Better Late Than Never pt. 1 (May)

I realize that I'm already back in America and have been for around six months... but I figure I still owe my devoted readers a blog of the busiest and best part of my exchange... in which I was obviously a bit too busy to give you all a blog at the time when you deserved one.

So picking up where I left off, which was changing into my second host family! So here's some pictures of my host parents and myself on one of our weekend trips around the island, and of my host dad burying my brother in sand, and my pool... where I spent a good deal of my summer because gosh darn it, Sardegna is HOT.

May 17th-24th was my class trip to Sicily which was, to sum it up, amaaaazing. We started the trip by taking a bus to Cagliari and from there, we boarded the boat and set off for the longest 13 hours of our lives. There were around 100 students on the trip, which included the entire second grade (in which I was) as well as the Greek theatre group (which I was also a part of). I spent the boat ride going on adventures with Elisabeth, the super awesome Austrian exchange student, and hanging out with my class. It was a long boat ride, man. That's about all I have to say about that. We finally arrived in Traponi, Sicily at 10 pm, where we were promptly greeted by a group of teenage punks that tried to steal our luggage... very welcoming, I know. Then we got on our buses and headed to our hotel, where there was another little issue when my class forgot to include me in the room assignments... but all turned out well because Elisabeth's class had forgotten her as well, so we got to room together (note the sarcasm)! The next morning we took the bus to Agrigento and explored some crazy old temples for a while which was definitely not something you see in America. Afterwards we got back on the bus and headed to Syracuse and checked into our sweet hotel, where I was put in a room with three other theatre girls- Bianca, Agatha and Alessandra- whom I grew to ADORE. The following day we went to Noto and walked around the town for a few hours and had lots of free time to get lunch and a mean granita, which is more or less a slushy. In the afternoon, the theatre group took the bus to Palozzolo for our final rehearsal for the performance the following day!! It was so cool to walk into that outdoor ampitheatre and know that it was thousands of years old, and that ancient Grecians legitamately performed the same plays we were going to be performing... and yes, in the same language of Ancient Greek. Bitchin'.

1. Me with my entire class in Agrigento!

2. My besties in my class- Mariaelena, Sergio and Elena (my host sister) on the right.

3. Mariaelena and me in Noto.

Wednesday morning we took the bus back to Palozzolo and watched a few other schools perform while we waited for our turn, and then it was show time!! Our group performed Medea and Euripedes. I was in the chorus, meaning I pretty much just stood there and chanted in Ancient Greek, but it was soo fun... except for the intense heat of the stage as we performed at noon, with us wearing full black costumes and barefoot!

So these are a couple pictures of our show :] and then my crazy half-Brazilian best friend Agatha and I being nervous before our performance haha.

That afternoon we took the bus to Syracuse and saw a professional performance of Oedipus in an absolutely gorgeous ancient ampitheatre, and the show was unbelievable!... and then we all went to a disco and danced the night away :]

That's Elisabeth, myself, Agatha, Bianca and Alessandra before the show started :]

The following day we had a ton of bus issues and our beloved Tiziano (our pullman's name) died, and we had to squeeze all 100 of us onto one bus, and then we got lost... and had to go up this crazy-sketch mountain road and we had a couple of really close calls of almost falling off huge cliffs and whatnot, which ended with a ton of girls crying and having panic attacks and it was just a big bad day and we ended up missing out on our plans of the morning to see some other schools perform at the theatre competition, so we ended up going to see another play at the huge amphitheater that we had gone to the night before!

1. Me swooping in on a picture of Elena and Mariaelena the second night that we went to the Greek theatre haha.

2. Bianca, io, Agatha

3. The beautiful costumes in Oedipus Rex!

We spent the next couple of days traveling around Sicily and playing in our destination: Palermo! We had tons of time in the bus and at the hotel, but looking back on it that was some great quality time where I really got to know a lot of the theatre kids. This trip really taught me who my best friends were and I was fortunate enough to be able to have this time to spend with them. I also befriended a ton of other kids in my grade that were on our trip that I had never known previously.

