almost may...

this month of april has flown crazily. and many lovely and exciting things have happened over the last three weeks that i must retell. ok, so shortly after my last blog post was the initiation of easter break in italy, which is a week off of school for easter (as you may have figured). the friday before Easter, my family and i went to Bari for the day and did all the fun sorts of shopping things, etc. but my favorite part of our day trip was the 3 hour picnic/nap we had in the most gorgeous park. all green and filled with trees, grasses, flowers, animals... and yet in the middle of a massive city. reminded me of some of the city parks in DC. it was beautiful. we had probably the best gelato i've ever tasted at this little gelateria, very antique and well known for the people of Bari.
easter was soon here and we had a beautiful day. blue, clear, and warm. where i live, on a little peninsula jutting out in the south of trani, there is a very historic monastery. So on easter sunday, my family walked, (the 30 second walk), to easter mass. It was actually incredibly beautiful! seeing that im not really the religious type, it was so beautiful even i was able to appreciate it's beauty. our easter lunch, oh deary me, so devine. suprisingly small! i always thought that easter in italy was the biggest food day! but in my family we just ate a regular amount (tons) but especially delish; crepes with a marvelous sauce and mushrooms/artichokes.  my italian grandmother made them, so you can imagine their wonderful/classic-tastiness.
ok then it was Pasquetta, the day after easter, and there was an amazing party in the country that i went to, so beautiful with tons of trees, grass, flowers. I think that nature is what i miss most. Trani is incredibly gorgeous, and there is some nature, but i miss wild nature. and so it is fun fun to be in the country or in a vast green area:)
there are many religious parades of the Madonna and of Jesus in my city, some of which take place during the night, others the morning, others the evening. i saw two, and they were so intense. i have to say they frightened me a little. mainly because all the men in the parade were dressed in these white cloaks and their faces were covered with these white cone hats, and they looked almost identical to the Ku Klux Klan, whitch was horrifying. i almost cried when i first saw them. marching slowly twoards us... but then i realized it was totally different and not a horrible racist group, it was a beautiful religious tradition. then i appreciated it. but in the begining it was scary, as you could imagine!
the fifteenth of april, all of Intercultura in my local chapter traveled to Napoli, which is a very beautiful city. we walked around like crazy! it was a bit chilly and rainy but we had so much fun! it was so cool because i got to see mt. vesuvius, which i studied for like two years with my latin teacher at SLOHS. we ate pizza of napoli, probably the most delish pizza of my life! and some delishious sweets, we saw the sea, the castle on the water, many other glorious things!
the other students of Intercultura are so amazing. i have made so many close friends with the other foreign exchange students! they are all so easy going and fun to be around! and its so wonderful to know i have friends all over the world i can go to visit whenever in this life.... this experience is totally eye opening for just how big and diverse this planet is, and also just how connected and small it in in the realm of the universe.
I was thinking today about this experience, and i came to 5 points why its insanely life changing.
1. you learn a new language, honestly. i never could have fathomed this, but i am learning Italian suprisingly fast! in no means am i fluent, i barely get by to say the least... but its starting to feel like i can do it! and my friends who have been here for a year are such inspirations!
2. it gives you the possibility to make life-long friendships with people from all over the world. friendships that will last forever because they share one thing so strong, they can never be destroyed.
3. your relationships with your family and friends in your home town gets stronger and better. as they say, time strengthens everything... wait, do they say that? i do:)
4. you get the chance to know and love (and hate some parts, like being judged by EVERYSINGLEPERSON when you go barefoot somewhere) a new culture and a new family. a family that isn't related to you, but feels like it. a family that will always be there for you, always be a second home.
5. and finally, this experience helps you mature. the whole concept of having to be way more social, way more comunicative, give way more of an effort to all relationships, way more self-dependent, way more self-transportive, and way more reflective on your life in general, your future, the choices you've made, the effect of every little thing you have done, are doing, and will do. it's insane how reflective this experience will make you. and it really opens you up. like someone slices you open with a swoard and at first your in agony because it's so painful and scary, but then (considering that this example doesn't include the possiblitiy of death...) you are so relieved as everything can pour out into the open, it's lightening. i'm imagining this example, (mind you, im crazy,) with someone so weighted down, and then sliced across the chest and all these birds fly out and its so liberating. in a strange way thats exactly how this experience is. painful, difficult, but so worth it. It teaches you so much about yourself, the world, your previous life, your priorities, the things you used to take for granted, and how diverse our planet is. Its the best choice I have ever made in my life. and also the most difficult.

il Sindaco di Trani e qualche altre cose

I was officially welcomed into Trani by the mayor himself! Last week there was a meeting for me with the Sindaco (mayor) and many other important people, both from my school and from Intercultura... and of course my family. it was so amazing, that all those people took the time to welcome me into Italy, with a silver-plated plaque and an amazing foto-filled book of the history of Trani. The only reason this welcoming was after I'd been in Italia for two months was so that I could hopefully understand the language and speak a little, which i can! its amazing, in fact I was interviewed in Italian! if you are interested in reading the article, it's here!  http://www.traninews.it/articoli/9736-progetto-intercultura-il-sindaco-di-trani-incontra-una-studentessa-16enne-californiana-.asp yes yes yes, it's in Italian, but its easily translated in google translator:) It was really an amazing experience to have the opportunity to meet the Sindaco and communicate together. I am so grateful for Trani! an amazing place to live!
And it is surrounded by amazing places to visit! this last weekend i took a 3 day trip to Gravina in Puglia, a little town about one hour away by bus, where my amazing friend Leah Sharaby lives. she is another Intercultura student, and we met in New York, hit it off extremely well, and thank goodness we live so close! we took an amazing 3 hour long walk through the historic center of Gravina and almost got lost a lot... but thank god for my directional sense, we were never too lost:) Gravina has this beautiful section with a huge reservoir and grasses and trees and so much green and its hilly and everything is so antique and rustic and gorgeous. we traversed the hillside and crossed il ponte... a super old and stone bridge. being such marvelous adventurers, (considering that all students who go on exchanges are marvelous adventurers!) we ambled off the beaten path... (literally) and found a lovely sunny place to sit with an amazing view of the bridge, the valley, and the historic gravina... it was amazing! of course i did a bit of yoga:)