory and
I were sitting in front of the others. This flight went in a blur, I think the
tiredness and need for showers was quite overwhelming and we all just wanted to
get to Rome finally. I honestly can't even remember what I did on this flight,
we all talked quite a bit about different aspects of the exchange and I think I
watched some more tv shows on the plane screen. There were these awesome
cameras which you could view from your screen - one looking down from beneath
the plane, one looking across from the tail and another one. When we caught out
first glimpse of Italy from them it was amazing!! We also flew over the
Colosseum which was so cool.
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| Kiwis on the plane minus Gregory and Holly |
We landed in Rome in the afternoon
and after going through the airport check, went to get our luggage. An AFS lady
was waiting for us and she said we had to wait for a couple more groups of
students to arrive before we could leave. She then took us out into the
entrance where other AFS people were waiting. I felt so gross because of not
showering and the heat was so overwhelming! We were super thirsty as well which
didn't help, but so happy to finally be IN Italy.
After meeting some other students
and talking a bit they lead us outside where it was 10X hotter. We then walked
to the busses and were so grateful to find they had air conditioning
yayayayayay!!! The drive to the place where the orientation was held was about
20 minutes and I sat next to Holly. We went past so many flower stalls it was
crazy! Italians must really like their flowers. The scenery was so beautiful
and it was interesting to see them driving on the other side of the road to NZ.
Something I noticed was how flat and dry the land that we drove through was,
although where we actually stayed was more hilly. There also a lot of stick
kind of trees rather than bush like in New Zealand. We also saw a shirtless old
man driving which seemed like a typical Italian image, but I can't blame him - it
was so, so hot!
We arrived at the camp and got
lead to a place to drop off our big cases ready for departure on Sunday. They
then gave us some important papers, an Italian Inturcultura top and our room
keys. I was sharing with Lilly which was so great. Arriving here was quite
overwhelming and everything was new and out of the ordinary to me so it was
nice to have someone from home to share it with and make things seem more
normal. That's another thing about the camp, although I met so many people from
other countries it was so nice to have the kiwis to talk to when I wanted to.
After taking much needed showers
and unpacking the essentials we went to the dining hall for dinner. Dinner was
bread, pasta, salad, pork and peaches but they were all served as different
courses. After this we had free time but I think all of the kiwis went to bed
because we were exhausted from the 30+ hours travelling. I woke up a few times
in the night and thought it was morning but I think that was just because the
walls are paper thin and you can hear everyone, rather than jetlag so much. I'm not sure if this was a dream or not... But I may have woken up feeling really
sick but the butterflies kind like I was really scared about everything. I
thought it was a dream because I don't really feel scared but then thinking
about it I feel like it was so real so I don't know hahaha, it's honestly all a
blur.
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| Me at the orientation in Rome |
After breakfast the next morning
we all met in a huge room with seats and listened to a lady talk to us about
what was happening that day. She explained that we would be separated into
small language groups and spoken to about rules and that sort of thing. My
group was E5, with Te Arahi another kiwi. In this group I also met a girl
called Ida from Denmark who's going to be living in Cesena. We played name
games and they talked to us about rules and then had a much needed water and
peach break. The water tastes really different here, I don't quite know what it
is about it but it has an after taste and almost tastes musky. I thought it was
just the tap water at the hotel but we got given bottled water today and it
tasted the same. I'm sure we'll get used to the taste really soon but at the
moment it's super different. The peaches were soooo good, really juicy and I'm
hoping that's an Italian thing and not just the particular ones they bought
because I could really get used to those mmmmmm. We then played a huge game of
bang on the field and met some more people from different countries. There's 40
something students here from America, and then smaller numbers from all of the
other countries like Russia, Thailand, Bolivia, Croatia, Australia, Japan,
Germany, Chile...
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| The hotel |
The place we're staying at is so
beautiful! It's a 'hotel' (later we found out it was a nunnery place) but so totally different to an average hotel. There's
lots of houses and then rooms inside the houses with 2 beds and a bathroom
which is where we all sleep. These houses are spread out a whole load and in
between there's lots of other buildings and grassy areas. It's so cool and the
architecture is so Italian. It almost seems like a boarding school kind of
thing. Holly, Lilly and I walked around earlier to take photos of the buildings
etc.
Lunch was pretty much the same as
dinner last night - pasta, pork, salad, bread, chips and watermelon. One huge
difference I found to NZ food-wise is how many carbs there are in one meal. I
knew that Italians ate a lot of carbs but I thought I wouldn't notice it much
because I'm used to eating pasta, rice, potato or bread with dinner every night
at home but here it's not one or the other it's just all of them. We had 3 with
lunch today! I don't know if that's normal yet but I guess I'll find out once I
get to my host family.
