I thought I would do a run through of my usual schedule to give you an idea of how my time is filled over here.
Generally Marianna (my host sister) and I get up around 6:50 am. I immediately change and head downstairs for a breakfast composed of coffee and and some sort of sweet, most commonly cookies. During this time Marianna has control over the upstairs bathroom. At 7:20 we switch and I head back upstairs to finish getting ready. The aim is to leave the house at 7:40, but we have yet to leave any earlier than 7:45. The result of our delay is some of the craziest driving I have ever experienced in order to make it to school on time.
From 8 am to 1 o'clock I am at school, though occasionally I go in an hour late or leave early due to a teacher being absent (substitute teachers don't exist here). I have 5 classes a day, often with the same class back to back. We stay in the same classroom all day with the teachers rotating. My studies include: History, Literature, Dante, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Programming, Art History, and PE. When I am released from school I am picked up by my host mom and, depending on the schedule of my host sister's school, we pick up Marianna and return home.
As soon as we arrive home we eat lunch, which is the main meal of the day in Italy. The first course is pasta, followed by meat or other foods. The third course is fruit, often grapes, melon, or cactus fruit, and dessert. My host mom is a fantastic cook, so I have a harder time finding foods I don't like than foods I do.
Following lunch is study and rest time. On a usual day I rest for about an hour and then begin attempting to teach myself the lessons from school that day. I translate notes, watch YouTube videos, and try my best to complete homework until I feel I have made my best effort. Some days I have 2 hour Italian lessons with a personal tutor, which leave me quite exhausted for the rest of the night.
This schedule is essentially the same Monday through Saturday, though on Saturdays I go out with Marianna's friends and walk around since we don't have school the next day. Sunday is our one true day of the weekend and we usually go somewhere nearby in the early afternoon and return so Marianna and I can study.
The schedule is a bit demanding, but I know I'll be extremely grateful for two day weekends when I get back the the United States.
Showing posts with label orientation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orientation. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
This is Happening
Today is strange. Today is new and exciting, and maybe a little bit daunting. Today is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. But mostly today is strange, and not in the way that I feel weirded out, but more in that I feel particularly normal.
----
Today was the first day of my gateway orientation in New York City. I said my final goodbyes at around 10 am, and boarded the hotel shuttle to join my fellow exchange students in anxiously waiting to be assigned to the 100 or so hotel rooms reserved for AFS outbound students. Though I received my room key and was introduced to my roomie not long after arriving, almost everyone else who arrived early had to wait for at least two hours in the unusually cold hotel lobby.
Besides a half hour nap before lunch, I spent the majority of my day socializing with the many other kids departing on adventures of their own. There are about 35 kids from the United States being hosted in Italy, and about 400 AFS exchange students being hosted in Italy total. It's nice to be surrounded by people who understand the motivations and the doubts that you have.
My time here so far has seemed a bit like a middle school summer camp: frustrated adults trying to quell the whispers of excited kids while they speak, stale semi-shitty generic foods, and an overload of introductions and get to know you questions. But despite having yet to learn anything exceedingly useful, I have actually enjoyed the small amount to of exchange student life I have experienced thus far. While in a makeshift yoga class tonight, put on by my lovely fellow AFSers Tami and Christina, I was struck by how strangely ordinary it all felt. A room of almost strangers sitting in silence despite the noise filling the neighboring halls.
----
Today was the first day of my gateway orientation in New York City. I said my final goodbyes at around 10 am, and boarded the hotel shuttle to join my fellow exchange students in anxiously waiting to be assigned to the 100 or so hotel rooms reserved for AFS outbound students. Though I received my room key and was introduced to my roomie not long after arriving, almost everyone else who arrived early had to wait for at least two hours in the unusually cold hotel lobby.
Besides a half hour nap before lunch, I spent the majority of my day socializing with the many other kids departing on adventures of their own. There are about 35 kids from the United States being hosted in Italy, and about 400 AFS exchange students being hosted in Italy total. It's nice to be surrounded by people who understand the motivations and the doubts that you have.
My time here so far has seemed a bit like a middle school summer camp: frustrated adults trying to quell the whispers of excited kids while they speak, stale semi-shitty generic foods, and an overload of introductions and get to know you questions. But despite having yet to learn anything exceedingly useful, I have actually enjoyed the small amount to of exchange student life I have experienced thus far. While in a makeshift yoga class tonight, put on by my lovely fellow AFSers Tami and Christina, I was struck by how strangely ordinary it all felt. A room of almost strangers sitting in silence despite the noise filling the neighboring halls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)