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

HOST FAMILY!!!! :)

So the inevitable (which I thought was impossible happened) I have been permanently placed with a host family!!!! So this happen last Thursday on July 25th but I have been so busy communicating with them and looking into my host city that I forgot to blog about it.

I AM PLACED IN SARNO, SALERNO (province), Campania (state), Italy!!!! :)

I cannot say that I am anything less than excited/overwhelmed. (I still am in shock)

My family is very special and traditional. I say special because originally I thought I would just be living with my host parents Antonietta and Domenico and my host brother Antonio (20 years older than me) but upon further inspection I realized I am living with many more family members! In fact, I am living with the whole family!!! (which is like 18 people) From what I gathered my host family owns a large residential building filled with beautiful Italian apartments all occupied by Lanzetta's (family name). So I will share a big apartment with my host parents but in all actuality I will be "living" with the entire family and we all eat dinner together on Saturdays and Sundays!!

My host dad Domenico loves the arts especially photography. My host mom is very traditional and love to cook Italian food and my host brother loves volleyball and he is a music DJ!!! I don't think AFS could have placed me with a better host family, everyone seems so nice and excited to meet me.

As far as Sarno goes, I don't have many photos of the city but it is like 38,000 people and it is like 10 km from Salerno (the city) which is a beach city of like 150,000 ( the population of my hometown Dayton) and 20 km away from Naples which is a super large city!!! And I am in the south of Italy (which I am not even going to lie, I wanted to be in the south sooooo bad) where it doesn't snow and has beautiful beaches. =D Life is good! Now that I have a host family, I really want to leave so bad but I don't need to rush things as I still have to get my visa info turned in! #DetroitBound

I almost forgot to mention that my local AFS volunteer in Sarno Facebook messaged me today, (which was crazy because he added me months ago when he saw I was coming to Italy) and told me how excited he was to meet me and the other volunteers are excited to meet me!!! Gotta love AFS <3

I am in such a happy mood, I hope you are too!
-Shayla

                                                           Side View of my Host family's house

                                                         Mountain View of Sarno

                                                                       City of Salerno

Naples