Okay, I'm alive. Just in case anyone was worried.
It is currently 9:00 PM in Sardinia and I'm about as tired as I've ever been. It's been about 31 hours since I've had any real sleep, so I'll be eating dinner soon with my amazing host parents Luciano and Marie and then going to bed. The flight stuff over was no problem, I met Kenneth in Seattle, and we had the same flights from there all the way to Cagliari. No major problems with the travel, but it was very very tiring. My big fancy Rotary jacket proved its purpose several times today. Kenneth instantly recognized me by it, and I was stopped by one other Outbound Rotary student and three adult Rotarians who wanted to say hi and wish me well. Once we finally got to Sardinia, Kenneth and I started freaking out over how epic the island was. It's pretty sweet, there's a 10k beach just a kilometer or so from our house, and my school is even closer. My Italian is as rough as I expected it to be, but communication so far hasn't been a problem. I've gotten by with a really messed up amalgam of Spanish, English and Italian.
Sardinia itself is just breathtaking. The beach is incredible, and the people are so warm. Everything is smaller, in Italy, the streets, the cars, the houses, the people, everything is smaller compared to America. It'll take some getting used to, but should be a lot of fun. My first few hours here my parents drove me around Cagliari showing me the sights and trying to get me familiar with the city. Tomorrow we'll be going around to meet some of Ludo's friends and hopefully get me into the social life of Italy. I think there will be things i'm going to miss here in Italy.
When I went to the supermarket with Marie, I asked for milk, and she got a type of milk designed to stay at room temperature for a couple weeks without going bad. She looked at me funny when I requested the kind that would go bad in less than one. (I don't think I'll be having my fill like I did in America.) Gotta find something else then. I also came into Italy with the expectation of having no piano for me to play on and no guitar either, as I left both of mine at home. Ludo however left her guitar here and has a small electric keyboard that I can utilize, that should help a bunch with homesickness and things. And that is the sum of my first day in Italy. It's tough. But I'm sure my Italian will really start to improve and things will get easier from here on out.
Ciao!!
Ciao Caleb. I'm happy that you arrived in Italy safely. I was so surprised to receive the blog address from your mom, because I must have misunderstood, thinking that you weren't leaving until October..! (I thought how odd that was not starting school in September...). I know that every day will be a little better as far as speaking and understanding is concerned. Don't fret too much about it at this point. Our Taiwanese young man arrived on August 28th, but I haven't as yet met him, because we were on a voyage to Poland, a very beautiful country. I hope to meet Jerry this coming week, since I'm the YEO of my Rotary club. Have you started school as yet? And oh, by the way, in France, one can purchase pasturized milk which can sit on the shelf for a few months UNOPENED, but once opened it must be in the fridge, or regular milk that will go bad in a few days if not used. The pasturized milk is good and we use it most of the time. I'm not sure if that is the same as what you described. buona notte il mio amico. Win Cormier
ReplyDeleteMy comment above used the wrong ID, an old one when I was the Team leader for a Rotary GSE. I've changed it to us my aim name: wincormier.
ReplyDeleteCaleb,
ReplyDeleteThe island sounds amazing! What an experience to be living by a beach. Yeah the milk is completely different over there. And the eggs. But you'll get used to it. Don't stress about your Italian it will come with time. If you ever need to talk or have any question contact me on Skype.
Alecia