New Experiences

Well, I am back here in Italy once again with a whole new experience. I am living in a house with a family in a whole different area! Orbassano! This is a little city barely outside of Torino and basically still considered part of the city. Instead of being in the actually city center, I would call it the suburbs. Well, so far, so good. It is a family of five, the two parents with three children. They aren't young children either. The youngest is 8, then there is a 10 year old and a 17 year old. The two oldest are girls. Francesca, Giorgia, and then Nicollo. This family is so loving and I am grateful I get to stay with them. The kids are already attached and I have only been here for two weeks! So cute! Their English is very minimal, given one of the main reasons I am here with them. What a great experience for us all really! I noticed on their calendar, they marked the day I was going to be arriving along with "the adventure begins!" How cute! They are all very excited and I feel very welcomed!

These are some photos of my room, my picture wall, and the view of the courtyard outside my window! The pink building across the way is their garage!

Francesca and her 4 year old cousin Beatrice. Also, me and Francesca! :)

My Italian is definitely improving because of this. Compared to last semester, I went from only really speaking Italian in my language classes, to now waking up and speaking at least a little Italian every singe day! I have already watched so many movies in Italian and I can really noticed me being able to understand a lot more. I don't get nervous at all when someone speaks to me in Italian any more! Another wonderful thing about my experience here is that I get to look forward to home-cooked Italian meals every night! Homemade pasta, gnocchi, pizza, desserts, crepes, etc.! Every day their schedule is usually the same. Wake up, breakfast- and remember, Italians don't do much of breakfast. Every morning it is the same exact thing, they have their bowls of tea and I have my little bowl of hot milk with chocolate powder in it! Then for the food, we have slices of bread with nutella on top of them! When everyone is home from school and work, we have "merenda"- which means "little snack". Well, guess what this is? Little bowls of tea and hot chocolate milk for me along with our slices of nutella bread! I am not kidding when I say this is what they do every single day! Something that was absolutely surprising to me, no one in the house has ever had pancakes before! What? They are missing out. Or what about biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon, or even french toast! Nope, only nutella bread. Anyways, merenda is at 4pm and then dinner is usually around 7-7:30. 

The first snow since I have been here! It's been VERY cold lately! I am looking forward to the warm weather to come back to me again. 

Classes so far are going very well! I have a lot of Italian this semester! Intermediate one and two, Italian conversation, and Italian culture. I have already had my first exam in my intermediate class, so I'm hoping that went well. The conversation class is quite beneficial! My professor only teaches us and talks with us in Italian, and she says we must do the same. It's interesting, but a great way to learn! I have only had one class of culture so far, but I think that will be interesting. Learning all about Italian culture, how wouldn't it be?

This is a photo I took a few blocks away from school! (while on the bus) Very cool graffiti wall! 

Haha! Niccolo showing off his dancing skills! 

Overall, I like it so far- despite of the distant bus rides to and from school. (about 40-45 minutes). Oh and sprinting to catch the buses is really getting old! Why can't they just be predictable and come on the time is says it will? Who knows, but it's definitely a true stereotype about Italy! Take a look at this video! Most of them shown on here are completely true, from experience and seeing it first hand, I know. ;)