Hey, it's been almost a month I stopped blogging. I wanted to enjoy my life here instead of just writting everything I did... And maybe sometimes keeping something to yourself makes thing more precious.
Well, I seriously can't believe this, it's already been 2 months I stayed in Italy. Time passed so fast. There are times when I am happy, sad, crazy, bored... and so much more type of feelings in here. Memories, they are fading in my mind repeatingly, again and again. Reminding me how much I had gone through.
I remember when my first day here. It was so exciting together with my AFS friends. We sat an airplane for almost 14 hours. When we arrived in Rome, everybody was so relieved. At that moment, I still can't believe that I am in Italy as an exchange student, it was like dream comes true for each of us. We had been waiting for this so long since the day we signed up the student exchange application form. We had orientation together with some AFS volunteer, Fabio and Andrea. They were so nice to us and we had tons of fun together. It was snowing at Rome that time and we managed to see snow together there... It was my first time in my life, so beautiful and it's like a miracle for me.
All of us were so excited and also a little afraid to meet our host family. It was my first time experiencing the feeling scared and excited in this kind of circumstances. Later, I sat a train with Roberta from Rome to Arezzo. Once I came down from the train, I saw my host family, they were waiting for my arrival. I was so happy and I will never ever forget the moment when I first met them. I get to know them more day by day. Papa, Mama, Lori and Sara.
It was December, Christmas. I celebrated it with my host family's relative. It's a big festival for them and we have so many days of holidays. Grandma cooked so much food and I ate too much. Food in Italy is delicious. I ate so much chocolate. haha. I think I had gainned almost 4KG here now. I am fat. My pants are getting tighter too, but still fit la, ok? I went out almost every night with my host sister, Sara or my host brother, Lori because there's no school at this period of time. Met so many friends, Riccardo, Francessca, Andrea, Marco, Camila, Johnny... They are all my freinds here.I remember when the first day I went to pub with Lori and Sara's friends, I ordered a cappucino. They think I am strange, because nobody will drink a cappucino at night. Actually, I just wanted to try the cappucino here, because I thought it might be different from Malaysia. haha.xD Thinking back of it was just so funny. Anyway, all of them treat me well, they taught me so many things... how to make Pizza, how to eat spaggetti with only a fork, how to go to school by bus, how to make-up, how to speak in Italiano... so many things more.
At first it was really hard to speak in Italiano because for me, it's a very 'loud' language, but later I found it interesting. During the first month, I was only able to speak word by word. But now, I guess I am starting to understand more. I even speak Italiano with my host family now. Even though it's kinda tiring and it makes me think a lot before saying something in Italiano, but I tried my very best because I did not want to lose this oppurtunity to learn it. I can only speak Italiano here with everybody, but after I go home, I will not able to practise it very often. Thus, I don't wanna have regrets when I return back to Malaysia.
End of the year of 2010, I remember celebrating my afternoon countdown with my best friend in Malaysia through skype. I am starting to miss them. I felt that it's hard to adapt the life here because there's too many differences between Malaysia and Italy. During the New Year's Eve, Sara and Mamma helped me to put on make-up. Haha, I really like it. Frankly, I like make up so much. I think it's nice. Me and my friends went to Florence with a train and we celebrated together for the whole night until the next morning. We were dancing, shouting, singing out loud and crazy-ing at the concert in Florence. There were also fireworks and the scene was so enjoyable and fun. I had never did this in my life, it was unforgetable.
January, school starts, first day to school was exciting. I am so eager to meet everybody and also tell them more about who I am. I do not understand Italiano at all. Felt so bored in the class. Sleeping and listening to my songs is all I can do. But later on, I found a way to make myself more useful by following my English teacher to all the classes. I did so many presentation, again and again to all the class. My English teacher, Mrs.Branchi said I speak good English. She even asked me to help her students during her class. I managed to communicate with so many people in school. They are all so friendly and they would like to learn more about me and where I came from. When I talk about Malaysia, the students are so interested with it. They enjoy listening more about Malaysia, as well as I like to tell them more about my country. They are even asked to write a passage about me. My god, it sounds funny, but I kinda like it too. They are so shocked to know that I can speak 5 different languages. When I write something in chinese words, they were so amazed because for them it's so difficult to write such thing in their life. Usually, when I write chinese words in school at Malaysia, nobody will even care because it's normal... But in here, they were so interested with it. They like to see me writting something in chinese. I taught them chinese and they think it's cool. haha.xD Besides, I had also hanged up our Malaysian Flag in the school! Life seems so meaningful. I am doing something I like and I am proud of. I felt alive.
