gossip girl!

this doesn't apply to everyone, but will someone email me about last night's gossip girl?? i miss having tuesday morning chats about it, and i just got done watching it, and i can't talk to anyone, so it's killing me! CIAO! jess

it's been way to long, sorry!

hey! sorry, it has been sooo long. Our computer is going slower than ever, so i've been having a hard time loading the internet. and i haven't been at home all that much, so that is a factor. But where was i? Aprica, i believe?? so i had an awesome time in aprica, it was great to see everyone again, and i made a lot of new friends that live in my area. it still is really crazy to me that i spent like 4 days with kids from all over the world in some random hotel in the foothills of the alps. so i now have 'friends' from turkey, hungary, hong kong, thailand, canada!, germany, denmark, finland, chile, etccc. so i have a lot of new world contacts, which is super cool. but on thursday (two thursdays ago, so the 16th i believe?) we all met in the milan train station, and got on a double decker bus and headed off to aprica. it was like a 3 and a half hour drive, and we picked up catherine on the way, on like the side of the road, becuase she lives really high up in the mountains, so it was pointless for her to come all the way down to milan, then go back up .We had the hotel to ourselves for the weekend, so that was nice. my room was me, a chinese girl (i couldn't pronounce her name, i felt bad...) Gesa from germany, and Nelli from finland. we just hung out for the afternoon, then had orientation until dinner. then after dinner we had a mock disco in the basement of the hotel, it was super fun! i didn't to bed until really late, because we all stayed up and talked and whatnot. friday we had more orientation and a lot of free time, which was nice. the whole morning we went on a long nature walk through the mountains and whatnot, and there was this little dog that lead our way, so we named him patato since he looked like one. but the italians say paah-tat-ohh, so we had to re-christen him paah-tat-oo. then we played a bunch of games and talked. (i'm putting pictures up as soon as possible....) on the way home we found this fountain thing, that i guess are all over the mountains, but basically is a fresh water tap that you can drink out of, and there's a place to wash clothes and stuff. it was really cool, free cold water! Geri did my hair and my makeup that morning, and it looked wayy better than i have ever done my hair or my makeup, like ever. so that was interesting. i don't know if i've talked about geri yet.... he is from hungary and goes to this artistic school in hungary where they learn all about theater and makeup and stuff, its really cool. but he's fun, the other us girls and i hung out with him, a boy from finland called visa (and he has a visa card that says visa on it, so that was super cool!) and a few kids from turkey, and a bunch of people from south america. i arm wrestled david and sadly (and surprisingly) lost. we had this cool stereotype orientation, which provoked an interesting discussion with the chinese girls. saturday was awesome. we hung out all day, and i had my personal interview. then we had some more orientation and the talent show!! my group was all american girls and geri, and we decided to do a skit making fun of all the american stereotypes, according to the areas where we were from. we had the california valley girl (kalee), southern belle (simone), oregon stoner (keyne), snotty east coaster (michelle), the midwestern farmer (catherine) and me, the ohio EMO! hahah it was great, considering i am like the least emo person, so it was fun to be all quiet and serious. but i got dressed up in all of geri's clothes and he did my hair and my makeup and at the end of the night, it took me about 25 minuts to get my makeup off, and another 25 to brush out my hair. but pictures will be up soon, i promise. so we had our little skit, and everyone enjoyed it, so that was good. then after all the skits were over, we had another disco party. then sunday morning we just hung out and took a lot of pictures, and then headed home on our double decker bus! walter (from hong kong) gave us all tattoos in chinese, so that was cool. OKAY! last week. monday was the usual, school and i was really tired! i talked to dad and the boys, so that was awesome. tuesday was the normal as well, i had gym, and we ran for like 2 straight hours, so that made me even more tired. then i went out with the girl from thailand who is staying in my town, and our volunteer people. we bought a learn italian book, so we've been working on that. i got a spanish test back, and i got a 7. which in our equivalent is like a C, but no one gets 9's or 10's here (which is the A). and rarely anyone gets an 8, so i did well. i got a letter from jen and gabe on tuesday, so that was fun! and two things with pictures and stuff from papa connors.. thanks for the dollar by the way, that's been a huge hit at school. mom called on thursday, and on friday i went out with all the afs volunteers in our area. we had a meeting for all the kids that want to go abroad next year, and it didn't end till late, and afterwards we went out to a bar, called the texas. i had a good time, but didn't get home till wayy late and ihad to go to school the next day. daniela wasn't too happy about that, but she got over it. and i apologized, even though i had no control over when i got home, since the one volunteer picked me up. but i had a good time, and all of the volnteers in my area are under 21, so we all got along really well. on saturday we had a class meeting for 2 hours, so we just hung out and i took a nap for like 20 minutes. we were choosing new class representatives, and i wasn't really involved, even though i did vote. but i was too tired to follow all the italian. then saturday night we headed out to the piacenza house! we went shopping in piacenza, which is beautiful. then we went back to the house and lety and i watched across the universe, cause i bought it for 5 euro when we were out in piacenza. i got a letter from the marklings, super cute! sunday we just hung out, and daniela's friend and her husband and son came out for the day. so we went back to castell'arquato, and had lunch and went on a long walk around the neighboor hood our house is in. mom called on sunday, and they were at jb's party, so igot to talk to almost everyone, which was nice! it was great to hear everyone's voices. and today was tiring. i had school all day, and then when igot home i found out that daniela's great aunt, erika passed away last night. lucia still doesn't know, but lety and daniela went over to daniela's mom's to be with her. they asked me if i wanted to go, but daniela and i decided it'd be best if i stayed home, becuase i don't want to impose. and in italy they keep the dead in the house until the funeral, so not gonna lie, that would have freaked me out a bit. but the funeral is on wednesday. it's very sad, and verrryy out of the blue, so please keep all of us in your prayers. on thursday (or possibly wednesday night) we are headed to bologna (where artemio works) and then florence, piza and possibly verona with the afs kids. and next monday i'M going into milan with catherine, keyne and kalee! i can't wait for that! and later tonight i have my first tumbling class, so i am excited for that as well... i'll let you guys know how everything goes. sorry this is so long, and i hope all is well! ciao, Jess

