Dude! I totally saw Brody-fase again! [In case you don't know, Brody-fase is this guy that I saw...probably a month ago on the way to the bus that looked like Adrian Brody, only with an eyebrow ring.] It was awesome. Now he looks a little less like Adrian B, but still rather good lookin, what with his eyebrow piercin' and whatnot...Mmm...He totally caught me staring at him....like, 7 times. We (Dani, myself, and another girl whose name I'm afraid I cannot recall) were sitting outside the bar during first period eating Snickers, and ole Brody-fase came amblin' by. I was like, Woooooah! Repeat sighting! Rad! And no way in hell was I goin' to miss out. So I just kept a-lookin', even when he kept turnin' around, and then his friend did...Of course, my luck being what it is, he was totally hanging out by the door when we went to schoo,, smoking, or just being a hooligan. So I just ignored him but in my head I was goin' "dude, you are sooo hot..." Hopefully I shall encounter him again.
Later
Jesus Christ. If this wasn't a case of be careful what you wish for, then I don't know what is. Holy crap. So, I got transferred to 5th grade P.E., which was pretty much awesome. The kids in 5C are pretty nice and there are some cute boys. By some fluke (I don't know WHAT I was thinking...) I agreed to play with them. Oops. Now I remember why my nickname is Bridget the Retard. I, obviously, haven't played volleyball since middle school. And I sucked then. But now...any shred (and we're talking Kleenex through the washer shreds) of skill that I might have acquired during that time is loooong gone. And guess who just happened (Idk if he's in that class or whatever) to be chillin' like a villan, watching me earn my reputation as the Worst Volleyball Player at the Liceo Scientifico? B-fase! What the HELLfire? So I just ignored him, but I was like, "errr..." and, at the earliest opportunity, escaped to sit outside with Franchi. Of course, Brody-fase ended up outside as well, and that is when I realized why he's Brody-fase and not Brody-teeth: the lad has a rather awful set of chompers. It's not even that I'm a snob about these things (I am just fine with a bit o' tilt, though my truelove has marv teeth), but these were getting on towards homeless man. The fact that he was smoking didn't leave much hope for improvement in the colour area, either. So this is the verdict on Brody-fase: He is darn cute, as long as he doesn't open his mouth.
Contemplating dentures and shit luck,
Bee Electric
lunedì, ottobre 30, 2006
Rubber ducky, you're the one...
I've been missing Hanna a lot lately. I mean, obviously been missing her all along, been missing everyone. But the other night, when I was sitting out on my balcony, listening to Veronica, I just felt so....alone. Usually I relish that, it's part of the reason I like going out there everything. But this night I just felt sad. At first I thought I was just lonely 'cause Alex was supposed to come over but at the last minute couldn't. And it's true, that was for sure part of it. But then I realized that it wasn't really Alex I was missing. Sure, she's a nice girl, and I really really like her and don't know what I would do here without her, but it's not the same. There's only one Hanna. Yeah, that's a cliche, yeah, there's only one of everyone else, too, but sometimes you just want to be with a certain person. And for me that person is a blonde, freckled, hazel eyed dork who I've known forever. It's hard to imagine her here, mostly just 'cause she isn't, hasn't been, and won't be. But I still close my eyes and wish that she was sitting next to me, and that we were talking about something, anything...spending qua-li-tay time together. I had to work a little to conjure up an image that wasn't one of the pictures I have, and that scared me. Does that mean that I'm forgetting her? No...I don't know. I'll probably get over it...I hope I will. Not get over missing her, but get over the despair. I guess I'm more terrified of her forgetting me than me forgetting her. What if, when I come back, it's weird? What if she's changed, moved on, and I'm still wanting to watch dumb movies and dance to the Clash? I can't think about it too much...I always want to call her but whenever no one is using the phone or the internet it's, like, 3 in the morning in California. I really need to get a cellphone so I can call her at a decent hour...Gah.
Trying to pick up the pieces,
Bee Electric
Trying to pick up the pieces,
Bee Electric
Tinkerbell got Lung Cancer
Well, seeing as just deciding to eat less didn't really help, I have written out a whole plan, including questions to answer at the end of the day. Maybe if I have to write everything down I'll be less likely to gorge myself. I don't know. God, I am so sore from the gym last night! Holy crap! Dude, my mom woke me up today at 7.21...one minute after Dani and I were supposed to leave! I was like, oh, shit! Good thing I (a) had my clothes all out, (b) took a shower last night, and (c) was planning on wearing my hair in a ponytail anyways. I don't know why I didn't wake up....usually even if my eyepod doesn't wake me up I'm up by 7 anyway...I didn't even stay up that late last night. Maybe 'cause I was too lazy to open the blinds (not forgetting that again!), and my door was more closed than usual ('cause people were being really loud downstairs), so there wasn't much light being let in. So I didn't end up making my bed (for once), and had to put my belt on at the bus stop and tie my shoes on the bus. It was retarded. I am so glad that Mom sent my alarm clocks in the first box (I think)....I hope it gets here soon!
In other news, I'm madly in love (not in that way....gross) with the lady who works at the bar where I get my morning coffee. At first I was sad, because the boy wasn't there. But then I started talking to the lady, and OMG, she was so nice! She asked me if I was from London (people keep thinking I'm English...I wonder if it's 'cause I seem English [which would be AWESOME] or 'cause they don't expect Americans to be here), and I was like, " No, California." We chatted a little, and when I left I said "Ciao!" and she was all "Bye bye, honey!" It pretty much made my day. Maybe I could move in with her...We'd wear our sunglasses inside and she'd cook me delicious pasta, but only a little so I wouldn't get fat. I'd go out dancing with the Boy and learn to make a perfect coffee. Fer sure.
I went to the Tabbachi after caffining up, but they didn't have Lucky Strikes (indeed, seemed to have never even heard of them), so I'll have to go this afternoon. They did, however, have Vogue brand. The idea of smoking Vogue brand cigarettes is so incredibly decadent it makes me want to glue rhinestones on my fingernails and eyelids and bleach my hair a platinum blonde. Put on a lace dress and high heels and play Ladytron and Madonna. The smoke will turn to glitter in my lungs and I'll exhale a cloud of sparkle. Nicotine and fairy dust are all it takes to fly.
I keep yoyoing between wanting to go blonde and wanting to stay black haired. I really don't know. When I ask people here they're all "you should have brown hair" 'cause it's my natural colour and all that. And Alex just tells me that blonde will really damage my hair, which I know. If I I were to go blonde, I think I'd do DKNY first, then go platinum Manko-style if that gets boring. A lot of the time I really want to do it, but then I remember how much I love having black hair, and don't want to change it. However, I think I'll always adore capelli neri, it will always be my favourite, but having different colour hair is fun, too. I reckon I'll ask the U.S. contingent what they think. I'll fer sure keep my hair black for Biancanieve awesomeness, but after than, I may very well go blonde. By they I'll have about a foot of roots, so I'll have to do something.
I have been reading Violet & Claire a lot lately, working on my screenplay. I guess it is a testament to its power and beauty that it still almost makes me cry, but I have to stop the tears that gather behind my eyelids because I'm in biology class.
On a cellular level,
Bee Electric
In other news, I'm madly in love (not in that way....gross) with the lady who works at the bar where I get my morning coffee. At first I was sad, because the boy wasn't there. But then I started talking to the lady, and OMG, she was so nice! She asked me if I was from London (people keep thinking I'm English...I wonder if it's 'cause I seem English [which would be AWESOME] or 'cause they don't expect Americans to be here), and I was like, " No, California." We chatted a little, and when I left I said "Ciao!" and she was all "Bye bye, honey!" It pretty much made my day. Maybe I could move in with her...We'd wear our sunglasses inside and she'd cook me delicious pasta, but only a little so I wouldn't get fat. I'd go out dancing with the Boy and learn to make a perfect coffee. Fer sure.