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| Holly and Lilly outside our 'house' in Rome |
After lunch we got separated into
groups again but this time for place that were going. I was in 3 - centro east. This part was really cool because we met the people in our local chapters and
the ones travelling with us tomorrow. In my chapter there's 4 students from New
Zealand (me), Chile, Denmark and Germany. They all seem really nice so that's
great. Dinner was then followed by a welcome ceremony, where the head of AFS
Intercultura (the Italian AFS) spoke to us about our year ahead. He went
through all the countries there and we had to stand up when we were called. He
made a special mention for NZ because we travelled the furthest out of everyone
there!
The next morning Lilly had to
leave for her host family at about 6 o'clock and it was strange saying goodbye
for a whole year. I feel like I'll see her again soon but I won't. I couldn't
get back to sleep after that, my mind was going wild thinking about this next
year. After I'd been laying there for about an hour Holly knocked on my door
because Tilly had left and she was alone in her room too. I got ready and we
went to buy Internet for an hour. Hannah came and we had breakfast with 2 girls
from America and then Holly and I went back to my room (with some Nutella
packets as souvenirs of course) and talked. We bought some postcards which
turned out to be one of the funniest experiences ever because the lady at the
desk only spoke Italian and we were trying to buy stamps for New Zealand. She
was trying to sell Holly 2 at 2 euros when she only wanted one, going
"due... quattro" every time Holly said "uno". It was
hilarious we were both in floods of laughter when we asked one of the Italian
volunteers to talk to her for us.
When the time came for me leave I
felt happy but so sad at the same time. This camp has been great and I love
meeting everyone from all around the world, but I also have loved having the
kiwis to talk to because we're all going through the same thing and the whole
group was quite close after all of the flights and camp in NZ. I'll definitely
miss them a whole bunch
I think I should be feeling more
than I am. Before coming I thought that it would hit me and kept saying when I
thought it would like last day of school, or when I started packing or whatever
but it never really did and even now when I'm here I'm doing the same thing. I'm thinking when I get to my host family it'll hit me, or on the first day of
school but to be honest I don't think it'll ever hit me. This is such a big
thing and although I know the year will go so fast it's still a year which is a
long time and I can't quite comprehend that - at least not just yet. I think I
really need to take everyday as it comes and just see what happens next.
This next part was
written after I arrived at my host family in Cesena:
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| One of the views out of the train |
The train ride to my town was
really long. We left the camp in Rome at 12pm and reached Cesena at around
7:40pm. It went really fast because I was with a large group, and 3 others in
the same chapter who are all really lovely - Ida, Francisca and Jan. On the
first train a Rome tour guide came and sat next to us and talked for hours,
giving us tips for if we visit Rome. She was so friendly! Other than that we
all discussed our exchanges and talked about our home countries. The train was
packed and boiling hot, especially the 2nd one wow.
It was so cool seeing AFS students
getting off the train because we would all watch them meet their host families
and it was so nice. Most of them would run to hug them and some had posters or
even flowers for them. Cesena was one of the last stops and when it came time
for the four of us to get off we were feeling excited and a bit nervous. Our
host families all came up to us together, my host mum was holding a banner with
all of our names on but I saw my host sister, Marta, first. Everyone introduced
themselves and hugs were exchanged then we were asked if we wanted to go for
pizza or if we were too tired. We were all so tired but how could you turn down
proper Italian pizza?! Francisca had to go but we weren't sure why because our
Italian is super bad but Ida, Jan and I along with our host families went in
the cars to a cute little pizzeria not far from the train station.
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| My first Italian pizza |
The pizzeria was down some stairs
and it was quite busy. They introduced Ida, Jan and I to the owner and he was saying
"benvenuto!". Very, very Italian I loved it! We all sat together at a
huge table and talked the whole time. Marta said that they would talk English
to us tonight because we were tired but tomorrow the Italian would start so
that should be interesting. When they were all talking in Italian though it was
really cool because we could recognise some words and sometimes make sense of
what they were saying by those words alone.
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| Ida and her pizza |
The owner said that they would
bring out some specialties for us which were a big ball of cheese and i wish i
could remember which kind but i can't haha it was really good though, very
different to any cheese I've ever tried. The other plate had a bunch of
different things on it. Some fried tomato rice sort of thing, fried pizza balls
and some other things. I then ordered my pizza
which was Margarita and it was AMAZING! The base and the cheese were especially
good and trust me I am not a cheese person but that cheese was so, so, so good!
Also the water was good! What a relief.
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| View from the lounge |
When we said goodbye to Ida, Jan
and their families any doubts I had were gone. My host family is the best! When
we got back my host mum gave me a tour of the apartment and it's so lovely,
really modern. The upstairs is just mine and Marta's, with our bedrooms and a
bathroom. My bedroom is HUGE! I'll post a photo it's like my dream bedroom
haha.
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