before orientation round three.

hey guys! i thought i'd update before i start my third round of orientation, which starts tomorrow in Aprica. i guess aprica is wayy up into the mountains, so it'll be cold, but pretty. it's been pretty hot here the past few days actually, having warm weather again is nice. OKAY. sooo. last friday i got a letter from catherine! and a letter and some pictures from papa connors and karen, which was awesome, all the pictures were soo cute! I had a spanish test, which went surprisingly well, i don't know how i did yet though. Saturday was awesome! school was fine, i started my first private italian lesson with my english teacher, Mrs. Cerena. she's super nice, and she gave me a story to read. After school a few of the girls and i went to this sub shop called the Joker. it wasn't that crowded, which was nice. There were 6 of us, so we got 3 subs and split all of them. Elisa and i got this one called the Italian, it sounds gross, but tasted soo good. It's prosciutto, tuna, some type of cheese and mayo. It was awesome, as disgusting as it sounds. then we walked around and went to this outdoor market, which is like west side marked on roids with clothes and stuff, it was really cool. a little dirty, but cool. then we went to this like posh cafe where the one waiter is this huge ex-professional soccer player. he's hugeee. tall and black, but he plays soccer, so i found that bizarre that his arms are like the size of my head. I got my left ear double pierced, so that was fun. i was super nervous, but the lady that did it was really nice. and it only cost 5 euros, which is cheap compared to the like 65 dollars we paid at claire's. then i went home and artemio and i went out to order some of my school books, because everyone here buys their books. then i went out with more girls from school, we all met infront of this store called Bennetton, its in the center. then we walked to this irish pub called the millenium, which was full of these kids called tammoro's which is like scene and emo combined? its confusing, but it was full of them. and the girls kept saying 'ohh this is your typical italian irish pub!' so that was fun. but we all hung out and got antipasti stuff. thennnn we walked back into the center and met a few of the other girls in our class (sofia, martina who were with luca, jacopo, and both david's) and hung out with them for a bit, then we went to McDonald's and got milkshakes. then it was midnight, so i had to head home! sunday was fun, we went into milano for the day! we had lunch at daniela's friends' house, and they had this adorable 4 year old son named Andrea, so the girls and i played lego's with him for a while. Then we went into the center of Milan and i met david! it was fun, he took me to this old castle place, and i got some of those moroccan bracelets that i wanted along the way. then we just walked around. i wanted to go shopping, but all the stores were packed, so i think some of the girls in my class and i are going back later next week. THen we came home and had dinner and artemio went back to Bologna. i found out they have this awesome hair dryer attachment that straightens your hair as it dries it, so i've been using that. Monday was uneventful, i had my first italian class, but it was a total waste of time, so we're taking that up with intercultura. Tuesday i got a package from the chardon connors! yay! and the beads made it all the way across the ocean, i was excited! we ran in gym for like 2 hours, so i was Über tired. I started to pack for this weekend, and in school i talked to taht kid that always writes on the board. he was asking me about the states, and then his friend that reminds me of cale was asking me about LBJ and the cavs, so that was fun. where is greensborough PA, by the way? the kid that writes on the board (i now know his name) Simone, his mom is from there. Today was also fairly uneventful. The history prof wasn't here but cerena gave us english work to do. i had spanish, english, english conversation ( i love my british teacher, he's so much fun!), math, history(free period/ english work) and latin. one of the girls brought in a fish, so we now have a class pet. i forget its name though. i saw a pigeon on the way home from school that looked like a dalmation, so that was amusing. i went on some errand's with daniela, and we stopped at her cousin's house, and they were super nice. they have like 4 huge kiwi vines (and yes, it is a vine.. we had a huge discussion about it) so i picked a few kiwis. i realized that all the stop signs say stop in english, so that was bizarre. and thats about it, attempting to get my gossip girl fix, but it's not loading. but thats it, i'll be back in busto on sunday after a weekend in the mountains. and i get to see catherine!! oh and i read the first lemony snicket book today, it was good. easy read, but nice to read some 'literature' in english!! thats it for now... more sunday!! Ciao, Jess