I went to the Tabbachi after caffining up, but they didn't have Lucky Strikes (indeed, seemed to have never even heard of them), so I'll have to go this afternoon. They did, however, have Vogue brand. The idea of smoking Vogue brand cigarettes is so incredibly decadent it makes me want to glue rhinestones on my fingernails and eyelids and bleach my hair a platinum blonde. Put on a lace dress and high heels and play Ladytron and Madonna. The smoke will turn to glitter in my lungs and I'll exhale a cloud of sparkle. Nicotine and fairy dust are all it takes to fly.
I keep yoyoing between wanting to go blonde and wanting to stay black haired. I really don't know. When I ask people here they're all "you should have brown hair" 'cause it's my natural colour and all that. And Alex just tells me that blonde will really damage my hair, which I know. If I I were to go blonde, I think I'd do DKNY first, then go platinum Manko-style if that gets boring. A lot of the time I really want to do it, but then I remember how much I love having black hair, and don't want to change it. However, I think I'll always adore capelli neri, it will always be my favourite, but having different colour hair is fun, too. I reckon I'll ask the U.S. contingent what they think. I'll fer sure keep my hair black for Biancanieve awesomeness, but after than, I may very well go blonde. By they I'll have about a foot of roots, so I'll have to do something.
I have been reading Violet & Claire a lot lately, working on my screenplay. I guess it is a testament to its power and beauty that it still almost makes me cry, but I have to stop the tears that gather behind my eyelids because I'm in biology class.
On a cellular level,
Bee Electric
Golly gee in a pizza box
Every morning I waste 5 hours in a school where the teachers hate me because I can't understand them and wear shades of lipstick that none of the other girls would dare. Instead of listening to the lectures I read fashion magazines and pretend it's only the language barrer that is preventing my comprehension. As long as I can't decipher their words I can keep pretending that the material isn't miles above my black-haired head.
Day before yesterday I went to Alex's house and we went shopping. I bought a 15euro sweatshirt that I adore and 8euro worth of candy. Then we went to the sunglasses store, the reason for our excursion. There was a gigantic picture of David Beckham that I spent a good deal of time oggiling, trying to forget that pretty much every pair of glasses cost a month's worth of money for me. It was actually kind of fun, watching Alex try on a billion pairs. We came in there for Valentino but when it came down to the final choice it was Versace or Bulgari. She ended up buying the latter, though I personally thought she looked better in the Versace; a celluloid princess stepped off the silver screen and into my reality. But, hey, when you're a Serbian from Southern California, I guess looking like a movie star supermodel is just part of the job description. Not to say she looked bad in the Bulgaris, she looked quite nice. She must have thought so, too, because she spent 180euro on them.
In slightly related but different news, I fell in love with the DKNY sunglasses ad they had posted in there, featuring a cute blonde in rad black shades. I asked if they had said occhiali, but was saved the embarrasement of admitting I couldn't afford them by the fact that they weren't in stock. I really like the haircut/colour, and am considering pursuing it, after Hallowe'en (Snow White might be kind of hard to pull off without, you know, black hair).
After we bought Alex her sunglasses, we went to hang out in the piazza in front of her building, and I, once again, spent the majority of my time trying to convince Alex to flirt with her boy of interest. Not that I minded, as it was actually fun. I really think that they're making progress, especially because word on the street this morning is that he's gonna ask her out. Yesss! I can be satisfied with mere glimpses of hot boys as long as my friends are having successes.
Yesterday was a lot less exciting. We didn't have school, and Dani, as usual, had about 3 tons of homework, so I spent about 5-6 hours formatting all my photos for my flickr page....Now, If only I could get them off of StrongBad and onto the Intarwub. I guess putting "(c) bee electric" on them is hardly necessary, but I like to pretend that someone would like my pictures enough to want to steal them. This is my conceit. We're supposedly getting DSL sometime in October, but who knows when that will happen. Even if I could connect Strong-o to the family computer, without a high speed connection the upload time would rival The Once and Future King in the excruciatingosity of length category, as I have something like 340 pictures.
I also watched The Bourne Identity and Supremacy again, and enjoyed them just as much as I did the first time 'round. I think I'll add them to both my Amazon wishlist and my list of movies to download and see which gets me 'em first.
Ierisera (last night) I went to pizza at L'Anfora (The pizzeria across the street from us) with Grazia and Daniela. Well, we went there, got the pizzas, and took them home to eat them. I got the Margherita (tomato sauce and mozzarella) with prosciutto cotto (prosciutto [cured ham] pieces) and mushrooms. It was all of 3euro and it was delicious. Mmm....it was funny, though, because Gra and Dani asked me what the name of the pizza that Alex had last time was, and, as I didn't remember the name of it off the top of my head, I said, "Oh golly..." At first they thought that it was the name of the pizza, and I didn't know how to explain myself. As it turned out, that kind of pizza didn't have a name but they just told the fellow what they wanted on it.
The only kind of cute guy that I see on a somewhat regular basis is the dude who works at the bar where I get my morning caffe. Though today he was wearing one of those ridiculous fake Louis Vuitton baseball caps and his tag was sticking up. So that was lame.
I figured out that if I can keep my spending to 50euro/week (which is about 9euro less than my original budget), plus the money I'm going to get refunded from BEC/ASSE, I'll have almost $200 extra (Paris!) Of course, I also have that extra money I earned, but I'd rather save that for emergencies. I'll also try to save as much as I can, week to week, but that looks to be quite difficult. I'll probably just ask for money for X-mas/my birthday as well. That's also more practical than gifts, as you don't have to pay shipping (it takes about 3 millennia to get anything here, anyway). I can't wait to get the Paris info! Yay!
Listening to the students reading aloud in English class makes me realise just how wonky I must sound in Italian....only probably much worse. Crap.
I think we're finally going to the Irish Pub this weekend for pizza. Alex and I are going to order Guinness's 'cause we're just that cool. I wonder if my Irish accent is good enough to, when used in conjunction with my full name, get them for free. It depends on if they're real Irish people or not, I bet.
I have been trying to eat less lately, in part to lose weight and in part because snacking so much is getting expensive. I have found chewing gum to be a marvellous ally in this quest, as it provides the motion of eating without the calories. If I can cut out snacking during school and in the afternoon (which will be super-hard because I am so damn bored), stop with breakfast (possibly come downstairs too late to mangiare), and eat less at lunch and dinner, I should be in business! Yay!
I've been working on my screenplay, which is good, as a good deal of my time is spent daydreaming about making my movie and winning Oscars and being rich and famous. One thing that I am getting frustrated by is my own inability to put on paper the things I see in my head. But, as that is pretty much the most important thing for a screenwriter (or, really, any kind of writer) to be able to do, it is something I am going to have to overcome. It is easier for me to visualize the Violet parts (in case you didn't know, the book I'm adapting is Violet & Claire, by Francesca Lia Block. It is divided into three sections: the first from Violet's point of view, the second from Claire's, and the third is written in the third person) than the Claire ones. Maybe because I fancy myself to be more like Violet, and also probably because Violet is so film obsessed and her section is written almost like a movie already, in some ways more literally than others. Violet writes in a visual style that will translate almost effortlessly to film. Claire's part will be more difficult, as hers is less narrative action and more memories and thoughts. It will be possible, but must be done in such a way that the audience does not get lost in Claire's memories, does not forget what is happening because of what has happened. It is going to be AWESOME. I really want to get the book and script for The Virgin Suicides and read the script for Lost in Translation, as Sofia Coppola is pretty much my favourite director, and in my perfect fantasy world, would be my mentor for making Violet & Claire. Don't worry, Peter Jackson is still my idol, fer sure, but you must admit that Lord of the Rings and King Kong are kind of in a different genre. Dang, I really want to see Marie Antoinette, but I have no idea when that is going to happen.
