It grows evermore closer to the departure date, and I have mixed feelings. I do want to go home and be with my family and friends, but I would rather that I could come back. However, I can’t. Life goes on outside of the town of Sansepolcro and I have responsibilities to attend to.
This week has been much like any other, filled with classes and studies. I still feel as though I am learning the Italian language much slower than all of my other classmates. The stress coming with the ending of the semester is mounting. I hope I don’t crack under all of the pressure.
Monday, I resumed work and tried to concentrate. We received the results for the practice exam. I have started packing already. I hope that it will all fit into my suitcases. On Wednesday, Gianna and I made our way to the bus station to meet our host mother. We found her car and went to her house. That night we made pizza and we spoke in both Italian and English. The other people at the table this time were Nara, Angela, Libero, Francesca and Jane. They are all very funny and very nice. I am thankful that they were chosen to be my host family.
On Thursday, we were given a take-home practice exam. I think it looks much simpler than the exam she gave us the week before. That evening we had a farewell dinner for Bekkah. Apparently, the lady at the pizzeria did not believe Hannah and Sam when they asked for seven pizzas. I found this to be quite funny. Sara came and she brought her children, all three of whom are absolutely adorable. After eating, we played with the children. I threw them in the air and caught them. They seemed to love that game. The children are so affectionate once they get over their shyness. Veronica kept playing with her hat and she wanted to be held. Ginevra was the same way. Both were equally adorable.
After everyone had left, the girls, John Rose and I proceeded into the living room. We played catch phrase for maybe five minutes. We only stopped because John Rose had deemed it unworthy of his time and decided that charades was a much worthier option. What followed after was probably one of the funniest things I will ever see. John Rose proceeded to get down on the ground on all fours, meow, get back up, continue meowing and then he jumped on the table. Apparently he was supposed to be a cat on a hot tin roof. It was purely amazing. We kept the game of charades going, but we soon ran out of ideas and grew bored with the game. My other favorite charade was the one that Sam and Vi did. They had re-enacted a porcupine getting hit by a truck. This was no random dead porcupine though. The star of their charade was a porcupine that the Swab’s had found on the side of the road. Afterwards we watched “13 Going on 30”. This is one of my favorite movies, meaning I can watch it a lot and not get tired of it and that I enjoy it every time I see it. At the end of the movie I was very surprised when I looked over and saw that, not only was John Rose still there, but also he was still awake. The words that issued from his mouth, after the movie, are words that we will quote forever. “Well, that was an amazingly sentimental movie, now wasn’t it?” I don’t think we shall ever forget.
After the movie it was time to go to bed. The next day belonged to service learning, and I had an early start before me. The next day I made my way to the school and met my teacher. My teacher had arranged for me to teach one of the oldest classes in the school. I was to teach them about the American Political system. I thank my stars that I did my research before this class. The students asked some very complex questions, as well as some not-so-complex questions such as “Do you like Twilight?” I laughed, but not in a mean way. I was surprised to find that two of the students were older than I was. One of them was a very cute boy. Maybe I have found my Italian boyfriend that everyone wants me to bring home. I don’t think he would fit in my suitcase though.
The rest of the classes were much the same. I taught them about the history of Thanksgiving and also about my tribe. Next week I was asked to bring a more in-depth lesson, as they are all very interested and this was very spur-of-the-moment. My day was made even better when I was invited to the discoteca by one of my students, Nathalia. I agreed to go and I am very glad that I did. After school, I went home, studied and relaxed.
On Saturday, I woke up fairly early and got on a bus to Arezzo. I had decided that it was going to be a very good day to go to Firenze. I went alone and at first I thought that I had gotten on the wrong train. I didn’t, it was just a train with a disgusting amount of shops. I went Christmas shopping and on my way back I was hit on by a bunch of different Italian men, all of whom believed that I was French, well except for one. This is probably because I had forgotten myself and was about to give my real name to someone that I did not feel was a safe person. I had said “Jenna” and added “Vieve” to it at the very last minute, giving myself the name, Genavieve. It was just one of the mishaps of going to a big Italian city on your own. There was another guy who kept calling me “Honey Green”, because of the color of my skirt. I left Florence and made it back just in time to take a shower before I was to meet Nathalia. That night was very fun and I made four new friends, all of who were very funny and one of whom works with movies. I am going to go see a movie that he made. It is a horror film and I am very excited. Hopefully, I will get all of my papers finished.
On Sunday, I had a lunch with my host family. The Swab’s accompanied us. As usual the food was fantastic. However, I began to feel unwell and did not accompany them to the olive press. I am not sure that I will go tomorrow either. I am not very interested in it, and I have a horrible amount of work that still has to be finished. Well, at least there are only two more weeks before I am home again.
