What were you grateful for this week? 

Having a week off (my host sister was away for a week). 

What was the most challenging part of this week?

Walking 40 minutes and back from the house in Rome to the city center. 

 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. 
My wow moment was when I went to Amsterdam and went outside of the city to see the country side and it was SO BEAUTIFUL. It was so nice as well because the weather in Amsterdam was so much cooler than it is in Italy. It was a wonderful weekend get away. 

 

Tell us about your week! 

So this week is my first official week of being being with my host sister. She was gone all last week, and the week before I got to Italy on Thursday and had the day to just relax. I know it is just Monday, and I haven’t had a full week with her yet, but finding things to do with her is very difficult. She gets bored very easily and does not want to really do anything. We are also staying in their vacation house. So she does not have any crafts, games, paper, colored pencils…etc. So that is tough when figuring out what to do. It is also really tough when I’m “off” to figure out my place. I’m pretty awkward and I try to make small talk but everyone is just in the zone doing what they have to do. So the 1 to 2 hour period before dinner puts me in a weird spot because I don’t know what to do.

 

Honestly dinner time is my favorite time of day. I really enjoy conversing with [my host mom]. She is so accommodating and she is really a jou to be around. I like being around Nonna [grandma] too because although there is a language barrier she is very funny and we can get by with doing charades and my spanish speaking skills. It is quite funny. 

 

I’m so grateful to have [my host parents] truly care about my well being. I appreciate the little small things [my host mom] does for me like last week in Rome she would make my lunch. And on her anniversary or when she had plans for dinner last week as well she made sure I had a nice home-made dinner. She is honestly so great. 

 

Something amazing that happened was Thursday I decided to go to Amsterdam. My goodness was it BEAUTIFUL. I had the time of my life. I went by myself and let me just say the weather was such a pleasant surprise coming from Italy where it is VERY hot.