Mum phoned me, telling me that I scored 7As in my PMR examination. Dad was very proud. I smiled. I was lucky. Yes, I never thought of this too. I guess my hard work finally paid off. Let's not be too humble. Good, Krystle. I am good. Maybe, not to anybody. But I am good enough just for myself. Well, there's more for me to catch up after returning to Malaysia. Homeworks... Dad allowed me to buy a new camera here as I had scored quite a good result. I remember the suprise my friends gave me when they told me that they are going to sponser me 100€ for the camera I bought. These crazy friends of mine, thankyou so much! I will never forget this gift. It meant a lot to me, seriously. Especially, because it's also a gift from daddy as I did well in my exam. It was heart touching.
AFS gathering in Arezzo, there was the place I met many friends from other country. From Sri Lanka, Germany, Belgium and France. Sofia is from Germany and she's here in Italy for 10months. She's a little shy but I found it easy to communicate with her most because she can understand English very well. She studdies in Montervachi, just near my host family's house. Thus, we went out together quite a few times together to talk about our experiences share and our thoughts with each other. I think she is the only one I can talk to about everything because she has a same feelings as me. She is my first friend in Italy because I met her earlier than my host brother and sister. I am glad to meet her and I guess we also became best friend. It's her fifth month here. There's still 5 more months to go. I felt sorry and kinda sad to go because I am just staying for two months. I will miss her so much. I guess I will never forget her too... Wish her all the best and I hope to visit her one day in Germany. All the best to you, stay strong, my friend! Don't be worry, you will always be in my heart.
There was once I asked my host family why they would like to host a student from other country. Papa said it was because he wanted to change the family's dynamic. Lori is always playing with his computer and Sara do not like to involve herself in the family activities. Papa said he wants to host me so that the family can be closer to each other as communications between the family will increase. I felt lucky that I can fully understand what is really going on. In my mind, I always thought that host family wants to host a student from a different country because they want to understand different cultures and lifestyle. Papa is very nice to me. I understand him and the family of Debolini more after the conversation. Mamma too, eventhough sometimes she speaks so loud that I couldn't understand at all and I thought she was scolding me, but she is actually very nice and she cares about the family a lot.
Days went on, I was always with Sara because she had accompanied me to so many places: school, church, pubs... She is also sleeping in the same room with me for two months. In here, I would like to thank her for being such a lovely host sister. And also thankyou for teaching me Italiano because she was the only one who is able to understand what I am talking about in English. She was once my google translator, but now thanks to her, I had learned this beautiful Italian language. Oh yeah, Congrats to her too because she had just been accepted in AFS Thailand. I totally understand her feeling now... She must be very happy, just like when I first receive my letter from AFS Italy. It was just so awesome. I wish her all the best for her 6 months stay in Thailand through AFS, hope she will also have a wonderful experience! Then maybe I can pay her a visit because Thailand is kinda near to Malaysia. Well, about Lori, he's always at home playing his computer or chatting with his Irene. haha. The more I tell him about me and Malaysia, the more he wants to go to Malaysia. He said maybe in the future he would like to sell Ice cream in Malaysia because Ice cream is easy to do and almost all the Ice cream shops in Italy is Buono. haha.xD My funny host brother have such funny thoughts and he is always very cute eventhough he talks a lot. We had a lot of funny memories together. Actually, since I was small, I had always hope to have an elder brother or sister because I thought it will be nice to have someone to take care of me. And now, this little dream of mine came true. Lori and Sara are always my elder brother and sister. They are like part of my family now. I love them so much... I am so sad to leave. I wish I could stay longer with them.
This coming Saturday will be my last day with my friends and host family here in Montervachi. And then I will sit a train to Rome. Will be meeting all my AFS friends again. I am sure that we will have tons of fun sharing our own experience during our 2 months stay in Italy. Haiz, in a few more days time, I will be back to Malaysia. Bought so much things: bags, shoes, shirt, sweets, chocolates and others. Wonder if my luggage is over weight. My current feeling is so confused. I felt so sad and I cried so badly because I didn't wanna leave so early. I just started to love this place and have my friends here and now I have to leave, that is so unfair.Will miss this place so much. Especially my host family, I would like to thank them because they brought me happiness and they treat me just like I am one of their family member. My friends, the memories we had together, it's so precious to me. I will never forget them. I have no idea when will I be able to see my host family and friends again. But as what I had promised, I must come back. I love you guys so much. *big hugs and kisses*
Unfortunately, I did not manage to visit a lot of places like: Milano, Venecia, Pisa... But I think, there's something more important I gained rather than just visiting places.
I discovered the meaning of life. Life is not just all about studying, working, and succeeding. But it's about how you look at it and enjoy it as much as you can. Sometimes, the process of becoming successful could be the happiest time you had gone through in your life. I enjoyed my everyday life just like a normal Italian teenager here. I came here all way long is not just to visit this place, but to feel, learn and experience how people live here. Maybe that is the real meaning of a student exchange program. My journey of a student exchange life begins here and ended here, amazingly.
Lastly, special thanks to my parents and also AFS. Everything I had been through in here was so... I am speechless. It was fantastic. The world is so beautiful. There's still more for me to learn. This is just the beggining of my life.
Italy, I will be back.
Love,
Yan yan
