October 23, 2010 Day 58
A place where I’m not discouraged from eating too many pieces of pizza, but in fact, looked at with dismay and concern if I do not finish at least one full pizza. My mother left me wheat she can only consider a small dinnertime meal tonight. By that I mean: a full pizza the size of a dinner plate, about half a baguette, a piece of cake with powdered sugar, a piece of a heavenly jam crostada, and water and wine. It was, of course, delicious.
Hoorah!
sabato 25 dicembre 2010
The Worst Week of My Life.
October 22, 2010 Day 57
The title doesn’t lie; this week has been simply horrid, from Monday (or Sunday if you want to start it there) to now, Friday. Well, actually it’s not Friday, it’s 12:04 on Saturday the twenty third, but why should we trouble ourselves with such meddlesome things as the truth.
I debated for a long time about going into detail about this week, and all it’s unfortunate events. I’ve finally decided against it. My reasons, simply, are that
- It would be a long multi-paragraphed complaint.
- It would unquestionably have to include descriptions of me crying, and that’s simply not manly enough for me to admit to.
- I have a diary I can run away and weep and confess to
- If you really wanted to know, you’d shoot me an email and ask me what’s up.
And that is why a record of my week will not grace (or mar) this blog.
Now that that’s over with, (and I’ve made English teachers cringe with my careless writing) let me mention the good parts of today (few as they may be). Firstly, I managed to reach my parents, well, my father anyway. I called them from the school phone, and we had a decent conversation
Lastly, I had an unexpectedly pleasant and meaningful conversation with someone I called out of sheer desperation.
The title doesn’t lie; this week has been simply horrid, from Monday (or Sunday if you want to start it there) to now, Friday. Well, actually it’s not Friday, it’s 12:04 on Saturday the twenty third, but why should we trouble ourselves with such meddlesome things as the truth.
I debated for a long time about going into detail about this week, and all it’s unfortunate events. I’ve finally decided against it. My reasons, simply, are that
- It would be a long multi-paragraphed complaint.
- It would unquestionably have to include descriptions of me crying, and that’s simply not manly enough for me to admit to.
- I have a diary I can run away and weep and confess to
- If you really wanted to know, you’d shoot me an email and ask me what’s up.
And that is why a record of my week will not grace (or mar) this blog.
Now that that’s over with, (and I’ve made English teachers cringe with my careless writing) let me mention the good parts of today (few as they may be). Firstly, I managed to reach my parents, well, my father anyway. I called them from the school phone, and we had a decent conversation
Lastly, I had an unexpectedly pleasant and meaningful conversation with someone I called out of sheer desperation.
martedì 21 dicembre 2010
Terracina
September 26, 2010 Day 30
Yesterday we all got back from Orientation, a still-vague field trip to the beautiful landscapes of Terracina. Terracina was a mixed bag if I ever saw one. Pros include
-Aforementioned beautiful landscape
-Seeing Sperlonga and Montagna Spaccata
-Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea
-Being able to comfortably wear summer clothes (along with the bitter little part in everyone that glorified in the fact that it was too cold for our friends to do the same)
-Learning to play Spades (Thanks Reed, Michael and Mr. Chen!)
-Having five great roommates
Cons, on the other hand, include
-Endless rain
-The damp smell caused by endless rain
-Inevitable sand in our bungalow (Yeah, suddenly the Mediterranean is a lot less of a romantic daydream and a whole lot more of an inconvenience. We Americans and our damned ingratitude…)
-Enmity growing between all the bungalows, no matter how lovely the roommates are.
Overall, Terracina gets a 6.5 on my scale. Well done, but we can do better.
On another note, I now have a cat for the first time in 13 years. My first and only cat was a feline by the name of Clyde who we had in Brixton. I don’t remember darling Clyde, but let’s see how I deal with my new little black cat, Nerina la gatina
Translation: “my little black cat, the little black cat” My these original names…
Ciao, Thalia
Yesterday we all got back from Orientation, a still-vague field trip to the beautiful landscapes of Terracina. Terracina was a mixed bag if I ever saw one. Pros include
-Aforementioned beautiful landscape
-Seeing Sperlonga and Montagna Spaccata
-Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea
-Being able to comfortably wear summer clothes (along with the bitter little part in everyone that glorified in the fact that it was too cold for our friends to do the same)
-Learning to play Spades (Thanks Reed, Michael and Mr. Chen!)
