This is going to be my last blog post for a while as I am on vaction with my parents in a few days. Things have been crazy as all of us are going to be staying somewhere else for a while. However, I managed to be the first one packed and ready. Hopefully these next few weeks will be enjoyable and I will be able to get back to Aus safely. Thank you everyone for your help, and see you soon! Ciao e grazie.
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Hi Everyone! Ciao tutti! Firstly, this is one of my last Italy blog posts! I know right! My parents come to Italy in 8 days and in the usual Jenn manner I am freaking out. But anyways....I know that you are all dying to hear about my quick trip to Rome....so.
We woke up at 6 and got ready. In the usual Smarrelli way we were a little bit late. We then drove the 30 minutes to Naples and caught a nice train to Rome. These trains were the exact trains that I took in January to get to Naples so it was ironic. It was ironic because that was at the beginning of my trip and now it is the end of my Exchange. So we got into the Roma Terminal and ran to catch a train to the Colosseum. I guess that everyone in the world decided to go to Rome becuase the train was packed. The trains were also radically different from the nice ones we took to Roma, these were covered in spray paint and were hot. We got to the Colosseum and waited in a long line. It was decided that we would split up and I would go take English tour. This is when I ran into an Aussie couple who asked me to take their pic, they later returned the favor. After the Colosseum we went to the Roman Forum via the Via Sacra. We saw Arch of Titus and the Roman Forum here. However by this point we were dying..... It was about 91F and 32C. The day we were in Rome was the first hot day of the season. Thankfully we stopped and ate. After our little cool down we went to the Pantheon taking many detours to nearby piazza(s). The Pantheon is beautiful and large. It is large, but when the entire population of Taiwan is in there the building shrinks. We then met up with my host aunt and uncle who live in Rome. They then showed us more piazza(s) and cool buildings. The best thing they took us to was the Trevi Fountain which is under construction. However I heard that is was gated after a man put red dye in the water (pic below). We then aimlessly walked around until it was time for us to go home. We ended up taking a bus to the Roma Terminal station. This bus was packed and in order to get on it one must push and push. We had to get on the bus or we were going to miss our train. So we got on and were promptly smushed. We were sweating and trying not to move on the bumpiest bus ride ever. Cheers to the guy who held me up half the time because I was not able to hold onto the pole. So thanks. We did get on our train and spent the time looking at our photos. We were grateful to get home to somewhat AC and food. I am so grateful for my host family and everyone else. I love all of you and I will never forget you. Also, big ups to my friends in America or Australia or anywhere inbetween. Thank you for your messages and support. I will be home soon! I cannot believe it! Thanks and I love you! Grazie e io ti amo! P.S. These are my Facebook photos- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.803750189636740.1073741834.100000052996315&type=1&l=c27f46dac0. You do not need to have Facebook or be my Facebook friend to see these photos. So enjoy! After I wrote my last blog post I was invited to a party. Let me be clear, I did not know who this party was for. All I knew was that it was a birthday party. With that in mind, I partied till 1 A.M. We had a great time and danced to all these crazy Italian line dances. I do admit the food was a bit weird, but the cake was really good. By the end of the night, I still did not know the birthday girl's name. Whoops...
