Ah....Italia.

First of all I would like anyone who took the time to read this blog, or even just this post that I ate a whole shrimp today....eyeballs and everything....because I didn't know any better and I didn't want to be rude or have bad manners; and just so you know, there IS a reason you don't eat the shell of a shell fish. Have I told you I don't like shrimp...? Well it's still true.
[Parents take note: it is very important for you to teach your kids how to eat fish, of all kinds, in case they find themselves in the same position as me someday.]

My last post updated you on what happened the first time I tried to leave for Rome...well the second time was completely opposite. It went as smooth as first class can go and aside from the 30 minute late departure I was one happy camper (or would it be "flyer" in this case?). I sat next to an Italian-American man on the plane and he was really nervous he wasn't going to make it through customs in time to make his connecting flight (which left at the same time as my connecting flight to Rome). So his nervousness rubbed off on me and when I got off the plane and saw the huge line for customs I started to sweat. It didn't help that right after I got through customs my rolling carry-on suitcase full of books broke so that I had to carry it. My flight was supposed to leave from gate B15, I checked and checked again.
But when I arrived at B15 it was no longer the right gate and I only had 7 minutes to spare before boarding began.
Long story short, I had to rush (lugging my suitcase full of books) all the way to the other end of the terminal in order to find out that my gate was B22 (the gate right next to B15) so I had to rush all the way back. First impression of Italy: so hot, I was sweating like crazy!
When I finally got to my gate the flight was late. Ha.
I made it on fine and when the plane came down through the clouds to land at the Ancona airport I saw snow everywhere.....and I forgot my winter coat at my Aunt Lesli's in Atlanta. Lovely. Second impression of Italy: freezing!
Of course my checked bag didn't make it so after much confusion and 100 calls to my Aunt Heidi in Germany to keep from crying I filed a claim for my baggage to be delivered to my host family's house.
Then, I had my first lesson in stumbling through a language I don't know to figure out the puzzle of how to get a ticket for the bus that would take me to the train station that would take me to San Benedetto del Tronto where my host mom Fiorella would pick me up. I won't go into detail but after multiple winks from complete strangers, a few awkward conversations in Italianglish, and almost catching hypothermia I made it to the warmth of my host family's house.

I love my host family, each member of the family is simply wonderful. They are SO helpful, generous and gracious with me and know exactly what to do and say to make me feel at home. I am very lucky to have been placed with them. Their house is a block from the beach and it's very quiet here since it's winter and the condos between us and the beach are only used in the summer.

Fiorella teaches History and Philosophy at the high school here and she took me with her yesterday and today. All the students were very kind and gracious and very excited to meet me :)
I had some very good converstaions with them in English and Italian, one girl, Amide, made my day when she asked me if I ride horses. I told her that I used to and she said, "you have the spirit of a rider." I was so happy when she said that because I would love to be a rider!

Fiorella and I agreed that we would speak only Italian in the morning (till 2pm) and then in the afternoon we would only speak English. [2pm is when school gets out here] It has been very difficult but very rewarding.

Every day around 1:30pm or so Aurelio comes home and starts preparing lunch. Giorgio comes home from his school and Fiorella and I come home from her school and we all have lunch together (that's where the shrimp disaster happened) and then Aurelio and Fiorella take a short nap. Aurelio then goes back to work, Fiorella runs errands or does whatever she needs to do and Giorgio and I hang out or do something. Then around 7 or 8pm Fiorella and I (and sometimes Giorgio) make dinner which is ready to go when Aurelio comes home.
I'm sure as we get more and more into a routine I'll do more and more exploring, especially since tonight marks the beginning of Christmas break for all the schools.

I don't have any pictures yet but I promise I'll post some soon.

I hope you are all well and I wish you each a buon natale e anno nuovo! (that means Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

Auguri! (happy holidays)

ciao ciao,

Sarah