I'm writing on my iPod..So sorry for any mistakes or whatever!

Sooo..so far this morning I've been chased down by bikes, people, cars, and vespas. So I'm debating on dying my hair brown so I blend a little :p

Aaaaand lets see..my Italian is improving sooo much I can keep up with most conversation if they speak a little slower than normal, which is awesomeeee!

Comunque! I'm off to a dance conservatory (space dance) to learn some hip hop :p I'll cath y'all later!

Baciii!
Stephanie

P.s sorry this post was so short but it's on my iPod so it's difficult and everyone was asking me for an update:/

Interesting Moments..

So here I am!.. in italia..
This is probably one of the best things I've ever done for myself.. as much as I absolutly miss everyone at home, and despite all the frustration with not being able to speak the language and the goofy mistakes I tend to make.. it's SO fun!

Just earlier today I made a mistake of saying there is "one big misquito" in minnesota, by saying a singular version of something plural.. sounds harmless but believe me..everyone notices and laughs..haha

I went shopping today in the beautiful town of Carpi.. oh and they had these funny escalator (sp?) thing where you actually took your cart on an up and down slant.. pretty interesting:P
but another interesting thing.. they sell alcohol EVERYWHERE.. wine beer liquor.. you name it! the mall, resteraunts, shops..e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.  so that's pretty interesting

p.s. they have a mcdonalds here.. :/
anywaayyyy.. so yeah this whole time change thing is starting to bug me. its hard to talk to anyone when Ive got to stay up until 2 in the morning to do so, either that or get up REALLY early. so I'm working on figuring that whole deal out:/ so sorry if I havent replied to a message of yours or talked you like I said I would..believe me.. I'm trying!!

buuuuuut yeah its like 10:00 and I need to study some italiano before bed..so I gotta get going..I'll write again soon! (probably off of my ipod seeing as I dont have a converter for my laptop :/)

Buona notte!
Stephanie

I have arriveddddddd..

I'm tired, I'm sick, I'm a lot things but most importantly...I'm IN ITALY.

and yeah..it's everything I expecting plus more:)

my host mom and dad are sahweet, and my sister is as well..so I'd say this is a good kick off!.. even though I am starting to get extremely frustrated with the fact that I cannot speak fluent italian..its difficult to be surrounded by people you cant understand and vice versa..hopefully this will be fixed sooner than later.

anyway for the people reading my blog to see what I'm up to..today I unpacked (which took an agonizing 3 hours), I chatted with my host family, I ate supper (chicken, salad, and gnocchio, which is this really good bread deal), and now am about to study italian until I fall asleep..

tomorrow though! I am going to go for a relaxing run through Novi as soon as I wake up and then my host mom is taking me to this activies thing to see some things Italy offers and such in the Piazza..then my host family is taking me to a pizzeria. pretty sahweet:)

school starts in a week so I've got a week to bust my butt learning italian before I get to sit in a room and stare at a dot on the wall for five hours because I've got NO idea what they are saying..

but yeah I'm extremely jet lagged and tired and junk (considering my time is 9:20 while at home its about 2:20..I'll bet that doesnt help too much) so I'm about to hit the hay..

g'night erryone

Stephanie

Down To The Wire

I'm. starting. to. royally. freak. out

I'm leaving 2 weeks from today..like, that's no big deal!

I'VE GOT MY HOST FAMILY ERRYONEEEEEE!!:)

thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt ^^ Yeah, THAT would be my home :)

                                      and thhhhaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt^^... is our lake home:)

                                                     so yeah, only mildly excited:)

anyway a little bit of information on my host famigliaaaaaaa...
Dad: Massimo, and he is in the iron recycling business

Mom: Fabrizia, and she is an english teacher  (THANK GOD)

Sister: Emma, host sister at age 13.

but yeah, about my "royal freak out"?

I leave the United States in TWO WEEKS.  *due settimane*  (figured I'd throw a LITTLE italian in)

that's like the blink of an eye the way things have been going lately.. I feel like the past three months of summer have just floooooooown past..

Italy is just yanking me out of america..before I'm ready, I think!

*the next part is for foreign exchange students to read, nothing exciting!*

A huge reason I started this blog though was for future foreign exchange students to read (during that "exchange mania" we ALL went through) and get an understanding for the honest things you go through as an exchange student, so here's some straight honesty.. It's TERRIFYING the closer you get.. thinking about everything that's going to change..the people you wont see for however long..the things you're going to have to get use to. It's almost like culture shock begins to set in before you even set foot in the country.

Rewarding? yeah.
Exciting? ohhhh yes.
Terrifying? like you would not believe.

