Adventures in Italy: May 2013

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The countdown is beginning...

to be serious. Before, I was counting down, "Oh, one month. That's still a lot of time."

Now, the countdown is 6 days. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. It honestly just doesn't even make sense. I feel like I have spent my whole life here with my friends, but I still don't feel like it was enough. I will miss my friends so much, I don't even know how I am going to handle leaving them. Yes, I had bad days where I didn't even talk to my friends, but overall, they were always there and they always enjoyed my company.
I truly hope that we will be able to stay in touch forever and that next summer they will be able to visit me in America like we are planning.

So, my bag is slowly starting to be packed and I'm thinking about the things I could leave here in order to save as much space as possible. My money supply is down to only 55 Euros and I know exactly what I'm spending all of it on. I will be going home with basically no money :P

Overall, despite small problems that I ran into, I have had an amazing exchange year. I wouldn't change anything and I'm so glad I was able to go.

I thank everyone who I have met on this experience and anyone who helped me to get here. I appreciate it so much. I feel like a changed person.

Thanks for reading throughout this year and I hope to keep posting even when I return to America.

Next post will probably be about having to say goodbye to my whole new life in Italy.

~Shelby Janae <3

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Television

Hello everyone,

In Italy, I feel like they like to watch a lot of TV. Most people gasp when I say I never watch TV. I honestly prefer movies over television. Anyway, the Italian TV is different than America but there are a lot of the same shows!

Most shows and movies are American or English, so most of the things you see on TV are dubbed. It is rather irritating to watch. They have MTV and disney channel just like we do in America. My host brother likes to watch Disney Channel in the mornings while we are eating breakfast. :)

Also, there are a lot a lot of commercials here. Commercials take up just as much time as they do in America, if not more. Commercials are pretty much the same as in America. The variety is taken up by candy/food and women products. Go figure. haha :)

Anyway, I just wanted to add a little note that I only have 12 days remaining in Italy. It's getting closer and more real every second. I can't imagine how much I'm going to be crying when I leave my much-loved Italian friends.

Thanks for reading <3

~Shelby Janae

Monday, May 13, 2013

Austria

Hello everyone!

So, I just got back tonight from a school trip to Austria to visit a couple concentration camps. It was an amazing trip. We took a 5 buses (a great 12 hours including 2 hours of breaks) from different schools around my area and traveled through Germany to get to Austria.

The scenery was absolutely amazing. Everything was so green!
It was so crazy to see everything in GERMAN! I mean, no offense to any germans, but it looks like the alphabet threw up! I honestly do not understand how some of the German words can actually mean something. It is such an amazing and interesting language! I would love to learn it someday.
I was pretty proud that at dinner, I was able to understand a little bit of the menu because some of the words are similar to English words.

At dinner, stores, and any museums we visited, I was the official "talker" because my English is the best. :P
I ended up not eating very much because every night the others ate at about 9 or later and I don't like eating after 9 pm, so I skipped out on the hot dogs and french fries. :P However, I can say that I have tasted REAL german/austrian hot dogs! :D

Now to the serious stuff. I visited the concentration camps of Gusen and Mauthausen. I learned so many facts and saw so many things.

I met real men and women who were prisoners in the concentration camps.
I saw a ton of memorials for all the countries with victims of concentration camps.
I stood in the showers were hundreds of prisoners were forced to shower in sometimes groups of 50 strangers ranging from 15-50 years old.

I stood in gas chambers and crematoriums were thousands of people were tortured and burned in order to get rid of the "evidence."
I've stood in graveyards with 10,000 people buried.

I never really imagined that I would visit a concentration camp. I figured I would always just see pictures and see stories.
I can really see now what happened during this terrible time; even though I wish it never happened.

Seeing what I saw just concreted everything into my mind and even though it happened so long ago, I hope we never forget.

~Shelby Janae

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

My New (kind of) Family

Hey everybody,

So, I changed host families about three weeks ago. I really really like my new host family.
The new family consists of a mother, father, and 14-year old brother.
Currently, they have a daughter my age in Brazil.
This family is so considerate of me. (Not that my old family wasn't... I loved them to <3)

For example, yesterday, I saw an advertisement for a new flavor of TicTacs and I told my host mom I wanted to try them. The next day, I came home from Athletics to see a pack of them on my desk. How sweet is that?! They ALWAYS ask me what I want for dinner or if I need help. You can really tell that they care about me being happy. It is a shame that I will have to leave so quickly... I only have another 26 days with this family. Hopefully, they will be able to come to America to visit. That might be a little difficult though because they speak ZERO English!

The house is a bit smaller than the old one, but it is comfortable. I really don't mind living in smaller spaces. As long as I have a bathroom, kitchen, and a bed, I am happy :D

On another note, Friday morning, I am headed off to Austria to visit the concentration camps "Mauthausen" and "Gusen." It should be a very sad but great experience.

Thanks for reading!!!

~Shelby

Sunday, May 5, 2013

8 months today....

Hello everyone,

I have officially been in Italy for eight months. I arrived the 5th of September 2012... Exactly 242 days or 34 weeks and 4 days have passed. That time has been spent learning a new language, making friends, eating pasta, running, speaking Italian, and having a blast with my new friends.

I honestly can't imagine what life would be like if I hadn't participated in this exchange. Unfortunately, it is quickly coming to an end. My plane flight back to the states is scheduled for June 3rd, 2013. That means I have only 29 days or 4 weeks and 1 day remaining here in Italy. That is an incredibly small number.

I am having completely mixed feelings about going back to America. I am SO excited to get back to my normal life. I need to go on college visits, see my family, start school (probably start a diet;) and I am starting a new gym when I get home. I am stoked to really start my life. On the other hand, I am so upset about leaving my life here. I have some REALLY REALLY great friends, I have a great sports team, and I LOVE speaking Italian. AND, to top it all off, America is sooo far away from Italy, I have no idea when I will be able to make the time (or money) to come back and visit...
You see, I have such a dilemma on my hands...
To stay or not to stay ;)
I know that I will be returning because I am ready to go home... I'm just not sure whether I'm ready to leave.

~Shelby Janae <3

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Rotary Trip 2013

Hello everyone!!

Sorry for the lack of activity. I went on a week-long trip to Ercolano, Sorrento, Capri, Naples, Rome, and the Vatican City.

I went with the Rotary organization which included three adult volunteers and 25 kids.

All the cities we visited were in southern Italy. The weather was absolutely amazing, all but one day.
I loved wearing shorts and t-shirts for the first time in literally months.

The coolest thing that happened was that we climbed Mount Vesuvius. It was absolutely incredible to see a real volcano! It is actually considered still active even though it has not erupted for a long time. You can still see the vapor/smoke from the volcano. It was an amazing sight. Unfortunately, this was the day that was pouring rain and freezing :( So it was hard to enjoy it at the time. But now, I can look back and I am really glad we climbed it! (even though I was freezing and wet)

I also got the see the island of Capri and swim in the ocean. It was freezing and we saw jellyfish, so it was only a 5 minute swim, but it was worth it!

We also ate really really well (most days.) However, I cancelled out how much I ate with how much we walked! We literally walked so much my feet are in pain! But it was so worth it.

I really enjoyed spending this time with my other exchange student friends. We are from all over North and South America, Europe, and Asia. There are kids from Taiwan, Sweden, Canada, Paraguay, and many states within the U.S. Hopefully, I will be able to stay in touch with all these kids for the rest of my life.