giovedì 23 maggio 2013

SEWARD, AK

If you ever want to go to see whales, orcas, dolphins, sea otter and other wild sea animals, Seward is where you wanna go!
I went there last weekend and I had a blast... 6 hours of a sea life cruise and I saw animals I thought I could never see in my life because too wild and too big, but, I ALASKA YOU CAN! :D
The first day we went there we didn't see too many sea animals and we also had to go back because the engine of the boat burnt eheh...
The days after we booked the cruise again and THIS time was the right one!!! Whales, orcas, sea otthers, stellar sea lions, dolphins, seals..... it was ah-mazing!!!! You should definitely try it once in your life! :)
Plus, while we were driving from anchorage to seward, the view was gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!
Trees everywhereanimals everywhere, sunshine... the PERFECT LIFE <3

Bear survival!

Two posts for two different occasions today! Sweet!
Guys, I think I have an angel right by my side... yesterday evening I wanted to walk home instead of driving but my friends insisted so much that I gave up and jumped in the car. After they dropped me off, on their way home, what do they see? A MAMA BLACK BEAR crossing the street with three cubs... That means that I should have fought back if she decided to attack me 'cause she felt threatened! Sometimes I think I am a lucky Italian girl in Alaska. This just made my day, no more walks in Alaska, I promise!
That's pretty scary isn't it?!

Farewell Party, 8 Days till I'll be Home!

You guuys! It's always so much fun to update this blog! It's crazy to realize how many people want to know what I'm up to and my thoughts in this last period of time in the amazing Alaska... Such a beautiful state! :)
So.. First of all; today we have our farewell party. The group of exchange students decided that graduation wasn't the right place to say goodbye to our closest friends, so we decided to have a party here at our house and have fun :) It's gonna be so hard to say goodbye to my friends, even because I don't realize that I have to leave in a week and I won't have a chance to see them again. But that's why we're having a party, to make it seem funner! :P
In 8 days I'll be home... Well... I am truly excited to see my family and friends again, to spend a little time in my cozy and new looking house, taste again those amazing dishes and start with a new beginning... But at the same time I feel like Alaska gave me so much.. I think it's a land that can speak by showing the green of the trees, the fresh air, the wild animals, the Northern Lights... It's alive in its own way and I can't forget how much this views helped me throughout my year... Alaska is just like a creature... So extreme that pushes you to understand that this world is big and it's crazy!
I asked the universe to see places like this for years and years and it seemed like I couldn't have a chance to see it in my early life... But it was just a matter of time.. It was moving things to that I could have had to see such places. :) Keep dreaming guys, keep doing the right stuff to chase your dreams, go towards them, they are not as far as you think they are: YOU ARE YOUR DREAMS, I learned it this year and you will as well. :)
I truly feel so much blessed you have no idea... This experience, this place, this year will be in my heart forever. :)
Love you alllll

mercoledì 15 maggio 2013

Graduation Day!

Here we are guys, I have been waiting for this moment for about 2 years! GRADUATION day is today!
Everything is almost ready and I feel like today is gonna be Great! :) Right now it's 9am and the plan for this morning is to get my hair curled a little bit, put my make up on and put my dress on. Around 12 we should go to Mag's and Mark's house cause we are having a lunch there before leaving for graduation... I cook the Riso in Insalata for an army basically and I'm gonna cook special eggs once there. Mag and Marta are preparing spiedini to do on the grill! Mag's parents arrived two days ago but I just met his mother and she is nice and looks truly like him ahahah they're twins!
I tried the gown a week ago and it's HUMONGOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I look like a trash bag.... But, oh well, I guess I have to live with it! :)
Guys, I'm sorry if the text is not smooth but I'm both in a rush and excited :)
Graduation day starts at 7pm but we have to be there an hour and  a half earlier!!! :)
I AM SOOOOO EXCITED!
I am more exited for graduation than I was for prom, believe meeeee :)
Wohoooo Guys, I am going to curl my hair and follow my schedule...
Plus, yesterday afternoon I was so tired that I slept 3 hours and last night I did not sleep at all, bummer...
byyyeeeeeee Love y'alll ... You're the best <3 <3 <3

venerdì 10 maggio 2013

LAST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL! :) :(

Hey guys, the last day of school has come and today, after the first two periods I won't be part of this school anymore. I am kinda happy cause it's still school and that means no more waking at 6.00 am, but at the same time I will miss these school and these teachers so much! South is amazing..
Today I took a picture with the school bus and the bus driver to remember the mornings I hated for the entire stay but that now are such sweet memories. This has been my home, where I met all of my friends...
Since it's the last day of school, we are gonna have 2 periods and then graduation rehearsal  and then: DOOOONE! High school musical style! Kaylee, a friend of ours, is gonna drive us to Moose's tooth to eat for lunch and then we are going home cause it's the last day I have the chance to see my host mother again; we are leaving tomorrow to go camping for the weekend and she is leaving for Ireland on Sunday. So after this afternoon we'll leave just with Dwight who is going to work all the time but at least we are going to Seward with him and while he'll be hiking, Marta and I are going to do a SEA LIFE CRUISE in Seward, a very small town in the Kenai Peninsula! :) We are so excited cause we'll have the chance to see gray whales and Orcas! :D Isn't it truly exciting?!?!?! :D
All in all there is the bad and the good in everything!
Guys, I am going to enjoy this Last Day of High School because it's gonna be such an amazing memory. I can't even explain how it will be hard thinking about this exchange year once at home, it will be in my little and big heart for as long as I am alive.
I hope you're enjoying the days of sun, but Alaska is trying to give us some too ahahah
Remember to ask questions if you have any, I am always willing to answer! :)
Bye Bye. This is the last post from South's Computer Lab!

giovedì 9 maggio 2013

The amazing Danish hottie

Hey Italy!
I just wanted to say hey to all of you, I can't wait to visit Italy again!
I want to go to Rome next time i come, I have only visited Bibione and Venezia and I loved it!
I can't wait to go there and eat Italian food haha!