It's actually kind of weird how long it took for the honest emotions to set in..it's been months that I've known I was going and only recently have I begun to get scared and anxious and nervous and, like every exchange student at SOME point before they leave, doubted if I wanted to go or not. Obviously its just a fleeting thought because since we've all made it this far through the essays and language lessons and packing and so on..we KNOW its what we want and for how hard we all worked there is NO going back..but its not a walk in the park during the few weeks before you leave. I've never been so filled with emotion! I really wish I was just there right now so I could quit wondering and worrying about if I'll be able to handle all of the differences and changes from my culture to theirs! Among all kinds of other worries and questions and ahh blah blah blah!
*sorry to anyone who read that who is not going to be a foreign exchange student just got really bored/confused.

I'll try to keep posting at least every few days until I leave and then daily once I'm there for the first couple weeks.. until next tiiimmmeee!

A presto!

Stephanie

AYUSA's group on facebook+me being nervous about Italy=hours on facebook talking to other exchange students.

Bethany:

true that :) sometimes it seems like if everyone took some time out of there lives to expierience other cultures the world might be a little more peacefull...

Me:

well everyone has to start with a group of people right? maybe were leading the way for everyone to experience this:P

 

All these exchange students that I have met through this facebook group are all a GREAT bunch of people, and most seem to have similar interests and views as I do, as far as the world goes and learning more about it. (obviously since they are going to go travel it alone for a year, they must be at least a little interested)

 

SO..

for some boring information..

I have started my global student class.. yay? I looooooove writing essays and stuff.. mah fave <3
its pretty informative though, and I've learned quite a bit so far.. even though I'm only three modules in.

(even though I've been working really hard for like 5 days now, haha)

 

I just wish it was September 10th already so I could be in Italy!

 

that's all for now errrrrone!

 

parlare con te presto!:)

Stephanie

Germany..? :S (and then some)

sooooo. I knew I was going to be leaving on September 9th..

HOWEVER

I now know the exact times..:)
I'll be leaving Washington D.C International Airport (Dulles) at 7:07 p.m. on September 9th.

landing in... wait for it... Frankfurt Germany (?)    at 9:10 a.m on September 10th.

dont even ask me how I'm going to survive that..I could hardly stand a flight to Florida..and that was less that 2 hours.

okay, anyway!

I leave Frankfurt, Germany at 12:50 p.m. (September 10th)  to go to BOLOGNA, ITALY.  I will arrive at 2:05 p.m on September 10th.

I'm a few hours short of one solid day of flying..can't wait guys :/
and since I KNOW you're interested..the name of the airport I'll be arriving in is named Guglielmo Marconi (Borgo Panigale)

In Other News :)

Since I last wrote its pretty much just been a LOT of waiting and researching and learning Italian and blah blah blah.. the boring stuff!

I've recieved a few packets from AYUSA as well as a few emails.. pretty much all just stuff about culture shock and how my flight situation is going to go and other stuff I've read alllllll too much about..

it gets a little irritating to wait so long :(

oh last little piece of information I've got.. I get to start my online Global Student course on June 23rd.. so that'll be pretty nice. I think it's suppose to help me prepare a little more and to understand how things are going to work a little better. I'm not exactly sure though:S.. Well I'll be sure to write after that and keep posting!..

Grazie
Stephanie Dalluge

THE DATE! *plus some heavily asked questions

September 9th of 2011.. I, Stephanie Ann Dalluge, will be boarding a plane to Bologna, Italy..arriving on September 10th of 2011. 

I can't believe it!.. I've got a SET DATE.. fiiiiiiinally.. also within the e-mail I was told that soon I will be recieving more information (HOPEFULLY about a host family..cross your fingers) including things about my global student program..which is just a program to help me prepare for life overseas and what to expect and what to now expect so I don't develop "too high of expectations" and culture shock and stuff.. plus orientation stuff..

besides all that junk I just talked about..I have an official date that I leave the U.S. for Italy.. It's just a concept that's so hard to swallow..  I better swallow it quick though because that means only four months until I get on plane!.. (plus or minus a day)

crazy crazy crazy

oh and to answer some questions that I've been getting a lot lately

*yes I'm nervous..wouldn't you be a little nervous to live in a foreign country for a year?

*nopppeeeee I'm not afraid something's going to happen to me..I'd be more afraid if I thought nothing would happen to me!