again, again.

i sent a few letters out today, so look for those. sorry i am really behind on emailing back, i'm trying to get to those.... i still have yet to get my seventeen's, stinks. but i will let you know when i do! and i didn't get an email from the kuh grandparents, so please re-send it!???! love youuuu. ciao, jess

finally!

hey! okay so i just got back from the hair salon, and i am officially a blonde again, but my highlights are a little streaky, so thats iffy. but they'll fade a bit, so i can't wait until then. But daniela and the girls like them, so we'll see. I'm putting up flickr pictures, so check those out. As for the past week, here we go. Wednesday (last wednesday) was october 1st! fun! we had a debate in english about soap opera's and i got to be the judge, so that was fun. i watched mean girls, which was great, i hadn't seen it in soo long. Thursday: i realized that the floor in my classroom looks like the floor i used to use in my bathrooms when i did sims, so that was amusing. my art history teacher dyed her hair purple and it looks really dumb. I realized that in my school we have a ground floor, 1st floor and 2nd floor. instead of 1 2 and 3.. the boys came in and wrote 'i'm gonna be iron like a lion in zion' and everyone was asking me what it was, then i realized it was a bob marley song, so we got that all straightened out. the english prof (cerena) came up with this ingenious idea to take me out and go to her classes with her when i don't have math, english or science. so thats what i've been doing for the past few days, i go with her to her classes and we speak some english and some italian. its been fun! i got a letter from grandma! yay! eleonora and i went out for lunch and shopping, which was really fun. we went to McDonald's which i was worried about, but the chicken nuggets are actually white meat, and i ripped one in half and it ripped like real chicken, so i was glad about that. and they sell all sorts of stuff, like chocolate cake and gelato, it was insane. AND you can't substitute a shake for a pop, like you can here. then we went shopping, and i had to go into the grocery store (there is this small grocery store underneath a h&m type store) and i was getting my money out, but it was taking a while and there was a guy behind us in line, so not even thinking i go (in english) 'oh go ahead' and he goes 'americana? miami, chicago!!' i was like ahhhh si! si! so that was a good laugh, he was telling us in broken english all about his trip to miami and chicago. i took a math test, and i think i did all right... mom made a facebook. oh man! Friday: the spanish conversation teacher praised me on my 'great pronunciation' but i really suck at spanish, so i found that amusing. daniela and i ran errands, i got a cute sweater from a store called Motivi. we went out with a few other families (they all went to england together this summer) for pizza and didn't get home until like 11:30 and i had to get up for school at 6;45, so that sucked. but pizza was fun, and i met a waiter named fabio who was asking me all these questions, it was soo funny. he was adorable. Artemio came home for the weekend! and i watched war, inc. it was SOOO good! a little predictable, but still good. Saturday: school as usual, came home and hung out with the family. i got ready to go out, and burned the crap out of my arm on the iron, so i have a huge scar. it's like 3 inches long, not exaggerating. (for reallll! and it still hurts!) one of the girls picked me up and her dad drove us to the Canterbury (aka kareoke place) and we hung out outside waiting for everyone for like a half hour, and it was freezing! but i got to meet a lot of new kids, our group was like 43 of us or something. but the bouncer man (an italian bouncer outside a crappy kareoke.. i know, right? but i totally got a picture with him, so i have to put that up!) was not too happy, because i guess the neighboors complain if we are too loud outside or something. so then we started