Occupazione!!!

Ciao Tutti!
So the last two months here in Italy and also around Europe, something has been stirring. I wasn't aware of the situation until a couple weeks ago so I thought I would talk about it now. As some of you know in Italy there are a lot of protests! Almost every week! This is really normal here and it has taken me a while to get use to, I'm still not completely use to it. This year my school held some protests, a couple assemblies then an occupation. You know a good ole sit in. Why? Well after it was all over I found out it was because the government now wants to make students pay for all schooling, even public school. Now this is crossing the line! When I finally heard the reason for all this I wanted to join them in their fight. How could this privilege be taken away? All students deserve a right to a free education, otherwise I feel like the world would go to shit. As I learned in Michael Moore's latest film "Capitalism: A Love Story", on January 11th 1944 FDR declared a second Bill of Rights, an "economic bill of rights". He stated it would guarantee employment with a living wage, freedom from unfair competition and monopolies, housing, medical care, EDUCATION and social security for all. WHY HAS THIS NOT HAPPENED! Why cant all people have these rights? What sick twisted game is the government playing? Kids my age are already having enough trouble staying in school these days, adding a money factor doesn't help at all. Well I'm rambling...This is what is going on in Italy right now, and I am with all the students in saying that having to pay for an education is wrong and unfair. All we can do now is fight and wait and hope the government will vote no.
Here is a small article on more: http://libcom.org/news/we-wont-pay-the-crisis-26102008

My school

Piano Piano

So I've decided that blogs are evil, and its SUPER hard to write in them! So I'm sorry to all my followers for the delay. I HAVE WAY TO MUCH TO WRITE ABOUT!!!
     So I have been here for 3 months! 3 MONTHS! I cant even comprehend time anymore, when I think about how long I've been here I feel like time is going way to fast! But when I think about how much time I have left here time seems to be going very slow. I don't know which one I should prefer. I'm starting to go through the period of minor homesickness. Its nothing to really worry about, exchange students go through it, but I just wish it would go away. I mainly feel homesickness when I'm not doing anything, which usually means while I'm at school. But as long as I keep myself occupied I'm as happy as ever! At school I am improving so much! The other day I opened my sketch book to start working on my drawing some more and I literally gasped and said "HOLY SHIT I DREW THAT!" but nobody understood me, so to them I was just jumping up and down screaming, my friend thought I was upset about the drawing. With other subjects its another story. I did answer one oral test question, who is Machievelli? He wrote Il Principe, and that was it. Right now all I do is copy my friend's notes and try to understand them, but I don't take part in any tests...yet. In math I actually do nothing, they are way to far ahead of me so right now I'm just waiting for my math book in the mail, for now I get to sleep during that class (which I did today). I'm starting to get to know my class mates more and more, also some other students at the school. I met one boy Danielle, he is the only student (that I know of) who speaks English in the school. So I got to talk to him, turns out he's an actor and has done 2 movies and is working on a TV show right now. WOW! Plus he's super cute.

Daniele

Marco

but as actors go hes a little narcissistic so I've decided not even try. My newest friend Marco is super cool, hes in a band and loves to show me his music collection! I have a feeling we are going to be best friends.
      At home things are still going well, I talk to my host mom (poorly) and to my host dad, although with my host sister we are starting to get really distant. Its not that I don't like her its just we really just don't have many similar interest. If she was living in Taos I doubt we would ever hang out or say anything to each other in school. But we do get along fine. I do feel bad for my host mom, she seems so bummed that I don't speak perfect Italian yet and it makes me a little frustrated. I am not bad at Italian I just cant understand all these grammar rules! So I'm trying and I do speak better than some other people (those people being the kids that got stuck in town with English speakers, that would be tough) and better Italian than when I came here; It is still a bit annoying when I speak Italian to someone and they just respond in English. And as the Italians all say "Piano Piano" "Steady Steady".
     As for Rome I am proud to say I have been there 5 or 6 times and almost completely know my way around! The fact that everything is right next to each other is still a bit hard to understand so every trip I learn my bearings more and more.

Tevi Fountain

My last trip I went to 2 museums, the first one was called "I Grandi Veneti" or " The Great Venetian"; it was filled with work by Bellini, Pisanello, Vivarini, Carpaccio, Tiziano and about 8 others.

Coppia di Musici

Madonna con il Bambino

It was beautiful, and for the first time I actually studied the pieces and looked carefully at what they were trying to say, which made the trip so much more worth it. The second museum we went to was called "Il Teatro Alla Moda" or "Fashion at the Theater". It was gorgeous! It featured clothes by Armani, Capucci, Fendi, Valentino and some other famous names.

I did see some clothes that looked as if my mom had something to do with them; one dress looked like one of her black and white doodles.

      The visit to Rome before that was one of the craziest moments of my life! If you have ever heard the song "It's A Small World After All" and didn't understand, then get this. So me and two other girls from the states (Bekah and Lucia) were walking around Rome, mainly around the Colosseum area, talking about things and looking at all the amazing monuments Rome has. We stopped at a bar (cafe) and got some grapefruit, then started walking down Via del Corso, a huge street with lots of people, trying to find Trevi Fountain. As we were walking I started spacing out looking at the other side of the street and something catches my eye, a boy that looked sort of like our friend Orion. So I stop and keep staring at this boy and the more I look at him the more he looks like Orion, so I say "hey guys is that Orion?" and they are just as confused so I shout at him "ORION!?" and he LOOKS OVER!!! How amazing is that! Just walking down a crowded street in Rome and see another kid from AFS just walking with his host family on the other side! Not only that, but about 20 minutes later as we were standing in front of the Colosseum, two other girls from AFS Jenny and Camila come running up screaming our names! It is indeed a small world. Makes me think about who else I might run into on this trip...

Orion (Washington), Jenny (Iceland), Lucia (Minnesota), Camila (Dominican Republic), Bekah (Oregon) and Me!