The boat ride back from Palermo to Cagliari was from 4:30 pm until 7 am of Saturday morning. I spent from boarding time until about 2 am on the top deck of the ship with all of my new wonderful friends (from the theatre group and other classes). It was such a wonderful way to end our week-long trip. I never wanted our gita to end! But I was thrilled to be able to go back to school and have all of these new faces to recognize. This trip really made me feel at home among my schoolmates, and I reached the point where I finally felt purely and utterly happy with my exchange.

1. Me and my ladies :]

2. My entire class, and my Greek/Latin teacher and theatre director Professor Carboni in Palermo!

3. The gang on our way back to Sardegna from la bella Sicilia.

The last couple of weeks of school were made easier due to the fact that I now had so many friends to go play with at break, but it also made it harder due to the fact that I only had 15 minutes with them at break, and the rest of the 6 hour school day was still spent sitting in that same old classroom... which was now heated to 104 degrees on a daily basis. It was a real shame that there were so many kids that I got so close to during the Sicily trip that I simply never met prior to the trip just because our classrooms were on different ends of the school. I was rather bummed that my days with all these new friends were dwindling, so I spent my class hours feverishly counting down days and writing lists of things I still had to do before leaving!!

Afternoons were usually spent with my little brother Marcolino in my pool, or making jewelry with Elena. And I went to Bosa with my host family and Cameron one day to watch Marco's soccer game!

1. My history of philosophy teacher trying on some sweet shades.

2. Cameron in Bosa!

Get comfy, I have LOTS to tell!

SO! In the beginning of April my host family left for America to visit their daughter Paola in Carson City, so I went to stay at Hilary's host family for a few nights, during which they took us all to Castelsardo for some really weird religious festival...? Look at the pictures and you'll understand why we were creeped out... yeah. Well. This was my last night with Tim because he'd be leaving before I got home. Bye bye, Timotee.

1. Get it now?
2. Us Sassari kids :]
3. Hilary with her host parents. hahahahaaaa.

The next morning Hilary and I left for Bergamo, where upon arrival we took a bus to Milan and met up with exchange student John Tucker. We toured Milan a bit and got lunch (McDonalds in Europe has curry sauce, What?!) and hung out in a huge park, Parco Sempione at the Castle Sforzesco, then we took a train to Como, the town that John lives in. It is absolutely precious. Right in the alps with a ginormous lake and everything was so beautiful. Side note, John lives in a Spaceship. We spent so long playing with his fancy kitchen cupboards.

1. John Tucker!
2. Me watching a Lake Como sunset.
3. John and me in front of Lake Como.

The next day we went back to Milan for the full day and did all the cool tourist things like visiting the Duomo (epic) and the bone church (creepy) and getting panzerotti (delicious). Oh, and holding a 300 euro crystal and diamond bottle of Obama water. We got to meet pretty much all of the Milan exchange students and they're all super nice. Hurrah.


The next day we took the train to Lugano, Switzerland which holy smokes is beautiful. We pretty much just got kebabs and hung out in the perfectly pristine parks all day and jeez I just loved Lugano. So, so lovely. And it was on this day that we discovered that putting McDonald's curry sauce ON a kebab is just about the most delicious thing ever.



The next day John had to leave us unfortunately so Hilary and I hopped on the Lake Como ferry to Bellaggio, another pretty little Italian town and did some window-browsin' and tiramisu-eatin'. Then we took the ferry back to Como and the train back to Milan and a bus back to Bergamo, and Hil caught her flight home to Sardinia whilst I continued my voyage onward with a plane to Frankfurt-Hahn, Germany, where Beryl picked me up! Yaaay! Together again. Happy :] We first visited her friend near the airport and had a huge German breakfast (how much I missed it so...) and them drove back to Alzey! where we had lunch with her family then got ready and went out to dinner.

1. Boat ride to Bellaggio with Hilary.
2. Bellaggio!
3. Dinner with Beryl!

At 5 am on the morning of the 12th we drove to Frankfurt and waited and waited and finally Samantha Angela Marsh walked through the doors and there was lots of squealing and happiness. We drove back to Alzey and had lunch, then went on a few hour hike with Beryl's dad and family friends, then started packing the car up and Boom! we are off! on our road trip around Germany!

