I fell in love with Idaho

8.28.13 - 9.28.13
Un mese è passato. Ho realizzato un sacco di cose in questi 30 giorni e non vedo l'ora di scoprire quante altre cose imparerò negli 8 mesi che verranno, quante avventure ancora mi aspettano e quante persone avrò l'onore di conoscere.

Quando mi hanno comunicato che sarei capitata in Idaho il primo pensiero che si è formato nella mia mente è stato: "un attimo...siamo sicuri sia uno stato americano?"
Sapevo già che l'America non fosse solo Cheerleaders, fast food, armadietti a scuola e partite di Baseball; ma non avrei mai immaginato quanto l'America potesse essere varia e completamente diversa da qualsiasi altro posto al mondo. Ho imparato cosa significa provare orgoglio per la propria nazione, perchè gli americani ne hanno davvero molto, e questo mi ha fatto pensare che per certe cose anche io sono orgogliosa dell'Italia. Non certo per la politica, le persone, il calcio o la mafia...ma ci sono così tante cose dell'italia di cui dobbiamo essere fieri e non ce ne rendiamo conto finchè non ne sentiamo la mancanza.

Ogni volta che mi chiedono se mi trovo bene qui e se mi piace stare in Idaho non so mai cosa rispondere perchè non c'è un modo semplice per dirlo. Non posso descrivere l'Idaho senza nominare i sorrisi gentili della gente, il vento forte che ti porta via nelle giornate migliori, il suono che fa un fucile, gli instancabili tramonti ogni sera diversi ma sempre da togliere il fiato, il sapore del burro d'arachidi e gelatina e l'odore di aria pulita subito dopo un temporale.
Idaho sono gli infiniti spazi aperti, le giornate passate in giardino e le serate fuori al freddo davanti al fuoco mentre ci si perde a guardare le luci delle stelle. Idaho è la fede negli altri e in tutto quello che ti rende migliore, la gente che ti parla come se ti conoscesse da una vita, la musica country, il senso di appartenenza anche se sei lontano da casa, e "tutti gli altri fatali frammenti" che riesci a cogliere solo quando realizzi che fanno parte di un sogno più grande.

Viaggiare richiede una certa quantità di coraggio, perchè la nostalgia è il bagaglio del viaggiatore, ma viaggiare ti rende una persona migliore perchè non sai cos'è il mondo se non l'hai visto con i tuoi occhi. Viaggiare ti fa crescere in così tanti modi che non riesci nemmeno ad immaginare e spesso non te ne rendi conto. Ma d'altronde, si viaggia per tornare a casa cambiati.

                                                                           ~~~

8.28.13 - 9.28.13
The first month is gone. I realized so many things in these 30 days and I can't wait to find out how many things I will learn in the next 8 months, what adventures I will undertake, who I'll have the pleasure to meet.

When I've been told that I was going to Idaho the first thought that came to my mind was: "wait...are we sure Idaho is a state?"
I already knew that America is not only Cheerleaders, fast food, lockers at school and Baseball games; but I never imagined how America can be varying and completely different from any other place in the world. I learned what it means to be proud of your own country, because american people have a lot of pride, and this made me think that for some reasons I'm proud about Italy too. Of course I'm not proud about Italian politics, people, mob or soccer...but there are a lot of things about Italy that we should be proud of, and we don't realize that until those things are missing.

Everytime that people ask me if I like being here I always don't know what I should answer because there's not an easy way to explain it.
I can't describe Idaho without talking about the kind smiles that people give you, the strong wind that almost drags you and carries you away in the best days, the sound of a rifle, the tireless sunsets that every night are different but they always take your breath away, the taste of peanut butter and jelly, and the smell of fresh air right after a thunderstorm.
Idaho are the neverending open spaces, the afternoons spent in the yard, and the nights out in the cold in front of the camp fire when you lose yourself watching the starlight. Idaho is faith in other people and in everything that makes you better, people who talk to you like they've known you for a lifetime, country music, the belonging feeling even if you're far from home, and "all the other fatal fragments" that you can get only when you realize they're part of a bigger dream.

You need to be brave to travel, because homesickness is the traveller knowledge, but travelling you become a better person, because you don't know how the world looks like if you haven't seen it with your own eyes. When you travel you grow up in so many ways that you can't imagine and most of the time you don't realize it. But after all, you travel to come home changed.