My name is Magnus, I'm 17 yars old and I'm from Denmark.
I'm living in Alaska and I'm really good friends with Gaia.
In only one week my parent will come here, and Gaia will have to talk Danish - She needs to practice!

Next summer I'll come to Italy if Gaia has the time to host me haha :D
Sandra, Marta, Mark, Gaia and I want to do a Europe trip and we want to go to Italy as our first stop!
I really want to visit Milano - The capital of FASHION! Wuhuuuuu can't wait!

It's so hard to live in Alaska, they don't have any discos, they don't have Ikea, they don't have fashion and they don't have any good shops.. And they have cold weather haha! If i didn't have Gaia and the other exchange students I would be so depressed haha!

BUT I have to go to Student Government now, sooooooooooo.... HAVE FUN

BYE  :-)


Last day of school tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the last day of school guys... It's gonna be so sad to say goodbye to South, I love this school so freaking much! Yesterday the Spanish teacher, who I'm an aide for, gave me a water bottle and a letter... It was so sad, she is such an amazing person! That woman has to face a terrible loss, but she is doing a really great job.
Today basically I have all the finals that I have to take this semester... Next period I have a film as literature test, then U.S. Government and then again Chemistry... It's gonna be a long day but I'll do my best :)
Yesterday my exchange sister and I packed a lot of stuff and it looks like we can actually pack everything... my hand luggage is so heavy that you can't even imagine! ahahah it's so funny...
This weekend we are going four wheeling and camping!!!! It's gonna be so much fuuuuuun!!!!
Bye Love Bugs =) 

lunedì 6 maggio 2013

Yearbook!

And finally, like in every American movie, I have my yearbook too!!!
For those who don't know what a yearbook is, I'll try to explain it and I'm sure you've heard it before from movies.. The yearbook is the huge book that has pictures of all the students, staff and team of the school. The students themselves can take the yearbook class and work about it the entire year, from the inside to the outside. This year's yearbook is WAY prettier than the past ones because it's really simple outside but modern in the inside. Usually people use the yearbook to let friends write in it and I have to be honest, I love what people wrote in mine, I think I couldn't get better friends! It's crazy how people who I talk to but don't hang out with wrote such sweet things! It's true that I always want to be nice to people, but still... :) I am really thankful. My pictures turned out better than I expected and this year for the first time at South we have an EXCHANGE STUDENT PAGE!!! :D It's really exciting! The reason why we had one this year is that we are friends with one of the guys in charge of the yearbook and he loved us so much that he wanted us to have a page. This is what he personally wrote: " Imagine leaving your home, your family, and your friends for an entire year to go not just anywhere, but to Anchorage, Alaska.  That's exactly what nine of South's own foreign exchange students did this year.  They packed up their things, got on a plane to the United States, and prepared to brave the cold- each with their own expectations, fears, and hopes.  During their year here there were definitely rough patches and struggles, with the language and cultural barrier presenting a challenge at first.  Many of them claimed that they missed the food and the warmer weather of their respective home countries.  Compared to below freezing temperatures starting in September who can blame them?  As they adjusted to the American culture, however, they began to experience things they never could've imagined.  Gaia Quinto, from Italy, was "surprised that I could get eaten by a bear", and Blanca Icaza, a Junior from Spain, found that "teachers are so nice here".  Despite the obvious hills and valleys, South's exchange students found a pleasurable environment in a totally alien setting."

ISN'T IT AWESOME?!?!?!
Thank you Travis for this amazing page! It's very very cooooool!

We made another video for film as Lit! We had to make a video for a song at our choice and guess what we chose? MULAN! I'll make a man out of you! It sucks to hard that I cannot put the videos on Internet and show you guys but trust me that is really funny ahah

I hope all of you guys are doing okay and that Italy doesn't bother you so much.

Oh I forgot.... We had the "goodbye" orientation two days ago that should prepare us to come back to our different lives and handle the reverse cultural shock. If you think that the exchange student experience ends taking the airplane back to Europe, you're wrong. After you lived here a year and you learned so many things, you adapted yourself to the food and lifestyle of another country, learned what your dreams are and learned that you're strong enough to pursue them.... You have to come back and put in practice what you learned and make your old life like the one that you want to live. And at first everything will be different again and we won't recognize the place anymore... So we have to wait a couple of months and then everything will be normal again. That's why who's an exchange student is an exchange student forever, because experiencing and adapting yourself to new things is something that happens billions of times in your life. :) We should look for changes and challanges and see how much we can push ourselves. If it's easy it's not challenging you enough, if it's hard, then you get something out of it.  That's a fact! :)

Now I have to go but I hope everything is okay, I added a page where you can ask questions, feel free!
Bye! Positive attitude! :)