LouisaAbrahamson

"For the beauty of the earth, 
for the glory of the skies, 
for the love which from our birth 
over and around us lies; 
Lord of all, to thee we raise 
this our hymn of grateful praise."

I'm sorry there will be no photos today. I do have a few things I'm going to try to describe though.I missed school today, because I had to go get my resident permit process finished. It's been a long process that has literally taken over 2 months. My host parents and I went to the town that we had to do it in right after we dropped my sisters off at school. It was about an hour drive through the mountains and along side the sea.

Through the mountain range it was storming, and as we got higher and higher suddenly my host mom said "Look Louisa! Snow!" but in Italian of course. The rest of the car ride was a little more exciting because snow in this area is special. They don't get much snow in my town where I live, so when we're around snow it's exciting and different! It finally felt a little like winter! 

I might not get a white Christmas here, but the other incredible thing about the scenery today was the sea. Because it was a stormy day, the waves were huge. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I'll try. The water was ranging in four different colors; dark blue, turquoise, lime green, and white. As the water folded over itself the colors showed a little with each followed by whiteness. It was captivating watching it because each wave had a different charm to it and the car ride flew by as I was trying to guess which color the next wave would be.

The stop at the police office to get the papers filled out and my finger prints done was strange. I felt like I was being arrested. I got my fingers all printed twice. One of the times the guy printed my palms too. Although if I had actually been getting arrested we probably would have been a little more serious about it. Then we went to the mall. At the mall we ate a delicious snack, and then walked around and shopped for a little while. The whole trip felt so relaxing. It's hard to explain and unless you're another exchange student reading this, you probably won't fully understand. But this trip felt like one more step of progress in my relationship with my host parents. It was so exciting to actually feel like they truly care about me as their own child. They joked with me, and tease me as if I'm their own. It's so hard to explain the feeling, but I guess if you don't understand then just take a trip to a different country and live with a family as part of the family, then you'll understand what I'm saying.

This has been a slightly serious post. But I'm finished now, so I hope everyone has an enjoyable day.