I guess that this must be the place...

A lot of exciting things happened these past two weeks!
First, in cronological order, we went to the baseball game last weekend. It was incredible, and our team also won! I had so much fun living again a real american baseball game, and since I love baseball with all my heart, it was amazing just to be there and sit with the crowd cheering our team, the Chukars, and taking pictures and talking with my host dad about baseball and sports in general and how I'd love to start again playing softball. Lorenzo, the other exchange student from Italy, came with us and I found out that he used to play baseball too so it was really cool to talk about different experiences and baseball stuff. 

 

 Two days ago I found out that my host family, which was only an Arrival family, now is my official Permanent family and I'm so freaking happy. I was really afraid of leaving them because I knew that I would have never found a better family for me and it would have been so hard, but fortunately, they feel the same way and they told me that they figured out they can't let me go away anymore and I fit perfectly in the family. I already love them so much and I can't wait for all the wonderful experiences we'll have together during this year. :) 

Then, yesterday night it was the Civil War game night. The football team of my school played against the Bonneville football team, which is the team of the other high school of Idaho Falls. It was so cool, everybody was wearing his school's colors and there were the cheerleader and junk food and all the people were really excited even if we lost, I had the time of my life and I was feeling like living in a movie for the entire time.

Now I'm really living my american dream, and I finally figured out what the famous quote means, the one that says "Cultural exchange is not a year of your life, is your life in a year."

First week of school and SALT LAKE CITY COMIC CON!!

La scuola è iniziata con un po' di stress il primo giorno, ma dopo tutto è andato meglio.
Innanzitutto, non riuscivo ad aprire l'armadietto, e devo dire che non è assolutamente semplice come sembra. Per fortuna dopo ho imparato e adesso funziona (quasi) sempre.
Poi il primo giorno, sempre a causa dell'armadietto che mi ha fatto perdere tempo, ho dovuto pranzare da sola alla mensa e il cibo della mensa americana è davvero pessimo. Abbiamo solo mezz'ora per mangiare, quindi erano già tutti andati a prepararsi per la lezione seguente quando ho finalmente avuto il mio vassoio. Già da giovedì però, le cose sono andate meglio perchè due ragazze che avevo già conosciuto, Madison e Sarah, hanno invitato me e Lorenzo a mangiare fuori con loro.
Infine, il mio nome era scritto sbagliato in ogni singola classe, quindi ho dovuto correggere tutti e spiegare che il mio nome non è Kari Remilti. Comunque non ho grandi problemi a lezione, a parte matematica che ovviamente per me resterà sempre una lingua sconosciuta, non importa dove e come la studi. Alla fine ho cambiato Body Sculpt con History as Film che sembra molto più interessante.
Ieri sono andata con la famiglia e Eddie al Comic Con di Salt Lake City ed è stato  SPETTACOLARE. C'erano un sacco di cosplayer molto belli, ho fatto un po' di foto con della gente molto interessante e ho avuto l'onore di incontrare un paio di attori fra cui Brian Krause, l'uomo che ha fatto parte della mia infanzia grazie al telefilm "Streghe". Mi ha persino firmato un autografo!!
E poi ho visto Stan Lee. DAL VIVO. HO DAVVERO VISTO STAN LEE. E' stato incredibile. C'era un sacco di gente in fila per il suo autografo quindi l'ho visto solo da lontano e di sfuggita ma L'HO VISTO.
Io e Victor abbiamo anche comprato una maglietta di The Walking Dead con scritto "NO WALKERS" ed è molto divertente e autoironica, visto che il loro cognome è Walker.

Spero che domani a scuola vada tutto bene e spero di farmi nuovi amici e non vedo l'ora di incontrare persone nuove.


