What were you grateful for this week?Chicken Fajitas. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?

Host Mom was away all week for work. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.Really went out of my way to try and speak Italian to everyone. 

Tell us about your week! So this past week was the week that I have been dreading for the past month. First of all, C left, which broke my heart even though I knew it was coming. Second of all, [my host mom] was away for a work trip from Monday evening until Sunday morning. So I was terrified that I was going to be simultaneously sad and exhausted by full responsibility of Italian children. But, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was anticipating!

The hardest part about not having C here is not being able to look forward to seeing her on the weekends, and just having a person that knows me inside and out and is able to relate to everything that I am saying. Most of the time I don’t even need to say anything, and she just knows. But, it’s okay. We all have to be independent at some point in our lives. 

Now the great thing about my host family is that they’re a big, close family. There are always grandmothers coming over, or grandfathers, or aunts, or cousins, etc. You get the gist. So I am never ever alone in my efforts to keep the house from burning down. And in [my host mom’s] absence, everyone was over compensating for the fact that she wasn’t here. 

Although I had legitimately zero time to do anything expect for think about baby mush (Pietro’s food), Pirate puzzles, poop, and Paw Patrol, I didn’t ever feel overwhelmed or alone.

I also made a new friend this week! A 29 year old colleague of [my host mom’s] friend, her name is Katie and she’s from Melbourne. I took her to an Aperitivo place that I had been to a couple times before because there is a waiter there that really loved C and me, and I knew he would appreciate me stopping buy to say hello and bringing him a new friend as well.