1. Sunrise on the way to Frankfurt (with Sam's airplane flying in, hmmm?)
2 & 3. On our hike.

First stop- Weinsberg to visit Beryl's family friends. Dinner, long-deserved sleep, breakfast and a hike up to castle with the family, which overlooks the whole town. Then we packed it up and took off for stop two...

1. Our Weinsberg family portrait.
2. Beryl and I goofing around in the castle.
3. Sam and Beryl performing the traditional Weinsberg "women carry your husbands on your back" thing...

Karlsruhe, Beryl's grandpa's city. We went to a museum in a huge beautiful park for a couple of hours, and then to her grandpa's house just in time for tea hour! We spent the evening riding bikes around and playing at the playground and drinking her opa's homemade sparkling grape juice. The next day, we rode our bikes all around Karlsruhe and had lunch with Beryl's opa and then packed it up again and headed towards...

1. Us on top the castle in the park.
2. Bike ridin'.
3. Playgroundin'.

...Konstanz to visit Mischi, who is studying at university there!! We went to dinner with Mischi and his brother Phillipp (Fizzle), who also went to America on exchange. The next morning we bid them farewell and drove 5 minutes out of Konstanz and helloooo, Switzerland! and then from there into Austria following the lake, and finally back into Germany where we visited Christoph, a kid Beryl met on the America Tour, in Wangen-- freakin' the cutest German town.


1. With Mischi in Konstanz.
2. Switzerland!
3. With Christoph in Wangen.

Thennn we drove to Neuschwanstein Castle and hiked up to that which was breathtaking (although unfortunately they don't warn you at the bottom that it's under construction...).

1. Sam and Beryl on the way up to the castle.
2. Sam and I in the castle.
3. Me on the bridge behind the castle.

Then continued on to Oberammergau, another amazing little town that would probably not even be on the map if it wasn't for the Passion Play that the town puts on every ten years... since 1634. The townspeople perform Biblical stories for five hours a day for five straight months, with their daily booked-out amphitheatre seating 5,000. So Sam has family friends that has a family in Oberammergau and they told us to come stay with them and we figured "why not?"... then we arrive at this amazing Tahoe-themed mountain cabin/mansion where we're greeted by the man who played Jesus in the most recent Passion Play (yes, that is a big deal) and he says "okay, so this is your house! See you girls tomorrow!" and we were then released like kids in a candy shop into kitchens full of top-priced appliances and five flat screen TVs and saunas and hot tubs and outdoor natural pools with waterfalls. We made ourselves a nice little dinner and then we played in our nice little house and then cuddled in our comfy enormous bed.


1. Oh, just lounging by the pool, y'know.
2. Just chillin' in our jacuzzi room...
3. Our cute little dinner.

We spent the following day walking around the town, then grocery shopped and cooked a nice littler dinner for the six family friends, then Jesus took us down to the Passion Theatre and we got to meet the director's of the 2010 performance, and got a tour of the massive stage and theatre and all the costumes and props and sets!

1. Our second cute much larger dinner.
2. Jesus showing Sam and Beryl around back stage.
3. Our family portrait. :]

After another night in our enormous comfy bed we left our beautiful Tahoe get-away and drove to Munich, where we spent the day touring the city and sight-seeing and strolling through the English Gardens. Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner (mmm American food) and stayed in a surprisingly lovely hostel. The next morning we got breakfast and set off on our 8-hour drive to Berlin where we were pretty much traffic entertainment with our lollipop-microphones... y'know.


1. Sam and Beryl in front of the gate of Munich.
2. Beryl and me in the English Gardens.
3. Beryl and Sam at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Then... finally, Berlin! We stayed three nights at Beryl's more-or-less aunt's house in the ex-GDR. She took us all around Berlin our first evening, and we got our Berlin history lessons in, and then went to a sweeeet disco with four different themed rooms and a BEACH with sand inside! and where it seemed like everyone we met had gone on exchange in America. The next day we continued our Berlin tour and went to the Pergamon museum and ate curry wurst!

1. Sam, Beryl and me at a Russian park.
2. Truckee Bagel Co picture with the Berlin Tor!
3. Pergamon museum.

The following day we went to the Judaism museum and the Holocaust memorial, which consumed most of the day, and was extremely interesting and saddening to see.
The next day we ate breakfast (oh man the Turkish breakfasts we had every day in Berlin... my mouth is watering) and then left for....

