Roma.

So they saying goes. When in Rome... Do as Romans do. But honestly besides driving like fecking maniacs, eating pizza they do nothing <3 Thats the life. However someone who lives in Roma may beg to differ. Anyways. I'm sad to say that Rome was a tiny bit disappointing. Yes it was beautiful but it didn't feel beautiful. At every little touristy spot there were people trying to sell you stuff. and they wouldn't stop coming back to you. Honestly. If I wasn't with my school, I would turn around and give them some Australian slang ;)

While we were there we went to the "Colosseo" or Colosseum, heaps of ruins, spanish steps, Hard Rock Cafe (we also went to that when we were in Venice), Pantheon (which was gorgeous by the way), Trevi Fountain, Imperial fora and my favourite - the Vatican City. It was absolutely beautiful. The church was amazing and it was huge! One of the best things about the Vatican City was that the sellers are not allowed in the city. Also like every church in Italia, they seem to hold this feel about them. Something that feels like security, faith and trust. So being in the St Peter's Church (which is the biggest church EVER) was a strange experience. First of all, there were tourist there... taking photo's posing... doing usual touristy things. But somehow it was respectful or something. I don't how to explain it really, but it was beautiful and thats all you need to know.

 And of course my next favourite story comes from when i was in rome. actually i lied in my previous posts. I have 4 favourite photos. My first 2 are from venice and my next 2 are from Roma.

The first story. 

So some kids in the group that went over there with me decided that they would drink the night before we left (considering alcohol for 16yr old is legal... they have it in supermarkets!!) and my friend Izzy and I decided not to drink and to pack instead. Half way through packing we both lost motivation and then I stated "IZZY! I need to shave my legs." Then she stated "Shelby! I need to shave my legs. I can almost braid mine." Then I said "IZZY! I need to shave my legs because I can almost shave mine off and use them as hair extensions." Then Izzy said "Lets do them together." So we ran a bath in our dodgy  bathroom (everything kept breaking in our 4 star hotel bathroom :s ) and stripped down to our undies, got our razors and jumped in. Now I must say this one of the funny moments in my whole trip. we compared our overly hair legs. It took us about an hour to finish (probably cos we were laughing the whole time). And then Izzy, who has dark thick black hair, decides to shave in a pattern in her leg for the time we were in the bath. Let me say. It was HILARIOUS. 

My next favourite story is when we were leaving Rome. The whole of Europe was attacked by a huge snow storm. In fact England got it the worst. Anyways, just as we were leaving the storm hit Rome. Our plane was delayed 30minutes. But I don't care because i was too busy watching snow flakes hit my window <3 

Venezia

Well hello there

First of all. I'm sorry for not being as persisted in the whole blogging during my stay in Italy. I lost my mojo over there. You know the whole story, first I was home sick then some shit-th hit-th the fan-th. But now I realize that I should of been updating it no matter what. 

My last blog was from when I went to the snow. The next major event which happened after the snow was I went to Venice. Now I let you all on a little secret. I fell in love with Venice before I arrived in Italy. Seriously how more gorgeous can you get then waking up to the ocean literally at your doorstop. In photos that I saw before I went to Venezia (the Italian name) I fell in love with the colours. But the photos do most definitely not do the place justice. First of all to get there you have to either train it or boat it. My group and I trained it. ( by group i mean Izzy, Milo, Miles, Natasha and our host families). We left in the morning and watched the sun kinda rise over the sea then we arrive at the train station and you step outside the train station and your view is the photo below 

The thing that i found so very disappointing was the 'modern art' as my group and I called it. By Modern Art, we mean the great ugly advertisements on these gorgeous buildings. However, I found that graffiti (True Modern Art) was everywhere through Italy (I don't know if I have mentioned this). Some of it was gorgeous and others well... they weren't. I do beleive however, that the graffiti in Venice was gorgeous -like it had a purpose besides being a rebellious act of society. 

I am going to share with you all two stories of my Venice trip -purely because they are in my top three favourite stories from Italy. 

The first one is: 

We were walking through this Jewish Ghetto and as we enter a small Piazza (piazza, not pizza.... its a town square) this old man who would of been about 50-60 walks past as. Sounds normal right? Well he was wearing a Bright Purple Skinny Jeans. A purple Polo Shirt with a Red Jumper. My friend Greta and I saw him and laughed about it for a while. :S Then later on that day we were eating pizza from the best place ever. ( I know I know. I've said that about all the pizzeria's we went to.. but I'm serious... it was bloody good) and I see the same man walking towards as again. So with one swift movement i pulled out my camera and took a photo of our man. Little did we know that the tightness had made his umm.. well you know... uncomfortable and we caught it :s 

Please feel free to check him out <3 

My Second Story is much less comical and more harder to explain. We had finally reached the Main Square in Venice called Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square) and you can go up to the top of the bell tower. I am terrified by heights so for me this was pretty daunting to do. I walked in jumped into an elevator (Lazy i know, but they had blocked the stairs) and the elevator doors opened and my fears disappeared. It was the most beautiful site in the world. If I lived in Venice I would go there daily and write my blog from there. Anyways I'm distracted. I could see everywhere over the tops of Venice. But the most magical thing was that it was right on sunset and there was a light breeze. It was magical. It was the most peaceful I felt in a long time. I know it sounds corny but it was almost as if I had for a few seconds I was completely calm about the situation which had happened at the current time and I think that was when I accepted  it. However as I was having this self finding  a bell tower in the distant began to ring (like I said.... They are all out of time) and that was beautiful. I was looking around the bell tower, seeing what I could see, when the bell directly above me rang! It was the LOUDEST thing I have ever heard and it was beautiful. It was so loud I blocked my ears with my hands. Then for the sake of it I closed my eyes. The sound was amazing- it vibrated through my whole body. I know my words aren't doing it justice which sucks but it was gorgeous. If anyone who is reading this gets the chance to go to venice go into the tower at 4pm and you'll witness something like what i did. 

living in italy

so i have neglected my blog for a while. SORRY. but i have much to catch up on.

