ONE MORE WEEK!!!!!

   What!!!!?????? Yes, this is true in exactly one week from today, I will take a red eye flight to NYC and I will start my exchange with AFS! It is so crazy to think about it because it still doesn't seem real, I mean I haven't even packed my bags yet! I finally got my visa in the mail on Monday and now I can officially stay in Italy for my exchange!

    Since this is possibly my last blog post while I am in Ohio before my exchange I guess I will list what I will miss and what I hope to gain.

Things I will miss:
1) My family- OMG how could I not miss them??? They have been so supportive and I will surely miss them like crazy!

2) My friends- I love all of you and I will miss you and I want you all to make the most out of our senior year!!! (':

3) American food- I will miss you even though you are like my body's worst enemy :p
    And Chipotle I will miss you dearly :(

4) The ease of knowing the language, the food, the school and the culture- I know for sure this is something I should be more grateful for, I never realized how much this should be valued until now, since I am about to take a journey into the unknown.

5) School- Yes, Stivers I will even miss you. Even though this would have been my 6th year there, I realize that it is a really good school and our student body is like a family. I will miss you and even though I am not going to be at graduation will you all, I am so happy I got to be in the greatest class EVER in history, CLASS OF 2014 Stivers School for the ARTS!!! Go Tigers!

Things I hope to gain:
1) A new family that I will be able to connect with for not only this exchange but many years after (hopefully the rest of my life)

2) Fluency in Italian

3) I hope I will become more mature and responsible, I think that this is a perfect way for me to grow up before college!

4) Friends from all over the world that I can rely on and will be able to share experiences with during and after our exchanges!

5) I hope to become more open and accepting to new cultures. (I think it is almost impossible to go on an exchange and not be) I hope that I will come back here to my home and see things from a new, more improved perspective.

6) I hope that I can inspire other people who I come across (or those who come across this blog) to go on an exchange and take that chance to make yourself a BETTER person! Which leads me to my 7th point...

7) I hope that I become an overall better person, than I ever was and with AFS I am confident that this is all possible!

Arrivederci,
Shayla

Local AFS Picnic

   So I just got back from my AFS Picnic for Dayton and there are 17 exchange students in my city, (Not my entire chapter in Cincinnati there it is like 50) I was so happy to be there because I was extremely sad about leaving last week and this picnic made me very excited!!!

   So I basically just ate food and talked to a lot of people mostly volunteers, there is an Italian girl here in Centerville (TURN UP) and I am very excited about it! 

   In other news I was talking to a guy who is near my city in Italy (former exchange to Portugal) and he was talking to the Japanese guy in my city (who is not actually in my city but like 10 minutes away) and I got to be friends with both the Japanese guy and the Italian boy. Then the Italian boy told me about an Italian girl in my city who is in the same school as me and she just got back from her exchange in Sweden with AFS and she was so nice to me, and she is going to show me around and introduce me to her friends!

   I am sorry if my post is confusing, I am also watching the VMA's which is terrible like it is every year!

   Anyways I am leaving in 10 days and my emotions last week were crazy because I have been going to school, to enjoy my 2 weeks of Senior year in my american high school, which made me want to stay here for a little longer (and I like a guy) but then I talked to my local Italian Volunteers (who are funny by the way, thanks Adriano and Riccardo) and the Italians and they make me feel much better. Also, Katie (who messaged me which I was so happy about) because at least I know I can talk to another exchange student about my problems.

   Now I started the process of packing and it is all so real. I have been waiting for my departure day for so long and now it is here! It is crazy!!!! I love this feeling of knowing that my life will be completely different when I come back next year!!!!

    Arrivederci,
    Shayla

Is this even real???? Pinch me I must be dreaming...

   So I am going to be in Italy in 2 1/2 weeks. THIS IS UNREAL!!! Like what? Is this actually my life? I am going to live in Italy for 10 months? YES, this is my life and I will live in Italy for 10 months.

