Featured Post

WHO AM I?

My sister is going to be an exchange student VIDEO

 Hi everyone,

this post is gonna be a little bit different bc I just wanted to share the fact that my sister is going to be an exchange student in America, just like me and I'm so happy and proud of her. I'm happy I had set a good example for her, or at least I hope so, since she decided to go for it with no hesitations. 

It literally was the best experience of my entire life, so if you got the possibility to do it, please, do it! You won't regret, trust me! You learn so much from it, and I'm not just talking about learning how to speak English bc that is a very small part of it. It's more about all the things that people that have never and will never be exchange students will never understand. 

It's all the feelings, excitement, sadness, happiness, worries, fear, interest, curiosity, and so much more. 

It's all the new people you will meet that will support you no matter what, but also the people that may not understand your way of thinking and may make you question yourself. 

It's all the new things you are able to do, to see and to try. 

It's all the challenges that you will have to face head-on and that will make you grow up so much. 

It's the possibility to understand who you really are and who you really wanna be. 

It's the chance to change, to realize so many things, to wonder about life, but also to have doubts, to feel lonely and to be scared bc it is not just the positive things that make you who you are, but also the hard moments in your life. You just need to get passed them, look at them with a smile and move on, ready for something new bc you literally never stop learning.

It's literally so much, so you will probably feel overwhelmed, but it's all good, it's normal and it's beautiful. I would do it again thousands and thousands times bc I've never learnt so many things in that short amount of time about myself, others and the world like I did in those 10 months. So don't let anyone or anything get in the way, and if you have the possibility, go, write that email, start your application, fly to meet your new family, your new host town, your new friends, your new life, and come back like the best version of yourself.

I can't wait to see how many things my sister will be able to experience and see, and how much she will grow in the next 10 months😍

Oh and if you wanna see her last week in Italy, I posted a video on my YouTube Channel. Here's the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSMvvjNjhg

 


American slang VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just uploaded a video where I tell you the most common American slang. Hope it'll be helpful. It's pretty short, so you got no excuse haha. 


American abbreviations (while talking) & some sayings VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just uploaded a video where I tell you the most common American abbreviations (while talking) and some American sayings. Hope it'll be helpful. It's pretty short, so you got no excuse haha. 

Exchange student tag 4 (our favorite memory) VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just uploaded the third part of the exchange student tag with three other exchange students: Arianna who stayed in Australia for 6 months, Anna who stayed in America for 6 months and Sara who stayed in America for 10 months, so you should go check it out. We talked about our favorite food, our favorite place to eat, our favorite place to go shopping and our favorite memory. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Exchange students' feelings + culture shock

Hi everyone,
so before leaving, I wrote this post that I never posted (idk why), so there it is. I hope it'll be helpful to you.

As you probably all know, an exchange student feels so many different feelings and she/he may also discover new ones during her/his exchange year.
At the orientation, the women of the association tried to explain to us the different fellings we may feel through a plan.
This is the the plan and the two red lines are the moment when you arrive in your host country and the moment when you leave.
Warnin! It's not the same for all the exchange students because every exchange student is different.
  1. When you first arrive you may be super happy and excited to be in your host country doing what you have always dreamt about
  2. Then you may start to have good and bad days, so the black line goes down
  3. Then there is the culture shock when you start realizing all the differences between your host country and your home countries, the good ones, but also the bad ones. A basic example may be that in America most of the people own guns, or the fact that they are way more patriotic than every other country haha. So it may be hard to get used to some things.
  4. After that there may be the period when you start doing what Americans do, live how they live and act like they act, so it may seem like you got used to everything and you're cool with everything
  5. Then you may start thinking about your home country and start noticing all the differences again. This is usually around Christmas period which is usually the time of the year that you've always spent with your family, so it may be hard
  6. After that period tho, it'll all be fine. You are already used to everything, you can now speak English fluently and you can understand everything, you've made strong friendships, you're confident and you're happy. Plus, the weather is getting better, so there's more things to do and there's prom and graduation if you go to America
  7. The last mood change in your host country, we'll be during the last month. You'll be happy to see everyone from your home country again, but on the other side it'll be the end of an amazing journey that made you grow into the person you became, so it'll hard to let that go
  8. Once you're home, you'll first be happy. Everyone is happy to see you and you're happy to see everyone, but when your routine will start back again, there'll be the reverse culture shock. You'll probably feel like nobody understands you and it probably feel like you're home because your heart is now divided into 2 places, so yea it'll be hard
  9. But at the end you'll find your ways to cope with everything!