Gah, I really want to buy some film and batteries for Betty (my Super-duper 8 camera), but, as of yet, that has not been a financial possibility. Budget problems are one of my main worries here. I keep track of everythign I spend, what is refundable from BEC/ASSE, from insurance, and from my parents. Things like clothes and the gym, which my parents are paying for, I don't count as budget money spent because I'll get that money really soon. Other refundable expenses, such as bus passes and medicines, I won't get back for a long time, so I'm doing the best I can to absorb those costs now. That way I have an accurate Idea of how much I'm spending now, and then later it'll be like, "hey! free money!" I just figured it out (if my math wasn't too wonky...I hope I hope I hope), and, not counting refundable money, I've been about 16euro under budget per week thus far! Sa-weet!
Pretty much proud of herself,
Bee Electric
Day before yesterday I went to Alex's house and we went shopping. I bought a 15euro sweatshirt that I adore and 8euro worth of candy. Then we went to the sunglasses store, the reason for our excursion. There was a gigantic picture of David Beckham that I spent a good deal of time oggiling, trying to forget that pretty much every pair of glasses cost a month's worth of money for me. It was actually kind of fun, watching Alex try on a billion pairs. We came in there for Valentino but when it came down to the final choice it was Versace or Bulgari. She ended up buying the latter, though I personally thought she looked better in the Versace; a celluloid princess stepped off the silver screen and into my reality. But, hey, when you're a Serbian from Southern California, I guess looking like a movie star supermodel is just part of the job description. Not to say she looked bad in the Bulgaris, she looked quite nice. She must have thought so, too, because she spent 180euro on them.
In slightly related but different news, I fell in love with the DKNY sunglasses ad they had posted in there, featuring a cute blonde in rad black shades. I asked if they had said occhiali, but was saved the embarrasement of admitting I couldn't afford them by the fact that they weren't in stock. I really like the haircut/colour, and am considering pursuing it, after Hallowe'en (Snow White might be kind of hard to pull off without, you know, black hair).
After we bought Alex her sunglasses, we went to hang out in the piazza in front of her building, and I, once again, spent the majority of my time trying to convince Alex to flirt with her boy of interest. Not that I minded, as it was actually fun. I really think that they're making progress, especially because word on the street this morning is that he's gonna ask her out. Yesss! I can be satisfied with mere glimpses of hot boys as long as my friends are having successes.
Yesterday was a lot less exciting. We didn't have school, and Dani, as usual, had about 3 tons of homework, so I spent about 5-6 hours formatting all my photos for my flickr page....Now, If only I could get them off of StrongBad and onto the Intarwub. I guess putting "(c) bee electric" on them is hardly necessary, but I like to pretend that someone would like my pictures enough to want to steal them. This is my conceit. We're supposedly getting DSL sometime in October, but who knows when that will happen. Even if I could connect Strong-o to the family computer, without a high speed connection the upload time would rival The Once and Future King in the excruciatingosity of length category, as I have something like 340 pictures.
I also watched The Bourne Identity and Supremacy again, and enjoyed them just as much as I did the first time 'round. I think I'll add them to both my Amazon wishlist and my list of movies to download and see which gets me 'em first.
Ierisera (last night) I went to pizza at L'Anfora (The pizzeria across the street from us) with Grazia and Daniela. Well, we went there, got the pizzas, and took them home to eat them. I got the Margherita (tomato sauce and mozzarella) with prosciutto cotto (prosciutto [cured ham] pieces) and mushrooms. It was all of 3euro and it was delicious. Mmm....it was funny, though, because Gra and Dani asked me what the name of the pizza that Alex had last time was, and, as I didn't remember the name of it off the top of my head, I said, "Oh golly..." At first they thought that it was the name of the pizza, and I didn't know how to explain myself. As it turned out, that kind of pizza didn't have a name but they just told the fellow what they wanted on it.
The only kind of cute guy that I see on a somewhat regular basis is the dude who works at the bar where I get my morning caffe. Though today he was wearing one of those ridiculous fake Louis Vuitton baseball caps and his tag was sticking up. So that was lame.
I figured out that if I can keep my spending to 50euro/week (which is about 9euro less than my original budget), plus the money I'm going to get refunded from BEC/ASSE, I'll have almost $200 extra (Paris!) Of course, I also have that extra money I earned, but I'd rather save that for emergencies. I'll also try to save as much as I can, week to week, but that looks to be quite difficult. I'll probably just ask for money for X-mas/my birthday as well. That's also more practical than gifts, as you don't have to pay shipping (it takes about 3 millennia to get anything here, anyway). I can't wait to get the Paris info! Yay!
Listening to the students reading aloud in English class makes me realise just how wonky I must sound in Italian....only probably much worse. Crap.
I think we're finally going to the Irish Pub this weekend for pizza. Alex and I are going to order Guinness's 'cause we're just that cool. I wonder if my Irish accent is good enough to, when used in conjunction with my full name, get them for free. It depends on if they're real Irish people or not, I bet.
I have been trying to eat less lately, in part to lose weight and in part because snacking so much is getting expensive. I have found chewing gum to be a marvellous ally in this quest, as it provides the motion of eating without the calories. If I can cut out snacking during school and in the afternoon (which will be super-hard because I am so damn bored), stop with breakfast (possibly come downstairs too late to mangiare), and eat less at lunch and dinner, I should be in business! Yay!
I've been working on my screenplay, which is good, as a good deal of my time is spent daydreaming about making my movie and winning Oscars and being rich and famous. One thing that I am getting frustrated by is my own inability to put on paper the things I see in my head. But, as that is pretty much the most important thing for a screenwriter (or, really, any kind of writer) to be able to do, it is something I am going to have to overcome. It is easier for me to visualize the Violet parts (in case you didn't know, the book I'm adapting is Violet & Claire, by Francesca Lia Block. It is divided into three sections: the first from Violet's point of view, the second from Claire's, and the third is written in the third person) than the Claire ones. Maybe because I fancy myself to be more like Violet, and also probably because Violet is so film obsessed and her section is written almost like a movie already, in some ways more literally than others. Violet writes in a visual style that will translate almost effortlessly to film. Claire's part will be more difficult, as hers is less narrative action and more memories and thoughts. It will be possible, but must be done in such a way that the audience does not get lost in Claire's memories, does not forget what is happening because of what has happened. It is going to be AWESOME. I really want to get the book and script for The Virgin Suicides and read the script for Lost in Translation, as Sofia Coppola is pretty much my favourite director, and in my perfect fantasy world, would be my mentor for making Violet & Claire. Don't worry, Peter Jackson is still my idol, fer sure, but you must admit that Lord of the Rings and King Kong are kind of in a different genre. Dang, I really want to see Marie Antoinette, but I have no idea when that is going to happen.
Gah, I really want to buy some film and batteries for Betty (my Super-duper 8 camera), but, as of yet, that has not been a financial possibility. Budget problems are one of my main worries here. I keep track of everythign I spend, what is refundable from BEC/ASSE, from insurance, and from my parents. Things like clothes and the gym, which my parents are paying for, I don't count as budget money spent because I'll get that money really soon. Other refundable expenses, such as bus passes and medicines, I won't get back for a long time, so I'm doing the best I can to absorb those costs now. That way I have an accurate Idea of how much I'm spending now, and then later it'll be like, "hey! free money!" I just figured it out (if my math wasn't too wonky...I hope I hope I hope), and, not counting refundable money, I've been about 16euro under budget per week thus far! Sa-weet!
