Busy Busy Busy!

February 20th, 2020: Ciao ragazzi! The last few days have been crazy packed! School, food, and immigration work has been filling up my time.

School: It is absolutely astounding how much I am learning! It has only been a couple of days but I’ve learned so much. For example, yesterday in class we learned: days of the week, months of the year, seasons, irregular verb conjugations, telling time, greetings by time of day, and plural possessives. Every day when I get home Nonna says: “You learned ALL that today???” I think tomorrow will be my first field trip and I am very excited! In just a week my classmates have changed so much, everyone is here for different periods of time so several people have already left for their homes.

Food: I love food! I have been eating so well here! Lots of people were worried about the options I would find but there are plenty!! Lunch and dinner (il pranzo e la cena) are two plate meals that normally consist of a pasta or rice dish as a first and then a meat or fish with salad. Fruit and gelato are plentiful!

Immigration: This has been the most interesting part of my experience so far! Some miscommunications and a disconnect of information led to Nonna and I running all over the city. We waited in line at the Questura for 4 1/2 hours starting at 630 in morning, but when we got to the front of the line, the man told us we didn’t have to be there. Next we were sent to the Post Office for an appointment but they told us they don’t give out appointments! After that I went to my school and luckily they helped me to fill out an application! It did take us a couple of days to return the application because we waited in line at the Post Office just to find out they don’t accept applications at that post office. The next one was closed in the afternoon but luckily we went to one the following morning and were second in line!

This weekend is going to be pretty exciting! There is a chocolate festival near my school and some other events happening around!