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

Giorno di Graziamento in Italia

here is my post! hope you like it!!!
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I want to make this brief, but this day was really a different day for all of us at SYA.
first because we had to go to school on Thursday (which sucked, but we got like no homework out of it so it was cool…)
and the fact that we are celebrating one of most significant American holidays in a different country.
It was different, but fun.
We had a potluck dinner that the SYA students and their families attended…

the church hall was packed and when we finally started to eat, it was a frenzy…I felt like it was black Friday trying to grab food..
and since there was barely any real ‘turkey dinner’ meal, I decided to head over to the desserts..which were really good….
eating pictures are always hot…
After dinner, everyone just hung around and the SYA treated ourselves with taking pictures of each other and laughing and being together on this special day.
group pic! (Miles, me, Lindsay, Amelia)

There were also some students that talked about the first Thanksgiving to everyone in Italian…
-Pic-
Overall, it was a short night, but I really enjoyed myself…I mean lots of kids were really disappointed not being home with their American families and became nostalgic with Thanksgiving memories.
but I was fine. I mean yeah being home is a comfort zone for this day, but I got to hang out with some of the  most awesome friends ever and eat tons of dessert without a care of the world.
I mean who wouldn’t want that?
ciao for now,
Maya

P.S. this is the best prom picture I HAVE EVER SEEN! (Emilie and Max together for ever…<3 <3 haha)

Umbria Trip! A Post of Pictures!

LOOK YOU GUYS ITS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!
i was trying to do the umbria post again and it came back up, fully in tack!!! YAY!
hope you enjoy it! more blog post soon!
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so I decided instead of doing a really blog post with my writing, since I want to get this out sooner than later…and I really can’t remember the specific details of everything, I want to share pictures I took and then talk about what happened. including some funny pictures of course….

thank you for the people who let me use their pictures!!!! (if you know)
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so to start off…
SPOLETO
 
so it rained all day when we were in Spoleto, and we went to meet with Italian students from an art school, they took us on a tour around the town.
ART SCHOOL-
it was really nice at the school. very creative students!

so building I don’t know about

this is the death bridge…its not really called “death bridge” but this guy told us that some people kill themselves off the bridge..and since it was raining and I was miserable I was like “I should just end it now on this death bridge…”

group pic near death bridge: (Share, Lindsay, ME!)
Amelia trying to go over death bridge…haha

we also stopped at this church in town and this church had paintings from the artist Fra Flippo Lippi among others…take a look!


PERUGIA
in Perugia, it did not rain so I had a pleasant time in this city. This city is know for the universities…the Perugia one and the Universitá di Straneri (The University for Foreigners)
we took a mini-metro to the top (isn’t it so cute?

there was also a MAYA store…I felt special especially since the clothes were expensive…a hat for 50,00 euros….
the main street

a student protest for students’ rights was there…a huge group of kids wanting change (which was really cool to see)

and of course, whenever there is a protest…the communist come a following
ASSISI
this is one of my favorite towns on the trip, but my least favorite part was that I had to walk a 7km hike to the temple of San Francesco (for enlightenment as Mr. Sanmartino says)
one of the main doors to Assisi

from up the hike….
the big man himself…San Francesco

both pictures are from the sanctuary…they must have been really small (picture on right)

Assisi, the town itself…can’t believe this town’s population is only 2,000!
we went to the Church of…(San Francesco’s confidant)
and the Church of San Francesco
I don’t have pictures of the inside (not allowed to) but I saw, Giotto and Cimabue artistry in there….

We also got to visit the Church di Santa Maria di Angeli (?)
and it was so beautiful…it was monstrous…

MONTEFALCO
this is the town where people come to die…aka old people’s town aka…Amelia’s paradise…

group pic at the Centro piazza (share, Lindsay and Amelia)
view from the city
TODI
yeah I am going to give you three different pictures of Bramante’s baptistery (?) because it is so gorgeous…
one view…
me in front of it so you know my pictures aren’t postcards

sunset picture
picture of Todi…nice town btw.

ORVIETO
the town was nice…but the best thing there was…THE CHURCH
isn’t Gothic Architecture awesome….

oh so magnificent..oh so gaudy
proof that I was there….I am not making this stuff up!!!
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well there you go! hoped you like it…yeah I know I am a bit lazy but its hard now to right about everything…I like showing some pictures instead…so hopefully this gave you an overview of what I have been doing…
ciao for now,
Maya

No parlo Americano

Look at this, I wrote this today and it is getting POSTED today
see, when i got something i got it!
haha enjoy!