1. Checkpoint Charlie.
2. Yamaka at the Judaism museum. "My bubby is voting Obama"
3. Holocaust memorial.

Cologne, which took another seven or eight hours to get to! We checked into our second even lovelier hostel and then went to a pizzaria for dinner, and the following day (which Michael was unfortunately unable to join us for) we went to the chocolate museum and then started heading home to Alzey.

1. Cologne at night.
2. Chocolate museum! Watching some Lindt employees make a person out of chocolate.
3. Cologne at day.

That night we went to Mainz to a couple discos with Beryl's friend Annkathrin which was fun fun, and then spent the next couple of days (FINALLY) just hanging around the lovely little Alzey. On Saturday we went back to Mainz to pick up Bea, Beryl's Venezuelan host sister, and we hung out in Mainz all day and got lunch. Sunday, we brought Samantha back to Frankfurt where she hopped on her plane and headed home, and the next day...

1. At a disco in Mainz.
2. Goofin' around in a sweet field.
3. Goodbye dinner with Dominique, Bea, Gaetano, Beryl and Frank. :]]

Beryl and I continued on to adventure #3 in the lovely Sardinia!!...where we were greeted with pouring rain (but it soon cleared up for the rest of her stay, thankfully!) During her stay here, Beryl got to meet pretty much all of the exchange students in my town and the neighboring town, Alghero, and got full tours of both towns. We spent a few days at the beach in Alghero and in the park at Sassari and had lots of fun :] It was really cool to be able to show her where I live and what I do every day. She even came to school with me and got to sit through all my exciting classes, woohoooo!!


1. Beryl and I at the beach in Alghero.
2. Me, Beryl, Lisbeth.
3. Me, Hanna-Rikka, Jacquie, Beryl and Charlie.



1. Beryl in Monserrato.
2. Beryl in Alghero.
3. Agnese and Beryl.

And on May 5th, after an extremely lovely month of her company, my German left me and I miss her presence in my room and at school and in life in general (even though she did her best to keep it around by leaving notes in everything I open).


And then I went to a Dinamo basketball play-off to cheer on my main man Phil Martin... but we lost. Dang.


Thursday the 7th I changed host families (!!!!) to the family that Tim lived in (!!!) and the family of one of my class mates and friends, Elena. They are the most amazing family ever and I felt so at home with them after only a few hours. Other than Elena, who's my age, I have another host brother, Marco, who's 12, and Enrico, who's 19 (I think). My host parents are Antonio (sells cheese) and Patrizia (owns the eight Armani and United Colors of Benetton stores in Sassari). Patrizia's parents and sister also both live in separate houses on our property. There's also olive orchards and fruit tree orchards, and a basketball court, soccer and tennis court, home gym and outdoor pool, oooh. My first night, we all stayed up until midnight looking at pictures, making jewelry and chocolate chip cookies!
[pictures of my house and family coming soon!]

The following day there was some Rotary soccer game we were told to attend that was raising money for the earthquake, and we were shocked to see upon our arrival our bald old little Rotary counselors and presidents running around the soccer field! It was pretty funny. And we beat the Accountant's team 8-1!! Go Rotary!


1. All the Sassari girls.
2. Me and Tore, our District YEO.

Saturday was a sunny Monserrato Park day, and I went out in the evening with my host sister and her friends. Sunday we all hung by the pool and then had a huge family lunch, and then drove to Stintino, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world :]
[pictures coming soon!]

Now I'm back in school regularly for the first time in a month. Weeeeird.

Next week is my class trip/theatre trip to Sicily!! Meaning we're supposed to PERFORM next week. Yeah. If I ever thought we weren't ready before a high school play... I take it all back. We'll see how this goes. Look out, Sicily, I'm about to perform... in Ancient Greek.

I've been gone for eight months. Non ci posso credere. Veramente, otto mesi? E davvero devo tornare fra cinquantacinque giorni? Non state scherzando?Allora, Truckee... ci vediamo. Prestissimo.

PHEW! That took for freakin' ever.

Do I get forgival for such a long absence with this beast of an update??