Pretty much proud of herself,
Bee Electric
Disco Dancin'
So, we went to the disco this weekend, for the first time! Exciting, right? Except, well, it wasn't...at all...well, maybe the tiniest bit. The name of it is White Elephant, and I guess it just opened a little bit ago. So maybe they're still getting the hang of things.
We got there at about 9:30, I think, and when we did we found out that dancing doesn't start until midnight. Okay...that's a long time to hang out, but whatever. Except that we were getting picked up at 11:30. Great. However, we were assured that our parents would be called and the retrieval time adjusted. Now we had two and a half hours to kill. After paying 12 euro at the door, I was expecting [hoping, praying] to have a damn good time. After all, that is a lot of money when your budget for the week is 50 euro! And you have 5euro left for that week! [Keep in mind this was Saturday night]. After paying, we went upstairs into this little lounge area, where there were these plates of chips on the tables. I was getting a little excited, because we had passed a sign that said something about food, I thought. After eating our way through two plates of chips, we asked, and found out that you had to buy sandwiches downstairs. We were like, "okay, sandwiches...this is classy..." So we went downstairs, to the actual disco part thing. I don't know if they charged a billion euros for everything to seem fancy, or to pay for the HUGE murals on the walls. They were, like, black and white tiger stripes with eyes. Atrocious. We had just settled into a spacious booth and were looking over the sandwich choices when we were told to move by a girl with a walkietalkie, because our table was "reserved"...that's another thing. Pretty much everyone who worked there was wearing a walkie talkie and a wire in their ear. Another thing the insane prices had to cover.
So we moved to the "non-special" section, which was pretty much tables and chairs, nothing too interesting. We were now sitting below/behind the big projection screen, so we got to watch the music video television they were showing flipped. Woohoo. Our sandwiches came [with paper placemats that said "Buon appetite"...they were really working the nice aspect. So we ate our sandwiches [which tasted really crappy...for some reason they put about a litre of tabasco sauce on them, so we had to tear off the bottom half of the roll because it was too spicy] and drank our pop, and contemplated paying 7euro for another too small strawberry margarita in a plastic cup. It was reeeeeeeeally exciting.
We did end up leaving later than 11:30...I think we drove out at about 11:45. When all the people who were planning on dancing started showing up. I buttoned up my h&m shirt all the way up the collar, just for kicks, and put on my dark red lipstick [without a mirror...I did pretty alright] that they had made me change earlier, just to be a badass. Some guy was checking out my lipstick but I just put on my Jackie-O sunglasses and pretended not to notice.
As we drove away I noticed a group of guys in the adjoining parking lot...if they ended up going to White Suckaphant after we left that is lame...'cause some of 'em were pretty darned cute!!
By the time we got home I was pretty p.o.'ed...one thing I hate about here is not knowing what is going on all the time, even if I ask, and because our plans had changed so often that day [disco, piazza, disco, piazza, discopiazzadiscopiazzadiazza disco], I was annoyed about that. I was also upset about being told that every piece of clothing I owned was wrongwrongwrong. And then paying so much to go to the disco and not even getting to dance. I got dressed up for a 15euro gross sandwich and cup of pop. Greeeat.
Luckily Alex was spending the night [Yesssss!] so we put on our PJs and sat out on my balcony, talking about SerbiaFashionCaliforniaItalyFrustrationsGuysFriendsThe Universe and Everything. Then we watched the Breakfast Club [or at least started it...I fell asleep during it 'cause I'm a jerk...then Alex started getting tired] and went to bed. Of course, by now, unless I'm REALLY exhausted I can't go to sleep without my lullabyes and so I had to sneak my eyepod on.
In the morning we lounged around and watched Troy in Italian and ate plum cakes until it was time to take Alex home. After dropping her off at the apartment we [my mom, dad, and Dani] started driving to my mom's hometown. It was, no joke, like, an hour away. When we got there Dani and I sat on the couch and watched "Ritorno al Futuro" 2 and 3, with a break for previously frozen gnocchi and cold, fried, rice balls. That makes the food sound really horrible, and it wasn't, but at that point I was tired, not hungry, and in desperate need of a shower. All sensations that were to increase throughout the day.
We left in the middle of Back to the Future 3 to go to the cemetery and visit all their dead relatives. Wow, cemeteries here are so not even like the ones in the U.S. No grassy mounds scattered with faded flowers here, oh no. This was, like, an apartment complex for the dead. You know, when they have those tall marble locker/drawers? And they all had pictures of the occupant on the front. Even the people that weren't in drawers, that were buried in the ground, were in stone and cement boxes and under slabs. Whatever dirt there was was purely cosmetic. At first I was mostly just creeped out, standing there, surrounded by corpses in stone towers. Then my thoughts kind of turned morbid...all the slots were kind of short looking, and I started to wonder what would happen if you were too tall? Would you get laid diagonally? Bent and the knees? Cut up and reassembled into a more appropriately dimensioned form? Or would you just be rejected all together? When I started feeling bad about thinking that in such a place I started thinking more about death and dying and people I've know who have died, and what will happen when people I love die...at that point I could feel tears pricking the back of my eyeballs so I slid on my sunglasses and did my best to maintain a look of serene detachment. I don't know if it worked but I think everyone was thinking about other things and not the expression on the American girl's face.
After the cemetery we drove to the town where my [host]mom was born, and I sat in her cousin's house watching "Reality Circus" on television and drinking black coffee, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone except Dani because I wasn't in the mood for chit chat. When I finally thought we were going to go home we went to mass, which, though I didn't go last week and thus was anxious to, wasn't nearly so enjoyable as it is here in Santa Maria. I must admit my mind wandered during the sermon and I spent most of the time thinking about how to be Snow White for Halloween. There was a cross stamped on the back of the communion wafers, off center. That distracted me for the rest of the mass.
After church we went back to the cousin's house, at that point Dani was grouchy about something and I was ready to join her, being really physically tired, tired of not knowing what was happening, really in desperate need of a shower, and also worried because the plan was to go to pizza at the Irish Pub with the other exchange students at 8:00...It was past that and we were still 1 hour away.
The minute the car stopped outside our gate Dani and I ran inside and called Carmen [Alex's host sister] and found out that pizza got cancelled, and to see them at the Piazza. I put on eyeliner and earrings, but couldn't be bothered to change my shirt to the new one...I didn't even really want to go out but I wanted to see Alex, and I didn't want to miss a chance to scout cute boys.
I ended up getting pizza that night, though the fact that it wasn't in an Irish Pub made it slightly less exciting. And the fact that people kept putting in HUGE orders so I had to wait for 3 pizzas to be made and baked and sold before getting my 2 pieces. One thing that was nice was a cute boy came in to get pizza whilst I was waiting...I was checkin' him out [I think he caught me a few times...oops...] until he left, but I didn't say anything to him [a] because I didn't want to miss my chance to get my pizza and [b] because I assumed I'd probably see him on the piazza. Well, I got my pizza, but CB, like all the other ones, having given me my one sighting, disappeared into thin air. Dang it!!
So I spent the evening eating pizza [I love that you can get 3 pieces of premium pizza for 2,40 euro...] and watching Alex not flirt with the fellow [Peanut Butter] that she likes. It was very productive.