This last Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting (if you don't know what this is go here- www.mormon.org) and it was great to be with these wonderful people. Without my Church I don't think I would have had a great Exchange. Everyone is so wonderful and I really cannot say thank you enough. Thanks again! The next day my host family and I went to the castle in Caserta. We ended up going to the Castle and seeing a crazy long line, so we decided to eat first. We could not decide where we wanted to eat so we walked around for about a hour looking for somewhere to eat. We settled on eating in this nice garden restraunt that was truly beautitful. The pizza there was great as well. After eating we went to the castle. Seriously it was massive and we only saw 1/4 of it. The parts we did see were lovely. At this castle there are these gardens that are just massive. They had these really big fountains and waterfalls that were really big. If you want to see my pictures click this link-https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.800249933320099.1073741833.100000052996315&type=1&l=f5d2ac0554. Like always you do not need to be my Facebook friend or even have a Facebook to view these photos, so enjoy. For the first time in my Exchange I was able to go to the Navy Support Site and it is basically a little America in Italy. My great friends from Church took me to see "Heaven is For Real" which is a massive tear-jerker. Even if you are not religious it has real practical questions asked, like how do you trust someone when you did not see what they saw? Afterwords we chatted and got Taco Bell. If you did not know Taco Bell is one of my favourite unhealthy foods ever and unfortunately (fortunately?) they do not have it in Australia. So eating 3 soft tacos was like residing in heaven. This week has not been so busy as school has drawn to a close. We are planning on going to Rome and other places soon so that is to look forward to. Also my parents are here in 14 days! This exchange is ending so soon! Thank you for supporting me and for helping me with my adventure. Ciao e grazie <3 As school is winding down I have come to the sudden realization that my time here is almost to an end. I am part sad and happy about this. Yes, exchange is wonderful and I have had so made great friends and had fun times. BUT, Italians do not have peanut butter and like the real American I am, I am having some serious PB+J cravings. Like previously said school is ending next week and because of most of my classes having tests and one-on-one interigations I have begun making cranes again. I am pretty sure most of you know about the whole Jenn and crane thing, but if not...I am obessed with making orgami cranes. Every place I have lived I have done the making cranes for a charity cause thing. So boredom forced me into it, I promise. However, they are a great hit with everyone so there is a plus. Yesterday I came home and was home for 3 minutes and was invited to go to Campania. I had a massive shopping list because my parents are coming here and I am preparing for that. I bought snacks (note the milano cookies), air freshner, tissues, band aids, hand sanitizer, gum, sunscreen (50+) and a lot more. I think I am the most exciting person to shop with ever. Buying practical people things like a boss. We also went into H&M to look for a dress for my host cousin. We were trying to find a specfic dress and ended up not getting it. It was actually really funny going up and down trying to find it though. To end our very long shopping spree we got some ice cream that was very delicous. Today was a great relaxed day with interigations and going to Chruch with school. Whilst in church I started thinking about how pretty all these churchs are. Seriously pretty and detailed. The nice ones usually have a massive dome with windows so the light can stream in, paintings the size of Vermont and a massive (marble mostly) altar. The unfortante thing about these churchs are that despite how big they are, they can not fit half our school in it. My friends and I arrived a little "late" and almost did not get seats! There must have been almost 50+ people standing for an 1 hour and a half. Awful! A funny part of the meeting was when a plumbler came out of the bathroom right next to where we were seated and was really confused why there was a whole bunch of kids in the Church. I guess the Church forgot to tell him about us and he was just doing his thing in the bathroom, finished and opened the door of the bathroom almost braining a kid standing in front of it. After our church meeting we were walking to our school and saw a wedding. We were almost hit by rice and caught a very short glimpse of the bride+groom. I have never really lived in a place where you can walk down one block and count 30 churchs, so I guess seeing a wedding in progress is usual. The highlight of today was helping a priest get something in his car. Antonio and I were walking behind this priest in full garb like the picture below and he was carrying this small cross and a basket. He could not get the things in his car, therefore he turned to us and asked for help. We were like "Of course! Your a priest! We could get smitten by God if we don't!". Maybe not that last part. He then asked what school we go to, where I am from (I am a really obvious foreginer, guys, I am tall in Italy. Also, don't forget my very pale skin and blue eyes) and if I liked it here. He even called me brave, smart and beautitful. Antonio and I could not help but laughing after that. That must be like the perfect joke set up as well..."A priest asks two kids to help him put something in his car when..." Thank you for reading and for helping with my Exchange. I cannot wait to see all my Australian friends in about a month or so! Love you all and please feel free to comment or ask questions. Grazie e Arrivederci <3 Ciao tutti!