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So it has been about 2 months since I left Indiana to come to small town of Viterbo.

Still, I love this place.

 Yes, I could go on and on and on about how much I like Viterbo and how much this experience means to me, but I am going to skip that for right now.

Right now, I bet some of you (back at home) are wondering how my language skills are holding up here and if I will be fluent by the time I come back.

Am I right?

Well in all honesty, I think my Italian is going pretty well.

Maybe on a scale from 1-10 (1 being the worst, 10 the best) I would say that my Italian is at a…6 (piú o meno)

Usually my Italian wanders between a six depending on my mood, what I have to say, ecc….

I feel like I am definitely better than when I first arrived, in which I ONLY say “io parlo italiano poco”,       " sto bene",  “sono stanca” , “ho fame”  and “mi piace”

So yeah, I managed to get by with these words  for probably the first week or two.

Now I feel like my vocabulary has expanded and I am able to understand (For the most part) what other Italians are saying, or doing on TV. I can (sometimes) understand my Italian teacher when she decides to go off in a tangent in Italian.  

I feel like I am halfway there.

I guess an advantage I have here is that my host mom does not speak ANY English whatsoever, so I have to make sure study hard to tell her about my day or where I am going on Saturday, etc…

Sure sometimes I do get frustrated because sometimes I wish she just knew slightly more English to help me out, or at least meet me half way

And it is amazing that in just two months I can understand and speak Italian more than I could ever do with 4 years in Spanish. I mean, if I ever take Spanish again, I am going to pass that shit with flying colors

Because Italian is hard

Molto difficile

Not only do you have say EVERY word and every hard consonant sound and vowel sound and move your mouth in different ways, but also the GRAMMAR is unbearable

É troppo. 

Too much.

The way we have to combined prepositions with words, and how much the masculine and feminine works, and the fact that if you don’t say “anno” right (“year”) then you could be saying “anus” (“ano”).

Sometimes I really want to walk out of my Italian II class and just kiss my hopes of learning a language goodbye, but I feel like I have to keep striving and working on this language, because one day I could have a “click” moment.

A moment where I could understand almost anything

It would be amazing to come out of this program fluent in Italian. Being able to tell people back at home that I learned a language and understand it in a year than what most of my friends could not do in four or five years learning Spanish in school.

It would be amazing to walk down the streets of Viterbo and be able to have a full conversation with the il barista and be able to actually understand and say jokes in Italian to Italian friends.

It would be amazing to go on an independent travel trips and speak Italian in a different cittá and complimented by your Italian skills, or BETTER, actually mistaken for being Italian.

But that time will come, and that “click” moment could be here in January, or March, two years from now or 10 years from now, but hopefully the “click” moment will be that moment that makes  me stand back in amazement and pat myself on the back.

That would be so cool!

Ci vediamo,

Maya

Roaming in Roma

Hey this a post about last week...it was done last week so it will be in present tense (well for most of it..cause i suck at finding weird tenses in my writing)

so enjoy!

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So this past week, I was able to go to Rome with friends, WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION! Sounds like fun?

Hell yeah it was.

 Lindsay, Share, Diana and I set off at 8:45 a.m. to the train and carried off to Rome.

When we got off at Valle Aurelia, we headed to the metro to the Piazza di Spagna, and bam! The Spanish Steps were full of people (mostly tourists) crowding to take a picture with Rome’s famous steps.



Group pic davanti a Piazza di Spagna
Picture by Maya Mariner (with Share's camera)

Since my camera malfunctioned, I needed to buy a disposable camera. I went to the nearest vender, and I tried to speak Italian.

“Vorrei una macchina fotografia, per favore”

“Oh, Good try. Now, what do you want?” he asked me in English.

What? I thought Good Try??? I have been learning Italian for almost two months now and all I get is a ‘good try’ from a guy who’s probably first language is Hindu?

I knew this was going to happen…its Rome. EVERYONE speaks English in Rome (and literally EVERYONE. If someone says they do not they are lying to you---unless that person is a tourist).

I spoke to him in English and got my camera---paid too much for it--- and the crew headed up the stairs eagerly trying to blend in with the Italians that were chillin’ (and not the Americans taking up lots of space to take a picture).

However, we did act like tourist and did get a picture (disposable camera and hello kitty camera intact!)

“Rome, the only place you can be a tourist and nobody cares,” Diana said.

After walking in a square around the Spanish Steps, I decided to take the crew to the most infamous places of tourism…Fontana di Trevi.

