HEADING HOME

DAY 92 : 13 February 2015

Today was my final day in the land of pizza, pasta and gelato. I've had three months filled with excitement, adventures and travels, and I honestly had the time of my life.

 90 days ago I got on a plane and flew 16 200 km away to a country I'd never been to, with people I've never met, and a language I didn't speak. And it was amazing. It opened my eyes to not only to incredible country of Italy, but showed me what I am capable of. I've been thrown out of my comfort zone more times than I can count, and I lived a life in a world that is completely different to my own. I've seen the quote somewhere - "Exchange isn't  a few months in your life, it's a life in a few months" - and it honestly couldn't be more true. In a mere few months I've made a new life - family, friends, Udine - and I am so sad to leave tomorrow.

I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have even had this experience in the first place, and it has left me with enough memories and experiences and adventures to last a lifetime.

A photo of my class from my last day of school today ..

And a quick appreciation photo for these girls, who were the best friends I made over here, and the people I'll miss the most. Last night they threw me a surprise going away party - 20 people showed up to say goodbye, and it was just incredible. So sad to leave them!

I am so appreciative of everyone who was a part of making this experience what it was, from my dear mother back at home for signing the papers (and paying the $$$), and my family and friends here in Italy. 

I can't believe it's really over. I'm not ready to go!!!!!

I'm going to miss every little thing about this place. Thanks for having me Italy - I've had the time of my life, and I'll be back.

PS - a quick apology to the people of Italy for completely butchering your wonderful language with my horrific pronunciation for the last 3 months...it seems that the one thing I couldn't figure out in Italy was the actual language...

Well that's it from me, my final blog! See you soon 'straya.

Love,

Jen

VENEZIA

DAY 87 : 8 February 2015

With only one week left in the magnificent Italy, I finally made it to Venice! Our trip was almost hampered by the terrible weather on Friday that left a lot of flooding in some of the main piazzas, but decided to give it a go anyway.

Caterina and I spent two hours on the train before we arrived in Venice, and it was most certainly worth the wait. 

We spent 7 hours just walking around the city, taking photos, eating, and trying to avoid most of the crowds. It was just magnificent, here are just a fraction of the photos I took...

 

 

It was just a little flooded in Piazza San Marco at high tide, but us (and the millions of other tourists) didn't mind too much!

 

It is almost time for Carnevale here in Italy, so we ate some Carnevale food, and saw lots of people dressed up.

( yes, this is a ball of deep fried goodness filled with cream - and it only cost me €1. Australia really needs to pick up its game in the cheap delicious unhealthy food department )

My favourite photo of the day. It doesn't get more Venetian than this..

And we headed off as the sun was setting, completely exhausted and tired, but it was the best day!

On another note, I have now less than one week left. 5 days of school and I will be on the plane(s) heading back to Australia and the unbelievably hot temperatures and real school! 

Seems like too much to handle thinking about, it was easier to leave Australia, because I knew the exact date I would see them again, and exactly how much time I would be away. With Italy, and my family and friends all of that is unknown, so it makes it even sadder to think about leaving. So for now I'm just going to push it aside, enjoy my last 6 days and pack when necessary. Must say though, I am looking forward to some warmth - the temperature hasn't been in double digits in over a month!

Love,

Jen

Australia Day, and a day in Trieste!

DAY 76 : 28 January 2015

As is quite obvious, Australia Day was on Monday, and Caterina and I decided to bake some relatively 'Australian' dishes for dinner! 

We spent the afternoon after school cooking, and we ended up making some Burgers, Potato Bake, and a (rather unsuccessful) Pavlova. The Pavlova went through various stages -

From looking nice coming out of the oven..

To slowly collapsing...

And us covering it in about a kilo of cream and fruit and chocolate to try and salvage it. It ended up looking like this...

After about an hour a strange liquid formed at the bottom, but it still ended up tasting pretty good!

Our dinner of burgers and potato bake..

Today, the school was having some sort of activities day which was rather pointless and included no real classes, so we headed of to Trieste for the day! Trieste is the biggest city in the region, and it is right on the ocean, has a huge castle, some great shopping, and even better food..

And the food..

We caught the train back to Udine, and it's back to school tomorrow for the last 3 days of the week!

Love,

Jen