Trying to be interesting,
Bee Electric
We got there at about 9:30, I think, and when we did we found out that dancing doesn't start until midnight. Okay...that's a long time to hang out, but whatever. Except that we were getting picked up at 11:30. Great. However, we were assured that our parents would be called and the retrieval time adjusted. Now we had two and a half hours to kill. After paying 12 euro at the door, I was expecting [hoping, praying] to have a damn good time. After all, that is a lot of money when your budget for the week is 50 euro! And you have 5euro left for that week! [Keep in mind this was Saturday night]. After paying, we went upstairs into this little lounge area, where there were these plates of chips on the tables. I was getting a little excited, because we had passed a sign that said something about food, I thought. After eating our way through two plates of chips, we asked, and found out that you had to buy sandwiches downstairs. We were like, "okay, sandwiches...this is classy..." So we went downstairs, to the actual disco part thing. I don't know if they charged a billion euros for everything to seem fancy, or to pay for the HUGE murals on the walls. They were, like, black and white tiger stripes with eyes. Atrocious. We had just settled into a spacious booth and were looking over the sandwich choices when we were told to move by a girl with a walkietalkie, because our table was "reserved"...that's another thing. Pretty much everyone who worked there was wearing a walkie talkie and a wire in their ear. Another thing the insane prices had to cover.
So we moved to the "non-special" section, which was pretty much tables and chairs, nothing too interesting. We were now sitting below/behind the big projection screen, so we got to watch the music video television they were showing flipped. Woohoo. Our sandwiches came [with paper placemats that said "Buon appetite"...they were really working the nice aspect. So we ate our sandwiches [which tasted really crappy...for some reason they put about a litre of tabasco sauce on them, so we had to tear off the bottom half of the roll because it was too spicy] and drank our pop, and contemplated paying 7euro for another too small strawberry margarita in a plastic cup. It was reeeeeeeeally exciting.
We did end up leaving later than 11:30...I think we drove out at about 11:45. When all the people who were planning on dancing started showing up. I buttoned up my h&m shirt all the way up the collar, just for kicks, and put on my dark red lipstick [without a mirror...I did pretty alright] that they had made me change earlier, just to be a badass. Some guy was checking out my lipstick but I just put on my Jackie-O sunglasses and pretended not to notice.
As we drove away I noticed a group of guys in the adjoining parking lot...if they ended up going to White Suckaphant after we left that is lame...'cause some of 'em were pretty darned cute!!
By the time we got home I was pretty p.o.'ed...one thing I hate about here is not knowing what is going on all the time, even if I ask, and because our plans had changed so often that day [disco, piazza, disco, piazza, discopiazzadiscopiazzadiazza disco], I was annoyed about that. I was also upset about being told that every piece of clothing I owned was wrongwrongwrong. And then paying so much to go to the disco and not even getting to dance. I got dressed up for a 15euro gross sandwich and cup of pop. Greeeat.
Luckily Alex was spending the night [Yesssss!] so we put on our PJs and sat out on my balcony, talking about SerbiaFashionCaliforniaItalyFrustrationsGuysFriendsThe Universe and Everything. Then we watched the Breakfast Club [or at least started it...I fell asleep during it 'cause I'm a jerk...then Alex started getting tired] and went to bed. Of course, by now, unless I'm REALLY exhausted I can't go to sleep without my lullabyes and so I had to sneak my eyepod on.
In the morning we lounged around and watched Troy in Italian and ate plum cakes until it was time to take Alex home. After dropping her off at the apartment we [my mom, dad, and Dani] started driving to my mom's hometown. It was, no joke, like, an hour away. When we got there Dani and I sat on the couch and watched "Ritorno al Futuro" 2 and 3, with a break for previously frozen gnocchi and cold, fried, rice balls. That makes the food sound really horrible, and it wasn't, but at that point I was tired, not hungry, and in desperate need of a shower. All sensations that were to increase throughout the day.
We left in the middle of Back to the Future 3 to go to the cemetery and visit all their dead relatives. Wow, cemeteries here are so not even like the ones in the U.S. No grassy mounds scattered with faded flowers here, oh no. This was, like, an apartment complex for the dead. You know, when they have those tall marble locker/drawers? And they all had pictures of the occupant on the front. Even the people that weren't in drawers, that were buried in the ground, were in stone and cement boxes and under slabs. Whatever dirt there was was purely cosmetic. At first I was mostly just creeped out, standing there, surrounded by corpses in stone towers. Then my thoughts kind of turned morbid...all the slots were kind of short looking, and I started to wonder what would happen if you were too tall? Would you get laid diagonally? Bent and the knees? Cut up and reassembled into a more appropriately dimensioned form? Or would you just be rejected all together? When I started feeling bad about thinking that in such a place I started thinking more about death and dying and people I've know who have died, and what will happen when people I love die...at that point I could feel tears pricking the back of my eyeballs so I slid on my sunglasses and did my best to maintain a look of serene detachment. I don't know if it worked but I think everyone was thinking about other things and not the expression on the American girl's face.
After the cemetery we drove to the town where my [host]mom was born, and I sat in her cousin's house watching "Reality Circus" on television and drinking black coffee, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone except Dani because I wasn't in the mood for chit chat. When I finally thought we were going to go home we went to mass, which, though I didn't go last week and thus was anxious to, wasn't nearly so enjoyable as it is here in Santa Maria. I must admit my mind wandered during the sermon and I spent most of the time thinking about how to be Snow White for Halloween. There was a cross stamped on the back of the communion wafers, off center. That distracted me for the rest of the mass.
After church we went back to the cousin's house, at that point Dani was grouchy about something and I was ready to join her, being really physically tired, tired of not knowing what was happening, really in desperate need of a shower, and also worried because the plan was to go to pizza at the Irish Pub with the other exchange students at 8:00...It was past that and we were still 1 hour away.
The minute the car stopped outside our gate Dani and I ran inside and called Carmen [Alex's host sister] and found out that pizza got cancelled, and to see them at the Piazza. I put on eyeliner and earrings, but couldn't be bothered to change my shirt to the new one...I didn't even really want to go out but I wanted to see Alex, and I didn't want to miss a chance to scout cute boys.
I ended up getting pizza that night, though the fact that it wasn't in an Irish Pub made it slightly less exciting. And the fact that people kept putting in HUGE orders so I had to wait for 3 pizzas to be made and baked and sold before getting my 2 pieces. One thing that was nice was a cute boy came in to get pizza whilst I was waiting...I was checkin' him out [I think he caught me a few times...oops...] until he left, but I didn't say anything to him [a] because I didn't want to miss my chance to get my pizza and [b] because I assumed I'd probably see him on the piazza. Well, I got my pizza, but CB, like all the other ones, having given me my one sighting, disappeared into thin air. Dang it!!
So I spent the evening eating pizza [I love that you can get 3 pieces of premium pizza for 2,40 euro...] and watching Alex not flirt with the fellow [Peanut Butter] that she likes. It was very productive.
Trying to be interesting,
Bee Electric
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
If I had the chance to change into someone else's version of me, would I take it? I don't know. It's kind of a scary thought. For most people, I think, being what someone else wants is the easiest choice. But for me, being what I want has always been my way, pretty much ever since I could dress myself. Blue glitter lipstick in 3rd grade, cutting off all my hair in 5th, black lipstick and band-aid elf ears in 8th, and striped tights and dyed hair in high school. And now I'm here, in Italy, with the chance to be changed...my first instinct is to refuse, in part because my individuality has always been such a part of me, and also 'cause I'm a little terrified. But then...I don't know. Why not? I'm already being forced to abandon (for now) some of my trademarks and favourite things...And it's not like I can't go back. If I can't handle this new thing all it'll take is a bottle of black hair dye, a little black eyeliner and my old clothes. Put Louis XIV on the stereo, turn on the computer, and I'm good to go.
