Last two weeks in a country I've fallen in love with..

Hello,
How are you all? I'm not so good..umm actually getting prepared for the end of my exchange. Within a couple of days I'm returning back to India. It's kinda selfish as I belong to India but I've fallen for this country so much that looks like I belong to Italy since forever! If given a change, I would do some magic and bring all my Italian friends and families to India and vice-versa..haha that was lame!
If you remember, I'd said in my last post that one of my teachers took a video of me giving a speech in Italian. So she gave it to me and I tried uploading on my blog but because of the bad-quality I'm not able to upload it on my blog. I'm sorry I tried more than a 20 times. Ugh! It does not want to work but I can atleast write the speech here.   
So here's the translation-
"Good morning to everyone, I'm Grishma from India from the state of Gandhi called Gujarat but I've been living in Cordovado for 8 months as a 'Rotary Youth Exchange Student'. I was asked to give a small speech on my beautiful experience in Italy. When I arrived here, I just knew how to say Ciao (Hello), Grazie (Thank you) and Ho fame (I'm hungry). I couldn't even introduce myself. Now I think that I've learnt well enough. I don't have words to express how grateful I'm to come to this school. My class- 3^C- Guys, love you all, they've have always been very kind towards me. My friends whom I met here, thanks for everything. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my principle, my teachers and everyone who directly or indirectly made my Exchange Year incredible! I've learnt so many things starting from the Italian culture, the Italian language to the swear words of Italian- just to know them so that I don't get fooled by anyone. This year went so fast that I couldn't even feel that I was away from my house. As well said, "Good things must come to an end", I'll have to return within 2 months. I wanted more time to spend with you. I'm having a mixed feeling right now, which means- I want to return to my Indian family and friends but I don't wanna leave Italy and my Italian friends. I read it somewhere that 'It's not an Exchange Year in your life but it's a Life in an Exchange Year! It would be my pleasure returning to Italy as soon as I get an opportunity. It was a great pleasure meeting you all. This year will always remain fresh in my mind. If you want to come visit me in India, I would love to host you. Once again, thank you so much!"

On the 8th of May, I gave a presentation in Rotary (a good-bye presentation). I've made a video on my life in Italy. The thing is, it's in Italian. As soon as I translate it, I will probably upload it on my blog. The presentation went well. Everyone liked it. I've had seen this video a 100 times to finalise it but during my Rotary good-bye, I got so emotional that I cried.. 

Then I got hugs and blessings and compliments which ofcourse made me comfortable. :)

My host dad has always asked me a question- "Why do women end up crying?" Well if you are reading it, here's the answer:-
Once the women get attached to someone, they would never ever want to leave them. They have a heart that not just beats for them but also for the people they've starting caring for. Crying does not mean that the person is weak or something, but it's the message that shows how much they love and care for the person whom they are crying for. You can never imagine a life without a woman. Now I should ask you, why don't men cry?
Ti Voglio Bene Papa :)



The 12th of May, we went to see the soccer match between Rotary (old people) and Rotaract (youngsters). I'm actually supposed to be with young guys but I was supporting Rotary not only because I'm doing an Exchange Program with Rotary but also because the older people were giving a tough competition. The game actually ended up with penalty shots wining the team of Rotaract but it was an awesome challenge for both the teams.

On the 15th, I went shopping with one of my friends, Eleonora. When I means shopping, it always mean "window shopping"..ha Shopping is on my list of "Things to Do as soon as I return back to India" XD Eleonora's family is really kind. We saw the video that I've made on my experience in Italy. It actually brought tears in their eyes. I feel like is that video too emotional? I heard so many people coming and telling me that it made them cry. I'll take it as a compliment anyways :)

The 18th, we made cakes at home for the party. Ivana, the person you see in the picture helped me making them. She is a wonderful cook and she is our new made. She had been a baby-sitter of my host siblings so you can imagine how friendly she would be. It's fun to talk to her. And when I told her that I finish 16 on the 23rd of May, she kissed on my cheek saying, "We both celebrate our birthdays together" Oh what? What a coincidence! :) 

This 19th I celebrated my birthday. I know it was early. Italians think that celebrating a birthday earlier brings bad-luck. Ha but I've had my family's party the next Saturday and I'm insanely not superstitious.

So I've always loved birthdays but this time as my days came nearer, my days being in Italy got lessened too. I celebrated it at home with my friends and family and I can't deny in saying that it was one of my best birthdays ever. My parents gifted me a bag full of candies (I'm getting fat :O but who cares? haha) and a huge cake (the picture is shown at the end of the blog). It was a total surprise for me.

I got a pillow with some photos of awesome people, an album as thick as of a marriage dictating my whole exchange year, a perfumed body lotion, a scarf and a sweet letter-everything from my friends. I felt so loved. I don't know how am I getting on the plane without them.

