Not the happiest post I've written.

Before reading this post, I hope you've read the title, so you're warned.

I get snotty, jealous comments all the time. It drives me insane.

Here at school I can do a lot of things that I want, like for example, I can switch classrooms more or less whenever I want. I don't have a lot of studying that I have to do, because obviously I'm not fluent enough to do the same things that my classmates are doing.

BUT I HATE when I hear people who say things like 'you're so lucky, because you get everything you want', or 'you don't have to do anything at school, I wish I didn't.'. It's true, I don't do much at school. But you know how boring and long the days feel? Try sitting in school 6 out of seven days a week, not doing anything. I tried to see if I could remember all 50 states in America the other day and I wrote them down. That's just an example of how bored I get. One day I wrote the numbers 1-500something on a piece of paper. The day at school drags on and on, and there's so many times when I wish I could be doing work.

And about the other comment? About me getting everything I want? HA! I get exactly what I've earned. The only two things I haven't paid for over here is because I won a scholarship, that I worked for, which paid for some of it. The other thing is my parents gave me some money for my birthday that was to go towards my Spain trip. I've worked really hard for this trip. I'm nowhere near spoiled, I've been paying for almost everything I want myself, since I was 11 and started babysitting.

I know I'm lucky, but it's not because I get everything I want, or because I don't study much at school. I'm lucky because I have a God who watches over me, and He has blessed me with a wonderful family, teachers who have inspired me, and good friends who support me.

Sorry if I made anyone else crabby by reading this. D: Also, sorry about any writing/spelling errors.

Thoughts written down.

I'm just going out a limb here, and I'm going to guess that this post is going to be really pointless. I feel like writing, but I don't have any stories to tell. I'm listening to "Just give me a reason" by Pink. One thing that has been driving me crazy lately is the words 'in love'. They're really strong words. You can't be in love with someone, you've only seen a few times. That's a crush. It's not love. You can like someone a lot, but love is different, isn't it? Love is bigger. I have never been in love, but there's more to relationships that loving eachother. I guess I can't talk, what do I know of this?...

I'm having mood swings about going home. I can't wait starting working, then I'll have extra money. I hate being on a set finance this year. I can't work here in Italy, so I only have the money that I earned from last summer. It'll be nice to relax about using my money a little bit. A few months ago, I had the idea that I'd go to South America next summer, but that idea has changed. I hope to return to Italy, and improve my Italian more. I feel sloppy only learning a language halfway. I can speak easily now. But I'm not fluent. I don't know all the words. I just know enough words to easily make myself understandable. I have trouble switching languages, and I have trouble remembering who speaks what language. A few weeks ago my grandma and two of my great aunts came to visit me. There was many times when I went in to them and started saying something in Italian to them, then remembered they wouldn't understand me.

My time with my relatives was really fun and relaxing! We saw all of my town, and went shopping. I drink coffee now, but I drink it strong like the Italians. I drank too much though when I was with them, and I started shaking. I think I scared them a little bit. Sorry Grandma. ;) I've spent way too much money in the last few weeks. I'm only here for another month though, so I should just relax and not worry.

The other thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is success. I think about this always, but right now more than normally. When people sit and wait for their life to start, it bothers me. When I see peoples' parents paying for their things when they are grown up, I wonder. If you want something with your life, you have to get off your butt and get it yourself. Would I be in Italy if I had sat on the couch all summer? No, I went and applied for a job, I worked all summer to earn the money to come here. It wasn't easy, but it was possible. A lot of people tell me I am so lucky, I am really lucky, but not for the reasons people think. I am lucky because I have an amazing family, and great friends, and a God who helps and takes care of me. I wasn't lucky to be able to come to Italy, I worked for it, and this is my reward for what I worked hard for. Many things are possible, but you have to be willing to try for them.

I can't use the spellcheck on this computer because it's in Italian, so I'm sorry if I messed up on anything. I hope everything I wrote is understandable. :)

The festival of St. Francesco

I've had the most eventful, interesting, and entertaining week.

There was the festival of the Saint, in the town of my Italian teacher. I've been in Paola for the last 8 days, and I just got home today. The thing I like most about these festivals, is the markets they have. I can find amazing things, for very little amounts of money. I bought a lot of presents, and a few clothes for myself. My Italian teacher bought me a pair of shoes too. :)

The festival ended last night with fireworks. It was rally beautiful, and I am so glad I got to spend so much time with my friends at Paola. I am so lucky that I have friends like them.

Paola is a beautiful town. The people are friendly, and not judgmental, and so that's why I like going there so much. I'm going to miss my Paola friends/family a lot when I return to Minnesota.

Pie

I could go for a nice piece of Lemon Meringue Pie right now. I know this is a random statement, but seriously! I want pie!

Anyways, everything has been going pretty good over here. I've been going to the beach almost every day for the last week. The weather has been really sunny, but the rumor is there's rain coming this weekend.

My grandma and 2 great aunts are coming on Tuesday! I'm super excited for that! It'll be so great to show them my new home.

About leaving, I am coming home on the 20th of June. I got my eticket in my email a while back. I'm not ready to leave, but  I know it will be good to be home too. I hope I will be able to return to Italy within the next 2 years.

I went for a walk yesterday, it was the longest walk I've had since I've been here in Italy. I think my host family was proud of me. But after I was done I went and bought ice cream and brought it to my friends house and we ate it. :)

Food is amazing here, but it's not special anymore. It's just normal life. I don't pig out anymore, and I'm not gaining weight anymore. I think I've actually lost some of my 10 pounds I put on at the beginning of my trip.