I have finally seen snow. yes i know i said that i had seen it before but this was knee-deep, let's make a snowman (which i later found out is very hard) snow. It was beautiful. It reminded me of something you would find in Beauty and the Beast- which for those who know me, you would know that i was, and still am, very addicted to the movie. It seemed to have sort of magic, i dont know... i think it was just from seeing it the first time.

Also while we went to the snow. i ate snow. dont worry it was white. but i did see yellow snow. i took a photo of it.



Yellow Snow! Look closely its there!

  this is also another photo of me, just chillin in the snow. this is after my fail attempt of making a snow angel. i tried again later and it was better. I LUFF SNOW!  

after that we went to a festival called 'San Nicolas e Krumpus'. it was weird and i didnt understand what was going on. and i still dont. but basically these Krumpus are evil spirits of christmas. and for an unknown reason they like to hit people in the back of the legs with sticks. and it HURTS.  I got hit twice and i have a bruise... kinda.. its going away now.

hmm what else can i say? Pizza is amazing! I love the pasta! I have a friend who has jsut returned back home and she has been in tialy for the last year. anyways im going to quote her. she said "i used to be skinny, but know i live in italy. enough said". I now completely understood what she she meant.

Everyday i have German :s The German teacher is kinda crazy! Have i mentioned that my HPE teacher looks like he is going to kill everyone? He reminds me Mr Woodcock, hes out of the movie Mr Woodcock and hes a bastard of an hpe teacher too.

I think i am getting homesick. What i miss about home:
- my bed
- family (parental figures esp)
- fast internet
- certain friends and a particular boy
- wearing one layer of clothing -__-

but dont get the wrong idea. I loving italy. What i love about italy:
- food!
- the buildings
- snow
- listening to people sing english songs wrong
- hot chocolate
- food
- chocolate

gunna head now. Arrivederciiii
xoxoxo

tu nix vides?

that is latin. today i had another latin lesson... but here is the twist.. it was in english :) My prof (teacher) speaks english too... oh mio dio (omg)... also today is amazing because:
1: it snowed!!! and its the prettiest thing ever!
2: today Francesca (my host sister) and io decorated their house in christmas decorations. I am half way around the world from my home and i still manage to set the christmas tree and decorations up on december 1st... family tradition. 

last night i went to a city called Udine. it was gorgeous. also, when i was there i ate the biggest pizza ever!  
tomorrow my class and i are going to Trieste. I cant wait!! I LOVE ITALY! and snow. snow is amazing! anyone who hasnt seen it yet must do it!

xoxo
Your pal in italia

p.s. i can swear in italian. with perfect pronounciation

l'erba ti fa male se la fumi senza stile!

CIAOOOOO!
So today is day 3 in italy and i must say. i am in love. also today it is the first day of school. it was really strange. the teachers come to the class room and you stay in the same class all day. today at school i had art, biology, sose, maths, latin and german... i cant pick the subjects :( Its sad because the only thing i understood all day was maths :S and in german and latin i was soooo confused  i didnt know if it was the other language or italian that was being spoken :S :S But i am happy because they also learn english so they can speak to us in english and explain things to us. 

its very cold in italy. inside its 17 degrees, which is the temperature for my winter and my host family dont believe it and outside it is 4 degrees. there is no snow but it is raining and very very windy :(

Also, today we went to a bar.. thats what they call a coffee place... and i had a hot chocolate.. if you are ever in italy you have to have one!! its like hot mousse.. its very dense and thick. its soooooooooooooooooo yumma! 

A friend of mine Izzy is staying with a family and they have a toddler. she is so cute.. she is the cutest baby i have ever seen. Even Ruby, another friend of mine... she's kinda gothic (dont tell her that i said that :P) but she thinks she is cute! I reckon she looks like Boo out of Monsters Inc. Ruby and i called her cherub. but we found out today that her name is melissa... i like cherub :D

The Italian quote of the day is "l'erba ti fa male se la fumi senza stile" (its the title of the post) it translate to 'weed is not good for you if you dont smoke it in style'... sadly its a metaphor for if you gunna do something you do it well and proper :)
 
On the way here it was a long flight. i spent 28 ores travelling to italy from my home and i had only 4 hours sleep. when i got to my host family i went to bed at 7.40 and woke up at 10.30 :) I was recovered but my body clock is not used to the times that i go to sleep.

Dinner is almost ready. oh the food here is AMMMAZZZING! until next time
arrivderci!
xoxox

9 days and counting

As most would know, i have this love hate relationship with maths.

I hate maths. A LOT.

but it seems to love me and continue to fuck withmymind. and i have proof:

dsfgs

13 days and counting...

The following blog as nothing to do with italy. 


and i would have to say that these are my favourite lyrics
These ones are from 99 red balloons by Nena the opening part makes me ":D"

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons
With the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message
"Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here
From somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by

And these ones from Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows Joni Mitchell

Hey farmer farmer
Put away the D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot