The End is Near…

pictures by Emily Waite

So, I guess this is the last post before I go back to America.

This is really hard to do.

Even though I have posted many different blogs entries on my time here, It won’t compare to the experiences that I didn’t even write on this blog.

First of all, my experience here has been amazing.

I met so many awesome people (both American and Italian alike), ate GREAT food, and learned a lot about myself and who I want to be going through life (not exactly WHAT I want to be).

Even when the low points did come, the good experiences, the laughs and happiness that I experienced in this program, with the SYA students and staff have definitely overshadowed the bad parts (Trying to forget about them as I type this)

So what I want to do for this last blog post is not to reflect or an “overview” about my trips, my trials and tribulations, the higher points of this year and focus on the people that I have grown close to the most: us American kids.

Before even coming to Italy, I was excited to make friends with the American kids. I knew that even if I did not make a single Italian friend, I will still have amazing American friends. So, when I got my first friend request from Max (haha yay max!) I was so psyched, that when I got the “list” with everyone’s names I immediately started friend requesting.

I guess I did it a little too much because I am remembered at the girl “who friend requested EVERYONE” and also “the girl with the purple hair on her profile” (which is a different story altogether).

Anyway, after all these times and the months passed, I feel like these kids are like family to me in a way. Yes, we do bicker and bitch about one another but what family doesn’t do that?

And I feel closer to these students than I do my class in Indiana. I mean once I think about it….there about 600 students graduating this year, about half I know (elementary, middle school, throughout high school) and then about less then half (maybe even a quarter) of those students I know personally (in my classes in elementary, middle school and high school) and even then do I really even know them throughout all this time?

Yes, this isn’t fair because I am going to a school with 47 students so there will be definitely bonding time, but I feel like with these students I know people: their personalities, their behaviors, their pet-peeves…and the list can go on.

There is more between all of us here than we actually do know. I mean, we are the only class that gets to experience (5!) the teachers we have, the troubles and fun stuff that happens, and the events that occur in our lives.

I hope you guys feel the same way I do.

Vi Voglio Bene e Mi Mancerete

Maya

La Pausa di Pasqua 2011: Puglia

So, it has been basically I week since my spring break ended, and so now I am back to school**
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**Well I did this really early but haven’t go around to publishing it….so yeah
So I went to Puglia which is in Southern Italy with my friends (aka burn buddies) Max and Lindsay for the week of Easter.


We had a blast and definitely took in the culture there (Especially the weather) and it was truly an experience.
We did have some pitfalls especially with a certain tour guide in Trani who scammed us to give him 5 euros (donated by Max) and the fact that we had a total of almost a day of train travel (however it was super efficient there)…and also the fact that Lecce (my favorite city from the trip) did NOT have a H&M (but Bari did)…
and also the fact that I spoiled MANY episodes of Glee for Max (and alas he repeats I have ONLY seen the first FOUR episodes of the FIRST SEASON…which in my opinion is just a shame)
Anyway here are the pictures:

so we start out in Bari…we actually stayed in MOLA DI BARI which is about 20 minutes outside of Bari…but yeah…I think to conclude about Bari is that it is like the Naples of the South…which could be a good thing or a very bad thing…
So we also go to see this church in Bari in the citta vecchia part of the city…it was really nice…however we did not really see the city so I barley have any pics from this city…
So Trani was the first town we go to see and I really enjoyed it…I thought the place was kind of sketch at first but then It became really enjoyable…
This is the Duomo of the town, and as you can see it is a Romanesque building….I hate Romanesque but since the background is SUPER blue and the building is white, I can’t really hate it..because it looks so awesome.
so Puglia is definitely a fishing district and Trani is one of the many places where there are boats…and this was the first place I heard Pugliese (the dialect from this area) and all I have to say is WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?
There was also a castle…(which is very common in this area) and we wanted to go in it, but Max refused to go into because he didn’t want to pay the 2 euro fee… this is also an area where the sky almost matches the sea…amazing
So the next day we headed out the Alberobello which is the middle of Puglia. They are famous for these trulli houses…at first I thought there would be a field of them (like the train ride there) but found out they are actually HOUSES and people live in them! Sweet…you can even rent on out….Spring Break 2012?
This is also the church of the town…really pretty…yeah I don’t have anything to say about this but how nice it is….
Now,  you may ask “What does Busta Rhymes have to do with Puglia” but I will tell you this man has everything to do with Puglia…our next destination was Lecce, the Florence of the South as I heard from many people….and Bust Rhymes was having a concert on Easter…we were thinking about going but did not know where they were having the concert and also did not want to pay the 25 euro fee.
So I found out there is a such thing as Leccese Baroque…and that is what makes up Lecce. Baroque EVERYTHING. and I l always love me some Baroque..so here are some sequences of pictures of Baroque* things in Lecce.  (*if some things aren’t baroque I apologize terribly on making you think it is baroque…I am assumer…)





Lecce was actually my favorite city of Puglia…people were nice and friendly and I definitely enjoyed myself…very young town (well always because of the university)
Do you see the town that is in the distance? You know after the sign, the car, the big tree on the left? Yep that is Ostuni…and yep we did walk up hill 45 minutes…it was absolutely lovely…hopefully you know it was sarcasm.
So this is the outskirts of Ostuni and it was a really cute town..reminds of those Greece towns I have seen on Mamma Mia! and The Sisterhood of Traveling pants…So here is a sequence of the town…I would say more but we didn’t really do anything…because we were wiped out from the climb.




So now I leave you with some leftover pictures of Lecce and sidewalk chalk art…which is lovely.


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so hopefully you enjoy this post, and I will have one out before I leave this place *tears* (not sarcastic)
A presto,
Maya

Firenze: Hipster’s Paradise

 

So two weeks ago, my school and I went to Florence aka the Heart of the Renaissance aka Italy’s little America aka the last field trip in SYA aka TOO MUCH DAMN WORK.

Usually on every trip we have (Except the first one) we did school works and projects. In Sicily, we had the 30 % worth of our grade Ancient History project (while STILL doing art history) and now….Florence was the big art history trip…

and boy was it.

The whole time we were there it was constant work work work. Not that I mind work but it would have been better to see paintings and sculptures without having to make sure everything is nice so it can be good for the final draft of the project.

Last year, I heard that since Ms. Mazurek was in a bad mood, they barely learned anything and the didn’t have to do a project, but we did.

I have no understanding of this logic…

BAD MOOD = no project

GOOD MOOD= project?

isn’t it the other way around?

Anyway, we got it done and it was exhausting, and most likely I will be thanking Mazurek after this, but then (and a little now) I hated it.

However there were things I did enjoy about Florence was the art and the history but also miscellaneous things:

-Waffles and Nutella SANDWICH (Cost me 6 euros but worth it)

-Ben and Jerry’s

-Americans (you know, to make fun of)

-Size (never really got lost, because you past everything like 15 times in one day)

-Culture of people (there were some lookers, and no they were not Italian)

-Hipsters (made playing the Hipster game well worth it)

However, I still love my amazing relationship with Rome. As much as I liked Florence, the size and I sacci dei turistici (sacks of tourists) I was bothered and claustrophobic.

BUT if you want to see and experience some of the most amazing churches, Renaissance pieces (such as Botticelli’s Birth of Venus which is MUCH bigger than I expected) Florence is for you.

Rome is more for the sculptures and the history…but definitely Florence is for the paintings.

Picture Time!

To start of with the American part…I did go here and I did enjoy it….I miss ice cream…and I know you guys will say “gelato’s better!” but when I was in Florence I had a surprise on how they actually  make gelato (and my favorite: cioccolato) and I was devastated. I can never look at gelato the same way (even though I still eat it)

Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza Signorina. Did you know that this building is on top of an ancient ampitheater? neither did I but apparently I had to locate it on a map at midnight when I was finishing my project….

One of my favorite sculptures in the Loggia. I love the twisting of the figures…

Ahh Santa Croce. Didn’t go into this church but it was one of our stops and a “aha” moment for English class because Lucy is abandoned here in A Room With a View. There is also a creepy man that wears a suit that lurks on strange foreign girls that I had the pleasure of seeing not only once but twice on my passing by the Santa Croce….it was lovely.

Now this is nostalgia. When I first came to Florence during the summer of my freshman/sophomore year at Pike, we came to this restaurant and sat in the corner with all my best band buds, now three years later, I came back with my SYA group and ate dinner in the same restaurant (not at this table though)…the memories

Also during our “fun” trip to Florence we had two le caccie ai tesori to do. One in the Uffizi (no pictures because they are not allowed) and one in the streets of Florence. When the team arrived in Piazza della Republica, they had to do funny poses and situations that was just pure entertainment for the teachers in a building across the street on the roof. Thanks guys.

This was funny too.

How could I forget about the duomo? This is a HUGE site on the Florence trip and always our meet up spots. Never got to go inside because it cost about 15,00 euros (no thank you) but I really love its almost gaudy façade.

On one of the days on our trip we went to Fiesole, another English stop from A Room With a View. It was a cute small town, and so we hiked up for about 45 minutes to the top to get an “artist’s perspective”…but in reality the hike had no point (thanks SYA teachers)…however the endless walking paid off and everyone got 12 hours of wellness hours for it. THANK YOU.