We head down to the bottom to take a picture, with the full fountain in sight, but it was hard because EVERYONE is taking a picture…and its funny, I feel like I will be in everybody’s photo album more than once in my life.  (So will a couple who took a picture there in full bridal and groom outfits)

Group pic davanti a Fontana di Trevi
Picture by Share Chen

I also tried to find an English movie theater, and in my Roma book,  it said there was one near the Trevi, so when we went on the street…found out it was closed…and I checked the date when the book was published….2003 (GAH!)

After Fontana di Trevi, I lead the group to the Pantheon (also in Angels and Demons). We also made a pit stop in Piazza Navona to find a place to eat, and we actually saw Lena, Emily, Reed, Michael, and Eric chilling out….

After lunch, I decided to take everyone a stroll down the Tiber River….well we weren’t suppose to be there exactly….I took a wrong turn at one of the streets and ended up farther than we need to go for the Colosseo. There were a lot of “Check points!” and “Where the heck are we’s?”

So instead of walking through the Roman Forum…we walked around it….but fortunately we got to see Italians role-play Roman Empire soldiers and citizens in a field near the Roman Forum…all gearing up for battle.

COMMUNISTS!!!!

We also saw the Communist Party protest (the one Amelia’s host mom warned her about) and we marched beside them (not with them mind you)…

“Hey, they’re gonna take us to the Colosseo, follow them!” I said and we headed around the Roman Forum and BAM Arch of Constantine was in my face, with the Colosseo behind it (thanks Communists!)
 

Che bella!
Picture by: Lindsay Hong



 We took more pictures and got some crappy gelato, but I tried my Italian one more time, to see If it would finally work.

“Vorrei gelato... Um…piccolo”

The guy looked confused “In a cone or cup?’ he said with an Italian accent.

“Coppo”

“Ah, where are you from?”

“America”

“Oh where in America?”

“Indiana”

“Oh, Indiana….Indianapolis?”

My eyes widened with delight. He knew Indianapolis! He actually knew where I was from and did not hesitate!

“Sí!!!!!!” I said with excitement.

Lindsay and I paid for our gelato and said “ciao” to the guy and he smiled and said “ciao bella” (which made me even feel more special :D)

At that point, Share had to go home so we made it back to Valle Aurelia, where Lindsay and Share stayed for the next bus…since Diana and I had some time to kill, we decided to go out of the country... (Haha Vatican joke!)

The place was packed (San Pietro that is) and chairs covered the square for the early morning mass for the next day.

Diana and I walked to Castel’ Sant’ Angelo (also in Angels and Demons) to go tourist shopping…but it was delayed because we needed to go to the bathroom.

We saw a sign that said “Burger King 5 mins.” Pointing to the right from where we were standing. Excited for the possibilities of finding a Burger King we headed in the direction it told us…and kept going…and going…5 minutes later…no Burger King.

“Why do you lie Burger King? Don’t confuse the Americans!” Diana said.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a McDonalds sign…saying five minutes away from where we were standing…

Even though we thought it might be a trick, we decided to go, desperate for a bathroom.

More signs called out for the McDonalds…300 meters, 200, 100…but where was it?

“Where are we?” I looked around. We had no idea.

Finally, in the back corner (of what we presume is now Rome) was the McDonalds, but….there was No bathroom.

“There is always a bathroom in a McDonalds, how can that be?” Diana said.

“Ah, crap we gotta go. Its 6:30 and we need to catch the train!” I informed her.

We shoved fries down our throats and I fast walked to find the Metro, Diana trying to keep up.

“Oh god, which way did we turn?” I asked to nobody, looking around.

Dark was approaching fast and I looked around and saw a familiar street we were down before.  We walked down it and eventually found the Metro.

We fast walked down the flight of stairs and down to the tracks…the clock just clicked to 6:45…

“Crap, Crap, when does the train come?” I tapped my foot impatiently waiting for the Metro.

The metro finally came and thank goodness, our stop was not far from Valle Aurelia.

“When we get off Diana, we are going to walk with ultra purpose”

She nodded.

The doors opened and I literally sprint out (feet never leaving the ground).

It started to rain again, but I didn’t care, I ran straight through it and up stairs to the train. I looked at my clock again 6:55…

The whole time I was doing this, others were springing to the top of the train place, going to the Viterbo train.

We finally made it up the stairs and the train came at 7:06pm…we were 10 minutes early.

“Oh thank god,” I said out of breath.

“I am never going that far for a McDonalds ever again.” Diana said.

“You got that right.”

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Thank you Share and Lindsay for letting me use your pictures!
Ciao for now,

Maya

Orientation Trip! (finally!)

