october 24

ciao ciao ciao
i apologize for not writing in a VERY long time, but i had forgotten the password to my blog.
ahh let's see, where to start. it's almost october, so it's halloween time and my birthday is coming up. halloween isn't very big here.. there's few decorations around, not many people dress up AND no trick or treating :( i miss american halloween. to be honest i miss home a lot in general right now. the beginning is the hardest part. the novelty of everything is wearing off, and now i'm just settling in but still learning everything necessary to be part of this country and culture. my italian is still... eh... it is what it is. i wish learning a language was faster. i kind of figured that just coming here would be enough to learn it.. but it is more active than that, and you must always be practicing. it's difficult not to speak in english because many people are able to, so i know there's always that to fall back on. i suppose i should get out of that mindset. but nothing is as easy as 1 2 3.
school is getting much better, and i'm actually settling in. i take only art classes because i am finished with high school at home. the school i'm attending here in italy is completely art infused, so i have interesting art classes like fotografia, designo dal vero, fotoincisione and so forth. plus my days are short and i don't have classes in the afternoon.
the leaves are starting to turn colors and this is the first time i'm going to experience a real winter. it snows here and everything as i am about 45 minutes away from the alps... planning on going snowboarding many times this winter ;)
what else? i don't know. just trying to settle in and find my place here. i'm learning a lot about myself and just in general already.
will update sooner than later.
xx

Ciao! 9/20/10

Today I have been in Pordenone for a week a half. The family I'm staying with is amazing, and the people here are kind.. for the most part. Girls tend to be less welcoming than guys.
I'm going to an art school where I'm taking grafica (graphic design), fotografia (photography), and rilievo plastico (plastic sculpture.. kinda). The subjects I'm taking are interesting, and I'm glad I get to learn more about specifc subjects of art because everything I've done prior to this has been very general.
The hardest part of all of this, right now, is the language barrier. I really wished I had learned Italian before I had came here. None of the exchange students I met studied prior to their departure and now we're all wishin we had ;(
I'm sure I'll pick it up eventually, but I'm so impatient.. months will feel like years! It's hard to meet people and reach out to people who really can't understand me because I want to be understood and I want to learn from these people. I'm learning at least a few words each day and some people are easier to understand than others. Italian is pretty similar to spanish.. so that's helped me a bit.
The città centro (city center) is really beautiful here. The streets are all paved with cobblestone and the buildings are hundreds of years old. It feels like I'm living in a movie :-)
In Italy, there are these caffe's called "bars" which aren't like the bars in America. You can go there to get an espresso, or croissant, or a glass of wine. They're nice and they're all artsy and cute lookin'

Pordenone, Italy

So I have been notified from AFS as well as my host family that I will be living in Pordenone, Italy. It is in the North-Eastern region of Italy, 80 km from Venice. It snows in the winter and I have never lived in a place where it snows. The host family I am staying with are a family of four: Loris, Ika, Jacopo, and Anna Sara. Look below to see letters from my host family!

A Letter from my Host Family:

Hi, Kiah,

looks like we'll be the family that will host you during your AFS program... :-)

We received some days ago the dossier with information about you from
the Italian AFS Organization. Probably you are going to receive in the
next days a copy of the papers that we filled.

A brief introduction about ourselves: we are a family of four: I am
Loris, I'm 42 and I'm a teacher. I am married with Ika, who's 39. We
have a son, Jacopo (13) and a daughter, Anna Sara (10). Ika is an
educator who works mainly with children with different sorts of
handicap. She's Polish, and she lives in Italy since 1994.

We have two cats and we live in a small house in Pordenone, 80 km
North-East from Venice.

We read that you like long bike rides, and that's a nice thing to
hear, because we like them too: we prefer moving by bicycle in town
and we like to have some longer rides on Sundays. We are members of a
local bicycle advocacy group called "Aruotalibera" that organizes many
bike trips during the year, and sometimes we join them.

We like music: Jacopo plays classical and electrical guitar, Anna Sara
studies singing and piano. I and Ika are almost music-illiterate, but
we like when and how they play.

The Alps are just 30 kms North from Pordenone, and during Summer
sometimes we go to have little walks in the mountain. In Winter the
mountains are often white from snow: we don't ski, but we get there to
make some runs with luge (I mean, the children do). Pordenone itself
sometimes is covered by snow during Winter, but not for long time
(after some days, usually rain starts falling). Winters here are cold,
but not too much (temperatures around -10*C are the lowest, normally).
We have a stove, and it's nice to fire pieces of wood to have a nice
warmth in the house.