to go inside in like shifts of people. and i swear to god i met like 12 kids named Luca. it's insane. we sat at these hugeee long tables (like the tables in the high school lunch room, but wooden) and got food and drinks. and i looked über (how cool is the german Ü! ohh yeah!!) dumb becuase everyone was getting drinks and i was like a water please!! so everyone else gets their like corona's and whatnot and i have this hugee bottle of water. And apparently guys get coctails here. i found that bizarre, because i don't know any men in the states who would order a sex on the beach or whatever, so that was weird. so all the girls in my class and i got up and sang i will survive and some song in italian. it's by Mango and its called la rondine. you tube it, it is hilarious. and la rondine in italian means the sparrow, and the entire chours of the song is 'Dove sei, Dove Sei, Dove sei' which means where are you, where are you, where are you. its classic. i had swordfish that night for dinner too, so that was cool. I had a lot of fun, and we are going back soon, i think! i saw a kid that looked like ethan, but younger. he was soo cute. i made more peanut butter cookies on sunday, and went out with sofia and all of them again. (pictures from saturday to come soon!) we went to that same bar but there were more of us. there is a kid named Davide who is super nice, and the only english he knows is 'hi jessica! i love you!' so thats all he says, it is soo funny. I watched juno with lety, it was soo cute. i forgot how much i lvoe that movie. Monday: i got yelled at by my chem teacher for no reason, so that was a great way to wake up. i got to talk to dad, that was good. big 3-9 baby!! fun fun fun! Tuesday: i left for like all the classes with cerena, so that was good. i learned they don'T have detention, so that is totally cool. i went out with the other afser staying in busto, shes from thailand, but she doesn't go to the same school as me. me her and her leizon (or wahtever) giorgia went and signed up for italian classes(mor eabout those when i start) and then we walked around and talked and got coffee. i got this like vanilla hot chocolate thing, that was basically warmed vanilla syrup, it was soo good though. wednesday: i met a kid in the first year class named carlo dell'aqua. which means carlo of water. so that was amusing. i had a huge gaggle of first year kids come up to me and be like do you have an msn, do you want to come out with us one night, so that was good. more friends! i'm getting my left double earring pierced on saturday, cannot wait. i'm getting the official 'busto by night' tour on saturday too, i can't wait. i got my hair done today, it is finally blonde again! yes! i had to take a chemistry test today, which i wasn't aware of until she told me i was taking it... and i answered 11 of the 23 questions. and i don't think i got any of them right. but none of the chemistry words are in my dictionary, so that sucks. whatever, i already took chem, i don't need that credit! thank god! i have a spanish test tomorrow, and today in spanish i had to read in italian and spanish, so that was funny. and everyone here takes tests in pen, how weird is that? even math! crazy stuff! i have another orientation next week from thursday to sunday, so i am excited for that. still working on flickr, so check that out! love and miss you all, i'll try to keep updating as much as i can! Ciao, Jess

flickkkkkrr!

i am putting flickr stuff up as we speak, so i'm working on that. I'll blog as soon as i can, hopefully tomorrow. this is my first october post! thanks for the card grandma and i have mail updates. If you send thing with an international stamp, it goes wayy quicker. I got a letter from my grandma that took less than a week to get here, most likely because she used an international stamp, so look into that! i love and miss you all, sorry it is taking me forever, but i don't have a lot of computer time, so i'm trying to do one thing at a time! Ciao, Jess