Omg, I am so sorry for not posting sooner, things got really busy here...its like the honeymoon ended and now I have real work...(no!!!) so these few weeks have been very rockety, but I promise to post earlier...its been almost 3 weeks?

Yeah, I will be better, I promise :) anyway, what you been waiting for.
This will be more of a picture blog than actual writing, but hopefully you enjoy it!
Extra Pics below!!!!

photo by Lindsay Hong

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9/25

This past week, I went on an orientation trip to Terracina with the school and got to explore the towns of Sperlonga, Gaeta and Terracina.

It is so amazing how different each town is comapred to others in Italy. The different inflences of culture, language, and people influence their style and architecture.

In Gaeta, it was a small coastal town that had a big navy pier and naval sea school. The town sat on a side of a mountain, shining in on the naval forces below.

look how blue the sea is!

In what I learned from this town, is that they have 2 different dialects in the town (one derived from the mountains, another from the sea ports). But the twist is that their dialects are so different that even words mean totally different meanings in the language. Che strano, no?

We also got to go see the La montagna spaccata, (aka Jesus Cave), which is suppose to have a myth that when J.C. died, the mountain split in two because of saddness (or something like that)---

JESUS CAVE!
photo by Olivia Gillingham


It was goregous, and I was able to do some mini rock climbing as I moved around and jumped from rock to rock, but when I had to go back up the stiars (we were 10 floors from the top), I think I lost about 10 pounds...it was UNBEARABLE.

this is where the biggest loser should do their next challenge

I also got to see the Turkish hand...which is about a story of a Turkish man who didn't believe in the story that it was because of J.C's death (or something along the lines of that) and he stuck his hand in disbelief, and it has been there ever since...

look at those man hands...

After spending half the day there, we headed to Terracina. We got to live basically on the beach and in bungalow huts! I shared a room with Lindsay, Jamie, Kendall and Helen. Everyone went swimming because the weather was great. I saw the bobbing heads of people swimming as I watched from the beach.

The Next day the class headed to Sperlong in rain-weather (pissed as hell), but the beauty of Sperlonga did not hold us back. It was absolutely goregous. Sperlonga is another coastal town but with a Greek facade. Especially if you walk through the top of the town. The city sat on top of a hill, and it spiraled toward the centre near the beach. It was a heck of a walk, but the white buildings and crystal color blues made me feel like I was in a Greek calender: I would totally live here in the future.

so cute

After the lunch break, we headed up the beach on a "beach hike" to the Archeology musem. The rain picked up and my umbrella broke, while my hair became frazzled...my mood flattened.

We finally got to the mseum and talked about the cave of Prometheous (Grotto di Tiberio) and got to explore it.

pimp my cave

Its actually really funny how all these myths are made up to explain events in the world, and natural happenings...it seem the Greeks and Romans had a story for everything!

After rain-escavating (sp?), some of the group headed into Terracina and explored the actual town. The place looked almost American...especially when I saw this guy with an ironic hood and a thin mustache...just like a hipster!

That night in Terracina was also filled with fun, as we bumped up the volumes on our speakers, bothered Mr. Chen and hysterically at Amelia's "BITCHES!!" outbust during a game of BS. That night ended with a late bed time, voices in the night and a footprint stain on my sheets and wall....

Finally on Saturday, we headed to our last adventure at a temple on top of the mountains overlooking the town of Terracina. The bus driver made his way ( barely but fiercely) to the top as we "open our minds to the Gods"

the oracles had such a fabulous view!

Everyone was in awe over the goregeous view and more in awe because it finally stopped raining.

All in all, the orientation trip was a success and everyone became closer as we embarked on our first trip (of many more) discovering the land we call home.


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Extra Pictures!!!

Olivia posing with our ginormous Nutella

Group Pic!!! Thalia is totally ruining this BTW (jk thalia)

This photographer asked us to be in this couple's wedding pictures "Awwing" at them and looking engaged...
haha isn't that awesome?

Terracina on the beachside

My signature...if you wanted to know...

there were these little kids coming from school and like half of them were jumping up and down
like it was five monkeys jumping on the bed...like WTF are their seatbealts?

group pic!!!
(from left to right: Sally, Maggie S, Taylor K, Chance, EJ)

Group pic!!! (this was for the blog guys)
(left to right: Allegra, Taylor  H, Alice, Lauren, Bridgette)

so nice....

the empty halls of the temple

Titantic pose
(left to right: Maggie S, Jill)

funny picture when Alice was obsessed with Max

not from the trip, but Gabi wanted to be in the blog SO BADLY
so here ya go!!  (sabrina on the right)
Picture from Gabi's facebook album