School started with a bit of stress the first day, but then everyting went better. First of all, I couldn't open my locker, and it's not as easy as you can think. Luckily, I learnt and now it works (almost) everytime. The first day I had to eat lunch all alone at the Cafeteria, always because of the locker, and the food was really awful. But on the next day I met these two girls that I had already known, Madison and Sarah, and they invited me and Lorenzo to have lunch with them out of school.
Finally, my name was spelled wrong in every single class and I had to correct all the teachers and tell them that my name is not Kari Remilti. By the way, I don't have problems at school, except for math, that for me will always be an unknown language, no matter where or how you study it. At the end I changed Body Sculpt for History as Film, which seems much more interesting.
Yesterday I went with the family and Eddie at the Comic Con in Salt Lake City and it was AMAZING.
There were a lot of really cool cosplayers, I took some pictures with a lot of interesting people and I had the privilege to meet a couple of actors, and I met Brian Krause , the man that made my childhood with the tv show "Charmed". He also signed an autograph! And then I saw Stan Lee. FOR REAL. I REALLY SAW STAN LEE IN PERSON. It was unbelievable. There were a lot of people waiting in line for his autograph so I saw him from a far spot but I SAW HIM.
Me and Victor also bought a "The Walking Dead" t-shirt with the sign "NO WALKERS" and it's so funny 'cause their last name is Walker.

I hope everything will be okay tomorrow at school and I hope I'll make new friends and I can't wait to meet new people.

First week in Idaho!

L'ultima settimana è stata piena di emozioni ed esprienze nuove e tutte davvero fantastiche.
Con la famiglia mi trovo benissimo, mi diverto un sacco e andiamo d'accordo.
Domenica siamo andati in chiesa e direi che come prima volta è andata bene, non mi sono annoiata ed è stato molto interessante vedere per una volta qualcosa di diverso e che non avrò l'occasione di vedere da nessun'altra parte.
Domenica sera siamo andati in campeggio!! Abbiamo mangiato hot dogs e marshmallows, ho guidato un quad per la prima volta e ho addirittura sparato al piattello con il fucile. E' stato molto divertente, anche se il giorno dopo mi faceva male la spalla. Poi alla sera io, il mio host dad e Eddie (un altro exchange student dalla Svezia) abbiamo dormito lì con i sacchi a pelo sotto le stelle. E' stato davvero meraviglioso perchè qui si vedono molte più stelle di quelle che posso vedere dalla finestra di casa mia in Italia. Abbiamo parlato di molte cose, serie e non, e devo dire che mi è piaciuto ed è anche molto utile per migliorare il mio inglese. Capisco il 95 % di quello che mi dicono e sto migliorando il modo di parlare ogni giorno.
Oggi sono andata a scuola con la mia host mom per iscrivermi nei Junior e scegliere le materie e prendere l'armadietto. Ho scelto English, U.S. History, Human Anatomy, Pre-Calculus, German 2, Spanish 3, Body Sculpt e Women's Chorus. Volevo fare anche Drama, ma sfortunatamente coincideva con Women's Chorus quindi ho dovuto scegliere Body Sculpt e probabilmente farò Drama il prossimo semestre.
Domani inizio la scuola e spero davvero di farmi degli amici...in ogni caso a pranzo probabilmente mangerò insieme agli altri exchange student, così non dovrò stare da sola.
Spero che questa settimana sia fantastica come quella passata.


Last week was so intense and full of new experiences.

With the host family I really fit good, I'm having a lot of fun and we get on really well. On Sunday we went to church and it went good, considering it was the first time, it wasn't boring and it was interesting to see something different for once.
In the evening we went camping!! We ate hot dogs and marshmallows, I rode a four wheeler for the first time in my life and I shot with a rifle. It was really fun, even if the next day my shoulder hurt a bit. Then at night me, my host dad and Eddie (another exchange student from Sweden) slept there with our sleeping bags under the stars. It was really astonishing because here you can see more stars that I can see from my window in Italy. We talked about a lot of things, serious and not, and I liked it and it's also really useful for my english. I understand 95 % of what they say to me and I'm improving my speaking every day.
Today I went to school with my host mom to enroll in the Juniors and choose the classes and get a locker. I chose English, U.S. History, Human Anatomy, Pre-Calculus, German 2, Spanish 3, Body Sculpt and Women's Chorus. I wanted to do Drama but unfortunatly it was at the same time as Women's Chorus so I had to choose Body Sculpt and probably I'll do Drama next semester.
Tomorrow I start school and I really hope I'll start making friends...anyway at luch I will probably eat with the others exchange students, so I wont have to be alone.
I hope this week will be as great as the one that just passed.

"One's destination is not a place, but a way of seeing things."

