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.
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!