*no..I won't "just say something in italian".. I'm not fluent and I can't come up with random things off the top of my head  (:P)

*I have NO IDEA how I'm going to pack for a year.. space bags might be a good investment..

last but NOT least..the most common question is what am I going to miss most..which almost makes me laugh considering the answer is kind of obvious!..

family and close friends..duh?

what to people expect me to say?.. the food? HA! I'm going to be living in Italy for a year..their food is only 34982374 times better than our food... nuff' said!

that's all for now.. I'll post more once I get a little more information!:)

"next time I'm in this airport I'll be leaving for Italy"

So I just got back from a trip to Florida with my family and as I'm sitting in the Minneapolis airport all these emotions come flooding to me and I realize that the next time I'm at that airport is when I'll be leaving for Italy!..

It's so weird to realize things like that..most of the time I keep it to the back of my mind to keep myself from overloading with excitement but sometimes it hits me like..wow..I'm going to Italy in a few months.

I keep having those "this could be the last time" moments..

this could be the last time I go to this certain place
this could be the last time I do this certain thing
this could be the last timeeeee so on and so forth..

kind of goofy this early but I was saying that when it was nine months away and look how time has flown!.. I'm practically CLINGING to these last few months that I have because I NEED the time!..

I just want to know who my host family is so I can start researching my hometown already and begin to talk to them and get to know them a little!.. I'm way too impatient for this whole process:/..

I'm going to try to keep posting a couple times every month just to keep everyone updated on how everything is coming along. At least until it gets a little closer, then it'll be a little more frequent.. until next time!..

Ci Vediamo!:)

Stephanie

Inspiration!

So I made it into my local newspaper "The Journal"..front page but you know, no big deal or anything!:)
I feel like all my hard work is starting to pay off and I'm really proud of myself.

The best part of the whole situation was a phone call I got the night that the paper with my article came out..
A lady name Denise called me telling me that I inspired her and that she thought what I was doing was amazing and inspirational..and as I'm sitting already in tears she gave me some great news..that she was going to give me a 100 dollars towards Italy which is great because any kind of money helps when you're looking at a 10,000 dollar trip.. but the biggest part of the phone call was what she said..not what she gave me. It makes me realize what a big deal this is, and the opportunity I am giving myself..(with the help of my amazing parents and this wonderful woman Denise) She told me how amazing it was that I was so fearless and was going full force towards this amazing opportunity. (truthfully I am a little scared..probably more nervous than scared though).. I just am very proud of myself and glad that I refused to let this opportunity pass me by..

Here's what the letter said that she wrote me:
Stephanie-
May fear or insecurities never hold you back from anything you want to do in life. Good luck in Italy. Make the most of your trip and enjoy. Hope this will help a little. Have fun!!
                                                          Denise

I just couldn't have asked for a better boost that this is the right thing for me.. thank you soooo much Denise you did more than you know for me!:)

This post is getting a little long but I can't help how happy and thankful this whole thing made me:)


anywayyyy:)

so I'm trying to figure all this good stuff out.. like my student visa situation (which I'm so scared of because I hear its a nerve wracking experience :S) and obviously trying to keep going on my Italian.. which sometimes is hard to keep up motivation because its such a difficult language! but I find little ways to keep going..I'm doing pretty good though I can hold up a normal conversation at least.. :) OH! and another big thing right now..HOST FAMILY.. I'm waiting on that whole deal at this point and its such a difficult thing to wait forrrrr! I'm going to be living with these people for a little less than a year, I just want to meet them already! ahhh.. :(

So I've also been reading a lot of blogs from former foreign exchange students which is helping me a lot and reading all the sahweeeeet things they did when they were overseas makes me SO MUCH more pumped! I actually even emailed a girl from one of the blogs I read and she said she would be mooore than willing to help me out with questions I have which will be and already is SO helpful to calm my nerves..

I have soooo much to say but I feel like this blog is already getting way to long.. so I'll write again later..

Ciaooo!
Stephanie

Its getting more and more real!

OH MY GOODNESS

Just went to the courthouse today to send in papers for my passport..

it JUST hit me.. I'm going to be in another country for a year..

a yeeeeearrrrr..

made me a little bit more excited but just a little bit more nervous!:S

my italian is coming along great and I'm trying to improve my grammer.. which is horrible:(

time is flyyyyying by and it seems like I've havent got a fraction of the time I need!

guess I just have to work a little quicker.. because in five months Italy here I come:)

ArrivederLa!:)

Stephanie

So little time!..

Buon pomeriggio!

So I've made the best decision of my life..I'm going to be a foreign exchange student in Italy for a year!.(havent picked out my host family yet so I don't know quite exactly where I'll be staying but I'll post the city when I know) I've only got SIX MONTHS before I leave...and I have SO MUCH TO DO.
I'm practicing italian like crazy and trying to work out the kinks in my speaking but this is so much tougher than I expected!

I just have to remember that I'll be in Italy in six months.. it'll all be moooore than worth it.

Arrivederci:)