 

The 22nd, we went to see Dalai Lama at Udine. He spoke in English and there had been a translation spontaneously. The difference was Dalia Lama was hilarious at times but the translation didn't really work the same way. Personally, I loved his conference and his English acsent. :)

While returning back, we halted at my dad's friend's house. He has a cherry tree in his backyard. He offered us some fresh juicy cherries. I think those were some of the freshest cherries ever eaten- plucking directly from the trees. With getting rains that morning the cherries were wonderfully blossomed up. 

23rd May, my birthday. I got blessings in all the 4 languages I've known- Gujarati, Hindi, English and now Italian. This reminds me of one thing..my host dad told me that now I speak too good Italian. I don't know if it was exaggerated but I'm happy to hear that. There have been such a lot of people who by now have told me that it's amazing to see someone speak such good Italian in 4 months, 7 months or 8 months but my host parents have been hosting long term exchange for three years and they know how fast we are at grabbing new things. I was waiting and waiting when finally I heard him saying that I've learnt well enough now. I'm happy! XD Sorry went off the track. So I would like to thank all of you to wish me on my birthday and shower your blessings on me.

That evening I spent with my host family eating in a restaurant.

The 24th, I had my last day with Scout. I hate good-byes:( I had to make an Indian cake for them. I'd being trying to find the ingredients but couldn't find them. I missed my mom so much as that point of time. Finally, after trying for 4-5 times, I could make a better one..still not the best..I took my cake there and we sang songs, ate the cake and enjoyed. They gifted me a letter, a cloth of Scout, two books on scouting boys, one in Italian and the other in English. My Indian dad is going to love the books. All the time that I had spent scouting was a memorable time.

Did I tell you about the project that I'm working on? No! Sorry.

So my school here and Rotary has been working together since many years. That's why I'm in this school. This is the school is sponsoring a contest which speaks about the environmental sustainability. I've taken part in that and I've made a power-point presentation (which I'll convert it into a video) with some drawing that I've made myself and some articles written by me. I've to submit it before 9th of June. Ofcourse there has to be prices..

The 3rd person wins 250 euros (about 17,340 rupees)

The 2nd wins 500 euros (about 35,000 rupees)

and the first person wins 750 euros (about 52,000 rupees)

Woah! I can buy an Iphone if I win..just joking. I would rather save it for returning back to Italy <3

There is a premium too. The students will be selected for a trip to a country which is not an European. :) You can imagine that there are going to be so many students as the prices are high..so my probability of winning gets divided too. I've tried to make it extra-ordinary but there are students who would be more brilliant than me. For me it's the first time taking part in such a competition and for such a high amount of reward. Winning has been a desire but I've also learnt so many things from this project. I learnt profoundly about the problem that we are facing and what steps can we take to protect our mother Earth. I'm glad that I came here for my exchange!! XD I've been working for a month on this project and now finally I'm done with it. This why is I could write such a big blog nicely and on time :D

One morning I went to attend the conference of this project. I was the only youngster present there. ha In the tea-break, my principle asked me to give a speech about my project and all as I was the only teenager there..Oh no! I was not prepared. But somehow in 5 minutes I wrote a small speech about this project and about what steps could we, the teenagers take to give a helping hand. To be honest, I screwed up as I was unprepared but they appreciated my courage. I got really good compliments. My host dad came to me saying- That's like my daughter!! ha :3

I've been teaching English to a woman who is going to host a Norwegian for three months. I taught her some random survival phrases which I'd to learn as soon as I came here. She is a kind person, wants that the student feels comfortable at her house. I gave my best to try teaching her all the words which were necessary. On the 26th, it was our last meeting. She gifted me a packet of chocolates saying, "Your parents are lucky to have you. God bless you!" Aww..I feel so blessed with everything that I've got in these 10 months.

The 26th of May was the party of my host parents. Every year the last Saturday of May they held a party for upcoming Spring. It was fun. I could bring two of my friends so I called Debora and YNam! :) There was a journalist who was going to post an article about that evening. If you remember, I'd posted it on my earlier posts, I being in the news..She was the same journalist so when she saw me she recognised me. She took a photo of mine with my friends and it will soon be out in the newspaper. Debora was so happy seeing that. I was like, "You see, that's the advantage of being my friend" lol.I love her!! 