American texting abbreviations VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just uploaded a video where I tell you the most common texting abbreviations that Americans use. Hope it'll be helpful. It's pretty short, so you got no excuse haha. 

Exchange student tag 3 (high school) VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just uploaded the third part of the exchange student tag with three other exchange students: Arianna who stayed in Australia for 6 months, Anna who stayed in America for 6 months and Sara who stayed in America for 10 months, so you should go check it out. We talked about high school, sports and clubs. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Exchange student tag 2 (homesickness) VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just uploaded the second part of the exchange student tag with three other exchange students: Arianna who stayed in Australia for 6 months, Anna who stayed in America for 6 months and Sara who stayed in America for 10 months, so you should go check it out. We talked about homesickness, about weird questions we got asked, and many more things. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Exchange student tag (different experiences) VIDEO

Hi guys,
I just posted a video on my YouTube channel and this is the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EXigi0H4jc
It is an exchange student question tag I did with 3 others exchange students: Arianna who stayed in Australia for 6 months, Anna who stayed in America for 6 months and Sara who stayed in America for 10 months. I've decided to do it with other exchange students, so you could see how unique every experience is and how you should not compare your experience to anyone else's.

The questions we answered to are:
  1. Introduce yourself
  2. Where did you spend your exchange year/semester? For how long? And why?
  3. What is your host family like?
  4. What is your host town like?
  5. What do you miss the most about your host country?
I have recordered like 10 more videos that I'll be uploading these next weeks, so make sure to check my Youtube channel!

British words that nobody in America uses VIDEO

Hi guys,
I'm finally on spring break and that means I have more time to record videos and to write on my blog. Yesterday I recorded 4 videos for youtube, so make sure to check my channel every day, watch them, and leave a like. 
As of now I've published one of them in which I say 12 words that they have always taught me at school,  but that nobody uses in America. (I also added the Italian traslation in case you're Italian and you don't know the meaning of those words.) 
I think it will help you a lot during your exchange year. I literally wish I knew these words before going to America haha so you're welcome!
Here's the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17or-lqfr08 
Hope you enjoy it!


Why did I wanna be an exchange student VIDEO

Hi guys,
I've uploaded a video on my YouTube channel about my decision to become an exchange student. In the video I talk about what made me decide, when I decided and when I talked to my parents, why I chose to go to America, and why I decided to do the 10 months program. So if you are interested, you should go watch it and subscribe because I'll be posting some more videos about my exchange year during next weeks. This is the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy0DrMzBhuw
Hope you enjoy it and hope you have a great day!

My morning routine || exchange student VIDEO

Hi everyone,
I have uploaded a video on YouTube that shows my morning routine from when I wake up to when I have my last class at school (even though it is more like afternoon since my last class ends at 2:15 pm lol).
In the video, I'm taking the bus to go to school, even though most of the time my friend Kyla drives me, so I'm able to sleep a little longer.
So, yea enjoy the video lol: https://youtu.be/CzcSzTtZYI4

Proud of Italy

Hi everyone,
today I feel like writing an appreciation post about Italy. I'm just so tired of people always saying how great America is and how perfect everything is in America, so I just wanted to give some credits to Italy, even though Italians are not as patriotic as the Americans. Plus, nowadays, given that Italy has a lot of people infected because of the coronavirus, a lot of countries in Europe are talking bad about us, as if we wanted to have the coronavirus spreading here.