I have gone back to school and enjoying getting back into schedule. That said it looks like we may have Saturday off and we may be going to Roma? No idea. Back onto school though, it seems like these few weeks are really heavy with tests and assigments. This means that I have had a lot of time to study and make puzzles. Serious bordem...it can be dangerous. We have not been up to much really as getting back into our usual schedule is proving difficult (You mean I can't stay up till 11 and expect to feel ok tomorrow?). Today in my English class I was able to listen to their oral reports. They were actually very impressive and were about the rise of the novel and Shakespeare's influence on the novel. One girl made a video about how Romeo and Juliet would be like then and now. For her now part of her video she did a funny text conversation going on between Romeo and Juliet and Juliet being all depressed when Romeo ignores her. It was actually the best. I am glad I have been able to have this expierence and to meet so many great people. I can honestly not thank everyone enough and can you beleive I have 2 and a bit months left here?! It has gone by so fast and I would like to thank so many of you for your help. Well, that is all for now. Grazie e Arrivederci! The last week or so I have supposedly "gone back to school". You are probably wondering why that is in quotes, well we keep have these random days off. For example, after Easter break we had school for three days and then had 2 days off. Then this week, we went to school for a few days and had Thrusday off. Why can't we make it a massive 2 week break? Please?
Whilst on these days off my host family ventured to the coast. When we arrived, it was pouring rain. It was gorgeous, do not get me wrong, but a bit wet. We ended up really just eating at a restraunt and going home. The restaurant was gorgeous, wood chairs and tables and great decor. The food, excellent. Mhm, it was a great time. On Sunday after Church my host family took me out to another restaurant. This one was massive. It was almost a complex. It had beautiful brick walkways and a great big tent for outdoor seating. Here the food was fab as well. A fun time was had by all. Since then, I have been working hard in my Italian lessons. I can sorta hold a converstation now, so that is good. Also, I have just reached my three month in Italia, which means 2 and a bit left! Wow, that went really quick! Thanks everyone for reading and please feel free to like, comment and share. Ciao e grazie <3 Last Tuesday was a great day as it was Megghi's birthday! We had a great time eating cake and watching this comedy show called Made in Sud(South). I have to admit was really funny. So Tuesday was fab as I got to chill and celberate Megghi's b-day.
Wednesday was our last day of school for a week or so for Easter holidays. Therefore, we had a really nice Easter service. We walked into town and went to this beautitful Church. It was not like the realllllllyyyy beautitful one I saw two doors down, but it was massive. We heard from the lovely choir, a strong organ and many speakers in different languages. It was really nice. Antonio and I then walked home. It is not a bad walk from the town's plazza to home, but I am still recovering from a cold. Third one in three months. Don't worry, this happened when I first moved to Australia as well. So we got home, me sweaty and Antonio cool as a cucumber, and then we relaxed for a bit. Thursday was kinda stressful as I was attempting to get everything together for my trip to Roma. Being my mothers daughter, I got a massive stress headache and could not sleep! Luckily I got a few hours of sleep and felt somewhat well rested for my trip. Are you ready? Ready to here the fun bit? Are you sure? Allright.... So I awoke at 5:30 and prepared myself for the best weekend evah. The meet up place for our group is this highway and I was not really sure where on this highway. My host dad and I got to this highway before anyone else, so we were kinda worried that we did not see anyone. Eventually we found the others and I got on the bus. We arrived in Roma (Rome) two and a half hours later, ready for anything to happen. After being informed that we had to change into Church dress, the activites got underway. We were then split into classes (age groups) and had a short lesson. Luckily, I was able to understand the majority of it, but for the parts I did not there was a translator present. This is about the time when things went crazy. We then adventured to a small park were we did some sport activites, including some American games and a crazy Italain game. But the highlight of it was definetly this- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=777485968929829&l=8103975960803910204. "The Helicpoter" is what I call it and it is the best thing since sliced bread. After sport our sport activities, we went to our campsite for the night and got settled. We then went back to the Church for a talnet show, which is where our group preformed the song "Come Unto Christ." I will hopefully get the video off someone soon, so watch out for that. We then got back to the camp really late and slept. The next day we did some service work, which involved us passing out flyers asking for people