For the first time I saw my host mom so pretty. I mean she is beautiful but that day she was looking stunning. Trust me, I took almost 5 seconds to understand that she was wearing heels with a high make-up and long earrings!! Ha she's amazing. :)

My cat likes sleeping in my room. Sometimes if I don't take him to my room, he comes to my window and meows just to remind me that, 'you forgot to take me to your room!' Haha This cat is incredibly amazing. Suppose if he is in my room, hiding somewhere and I can't find him, all I've to do is to call him by his name and he meows so I understand where he is. Isn't that cute? In the morning it's either me or Andrea giving him something to eat. Most of the times it's me also 'cause I like giving him food. That's his morning schedule-meowing for the food- actually meowing to wake everyone up for his food. He is too smart!! My host dad keeps telling me that as soon as I'll return back to India he would die of hunger. Ha sweet! Well cats just need food, does not matter from whom.

 

I was watching T.V yesterday and there was an Italian song which had exactly same rythm of an Indian song-

If you want to hear that Italian song go to this link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4JwHWlVul4&feature=related

If you want to hear the Indian song then click here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut5Gu9OtlXs

Happy Birthday Mom! <3
Talked with my parents on skype to wish my mom. My host parents wished her too singing the Happy Birthday song in Italian. :)

Here comes the picture of the blog!! :)

This was a surprise that my host family gave it to me!! Grazie!!
Vi volgio molto bene!
 

This brings to the end of my second last blogpost. Well if I win that project and if I get selected for the trip, I would probably start it again. Ha IF I WIN- a big deal! XD

12 days more.. I must start packing now. I wish I could steal the main clock of the world and pause the time for a while.

My friends wanted to come drop me at the airport but because of their exams they can't come. I think it's good..otherwise it would have been impossible to get on the plane.

Hope you enjoyed reading it. Stay tuned for the next blogpost. I'll write it once I get back to India so you can also see how I felt seeing my family and friends. Thanks for reading. See you soon..till then be happy, be healthy!

Ciao :)

Southern Italy- rest of the days!!

Hello :)

I know I told you that I would be updating my blog everyday in Southern Italy but I had been so tired that as soon as I returned home I went to bed. I hope you understand that. I finally got enough time to write my blog nicely.

6th-April-2012
So today we visited Pompei and a lil' bit of Salerno. Pompei is a very beautiful city known for it's ancient Roman ruins.  Pompei was completely submerged by the tremendous amount of flow of lava of the volcano Vesuvius.

                                                                                           



It was a pleasure to see such a good life of Romans so many centuries ago. This was the bar and they used to sell wines here.

                                                                         

    








Then we saw Salerno and it's city. Salerno is another one of the 'must watch' cities. It's on the beach and it's hilly above all so we can have a good view of the city from the top and trust me it's just incredible to see such a city.

                                  

 

 

After such a long time went to the beach, though we didn't take a bath in the sea as it was not warm enough.



7th-April-2012

Visited the coast of Positano which was beautiful!!

It was raining cats and dogs and so was it cold there but still couldn't stop myself from getting a Coke!! lol

As we were on on the beach, there were lots of sea animals. This snail got on my rain-coat. Eww! That was creepy!! :|

While we were on a beach, we were collecting stones and my host dad was like don't touch this thing. Firstly I didn't understand then I was like, OMG is it a Jellyfish?!! Yeah it was. Found so many dead Jellyfishes by the seashore-Not a big deal. Damn! Are you serious? :)



Ice-Lemon--The speciality of Positano. The lemons are real huge. it was good but too sour so was difficult to finish a glass of Ice-Lemon. :)

This is Amalfi.
We saw the Cathedral of Amalfi and it was pretty. This was our group. I met a girl named Alessandra (the one on the extreme right.) She was pretty much fun to be around. I enjoyed her company.






8th-April-2012
Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter)


So I got a big chocolate in the shape of an egg on Easter. Inside the egg, there is always a surprise. It was a mobile holder with a Tweety. That's cute.


We went to greet the parents of my host mom in Sasso di Castaldia and we ate in Sala Consilina. Both of the places are nearby ofcourse. We went to the mess there. Sasso di Casataldia is a little village of 300 inhabitants. We walked around the place for 15 minutes and my host father was like we saw the whole village. XD









                            

   

We played Briscola with me and Aaron being in one team and Antonello and his father in law being in another team. They were really good at playing Briscola and we had learnt in 8 months- Does make a difference. We lost just by one point!! Holy God! Why?! lol
Then we saw this place where it was all covered with water. It was beautiful trust me!! They believe this water to be holy just as the Indians believe River Ganga to be..I've noticed that the Italians are pretty superstitious. Here Lady-bugs are believed to bring good luck so they keep things with lady-bugs like key chains, bracelets, etc. etc. I find lady-bugs very pretty.

9th-April-2012

Today, we were in Avellino, at our host parents' friend's house. They had a huge house with a huge compound and lots of dogs and cats. There were two huge white dogs, one baby German Shepherds and the other tiny dogs. Just to tell you- I'm afraid of Dogs! :O specially German Shepherds :O :O..they are huge. Even the baby German Shepherd was huge. I had to enter anyways. I tried to take away my fear. I succeeded actually except with German Shepherd. lol But I promise that fear will go away soon too.