-Having five great roommates
Cons, on the other hand, include
-Endless rain
-The damp smell caused by endless rain
-Inevitable sand in our bungalow (Yeah, suddenly the Mediterranean is a lot less of a romantic daydream and a whole lot more of an inconvenience. We Americans and our damned ingratitude…)
-Enmity growing between all the bungalows, no matter how lovely the roommates are.
Overall, Terracina gets a 6.5 on my scale. Well done, but we can do better.
On another note, I now have a cat for the first time in 13 years. My first and only cat was a feline by the name of Clyde who we had in Brixton. I don’t remember darling Clyde, but let’s see how I deal with my new little black cat, Nerina la gatina
Translation: “my little black cat, the little black cat” My these original names…
Ciao, Thalia
Mourning and Idioms
September 19, 2010 Day 24
Well, the dog days have come at last. Yes, Italy is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but I’m beginning to think that this year might be the best and worst year of my life. Then again, being young, I think that about every passing year of my life, only on reflection can I sort out the better years.
In the past couple of days I took pictures for my visa picture, started successfully Skyping, was lice/louse checked, and even braved the public transportation system to go out this Saturday. Sadly, I can’t focus on any of those breakthroughs because I have to go shopping for black trousers, black dresses, black tights and ancient old black hats. The reason for the wardrobe change is that I am in mourning. In mourning for my computer. I refuse to have the mac versus pc argument now, but I am currently using a beautiful mac book pro which now has a new outfit change as well. It now carries a dent on its left speaker. A miniscule dent, a harmless dent, but a dent nonetheless.
I can say no more on this tragic matter. Requiem in Pacem.
Well, the dog days have come at last. Yes, Italy is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but I’m beginning to think that this year might be the best and worst year of my life. Then again, being young, I think that about every passing year of my life, only on reflection can I sort out the better years.
In the past couple of days I took pictures for my visa picture, started successfully Skyping, was lice/louse checked, and even braved the public transportation system to go out this Saturday. Sadly, I can’t focus on any of those breakthroughs because I have to go shopping for black trousers, black dresses, black tights and ancient old black hats. The reason for the wardrobe change is that I am in mourning. In mourning for my computer. I refuse to have the mac versus pc argument now, but I am currently using a beautiful mac book pro which now has a new outfit change as well. It now carries a dent on its left speaker. A miniscule dent, a harmless dent, but a dent nonetheless.
I can say no more on this tragic matter. Requiem in Pacem.
Italian Songs
September 15, 2010 Day 20
Today was quite the fiasco. I wanted to catch the 7:40 bus, my mother woke me up right before 7, and after I had eaten and dressed I lay down again, as my bus stop is a 3 -minute walk away. Of course that turned into a nap, which turned into my sleeping until 8:45. Having missed the 7:40, and the 8:20 I reluctantly waited until the 9:20. God, how stupid I was today…
On top of that, my Latin dictionary refuses to download, and I haven’t finished that essay for English. I barely trust myself with the internet, my willpower is practically zero.
The better part of today was Signora Tuzi handing out lyrics to Mondo, a lovely song by Cesare Cremonini. How many times did we hear that song? Probably three times, not counting the number of times we sang it. In my video today I mentioned that my blog posts are condensed versions of my journal. That’s mostly the truth, though today is an exception, as I think this post is longer than what I wrote today, short as it is.
Buona sera,
Thalia
Today was quite the fiasco. I wanted to catch the 7:40 bus, my mother woke me up right before 7, and after I had eaten and dressed I lay down again, as my bus stop is a 3 -minute walk away. Of course that turned into a nap, which turned into my sleeping until 8:45. Having missed the 7:40, and the 8:20 I reluctantly waited until the 9:20. God, how stupid I was today…
On top of that, my Latin dictionary refuses to download, and I haven’t finished that essay for English. I barely trust myself with the internet, my willpower is practically zero.
The better part of today was Signora Tuzi handing out lyrics to Mondo, a lovely song by Cesare Cremonini. How many times did we hear that song? Probably three times, not counting the number of times we sang it. In my video today I mentioned that my blog posts are condensed versions of my journal. That’s mostly the truth, though today is an exception, as I think this post is longer than what I wrote today, short as it is.