   I can't express how busy I have been lately. All I seem to do is exchange related stuff. Last week I had a doctor's appointment with my favorite doctor, (and probably the best Orthopedic surgeon in the world, man I am going to miss him) Dr. Gurd at the Cleveland Clinic to make sure everything is fine with me before I leave, and of course I am healthy. Then the next day I drove with my family to Detroit to go to the Italian Consulate, which is actually really easy once you have all of the documents. I forgot 2 things but I faxed it to them, so now I just wait for them to mail me back my passport, documents and visa. :)

  I also just booked my flight to New York, which was because of my procrastination. But I will leave Ohio a 6:45 a.m. and after a layover in Atlanta I will arrive in NYC at 12:30 p.m. Honestly, every time I have to fly it is like super early in the morning and I will be up all day, I am going to be soooo tired. (STARBUCKS I WANT MY CARAMEL MACCHIATO!!!) 

  In host family news, I learned how my host family is awesome and respected!! And how much they love food <3 Mi piace! I also have been messaging my local AFS Volunteer in Sarno and he informed me he will be in Rome when I arrive!!! I am pretty sure he is just as excited to meet me as I am to meet him! He also told me the AFS president of my chapter is friends with my host family. (I told you they were awesome)

  Now the only things I have to do is pack, finish Rosetta Stone & get my visa. Life is so much easier now that I am only a few weeks away from Departure.

Arrivederci,
Shayla
P.S. I got my AFS-USA Luggage Tags :)

Exchange is in the air!

   So a lot of people that I talked to that is exchanging to the US are finally here!!!! Some are still waiting a few more days but the AFSers are here! I am so sad that I can't meet the group in my area's chapter Cincinnati because I have a doctor's appointment in Cleveland :( but I can attend the smaller one at the end of the month!

   It is such a beautiful thing to see all of the posts on my Facebook timeline or Instagram of all of the excitement of my friends that are now here in the US. I wish them the best exchange imaginable!!!!

   A girl going to Brazil arrived and she posted on the Ask an AFSer website about how happy she is to live out her dream. And I got a little emotional reading it because in a few weeks I will feel the same way!!! I will finally be living out my dream and live in Italy!!!!!

   To all exchangers for the 2013-2014 school year: HAVE THE BEST EXCHANGE YEAR EVER!!!!!!


Only 3 1/2 weeks left,
Shayla

School video!

So I found a video of my school. I thought I should put it on my blog.

Video of my school earlier this year having an "Open Day" ( I am not really sure what that is)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dVsGBxofKA

Just a little update!

My local volunteer said that their were a total of 3 students coming to Sarno for the year program. Me, a girl from Colombia and a guy from Japan! I hope we are really close while we are there together. But that is only inside of my city, inside my state there will be many more AFSers!!!1

Host School!!!

Hey guys and gals,

   I got my host school on Sunday and I will be attending Istituto Scolastico Caro but the official long name is Liceo Ginnasio Statale T. Lucrezio Caro. I am pretty sure I will be in class with the 4th year students since that is the equivalent to senior year here in the US. In Italy they have 5 years of high school so I think I will be with other 17/18 year olds.

I have been looking at my Italian school's website and it seems to be a pretty good school! That make me happy because my american school is recognized nationally (and it is a performing arts school) but my Italian school is also a little different than "regular" Italian schools. It is a combination of Linguistic, Classic and Science school. My host dad told me he thinks I will be in Linguistic school.

    The school is down the street from my host family's house and I think my host cousin also goes to the same school. On top of that my school has some school sports!!! (Not common in Europe)

My school has their own website (which I have been stalking): http://www.licei.org/index.htm

I am soooooo excited!!! Also, I found some pictures of my host city on Instagram. It's amazing what #Sarno will pull up.

                               Go-Karting is huge in my city!

 I am not 100% about this but I am sure the yellow building farthest to the left (3 stories in height) is my host family's house! It looks really pretty!!!

Italy is so beautiful and it amazes me ( and still shocks me) that I will be living here for 10 months!

Arrivederci,
Shayla