Later
Well, so much for big decisions made during math class...I thought I could do it, thought I could let them mold me. Well, I thought wrong. We went shopping for a shirt to wear, and, after trying to convince them that I didn't want something "sexy" I ended up with a long sleeve, kind of olive and cream striped shirt with a collar and snap things. Of course, there was a really cute dress that I wanted, but I decided that it was too hard to say I wanted a little black spaghetti strap number after insisting on snapping up all the snaps on my shirt. Once I got home and put on the shirt again, though, I realized that I really don't like it at all. Oh well, it was only 14 euro. I didn't end up wearing it that night...our plans changed about, oh, I don't know, 17 times, and we ended up going to the disco instead of hanging out in the piazza. So Grazia, Daniela, and Angela helped me pick out something to wear. And by helped I mean took pretty much everything I own and went "No...". I swear, if I get asked if I have anything "normal" or "not black" one more time I will cry. I ended up wearing jeans and my pink polka dotted h&m tank with my long black h&m shirt over it ['cause I didn't have any acceptable jackets]. My hair, which I had waxed, sprayed, and clipped back, because it was messy and I didn't want to deal with it if we were just going to the piazza, was brushed out into a kind of...I don't know...almost the Nicole Ritchie bob goin' on. I ended up liking the end result, but the process was just too painful and depressing. The disco sucked too but that's another matter for another entry.
So yeah, any mAjick transformations will happen if I decide them to, and I'm going to decide what I'm transforming into. I even decided not to cut my bangs like they wanted, as I'm growing them out...I think one thing that doesn't help is that the clothes stores they have here sometimes aren't that expensive, but thusly are kind of...well...cheap. I've only bought that tshirt, and then a sweatshirt yesterday [for 15 euro], and I think that's all the clothing money SMaV is a-gonna get from me, unless I see something I must have. I'd rather spend my money in Paris or Milan, because [a] the clothes are probably cuter, and [b] isn't it more exciting to say "I got this in Paris" or "Milan" than, "Oh, you like this shirt? It's from Santa Maria A Vico. Yeah, I know."
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changin',
Bee Electric
Later
Well, so much for big decisions made during math class...I thought I could do it, thought I could let them mold me. Well, I thought wrong. We went shopping for a shirt to wear, and, after trying to convince them that I didn't want something "sexy" I ended up with a long sleeve, kind of olive and cream striped shirt with a collar and snap things. Of course, there was a really cute dress that I wanted, but I decided that it was too hard to say I wanted a little black spaghetti strap number after insisting on snapping up all the snaps on my shirt. Once I got home and put on the shirt again, though, I realized that I really don't like it at all. Oh well, it was only 14 euro. I didn't end up wearing it that night...our plans changed about, oh, I don't know, 17 times, and we ended up going to the disco instead of hanging out in the piazza. So Grazia, Daniela, and Angela helped me pick out something to wear. And by helped I mean took pretty much everything I own and went "No...". I swear, if I get asked if I have anything "normal" or "not black" one more time I will cry. I ended up wearing jeans and my pink polka dotted h&m tank with my long black h&m shirt over it ['cause I didn't have any acceptable jackets]. My hair, which I had waxed, sprayed, and clipped back, because it was messy and I didn't want to deal with it if we were just going to the piazza, was brushed out into a kind of...I don't know...almost the Nicole Ritchie bob goin' on. I ended up liking the end result, but the process was just too painful and depressing. The disco sucked too but that's another matter for another entry.
So yeah, any mAjick transformations will happen if I decide them to, and I'm going to decide what I'm transforming into. I even decided not to cut my bangs like they wanted, as I'm growing them out...I think one thing that doesn't help is that the clothes stores they have here sometimes aren't that expensive, but thusly are kind of...well...cheap. I've only bought that tshirt, and then a sweatshirt yesterday [for 15 euro], and I think that's all the clothing money SMaV is a-gonna get from me, unless I see something I must have. I'd rather spend my money in Paris or Milan, because [a] the clothes are probably cuter, and [b] isn't it more exciting to say "I got this in Paris" or "Milan" than, "Oh, you like this shirt? It's from Santa Maria A Vico. Yeah, I know."
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changin',
Bee Electric
Thrills, frills, and pinapple smoothies!
Wow. Being an exchange student is freaking hard. It's a great opportunity, and can be ridiculously fun, but other times it is a lot of work! It's hard to find the balance between adapting yourself to your new environment, and going through changes, but still keeping, well, yourself, not getting lost in the shuffle. I reckon it is a little easier for US kids going the UK, and vice versa, as the language is the same. Sure, the accent and colloquialisms are going to be unfamiliar, but you have that basic framework. In a country that speaks a different language than your home country, it is doubly hard, I think. I spend my time in a pretty near constant state of confusion, never knowing where I'm going [literally and figuratively], what I'm doing, what I'm eating, or what I'm saying.
Of course, it's not all frustration...there are really wonderful things, as well. But now that the novelty is starting to wear off, there's this in between time where I'm trying to figure everything out. It's kind of hard to enjoy things when you're constantly trying to guess what is coming. I'm starting to get the hang of everything, though. And hopefully soon I'll be settled in enough to be able to relax.
Speaking of settling in...I don't know if I'm going to stay in Santa Maria A Vico past the end of the year. When I first found out that I wasn't going to be with this family the whole time, my first reaction was "well, I gotta stay in this area, at least! Go to the same school! Stay with the same people!" But now I'm starting to change that view. Maybe a change of scene would be good. Get a taste of what life is like for a different sort of Italian. And also, I think it would be awkward to see a family all the time that I used to live with. Maybe not awkward, but...wierd. I don't know. There's one other factor in this that I'm not allowed to divulge at this time that is also influencing my thinking...be patient.
I had a brilliant idea that perhaps I could move to Milan, and live with Ceci, the girl who was an exchange student at my school last year. Heck, she already offered to host me...don't know if she was entirely serious, though. Hmm.. I shall consult my parentals [me mum was going to try and find out at the programme if they knew what my future holds] and then send ole Chech [pronounced englishy...like Chechnya] an electronic mail, fer sure.
Man, I'm really excited to go to Paris...I hope it works out! Because that would pretty much be AWESOME!! z0mg!! I will fer sure wear all my short skirts striped tights fancy dresses tall boots and lolita glasses!! I will be hella styley in a hella styley city. When I finally get my computer online [I just found out that I might be able to at school!! Rad!], perhaps I'll download some "learn french" podcasts...'cause you know how much I listened to the Italian ones... It would be nice to expand my french vocab..."Bonjour! Parlez-vous francais? Je m'appelle Brigitte! Je suis l'ananas! Je t'aime!! Adieu! Au reviour! Bon voyage!" Dude I will ROCK that city.
I saw High School Musical on the tube last night! It was pretty much the high point of my day. Which is saying a lot because I also watched Paris Hilton's other video...I can't remember the name of the song, but it's the one about losers, with the kid in it....on gay.tv, like 2 or three times. I closed my eyes and wished for PH, and when I opened them...well, there she was! Man I want to buy that video off of iTunes. Or just steal it like the pirate I am. Probably the 2nd 'cause I'm stingy. But High School Musical was just freaking RAD. We went to my host cousin's house [after going to another cousin's house...] after dinner, and at that point all I wanted to do was go home and put on a movie or just go to bed. And then we walked in...and there was HSM on the TV!! I just about yelped with joy. And sat there glued to the screen for the rest of the movie [it was part way through...we came in when Gabriella is singing "When there was me and you" in the halls], grinning like a fool and mouthing the words to the songs. All the dialogue was dubbed in Italian, but the songs were the original, with italian subtitles. Since the soundtrack has pretty much been in constant play on Veronica, I knew all the words. It was AWESOME times a billion. I have to get that movie!!