During my time, I also had Italian homework (and English, and Latin…) and I had to interview Florentines about what they think about Florence and Italy in general. Here are guys at a clock shop that were really nice and help fix Amelia’s watch (so always ask her what time it is). They were super nice and they always translated the Italian to English for us (even though noi possiamo capire l’italiano).

I always have to get a hipster picture…and no this is not a random stranger…this is Max--- I mean Tate.. by the way H&M sells hipster glasses for 5 euros…

At the end of the Florence trip we were able to go to the Masaccio chapel. It was very nice but the pre-video was exhausting (fell asleep five minutes in to it while flipping between Italian and English audio parts). I studied both these paintings last year (and also this year) so it was really cool to see this in person…

 

Ciao for now,

Maya

Seven Months or Two Months to go?

 

Sorry for the hiatus on my blog, I have became very much a senior and also been super busy these past weeks.

I was going to make a Sicily blog, but I decided to hold that one and make a more “feelings” blog since Sicily was WAY too long for a blog post.

I also (if I have time) will make a Florence one because that was a short trip.

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so as of right now (not really) I have been in Italy for 7 months.

How the times flew!

Sometimes I keep thinking to myself that it’s not March, but only January and the closer it comes to May the more I don’t want it to be farther back (Even in the dreadful October stage).

I mean I am excited to graduate and go to college (and finally catch up on the movies I have missed, I mean GEEZ)

but being in Viterbo (as horribly small and sometimes creepy as it is) has became my second home.

And even through the trials and tribulations, the good times and the bad, I still like being here, in my bedroom, in Giovanna’s apartment, surrounded by pictures of my host brother as a kid (who I have only seen once).

I like spending my time getting a cappuccino (con tutto!) and knowing the baristas and seeing familiar faces. I like tutoring my high school and middle school kids in English, and even though they probably won’t ever remember a thing we do in class, I still enjoy talking to them and learning more about their culture, and vice versa.

And I will also miss my friends here (Italians included!)

I have always known, but it seems so weird that once we arrive in Boston, we are going our separate ways. We all have been in Viterbo for 9 months and sometimes I feel everyone is coming back with me to Indianapolis. We have been almost like family in a way (even though sometimes I rather kick you guys off a cliff, but that’s what families are for!) We may see each other in the summer time, and we may not until a few years from now. But its sad not to see everyone’s face anymore, and only on Facebook updates.

And it’s always weird thinking about coming home, I mean living all this time with Italian as your background noise, saying whatever you wanted, however loud you wanted (even with stares) nobody could understand you, but now I will going back where English is the lingua franca and everyone can understand (and respond) to my words.

I have several dreams about coming home:

1. a dream about my work at Squealers’ (one question: DO I STILL HAVE  JOB?)

2. I had a dream about coming back and everyone was excited to see me and I was excited to see everyone. It was a grand old festa.

3. I had a dream when nobody cared when I came back. Try to talk to my art history teacher and she said “yeah…hello” and my mom told me to grab my bags, never hugging me and saying nothing when I came in with my dramatic entrance (yes I had one, and planning one as of now).

I think the third one is the scariest (my mom probably thinks the first one).

I also had many dreams when I was fighting between my Italian life and my American life.

One consisting my friends from Pike coming to Italy, invading my small school and bombarding me.

Another consisting my friends from Italy (both Americans and Italians) to Pike, and bombarding me.

I even had a dream when my Italy and Pike friends mixed and I was trying to speak Italian with one of my good Italian friends. (I think actually 2 times)

It has been a very bazaar past month.

I don’t know what to make of all this but hopefully everything will be okay when I leave and when I return.

Because even though the internet can connect you throughout the world, there is nothing that can change the fact of being in a niche that you always were apart of, leaving, and slowly working your way back into society 1 year later.

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well, hopefully that satisfied you. If you’re an SYAer how do you feel about coming home?

Wow, one of the first posts that I feel like I could write my heart out without censoring it : )

A presto,

Maya

Your Mom Went to College!

 

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I was going to post a Kuwait blog but I decided that I won’t and that you can take a look at my pictures on Facebook ( if you have access).

But I decided to instead (for right now) stop posting about wonderful trips and vacations I am having and post something about the FUTURE…

that is right.

Yours truly, Maya Mariner will be apart of the Class of 2015 at Oberlin College.

Yep I finally got in and I am holding my ground.

I am really excited for this. Mentally, I feel I have been out of high school for a good 2 years now, but because of my age group and my mental capacities of not being a total freakin’ genius (though I am working on it), I won’t be able to graduate from high school until June 2nd of 2011.

SO LONG FROM NOW.

anyway, It is weird getting an acceptance letter (which your sister opened) and finding out over a Skype chat of my acceptance instead of being in America opening the package and fainting.