Buona sera,
Thalia
domenica 3 ottobre 2010
A More Patriotic Entry
September 11, 2010
Day 16
I’ve never been out of the country on the anniversary of 9/11/01. Remembering the day gave me, and the Americans I was with, a real sense of patriotism. In this strange environment we 47 minors lose a real sense of who we are. Here we’re trying to lose our sense of identity, doing our best to blend into the Italian way of life, sharing their pride their hometown, learning their traditions and assimilating into our new families. September 11th is a bona fide, albeit harsh, reminder to us all that we are Americans, that on this day, almost a decade ago, we were all receiving the horrifying news that people we didn’t and would never know wanted to hurt us.
I was, and still am, woefully ignorant of how this news was received in other countries. In America even the younger children know the importance of this day, people who escaped the plane by pure luck or circumstance sigh in relief that they escaped a terrible, if heroic, death, and families who lost people weep and receive extra pity on this day. However, when we hear of bombings in other countries, we frown and sigh and spend an extra five minutes at breakfast repeating how sad it is. We might even bring it up to discuss in a history class, but ask us on the anniversary of that bombing 9 full years later and we would all be hard pressed to recall the significance of the day.
As I was chatting with Maya, she mentioned that she will soon turn 18, and in Afghanistan there is a girl who will turn 18 on the same day as her. When they have both reached this age of maturity the most horrific thing my American thing has “experienced” heard about and been within 1000 miles of, will be the bombing of the twin towers on September 11th. She then said that the Afghani girl will have gone through so much more. Her life will have been filled with much more tragedy, and that that fact alone belittles her own sorrows.
X
Thalia
PS. The thing I did that I referenced in my video is actually very hard to guess if that video is the only thing you have, so I will give a hint on here: I walked away from it with both more and less.
I think I’ll continue hinting until someone gets it, either here on the blog or on the video.
Restrictions
September 9, 2010
Day 14
If normal circumstances applied I’d be a bad blogger, having had no prior existence and writing highly unedited, occasionally vulgar posts without a regular schedule. However, nothing about my current circumstances is normal.
IT is currently 3:29 AM, Queen is blasting in the background, I’m in a foreign country, and I’m only awake because I was woken up by intense stomach pains, (an impressive feat, I'm probably the world's deepest sleeper) and felt nauseous for a couple hours. So…. the culmination of these events and situations brings you this blog! Of course, 'twould generally be bad when a daily blogger misses not one but five days, but as NONE of them are posted as I am writing this, when you read them, you can read them continuously, experiencing my past fortnight in one sitting of a few hours or less.
You know how you can read the comic in the newspapers? You get to read a new one every week, and if it’s not amusing you merely sigh and wait for the next week’s issue. However, if you’re patient you can buy or borrow a full book of the comics, giving yourself the wonderful and terrible power of whipping through months and years of artistic effort in a few minutes. This is how I view this blog. The entries aren’t perfect by any means, but you can see all of them and if one isn’t not interesting, ignore it and move on to something that happened as much as two weeks earlier or later.
So no, I will not apologise for my lapse because I didn’t assign myself requirement as a precaution and additionally because you wouldn’t even have known unless I told you, I could have blatantly lied and claimed that this post was no more than the next day, Day 10. It would have been all the same as you spent 30 seconds scanning my blog, and you could have lived a perfectly happy life without knowing the truth. In fact, studies show that people who haven’t read all my blog posts have gone on to lead perfectly healthy normal lives.
Wait? What was that? Oh yeah! I’ve literally typed three paragraphs about my own blog, without putting any actual information in here. Today I went on a quest to find Pocket Coffee, only to fail miserably and be depressingly uncaffeinated. Hey, speaking of caffeine (or lack thereof), tomorrow's going to be HELL.
(Narrator’s voice announces “many hours later…”)
Ahoy! It’s 10:35 pm now. My dire prediction proved to be…completely true. Morning was awful, worsened by the twinges of nausea I felt throughout the day. However, the day was enjoyable as a whole. I spent a pleasant 47 minutes studying Latin during a period filled by Ancient History every other day, and I walked around the city for almost three hours after school, something that is rapidly becoming a habit. (This is all part of my grand scheme to be able to navigate from my house to the school by Christmas by the way).
I have an Art History field trip tomorrow. I’m not particularly excited for another field trip, but I feel like it would be akin to a sin if I went to Italy and didn’t study Art History.
X
Thalia
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