So, Ima start off telling you guys something that I've actually experienced like a month ago and I'll probably never forget.
Since November 2019, I have been volunteering at the place where they help people ineed giving them food or a little bit of money if they are actually really struggling, but they also help people on the psychological people. They talk to help to make them feel like they are not alone, they listen to them and to problems they may have, and they try to change their pessimistic mood in a positive and optimistic mood. I just think that it is amazing!
My job is basically to help the older volunteers with what they need: I either give food, print some papers, write down things, or also listen to the people that come in. It sometimes may be a little bit sad, but these people can actually teach you a lot.
Back to the my story I wanted to tell that is about two different families...
The first one is made of the mom and two little daughters, one is 3 and the other one is 11 years old and she has cancer (it is not the worst scenario of cancer, but she still has it inside her). They are really poor. The second family is made of the dad and a little kid that needs to go to the hospital sometimes to get shots. They got in Italy a couple of months ago with basically no money and he has not found a solid job yet.
So they both need some sort of treatment, but they are both extremely poor. What made me really think was that both of the parents, who do not have money, can still cure their kids, thanks to the free healthcare that Italy has. Plus, they also said that, even though that is probably the only thing that is going good in their lives, they are happy for their kids. That made me smile so hard, even though that is super sad. 
That was probably one of the first time, I was actually happy to live here. I finally saw something that is actually working in Italy and that all Italians should be  feel lucky and proud to have.

So, I'm not saying that Italy is the best country ever because there are many things that do not work here, I'm just saying that people besides bragging about their own country should learn about the others because every country has something that works better than others.

I really believe that no country is better than the others, they are just DIFFERENT.
Like if you were to ask me if I prefer America or Italy, I actually wouldn't know what to say because in both of them there are things that I like and things I don't like.

Well, this is just my thought and you are free to agree or disagree :)

YOUTUBE CHANNEL?

Hi everyone,
I finally opened a YouTube channel today!😂
I've always wanted one, but, you know, I was scared of people's judgements.
However, as of now, I don't really care what others may think, so Ima try to do something as cool as I can haha. I don't even know if I'll keep posting videos or if the channel will kinda die like the the blog did last year lol. At least the intro is out, so if you wanna go check it out, this is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5lHhQNmSAQ.
The videos I have in mind to record will all probably be about travelling (since I'm going to Germany and I'm going back to America this year), about my life (basically videos with my friends), and ofc my experience in America (so advice, story time and things you should know before you leave your home country lol).
So, yea, we'll see how that is gonna go😂
Hope you guys have a good day!

I’m back and better

Hi everyone,
It’s been awhile since I wrote on this blog. The last time I talked about my exchange experience was almost a year ago. That’s crazy! I’m really sorry for not updating my blog, but I literally couldn’t find time to write between friends, school, soccer practices and games, host family, and church.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the post about my 2019 because I really needed to take it all out of me. It was a very intense year, both in a positive and in a negative way. Well, now I’m back again because I’ve been missing this blog so much, I just really like writing things down so I don’t forget and writing feelings down, so everything becomes clearer in my mind lol.
You're probably wondering what I'll write about since I'm not in America anymore. Well, last year, even if I stopped updating my blog, I still kept taking notes on my phone on what I wanted to write, so I’ll probably write some posts about the things I didn’t have time to write about last year. Plus, I’ll write about the being back in Italy part, and the “I’m going back to America this summer” part. Yeeees, that’s right, I’M GOING BACK TO AMERICA and I literally can’t wait!!! I'm so freaking excited to see everyone again!! I miss it all so much!
And one more thing, after I had been thinking about opening a YouTube channel for like more than a year, I think I'm really going to do it, so I'll add the link on here as soon as I post a video, so you better go check it out😅
Ok, ima go now. I'm glad to be back. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

My moody 2019

2019 was the hardest year of my life. It was full of happiness, sadness, excitement, stress, mental breakdowns, tiredness, and literally so many more feelings. It was moodiest year ever.

