Welcome back!

I'm doing awesome and hope you guys too. If not then reading my blog will make you feel better..:)

                                                           
I'm having the time of my life. This exchange has brought so many changes in me. When i look back to my olden days, I'm like what?! Was I like that- I was so stupid. I'm really lucky that I got this opportunity to explore my own-self! As I knew there would be many ups and downs during my exchange this was the most uncertain one- The 20th of December I got a call from my dad that my Grandfather passed away. My dad was trying to convince me not to cry and the very next moment I broke down into tears. It was unbelievable for me 'cause I was really close to my Grandpa. It was the toughest day of my life as I'm really sensitive to these things and I needed my mom and my dad to hug me and make me feel better. My parents and my sister her tried their best to distract me and I'm very grateful but that day I was like broken into pieces. My grandpa lived for 93 years and mind it- he lived a very healthy life. I wanted to be with him during his last days but that's life- We have to accept certain unwanted facts in our lives. These are the words said by a person whom I respect and love from the bottom of my heart. Thanks dad. I sometimes miss your bitter advices though..haha I promise you dad, once I'm back in India even your bitter advises would be like a sweetener to me..:) 
This exchange has definitely made me stronger than I was even during my tough times.

I wanted to keep it as my desktop wallpaper but I just couldn't, it makes me more sad. I still need some time. But I can always put it on my blog praying for his sole saying that he will always remain in my memories. 

I have so much to talk about. Starting with Christmas- It's a big festival, of course! Every time my family goes to Udine to celebrate Christmas with my mom's family. So this time we decided to celebrate in Cordovado with my dad's brother's family and my Grandma.  

There was a dinner arranged for us with good food and delicious sweets! I became kind of emotional 'cause the atmosphere was like similar to my family back in India. The festivals, family gatherings, cousins- it was like back home. I'm so glad that my Italian family considers me as a member of their family. It was a great time seeing the actual Christmas.


Gift time!! :) We exchanged gifts with each other. I gifted my families something Indian. Hope they liked it. I got good enough gifts too. Thanks for the gifts, I really liked them.


I saw Rapunzel an animated film in Italian with my cousins- fun as always!

In the evening I was invited to watch a new film 'Capodanno a New York' in Italian. (New Year's Eve in New York) I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Carlotta with whom I watched the film. I actually understood most of it. I'm happy..:)

                          On the 26th, I went snow-boarding with my dad. He did skiing. I was it for the first time in my life and mind it it's not at easy as it seems like. There's a big role of balancing. I could hardly stand on it for more than 60 seconds. I must say, I atleast tried my best and I could somehow figure out something about the style. Next time it would be better! :) The scenery with snow-covered mountains was really beautiful..

 



The 27th, 28th and 29th I went scouting in the mountains where the temperature was in either in negative or in single digits! It was interesting as I was being a scout for the first time.

That's my awesome scout group. None of them was ready for a photograph. I had to drag them for one and fortunately snapped a good one.

We first did a service which is one of the aims of Scout. So we first painted the windows of the person at whose house we were staying and then we cleaned the garden and cut woods for fire. It was a great feeling doing those kind of services. 

We saw a dam which has a fabulous history behind it. The dam was built in between the mountains-it's like a valley though. Unfortunately, one day the mountain on the reservoir side slided and all the water overflew from the sides of the dam killing thousands of people. The amazing thing was nothing happened to the dam. Even today there's the dam but no water anymore where the mountain slided! That's interesting,  isn't it?

The beautiful waterfall in front of the dam.
We went to a simple place in the mountains but it was still way too beautiful.

Isn't it like Paradise?! :) With crystal clear blue-green water.

 

            

                                         

Can you see the ice on the pipe?  That's the ice on the ground (right) after falling from the top. It was too beautiful not to snap a picture.


The 29th Evening, I departed for Milan. Milan- Oh yeah!

                                       

Milan looks like a Paradise! It was really beautiful at the New year's eve in front of the Cathedral. There was also a free concert in front of the Cathedral. There was a huge huge crowd. Every single person present there was having fun to his fullest! It was definitely one of my best New Year's Eves though Milan is a bit expensive.. hehe

 The 5th, 6th and 7th, I went to visit Florence, Pisa and the nearby places like Volterra, San Gimignano, Siena. It was a nice time with my family.
       


                                                                           
      

Don't I look like an Italian? haha..On the 20th January was my presentation on India in Italian. As we didn't have that much time to speak, I made a video with many photos and I added some notes in Italian. People really appreciated it and asked many questions regarding it. Successfully I could answer in Italian almost everything that was asked. Some of them told me that they want to come to India after seeing such a beautiful presentation of India. This means my presentation went pretty well. :)

I know I wrote too much as I didn't update it since a long time. Sorry for taking your time. Hope you enjoyed and see you soon till then be happy be healthy! :)

Ciao! :)