Let's kick this out as fast as we can.
I left home September 4th as soon as my brother left for school to head up to NYC with my mom, aunt, and my life packed into under 66 pounds. I spent the night there and took off the next day from JFK.
The flight was brutal, mostly just the part not in the plane, spent carrying my luggage and sweating with 44-150 other kids just as miserable and annoying as you think they would be. Switzerland was pretty horrible. No wifi, no francs, expensive water, I slept on the freaking ground, angry cleaning ladies yelling in German because there were like 90 kids taking up the path to the bathroom...but it was nice and cold on that floor.
The Rome airport I had been warned previously about, that it wasn't in too great of shape. It did smell like a cajun portapotty which wasn't too pleasant but still, I actaully made it to Italy without commiting homicide or dying.
The Rome orientation was basically the explosion of all my happiness because it was too much awesomeness to handle. 501 foreign kids all pumped up on adrenaline to learn. I roomed with a girl from California who I loved so dearly (Marisa) and we got to know each other pretty well. Let's toss it in a nutshell (orientation)
- I stargazed/talked about life with a girl from Poland, girl from Austria, and a girl from France on the roof of our hotel in Rome.
- finally was united with Iris (HK), Thorunn (Iceland), and all of my other friends from the interwebs.
- I sang the italian national anthem in front of like, 100 kids.
- I made a friend in a unisex bathroom
- I used a bidet (stop it)
After 2 days of orientation we all went to our chapters. I had to fly (perks of being temporary Sicilian) so me and probably 40ish international kids went to Fiumicino again to fly to Catania. I love those kids more than life itself. I met my host family at the airport, and to make this super super super short, I have since ended up switching host families.
Yes, Kara has switched host families. My family was very sweet, it wasn't that they were terrible to me. It's just that when you take a 15 year old girl and put her in a completely different environment and tell her to survive, she's gotta feel at home. and if she doesn't feel at home, she's going to be sad. It was a completely personal decision and the 2 days it took were definitely the hardest of my life. To disappoint people and then have them not understand completely why is the hardest thing you could ever do. I did learn that there are two kinds of people in this world. Both are nice and loving to the other kind, but they will never "click" on a level family or loved ones will. I'm still set on figuring out exactly what these types are. My new project.
In about 13 days in Catania, I have
- made real friends
- eaten gelato for 3 meals
- eaten pasta atleast once a day if not more
- ran into the unisex bathroom friend on my way to school (it's a boy from Argentina) and nearly jumptackled him because I was so excited to see another AFSer
- went to school in a building older than the USA itself
- watched Disney Channel in Italian
- used an Italian vending machine
In the process of moving families right now, and I'm super tired. I will have to go now, as it's almost 11 here. Goodnight, my beautiful blog readers.
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