It's a little past 8 on Sunday night on the first day of Autumn, though it's still hot as ever here. It's also the end of my third day with my temporary host family, the Basile's, and who I've grown to love dearly. They actually have a son who's my age studying for a semester in Belgium, and I get his room (with a ceiling fan!!!!!). I move to my "permanent" host family tomorrow, but if things don't work out, I'm staying with the Basile's. It's really a win-win situation.
Yesterday and today were basically packed with stuff. First of all, I have a newfound hatred for the store Euronics. It's like a Best Buy, but I've spent many hours in that store here in Catania and it's about as fun as the DMV was a couple months ago. I also had the joy of being there the day Grand Theft Auto 5 came out, so it was reeeeeal fun dodging teenage boys staring at a screen watching people rob banks and bikini'ed women steal cars.
But, exchange student life went from pretty terrible to instant "what dreams are made of"-esque as soon as I switched host families. I stayed with a temporary host family, the Basile's, with their two kids (they have three, but the oldest is abroad in Belgium for a semester with AFS! awesome!) and their dog. They were so sweet, immensely caring and really interested in English and the American way of life. I was with them for about 4 days and 4 nights, and they actually took me up Etna! It was really foggy that day, so most of the pictures are just of the ground I was walking on, but it was amazing! Plus it was very cold. The first time in a loooong time my fingers went numb! If they're really necessary, I'll post pictures (even though I haven't posted a single picture on here yet). But I was on a volcano!
In the meantime, now I am living in basically the center of Catania, near Piazza Duomo and the shore. I am on the same street as my school, so that means I get to sleep in until 7 every day when school starts around 8:10. But that's not the best part. My room is on the top floor (it's a two story apartment) and out my window, there is a FREAKING LEGITIMATE GREEK-ROMAN THEATRE. Here's a picture I took from my bedroom window, and yeah, I'm being completely serious.
School is going better, but it's still boring for me because I barely understand Italian. I understand physics, surprisingly. Also a little of my art history class when she speaks slowly about civilizations and famous places, not necessarily the architecture of a Greek temple I have never heard of... English class is hard for the American! (even though I am an Anglophile, I still struggle with the British dialect!) But really, is there a difference between "may" and "might"?
Until then, ragazzi!
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