to donate medcince or money for people who can not afford medical care like pills and such. After moping around in the rain for a while, we went back to church had a semianry lesson. It was a great Seminary lesson and we all really enjoyed it. Our last activity of the weekend was the testimony meeting which is where I attempted to bear my testimony (testimonianza) in Italian. It was really short, but hopefully it will get longer. We then said a tearful goodbye to all the amazing people we met and went home. Please note, I went to sleep at 11:30 ish and had to wake up at 7:00 so I could to Tok (seriously do not know how to spell it). It was about a three hour drive to get to Toc (I will ask later on how to spell it), but because I had been travelling all that weekend it felt like an hour. It was also a really scenic drive, seriously gorgeous. We then arrived at my host grandfather's house where we promptly ate and watched TV. At one point, I was feeling really tired and my host mum told be to go rest for a bit. I ended up having a three hour nap (it was the lack of sleep in Roma, I promise!) and was not able to sleep till 1:00 in the morning. But, that was fine because I ended up staying up with my host cousin and host sister. We played card games and watched a bit of the Voice Italia. The next day involved a bit more of food (I ate lamb for,I believe, the first time, yum!!!!) and TV watching. Since I got up late as well, I somehow ended up eating a piece of cake for breekie. No complaints here! After another long afternoon of card playing and a bit of volleyball, we left for Maddaloni. We again got home really late. Funny moments Being one of the only few English speaking people to speak some Italian, I ended up having to translate some flirty situations. It was pretty fab and ended up being quite hysterical. I am pretty sure I asked "Where are you?" instead of "Where are you from" but she (maybe a he, it did happen twice) understood. Whilst on the bus coming home, we stopped at a rest stop and I got a very sugary doughnut. When I was done eating it, I asked a friend to throw the napkin full of sugar away. He looked at me strange and was like "You want me to through away your snotty tissue for you?". He thought my sugary napking was a cold induced tissue! Hahahahaha. Anyways....thank you some much for reading this. I hope everyone has had a lovely break and enjoyed eating food and of course praising Jesus. Thank you and write more blog posts later, ciao e grazie! P.S. If you click here you can see all my pics from my Easter break! Enjoy- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.778953315449761.1073741832.100000052996315&type=1&l=de8f457e8b Two Sundays ago I went to Naples with the host family. It was great and we were able to go inside a castle (the castle of San Marino, I believe). It was lovely, so big as well. We then went to a reallllllllly Italian restraunt, it was crazy busy and small. The food was yum.
The last few weeks have been pretty fabulous as well. School has been crazy busy with Easter holidays coming and all the teachers have been giving lots of tests, which means study time for Jennifer. Hahaha. For those who were wondering my next big trip is to Roma with Church, so look forward to that. Thanks everyone and if you click this you can see my photos from Facebook even if you do not have a Facebook or are not a friend with me on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.774857682525991.1073741831.100000052996315&type=1&l=ab7f90b562 The last two weeks have been really chill. I have been studying lots but really lazy. So...haha. Anyways I went to Rome yesterday to see the Pope. We had to get up at 4 and leave at 5:30 so there is a downside to all of that. We ended up having a great time, even though when I attempted to get a picture of the Pope I got elbowed to the face and kicked in the stomach by a toddler being held by their mother. It was a really nice day but boy did my feet hurt. We had to stand the entire time we were waiting and listening to the Pope. Ouch. Thanks so much for dealing with my blog hiatus and feel free to like, share and comment. Grazie e Ciao.
Here is the link for my photos, like always you can view them even if you do not have facebook :) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.769539246391168.1073741830.100000052996315&type=1&l=c72eb14a2d This week has been a little hetic. With Italian lessons and spur of the moment trips into town I haven't had the time to draft. Anyways, I went to a pretty church in town and it was massive. Maddaloni is very small so I was amazed at this big church that was beautifully well kept. No pics because no one really told me about it. Also this week I went to Church and was given all these wonderful gifts. This included a neckalce like the one from Hercules, a stingray figure and flowers (which are sitting on my desk right now, so pretty :). I also have watched another movie in school, this one had Penoleope Cruz in it so it had to get at least 3 stars. But, all death and drama. Sorry for a short post, just making sure everyone has a little update that I am alive. Feel free to read other blog posts to feel fully blogged. Thank you and bye.
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