Wow, I was just reading over my typed blog posts so far and I realized that they have covered in detail the first few days and then kind of peter out...I think that's a combination of not having time, being overwhelmed with things to say, and also frustration of not being able to internetify these entries. So instead I have been putting my energy into letters [don't feel bad if you haven't gotten one yet...I haven't written many, and have sent even less. If you're not sure that I have your address, email to me]. But even those don't cover everything. So here's a recap:
Santa Maria A Vico is the town that I live in. Though it is indeed rather larger than ole G-home, it is not exactly what you'd call a booming metropolis. It's a pretty nice town, though it seems to live here is to loathe it, at least if you are a youngster. What amazes me is how much everyone walks everywhere. Or, at least, we do. Not to say that there aren't a billion cars [teeny tiny things...you could fit about 3 in your average SUV] and motorbikes [some, not all, of which are the stereotypical but oh-so-fab vespas], because fer sure there are. But it is also possible, if you aren't 18 [the driving age here] and don't have a motorbike, to walk pretty much anywhere in town you need to go. And you can take the bus [pullman in Italian...whenever anyone says anything about taking the pullman my first thought is trains. Is that wierd?] if you need to get to another town.
People here go out a lot... there aren't really any discos [I think there's one in the whole town; we haven't been yet], but they go to the bars, or just to hang out in the piazzas with friends and maybe a gelato cone. The bars aren't like they are in the US at all...for one thing you don't have to be drinking age to go [which is 16 so I'd be let in, anyways], and they don't just sell alcohol. You can buy a pop or juice, coffee [espresso, cappuccino, whatever], a candy bar or some gum. All the ones I've been are really nice looking inside, well lit, and snazzy. Not the smoky dive bar type at all. Even so, people don't really hang out in them. Well, some do, but for the most part, folks get their drink or whatever and then go to stand or sit outside [perhaps a practice less common in the rainy, colder months] and enjoy the evening, check out the other folks, and chillax. It's nice.
I've spent more time with friends here than I do with the US...maybe it's the ease of walkifying, maybe I'm just not a very social person in Cali...sorry guys! But here, in the afternoon after you've done your homework, you can go over to your friends house, or just hang out in town. It's pretty rad.
We have kind of been spending a lot of time at home though, especially now, as school is really in full swing and so Daniela has LOADS of homework. Seriously, it's intense how much she gets. I am awed. o.O And, frankly, bored out of my mind. What do I do while she's working her ass off? I don't want to just sit there and, like, watch her. But if I'm up in my room I feel really antisocial, 'cause it's up at the top of this spiral staircase, by itself, and so even if the door is wide open I feel like I'm isolating myself. Today I brought my computer downstairs to when Dani was doing homework and watched The Bourne Identity with my headphones on. It was a little embarrassing, because, as I'm sure you know, I tend to get really into movies, and sometimes make a lot of unintentional noise when watching them. So during this one part I gasped really loud and Daniela and Aniello both looked at me like, "what the hell is she doing"...I was like, "Ciao...."
School right now is pretty boring as well, especially because right now it is safe to say that I don't understand what the heck the teachers are going on about. Even though my Italian is improving, got dang do they talk fast!! I kind of have the feeling that, even if I did speak the language, the lessons would be waaay over my head. This is quite embarrassing, especially because I'm a year older than everyone. The one class that is boring, easy, and I actually understand what is going on some of the time is English. They're studying the Celts and the Iberians, and Stonehenge and whatnot, stuff I never got in school. So that would be kind of interesting, except it took me about 15 minutes in Dani's text book to cover what we've been plowing through for a week and a half. I'm going to see if I can get transfered to 4th year English [I'm in 3rd year–Daniela's grade] because it would probably be more interesting, I'd get to be with kids my own age, and the boys in the upper grades are soooo much hotter!! Yeah, that's me, priorities firmly in the right place!
Since paying attention is useless [though I do it if I have nothing else to do] I've been doing a variety of things during class time. In the beginning, I mostly studied Italian. But now I finished my italian book, so I've had to find other ways to amuse myself. I've written letters, drawn, read Vogue Italia, started translating an article about Snakes on a Plane from Italian to English, and today started working on my screenplay. Man I am so excited about my movie!! It is going to magnificent.
These are the classes I have: Algebra 2, Biology, Physics, Literature, Philosophy, Italian, Art, Latin, P.E., and English. I think that's all of them. That is a pretty heavy load for sophomore year!! Now you know why Dani's always studying. It's ridiculous.!
In school here, you don't change classes during the day [except to go the gym for P.E.], you stay in the same room all day. Only, at least for my class, that is a different room each day. I'm not entirely sure why...maybe they don't have enough rooms for everybody? Hmm...
Cutting her head off,
Bee Electric
Of course, it's not all frustration...there are really wonderful things, as well. But now that the novelty is starting to wear off, there's this in between time where I'm trying to figure everything out. It's kind of hard to enjoy things when you're constantly trying to guess what is coming. I'm starting to get the hang of everything, though. And hopefully soon I'll be settled in enough to be able to relax.
Speaking of settling in...I don't know if I'm going to stay in Santa Maria A Vico past the end of the year. When I first found out that I wasn't going to be with this family the whole time, my first reaction was "well, I gotta stay in this area, at least! Go to the same school! Stay with the same people!" But now I'm starting to change that view. Maybe a change of scene would be good. Get a taste of what life is like for a different sort of Italian. And also, I think it would be awkward to see a family all the time that I used to live with. Maybe not awkward, but...wierd. I don't know. There's one other factor in this that I'm not allowed to divulge at this time that is also influencing my thinking...be patient.
I had a brilliant idea that perhaps I could move to Milan, and live with Ceci, the girl who was an exchange student at my school last year. Heck, she already offered to host me...don't know if she was entirely serious, though. Hmm.. I shall consult my parentals [me mum was going to try and find out at the programme if they knew what my future holds] and then send ole Chech [pronounced englishy...like Chechnya] an electronic mail, fer sure.
Man, I'm really excited to go to Paris...I hope it works out! Because that would pretty much be AWESOME!! z0mg!! I will fer sure wear all my short skirts striped tights fancy dresses tall boots and lolita glasses!! I will be hella styley in a hella styley city. When I finally get my computer online [I just found out that I might be able to at school!! Rad!], perhaps I'll download some "learn french" podcasts...'cause you know how much I listened to the Italian ones... It would be nice to expand my french vocab..."Bonjour! Parlez-vous francais? Je m'appelle Brigitte! Je suis l'ananas! Je t'aime!! Adieu! Au reviour! Bon voyage!" Dude I will ROCK that city.
I saw High School Musical on the tube last night! It was pretty much the high point of my day. Which is saying a lot because I also watched Paris Hilton's other video...I can't remember the name of the song, but it's the one about losers, with the kid in it....on gay.tv, like 2 or three times. I closed my eyes and wished for PH, and when I opened them...well, there she was! Man I want to buy that video off of iTunes. Or just steal it like the pirate I am. Probably the 2nd 'cause I'm stingy. But High School Musical was just freaking RAD. We went to my host cousin's house [after going to another cousin's house...] after dinner, and at that point all I wanted to do was go home and put on a movie or just go to bed. And then we walked in...and there was HSM on the TV!! I just about yelped with joy. And sat there glued to the screen for the rest of the movie [it was part way through...we came in when Gabriella is singing "When there was me and you" in the halls], grinning like a fool and mouthing the words to the songs. All the dialogue was dubbed in Italian, but the songs were the original, with italian subtitles. Since the soundtrack has pretty much been in constant play on Veronica, I knew all the words. It was AWESOME times a billion. I have to get that movie!!