Spaaaain

I'm not finding the words to describe my trip to Spain. I'm not feeling so great today, so I guess maybe that's why I have no imagination right now.

We traveled by bus to the port nearby Rome, then boarded a huge cruise ship that took us to Barcelona.

 I was a little bit disappointed by the buses, because one of my good friends was in a different bus that me. We'd been planning to spend this whole trip together, but then ended up on different buses. The first day I was kind of alone, I spent most of the time taking pictures. After the first day, I was slightly disappointed. I was sad, because I thought with my luck, the whole trip would be like this. We got stuck with a tour guide who knew way too much about Barcelona, and had to tell every little detail.

The inside and outside of one of the churches we saw the first day.

 This was the coolest thing we saw on the first day, it was a really pretty seafront, I kind of had a peaceful atmosphere, even though it was crowded by hundreds of people.

 Then the second day rolled around. I had higher hopes, I didn't wanna waste the whole trip moping about how lonely I felt, and how I didn't really care about what the tour guide was saying. I'd spent a good 354 euros on this trip, so I intended to enjoy it.

On the second day, we saw the house of some artist, I can't exactly remember his name. But I think it was Salvadore Dagli, or something like that. It was really unique at the house. But once again we were with the talkative guide. About an hour and a half into the house, and still being stuck on the first floor, my Spanish teacher snuck me and a few other people out of the tour and left us to wander on the 2nd floor. In the bathroom at this house, 2 sweet little Chinese ladies came up to me and asked for a picture with me. I'm pretty sure that made my day.

 Oh, I think this photo is from the first day. But anyways, we saw this place the first day too. I'll explain it later on though.

 Also on the second day, we visited this town. I don't know where in Spain it was, or what the name of the town was. But it was cool. I really liked this town, because not only was the stuff cheap in the stores, it had a country like feeling. I kind of felt at home here.

 This photo was on the bus, my friend decided that he was going to decorate us with 4 of the 6 scarves I bought while I was in Spain.

 The 3rd day, we went back to Barcelona.

This is the view of the city from one of the parks we visited.  :)

 Then we saw the hugest church ever, pretty much. It was so big, but I can't remember it's name. I'm sure most of you probably know what church it was anyways. It's the cathedral that Barcelona is famous for. I am horrible at remembering names.

 This was at the park. One of the more interesting places in Barcelona.

 The 3rd day we had a few hours of shopping after the site seeing, they dropped us off at a fountain area at the beginning of a big street.

 Then after our shopping, we went to go see this. This was by far my favorite thing in Spain.

I can't describe in words, how amazing this fountain was. It's name was the Fountain of Magic, and it really was magical. If I had the option, I'd go back in a flash just to see this one more time. My camera died halfway through. But the feeling with the music playing, in time to the colors in the water, was just incredible. It was a really romantic feeling. The Palace at the top of this hill, is the Palace in the photo earlier in this post. We went to this 2 times. The first time was cool, but the second time, was sensational.

 This is one of the photo's before my camera died. The photo before this one, is one I managed to take after my camera died the first time.

Also, on this trip we went to a disco, it was fun, and the music was actually really good at it. But I don't really like that whole grinding up and down on each other dancing stuff, so after the first 2 hours, I hung out with my friend. The night before the disco, I did two guys makeup, which was fun, obviously. But then they decided to do mine too. If I can get ahold of a picture, I'll try to post it. 

Quick update, info on SPAIN!

I'm sitting in school right now. My Italian teacher is gone, so I don't have anything the first three hours. The first hour we sat up in the Piazza, but then the 2nd hour we had to go into the school, because after the first hour, you aren't allowed in. My classmates and I sat in my classroom watching the funniest parts of Scary Movie 2 over and over in Italian. I went over to the other school at one point, because I had to talk to my first host mother about a paper thing, so one of my good friends went with me for that. It was raining out, so it's not such a beautiful day. The sea is dirty brown close to the shore, but then blazing turquoise a little ways in. The third hour, one of the teachers found out that we weren't supervised, so then she came in and took over, now we're sitting in the computer lab watching a movie in French, I think. But I'm clearly not watching it. I figured I should post on my blog.

I'm going to Spain in 5 days. :) We're going to the Romeish area on on 3 buses, I'm not sure if I'll be in a bus with my classmates or not though, because one of my friends asked me to sit by him. So I might sweet talk the teacher into letting me switch buses. Once we're done on the bus, we're getting on a cruise ship and going to Barcelona from there. :) It's going to be so much fun I think. On the cruise ship, I think, there's a disco one night. So that'll be interesting to see how that goes. I've been to one disco type thing since I've been here, but I am excited for this one. :)

I'm currently listening to my Brad Paisley music, waiting for the bell to ring. I still got another half an hour to wait though.

Last night the new Pope was announced, I'm not sure how we say that in English, but anyways, it was really cool being in the same country and looking at the tv and thinking 'I've walked there! I've seen that place' it just made it all more interesting.

My birthday

My birthday morning started out all normal.. I had Italian the first few hours, but about an hour and a half into the day, my friend said that she needed to tell me a story in the bathroom. Her and I headed off to the bathroom. Upon return in the class, I was showered with confetti, and greeted by many kisses. 

My class made an amazing surprise birthday party for me. <3

Then later on in the day, Elisa and I went out. She told me it would be just me and her. But nooooo.. I was sitting on a bench with her, when people came up behind me, covered my eyes, and sang to me. I've never had a surprise birthday party before this year, but in this year I had 2. 

In about 10 days, I will be leaving for Spain.. :) We're going on a ship, I'm very excited for this.. :)