First Week

Hey everyone! It's been a little more than a week since I last posted something, and I figured it was time to tell you what's been going on so far.

My first week here has been absolutely crazy and I'm pretty sure I've met over 30 people my age that could reasonably be considered my friends. Then there's dozens more that fall in the acquaintance level and all my family. School actually started quite a bit before I thought it was supposed to, and I've been going for three days now. I like it well enough, but my first day of school was my 8th day here. Which is nowhere near enough time to get adjusted to the language or the culture. My classmates are all very kind and helpful, and infinitely curious. We all ask each other questions, and I'm sure Rotary would be very proud of all the cultural education that's been going on, on both sides. I've gone into town on several occasions with several different groups of people and I'm really going to like it here I think. The city center is right out of a movie and it's about as old as anything I've ever encountered. The castle in the very middle is over 1000 years old, and some of the auxiliary structures are even older. It's all been modernized, but it's still quite thought provoking to walk into a coffee shop built into a 1000 year old wall.

And that's another thing. Everyone drinks coffee. All the time. For breakfast and lunch, and maybe a snack. I've started getting used to it I think, but I still don't consume half as much as what the normal person here will drink. Alcohol is a lot less common, but I have sampled with my parents some of the local wines and beers, all very impressive. It also seems that everyone and their mother drives a Fiat, but I guess that's just cause I'm unused to seeing them at home. Saturday night, I went out after school with my fellow exchange students and got to know all them fairly well. A fun group, I think that there's twelve of us, plus a few more outside of rotary. Last night (Sunday) we had a big party on the beach and played volleyball with my exchange student friends and some of Ludovica's band friends I met when I went to a their concert. That was a ton of fun, and I'll probably getting together with some of them later to jam out in their studio. My Italian is really taking off, but it doesn't hold up in a formal setting like school. The teachers talk far to fast and I can't ask them to rephrase like I can when having a one on one conversation with a friend. My math and science teachers are really helpful though and will help me with translation issues. My other teachers don't slow down though, and I'm really starting to doubt if I'll be able to keep up. I think I arrived waaay to late. School started on my 8th day, and I feel that if I'd had more time, I'd be better off. The exchange student here from Argentina -Juan has been here for a little over a month now and still hasn't started school. His Italian is amazing, and he studied about the same as I did before coming over. I'm jealous.

But aside from that, life is going great! My parents are nice and helpful, as well as understanding which is a great help, and I've got a solid group of friends forming. The food is just amazing, but the few times my mom has tried to cook something off her traditional menu for me, it hasn't turned out quite the same. So I'll have to start stepping in and helping out in the kitchen to learn some Italian secrets and show her some American methods. I've been going to the beach a lot and I just can't believe how amazing it is. I'm fairly sure that in the  winter the water will be warmer than anything in Idaho during the summer.

And that's my life in Italy so far!
Questions or comments: leave 'em below. Concerns: not wanted :)

Ciao!
   -Caleb