No, it was 10:30pm on Jan. 31st and I didn’t have any expectations. Nor did I think I was going to find out so soon.

But it was an incredible feeling whether traditionally done or not.

but I think the best feeling was to click on “Oberlin 2015” group on Facebook and be able to introduce myself to the many people who will be my classmates and peers during the next four years of my life. Being shuffled back into another group of students from all over…again.

I was also really excited to have my first friend request and create an “Oberlin” tab in my Facebook chat. Yay college friends!

But I couldn’t help wondering what this feeling would have been if I was accepted 10 or even 20 years ago. A time when you couldn’t creep on the Facebook pages of future cohorts, or find future roommate earlier because of social networking sites.

I guess in those times there was a door to the unknown for college. A place where you really could not know what is around the corner, you would go in head first.

I think we still have this “hidden mystery” of going to college even with the communication and social networking in today’s society. I mean you can’t find out everyone’s personal information from a picture or a quote on their wall. But I feel like now there is almost a safety net and you are aware of stepping into the unknown.

Its different but I think it is all the same.

Well, I am excited for what is to come, and really wanting these next months to be the slowest (and fastest) months of my life, not only because I have about 3 1/2 months in Italy (AHHHH!!!) but college is almost 7-8 months away and I am totally ready to step out of the high school pool and roll with the “big dogs”

Ciao for now,

Maya

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so my next big trip to Sicily is coming up in a week and so I will probably not post until early/ mid March…there will be a lot of pictures comments and vomiting (we are taking a boat to Sicily)

First Semester: A Review

so hey, sorry this took a while to come out. I wanted this to come out in December but I was whisked away by enjoying my vacation visiting my relatives in Kuwait.

so hope you enjoy and hope you had great winter break!

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Wow.

I can’t believe that I have been in Italy for 4 months now.

I have breathed, ate, smelled, and walked the life of an Italian (piú o meno), for this long.

this is very exciting.

Now, since I am guessing that people are wondering how I like Italy so far, and want me to elaborate on the details of my adventure for this first semester….

….but as I was writing this one the plane, I realize it is hard

INCREDIBLY hard

but I think to make this post interesting I will give you a grade of what I thought about this year and just discuss why it received this grade.

Grade: A-

now maybe some people are thinking “why an A-?” or my mom “I spend this much money and all it gets is a freaking minus!?”

but here is my explanation.

this semester is part of the A range because, this year has been MORE fulfilling than any year I had for the past two years of high school. I mean there were some major ups.

-I got to Rome five times

-I went to Terracina, Spoleto, Cerveteri, Gaeta, Sperlonga, Perugia, Orvieto, Assisi, Todi, Montefalco,

-I met some great friends here

-I learned Italian (for the most part)

everyday was—still is--- a new adventure for me.

But this semester wasn’t as easy as pie. I actually thought it was going to be easier than going to school back at Pike.

Boy was I wrong.

-college apps

-ENGLISH class (who knew?)

-MONEY TROUBLES

-expectation of Italy being pretty close to US customs

-Italian (Spanish---so much easier)

-art history (don’t ask me)

-Latin class???

I think I have never been so frustrated yet so happy in my life, especially during this time. I definitely jumped obstacles to get here and I think right now it is worthwhile.

ANYWHO

So now I am a SECOND SEMESTER SENIOR

and have probably less than 100 days of “school” left (and school I mean homework school, not the trips we are going to take)

I filled out my college applications and now I have to wait for the results.

these five months are going to fly by fast and I know it will both here and in Indiana.

I am just waiting until June 2nd when I walk with the Class of 2011 for graduation. That would be the most EXCELLENT moment.

For now, I will just have the best senior year I can possibly have (minus the horrible homework )

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sorry it is “shorter” than the average analysis. Just too many things to tell for one post? I guess this blog is suppose to be here for all the little things right?

Ciao for now,

Maya

If I had time...I would write you a novel

My umbria trip is back on the post, go to the november section of this blog and you will see "Umbria: A Post of Pictures!" enjoy!

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SOOOOOOOO

i know I haven't been writing in this blog for several weeks now, but ever since that terrible moment when my Umbria blog was erased, I had to take it easy for a while

BUT SERIOUSLY

It is really been hectic here since I have many projects, tests...blah blah to do since my teachers here like to see how much they can bombard us with stuff just before the breaking point...

but it beats Finals.

allora


I just want to say that there will be between 2-3 post coming up in the next week or so, since I do have many news and also I will be redoing my Umbria one....probably this weekend or next...

BUT I WILL GET IT DONE

thanks for still reading, I will get back to you as soon as possible...

*BEEP*

A presto,
Maya