Sono arrivata ieri sera e stavo talmente a pezzi che non ho avuto la forza di fare quasi niente.
La famiglia è davvero il meglio, sono tutti così gentili e disponibili e mi fanno sentire a mio agio e sono anche molto divertenti. La casa è davvero pazzesca, è enorme e meravigliosa e la mia stanza è grande il doppio di quella che ho in italia. C'è anche un ragazzo tedesco, Jonas, che starà qui per un po' e mi sembra simpatico. Ci sono anche un cane e un gatto talmente grasso che mi chiedo come faccia a camminare.
Grazie a dio nessuna valigia è stata persa durante i voli e io non ho perso le coincidenze!!
Ieri avevo un po' paura all'idea di incontrare la famiglia, ma ora mi sento davvero bene. Mi sento elettrizzata, come sulle montagne russe un attimo prima della grande discesa. Sono le 8 del mattino e non riesco più a dormire, non che il letto non sia comodo...Non vedo l'ora di esplorare Idaho Falls e di conoscere le persone che ci vivono!
Adesso andrò a fare colazione e mi preparerò per le discese e le salite, le curve strette, i giri della morte e i stratti a 100 all'ora che mi aspettano in questa grande e nuova esperienza.

I arrived last night and I was so tired that I couldn't do anything.
The family is really the best part, they're all so nice and polite and they make me feel comfortable and they're also really funny. The house is insanely big nad it's beautiful and my room is twice the room I have in italy. There's also a German boy, Jonas, who will stay here for a bit and he seems ok. There are also a dog and a cat so fat that I ask myself how can it walk around so easly.
Thanks god, no luggage was lost during the travel and I didn't miss the connecting flights!!
Yesterday I was a little scared about meeting the family, but now I feel really good. I feel thrilled and excited, like when you're on roallercoaster right before going down. It's 8 am and I can't sleep anymore, not because of the bed...I can't wait to explore Idaho Falls and meet the people who live here.
Now I'm gonna have breakfast and I will prepare myself for the falls, the rises, the sharps turns, the loops and the 100 km/h stretches that I will find in this big and new experience.

Idaho - Let it be forever

I found out that Idaho is really the perfect place for me. It has so much to offer, speaking of nature, landscapes, mountains, hiking tracks and more. There are so many outdoor activities you can do, and I'm very lucky because my host family loves most of them as much as I do. My host dad today told me that we can go hiking and climbing sometimes if I want and in the winter we can go skiing. I'm really excited, I hope this Arrival family will become my Permanent family, even though I haven't met them yet. My host mum told me that they will be away since August 22nd so I will probably come in the week after the 22nd. I'm happy 'cause this way I have the time to organize everything, say goodbye to my friends and family ecc. I also talked to Charlotte, she's the German girl that will stay with me in the Double Placement for a while, she's sweet and nice and she's 15. I thought she had the same age as me...but this doesn't matter, I was just surprised. Everything is going the right way, and I really can't wait for this dream, for this adventure to start. I'm a bit afraid and nervous but I guess it's normal...now it's all or nothing.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Annnnnnnnd today I made the first step. I recieved all the info about my host family and my high school and everything, so after 3 hours of excitement, I wrote an e-mail to my host family. I wrote about myself and this whole experience and I said to them how excited I was and how I couldn't wait to start my journey. I'm so freaking happy! Now the only thing left is the date of departure. I hope it will be like in mid-August, because school starts the 4th of September and I still have some things to do here in Italy before leaving. But what I feel is bittersweet, because yesterday I had to say goodbye to my best friends 'cause they're going to the seaside and I'll probably won't see them again before my departure, and they made me a video where they told me like how much I mean to them and how much they're gonna miss me and they cried and I cried and everyone started crying and it was a mess because it ended up in hugs and tears and I know I'm really gonna miss them. They're also my classmates..so I'm really gonna feel the difference without my girlss. :'(
But the good thing is that some of my friends, the ones from my group outside the school, are going to come back to Italy in two days; they went to Spain on a group holiday. They invited me too, but I didn't know when I was going to leave for the U.S. so I said no, and I wasn't even sure if I could have the possibilty to see them again but now I have the chance to meet them one last time and say goodbye. I'm gonna cry again, I know it for sure.
I heard someone once saying that the melancholy is the knowledge of the traveller. And it's true. Sad and true.