Io sono qui! Random things about Italy..

Val più la pratica della grammatica
Experiance is more important that theory.~ Italian proverb




Well, I'm here! I've been here for about 3 weeks and its so different from the US. My host family is really nice. My host sister and I go out "in giro di Caserta", which literally means we turn around Caserta. Basically, its just walking around the city for hours with 10-15 Italians. It's a really good opportunity to meet people and learn the language. They don't just speak Italian here, they also speak a dialect Neapolitano, which Italians like to call it's own language, but that's a bit of an exaggeration. However, it is pretty different from normal Italian and it can be really hard sometimes to differentiate, which is bad because if you speak it to teachers or other adults, it can be very rude. Anyways, I live in a flat on the top floor of an apartment complex. Were actually on the top floor and our view is really pretty :) There is a palace in Caserta, it's considered to be more beautiful than Versailles, built for the Bourbon kings of Naples when Naples was it's own country. We can see it from one of our balcony's :). I love it here so much, they care so much more about family than people do in the US. Everyone stops working in the middle of the day, almost no shops or cafes stay open, and people go home for 2 or 3 hours to rest and eat with their family.
I've found that here people care a lot more about life in general. Money really isnt an issue and it best spent of chocolate and pasta. The schools are simple, but the kids acutally learn in them and are taught how to have respect for their teachers and to care about what they are learning. My host mom is superwomen, she does all our laundry, cooks 3 meals a day (usually things like squid and swordfish and amazing pasta at least once daily) and makes our beds, hangs up our clothes, cleans up after dinner, cleans the house, and takes us to and from school. Kids here so to be really spoiled, and really unappreciative of their parents but I think it's because they just expect things to be done for them. Martina told me the first day I was here that she doesn't even know how to use the washing machine! It's hard for them to understand the independence in America. It's hard to understand it just being in Italy. Why do we work so hard for money again? Why do we work most of the day? Why do most of our meals come in boxes for the microwave? Idk... things that used to make sense in the US just seem ridiculous here.
A lovely thing I've noticed about the language is that "bella" is used for anything good. If something is good, it's automatically beautiful. I think this is a cool way of looking at life. If you are a good person, you are "una bella persona", a beautiful person also. I like that. It makes sense. Another odd thing is that Italians will write "ricordo di ___" with their name EVERYWHERE.. on peoples arms or in their diary's (every Italian has a diary for school, as opposed to an agenda or a planner. In English this literally translates into "In memory of" or "In remembrance of"... a little bit morbid, hm? On the downside, we do go to school 6 days a week. I really only take 4 classes at school English, Italian, Arabic, and German. At the end of the year, these are the only classes that I'll be graded on. My favorite (besides Italian) is Arabic.. I really do think it's beautiful. I've decided that's going to be my third language. There are 6 of us exchangers at my school, 3 Americans and 3 Australians. I really had never realized before how many differences there are between those to countries! It is kind of amazing. I know this post is pretty scattered and not really making sense, so excuse me. But it is surprisingly hard to speak English after speaking and hearing so many languages in one day! It messes with your mind and I find that the better I get at Italian the worse I get at English! Anyways... that's my update from 3 weeks in. Love you all!