Wow, I was just reading over my typed blog posts so far and I realized that they have covered in detail the first few days and then kind of peter out...I think that's a combination of not having time, being overwhelmed with things to say, and also frustration of not being able to internetify these entries. So instead I have been putting my energy into letters [don't feel bad if you haven't gotten one yet...I haven't written many, and have sent even less. If you're not sure that I have your address, email to me]. But even those don't cover everything. So here's a recap:
Santa Maria A Vico is the town that I live in. Though it is indeed rather larger than ole G-home, it is not exactly what you'd call a booming metropolis. It's a pretty nice town, though it seems to live here is to loathe it, at least if you are a youngster. What amazes me is how much everyone walks everywhere. Or, at least, we do. Not to say that there aren't a billion cars [teeny tiny things...you could fit about 3 in your average SUV] and motorbikes [some, not all, of which are the stereotypical but oh-so-fab vespas], because fer sure there are. But it is also possible, if you aren't 18 [the driving age here] and don't have a motorbike, to walk pretty much anywhere in town you need to go. And you can take the bus [pullman in Italian...whenever anyone says anything about taking the pullman my first thought is trains. Is that wierd?] if you need to get to another town.
People here go out a lot... there aren't really any discos [I think there's one in the whole town; we haven't been yet], but they go to the bars, or just to hang out in the piazzas with friends and maybe a gelato cone. The bars aren't like they are in the US at all...for one thing you don't have to be drinking age to go [which is 16 so I'd be let in, anyways], and they don't just sell alcohol. You can buy a pop or juice, coffee [espresso, cappuccino, whatever], a candy bar or some gum. All the ones I've been are really nice looking inside, well lit, and snazzy. Not the smoky dive bar type at all. Even so, people don't really hang out in them. Well, some do, but for the most part, folks get their drink or whatever and then go to stand or sit outside [perhaps a practice less common in the rainy, colder months] and enjoy the evening, check out the other folks, and chillax. It's nice.
I've spent more time with friends here than I do with the US...maybe it's the ease of walkifying, maybe I'm just not a very social person in Cali...sorry guys! But here, in the afternoon after you've done your homework, you can go over to your friends house, or just hang out in town. It's pretty rad.
We have kind of been spending a lot of time at home though, especially now, as school is really in full swing and so Daniela has LOADS of homework. Seriously, it's intense how much she gets. I am awed. o.O And, frankly, bored out of my mind. What do I do while she's working her ass off? I don't want to just sit there and, like, watch her. But if I'm up in my room I feel really antisocial, 'cause it's up at the top of this spiral staircase, by itself, and so even if the door is wide open I feel like I'm isolating myself. Today I brought my computer downstairs to when Dani was doing homework and watched The Bourne Identity with my headphones on. It was a little embarrassing, because, as I'm sure you know, I tend to get really into movies, and sometimes make a lot of unintentional noise when watching them. So during this one part I gasped really loud and Daniela and Aniello both looked at me like, "what the hell is she doing"...I was like, "Ciao...."
School right now is pretty boring as well, especially because right now it is safe to say that I don't understand what the heck the teachers are going on about. Even though my Italian is improving, got dang do they talk fast!! I kind of have the feeling that, even if I did speak the language, the lessons would be waaay over my head. This is quite embarrassing, especially because I'm a year older than everyone. The one class that is boring, easy, and I actually understand what is going on some of the time is English. They're studying the Celts and the Iberians, and Stonehenge and whatnot, stuff I never got in school. So that would be kind of interesting, except it took me about 15 minutes in Dani's text book to cover what we've been plowing through for a week and a half. I'm going to see if I can get transfered to 4th year English [I'm in 3rd year–Daniela's grade] because it would probably be more interesting, I'd get to be with kids my own age, and the boys in the upper grades are soooo much hotter!! Yeah, that's me, priorities firmly in the right place!
Since paying attention is useless [though I do it if I have nothing else to do] I've been doing a variety of things during class time. In the beginning, I mostly studied Italian. But now I finished my italian book, so I've had to find other ways to amuse myself. I've written letters, drawn, read Vogue Italia, started translating an article about Snakes on a Plane from Italian to English, and today started working on my screenplay. Man I am so excited about my movie!! It is going to magnificent.
These are the classes I have: Algebra 2, Biology, Physics, Literature, Philosophy, Italian, Art, Latin, P.E., and English. I think that's all of them. That is a pretty heavy load for sophomore year!! Now you know why Dani's always studying. It's ridiculous.!
In school here, you don't change classes during the day [except to go the gym for P.E.], you stay in the same room all day. Only, at least for my class, that is a different room each day. I'm not entirely sure why...maybe they don't have enough rooms for everybody? Hmm...
Cutting her head off,
Bee Electric
giovedì, ottobre 05, 2006
Fash Flash
I've been watching a lot of Fashion TV lately...pretty much ever since I figured out fer sure what channel it was. Things are lookin' pretty good for the next couple of seasons, I reckon! I think my favourite collection was, of course, Dolce & Gabbana, but that comes as no surprise as they're pretty much my favourite designers in general. I'm not sure if it was spring/summer or fall/winter, but whatever. About half the show had kind an aristorcatic/equestrian theme, with high-collared white shirts, and jackets and riding pant-like bottoms with brocade trim and buttons. Quite good lookin'! They had one of the outfits in the window in the Dolce & Gabbana store in Capri, and though it was safely out of my price range, I must say that covet it I did. Still do. The other half of the show were these marvelously elegant dresses that I quite liked, though not as much as the pants-ensembles.
I only saw the backstage coverage of Heatherette, but from what was shown, their new stuff looks to be pretty marvelous, as usual. They had a bunch of the models in these cute blonde wigs that looked anything but natural, but I have a feeling that "natural" wasn't exactly the look they were going for. The designers looked pretty snazzy themselves, gold roller skates and all.
Chanel was gorgeous as always, and Chloé had some pretty elegant things, mostly staying in the gray colour scheme, but they didn't come across as dull. John Galliano's work was a bit overshadowed by grotesquely huge hair, which was disappointing. One collection...god, who was it...I wasn't too keen on at all. I don't know what his inspiration was, perhaps Africa and African Explorers, but the result was an unwearable, even on the gorgeous models, mix of bright colour blocks, khaki, mirrored aviator shades, and these strange, small, tight, shiny, safari hats.
In general, spring/summer seems to be leaning towards short hemlines [of course] with floaty dresses, and loose, cuffed shorts. I like it! It's a good thing that I can't afford any of it, 'cause I wouldn't be able to pull it off anyway. Fall/winter is more along the lines of dark colours [yay!], long dresses with sweeping hemliines, and a fur contingent. Very Elegant.
Ugh, I'm so retarded.
This is Bee Electric, Faux Fashion Reporter, signing off.
Xoxo
I only saw the backstage coverage of Heatherette, but from what was shown, their new stuff looks to be pretty marvelous, as usual. They had a bunch of the models in these cute blonde wigs that looked anything but natural, but I have a feeling that "natural" wasn't exactly the look they were going for. The designers looked pretty snazzy themselves, gold roller skates and all.
Chanel was gorgeous as always, and Chloé had some pretty elegant things, mostly staying in the gray colour scheme, but they didn't come across as dull. John Galliano's work was a bit overshadowed by grotesquely huge hair, which was disappointing. One collection...god, who was it...I wasn't too keen on at all. I don't know what his inspiration was, perhaps Africa and African Explorers, but the result was an unwearable, even on the gorgeous models, mix of bright colour blocks, khaki, mirrored aviator shades, and these strange, small, tight, shiny, safari hats.
In general, spring/summer seems to be leaning towards short hemlines [of course] with floaty dresses, and loose, cuffed shorts. I like it! It's a good thing that I can't afford any of it, 'cause I wouldn't be able to pull it off anyway. Fall/winter is more along the lines of dark colours [yay!], long dresses with sweeping hemliines, and a fur contingent. Very Elegant.
Ugh, I'm so retarded.
This is Bee Electric, Faux Fashion Reporter, signing off.
Xoxo
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