By the way, I made a Pizza by myself!



Ecco!! My Pizza's ready. Don't mind the shape but people said that it was good. Do you want some? Nah.. 5 euros please.. ahah




10th-April-2012
This was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. Trust me it's more fun than a ride. My host father in Avellino introduced this cycle on Ferrovia. It's actually a bicycle with normal paddles. The bicycle is made in such a way that it can be paddled both ways. The railway tracks were on a slope so while going we just had to paddle for 5 minutes then the speed got so high that we had to keep a track of breaks. The speed must have gotten to 30 km/h or maybe more. The real fun was that we were on the mountains, with a beautiful view on a railway track with a kind of train without a roof and engine!!




I know you might be thinking that I'm such a bad girl but I'm sorry. Who wouldn't stop for a second to take a photograph of this?! I saw this on the door of men's toilet and I had to snap a picture of it. You can laugh! It won't cost you anything..XD

11th-April-2012 

We went Bowling that night. On the right were the tables designed near Bowling. Pretty, isn't it?

The girl with me is Lauren from California. She is an exchange student too and was being hosted by our host parents in Avellino. We were the first exchange students whom she was metting so far so she was pretty excited to meet us.

All the posters on the wall were of Coco-Cola and there was no Coco-Cola in that restaurant. Instead they had Pepsi. Seriously?

The 12th of April, I finally came back to Cordovado. It was an amazing week in an amazing place with an amazing family. I feel so lucky to come here and Italy and visit almost all the famous cities which my classmates and friends have not visited yet!

It was raining with ice-balls here. The first time for me seeing this. It does not hurt like it hurts while Hailing but it still can hurt if we stand while it's raining. Rains here are not pleasant, it's chilly. I miss the way we used to stand under rains in Bharuch (my city in India). Now that I've been in such a cold weather for 8 months, I don't think I'll ever get cold in India..ahah



On the 14th of April, we had a function of our School. There were 7 students chosen to give a speech on languages- how difficult it is to learn a new language, it's advantages and all stuff. I was one of them. I had to give it in Italian. For me it was a bit different- I was supposed to speak about my experience in Italy, in Italian. There were more than a 100 people. I was not at all nervous. You know why? 'Cause I've been giving so many presentations here that I've got used to it. XD Surprisingly, my Art's teacher took a video of mine. As soon as she'll send it to me, I'll upload it on the blog. You won't understand it ofcourse as it'll be in Italian but I'll write a translation under that.

On the 17th of April, we had a school trip to Venice.

We rode a Gonodola while we were returning. The one which was for public, as in for 10 people together.

On the 21st, I went swimming after such a long time, almost after a year. My speed has gotten slower but I can never lose my style of swimming. Just some more practise and I'll get my speed back too. :)

The 25th of April was the "Liberation Day of Italy" so it was a holiday. Debora, one of my very good Italian friends, invited us for the Anniversary party of her parents completing 25 years together. We had such a lot of fun. I met a person who goes to India every 3 months and stays there for a month or so. He is in love with India, Indian food, the people. I've met so many people here who literally loves India. This makes me so happy to be an Indian.

On the 27th, we went to Ravenna, the place where Dante (the Father of Italian language) died.  

On the 28th, we went to Sagra (fun fair).

I didn't take a lot of photos as my batteries got discharged. So I took this from the Internet just to give you an idea which ride was my favourite. The hangings that you see were attached to the swings and at certain distance on the side of the ride was a pole with a toy(chicken) hanging over it. This ride is always done in pairs as the partner who is behind you is supposed to pushe you in such a way that you go high enough to get the chicken. I was the lightest among my friends so I was sitting in the front and one of my friends behind me. We were almost there the second time we tried but someone in front of us already took it. -.- I can't deny saying that I loved this ride.

I'm getting obsessed with cats now. The frist thing that I'm going to do once I get back to India is to go buy a cat or take a cat from the street. It won't be a problem as I've got good at handling cats and understanding their body language :D

Now comes the Picture of the Blog!!

These are my crazy friends!! <3
I'm not going to explain what it is. If you get it then smile, if not then feel free to comment on my blog to ask me.

1st May is the Labour Day and we have a national holiday. My school gave us a holiday also on the 30th so that we get three days without school. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday!! XD

This brings to the end of the month, meaning the end this blogpost. Please don't get mad at me for writing a novel. I hope you enoyed it though. 40 days to go. I've already started crying a bit day by day. It's going to be hard leaving my friends and getting on the plane in June. See you in my next blog post. Till then be happy, be healthy. 

Ciao :)