In 2003, we hosted a girl from Lichtenstein for three months with an
AFS program, and we still have good memories of the experience. Some
months ago, we thought that we could try once again and we got in
touch with the local AFS... and so here we are, waiting for your
arrival and looking forward to welcome you personally.

In the next days we'll send you some pictures of ourselves and of the
area, unless you want everything being a surprise :-)

        Loris

Letters

Jacopo's letter
>
>I'm a normal 13-year-old kid. I really like rock music and I play the
>eletrical and classical guitar (I like more the electrical one).
>I like traveling and I would like to go to California when I have your age.
>I think things there are fantastic... I'd love to have a home near the beach!
>Do you like cats? I like them, and my family have two cats: Viki is 9,
>and Fiamma (Fire) is two months.
>I like to sleep with my cats near my head and when they purr...
>I have a rock band with my friends. We're called Moon Catchers. WE
>PLAY ONLY THE BEST ROCK!
>What music do you listen to?
>Is it true that you had never seen the snow? It seems impossible to
>me. In Italy we have much snow in mountains, and we can go there to
>luge and ice skate.
>My best friends are Franci and Tommy (they also play in the band:
>Tommy at the bass and Franci at the drums).
>
>
>     Jacopo

Sara's letter :)
>
>Who write in Anna Sara (called Sara) and and I can't wait to see you.
>You will do a long travel from California to Italy. I would like to
>leave, as you, for Australia, one day.
>However, I hope the winter when you are here will be cold, so that
>there will be snow like last winter.
>It seems impossible to me that there are some people who have seen it
>only on TV.
>I like the snow and since near here there are he mountains, we can go
>ice skating and to do snowmen☃ and do much other games.
>But I envy you because you live near the seaside! From Pordenone to
>arrive to the sea we must drive for 50 kms, and this is a problem
>because I suffer from motion sickness.
>At school I am in the 4th class (but next year I will be in 5th); my
>best friend is Emma but in my class everybody likes me, we are a nice
>group! I hope you'll know Emma and all other friends of mine one day:
>they are all nice and some of them a bit crazy.
>If you like cats you'll be happy: Viki is one, she's 10-year-old, she
>likes being fondled and she's beautiful. Fiamma is 2-months-old, she's
>little and she still misses experience, but she's very nice!
>Usually adults think of me that I'm nice, active and lively.
>As I said before, I can't wait to see you. I'm waiting and I hope that
>you'll find me nice too.
>I warn you: you'll need to stand Jacopo's "music": you better bring with
>you some ear filters!!!
>
>Sara

>

Love, me.

Hello friends and family!
I am writing this letter to you because for my upcoming senior year, I am planning on traveling to Italy with an organization called AFS to study abroad. I will live with a family and have the opportunity to experience Italian culture and family life in Italy. I am really looking forward to this incredible opportunity, and I feel like it will really open up my eyes culturally, educationally, and emotionally. The idea of travel has always been so appealing to me, and this is the perfect chance to get a taste of it while I am young and before I leave for college. In addition, I have worked twice as hard this year, educationally, to fulfill my goals of going abroad. I have taken classes at Cabrillo College (a Junior College in Santa Cruz County) as well as Honors courses at school. As a result, I could ultimately graduate a full year early, but I am choosing to study in Italy instead. Secondly, I have been working really hard for the last year at a bakery as well as a nanny to save up as much money as possible. The tuition costs are very high so my Mother and I have been brainstorming ways to obtain the balance. We have applied for financial aid as well as scholarships but we are not in the position where we are eligible to receive these benefits as there are many families who apply. So, I have decided to ask you all to help if you feel you would like to do so. But please, do not feel obligated! Here are some ways you can help:
1. Check or money donation
2. The "Chip-in" widget below
3. "Miles" for my plane ticket to and from my departure city
In return, I will be frequently updating a blog with pictures, videos, and a journal of my adventures. I depart in September, so that is when the blog will be constantly updated. It will be public and I will send the link to all of you once it is created, so you can visit it as much as you'd like! Since I won't be here to share my stories with you first hand, I feel like this is a nice alternative.
Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and your support in my travels to Italia!
Love to all-
Kiah Brem-Frame