At the beginning of the year, I was in America and I had been there since August of the year before, so I already had my American life all set. I really felt like the luckiest girl in the world because I literally had everything I had ever wanted. I had the best friends ever and I kept meeting more and more new people every day, I had good grades in all my classes, I was challenging myself trying out for soccer, I had the nicest boyfriend ever, and I was super confident. Plus, I had so many attentions on me and everyone would always ask me questions and talk to me because I was “the girl from Italy with a cute accent” (I’ve actually learnt to like my accent because it made me different in a good way haha). I was just the happiest all the time. Everything was so perfect😍


Around April and May, I started to realize that I had to go back soon and that was a really hard period. I just didn’t wanna leave everything and everyone and go back to my old town, my old school, and basically my old life. 

In May, I had the best day of my life: PROM. I’d literally never felt so good about myself like that day and I had never had so much fun. I got ready with my friends that are so amazing, I was wearing a dress I loved, Katie did the best make up for me, everyone asked me to take pictures (I took so many pictures haha), and after getting some caffeine in, it was actually time for the actual prom. We got in, and everyone was just so pretty and fancy. It was so different from a night at the club like we are used to here in Italy, it was way different, but way better. After saying hi to everyone that was there, we danced for the whole time we were there and it was so fuuun! I’ve never thought dancing would be that fun before that day. After a couple of hours, it was time to go home and get ready for the after prom. I’ve literally thought I was in a movie, walking out the place with this pretty long dress, the makeup all done (and knowing how long it took me to get ready lol), his jacket on my shoulders heading to the car. Then we went to the after prom and once we got there, we played games until like 3 in the morning and I laughed so muuuuch😍😂


(I just lived that day again just writing about it, and I miss America so much haha)

Ok, let’s get back to what we were talking about…

The end of May was the most stressful period because I had to pack everything, get my grades from school, get presents to bring home, send a package to Italy and most important I had to hang out with everyone as much as I could before going back. So, after crying a couple of times (maybe three or four) and after graduating, I had a week left. The last days were pretty weird because I had already done all the crying and I had already realized I had to go back, so I hang out with all my friends for the last time, I said “see you soon” to everyone, and I got on the plane.
The last day, my host dad got me a large coffee from dunkin (my favorite) and then we drove up to Chicago. While I was in the car, I was looking at every detail of that town bc I didn’t wanna forget anything and in that moment I completely realized I was leaving fr😭


The first month back home was even weirder tho. I didn’t know how to speak Italian anymore and I literally had a headache for a week or two bc I had to focus so much on understanding and talking in a way that people could understand what I was tryna say. The summer wasn’t too bad, I got to see all my friends again and hang out with them, I got to celebrate my 18th birthday and I got to go to the mountains. I was missing America so much tho. I remeber staying up until 3 am just to talk to my American friends bc of the different time zone lol😬

In September I had my exam for which I’d studied all summer, but I wasn’t very nervous about it. As soon as I got in that room tho with eleven teachers looking at me and asking me questions about 11 different classes, I remembered what anxiety is and I literally forgot all I had studied, but it is all good (as long as I don’t have to do it again) haha.

Then school started and regardless of how much I studied my grades dropped in comparison to the year before America.
Besides school, I started studying for the theory driving test and that got me so stressed since you gotta study so many boring things before passing it lol.
Besides driving lessons, my parents started stressing me about college and I literally had no clue what I wanted to do.
Everything and everyone was basically stressing me out, and my mood didn’t help. I still couldn’t adjust and the only thing I could think of was "I wish I was in America" or "this place sucks". I literally couldn’t be happy because I wanted to be the person I was in America, but I couldn’t because as I had to adjust when I went to America, I had to adjust here in Italy. I had to find myself here and create my life here again as I did in America. It took me a while to realize that adjusting didn’t mean “letting America go” bc I’m still the same person.

It sounds really weird and I don’t really know how to explain it bc I don't even know what was going on in my head lol but just try to be openminded while reading this.

So, as that was said, around the end of November (yea pretty late), I realized I couldn't do anything about not being in America so might as well live my best life here.

In December, I passed my theory driving test, which didn’t let me sleep the night before, and a burden was finally taken away from me. I was so happy! Then Christmas, my favorite holiday ever, got here and to end this year right, I did new year’s eve with my friends💥


2019 started really good and ended really good. It was just a big mess during the summer and the fall, but we got that taken care of, so happy ending:)