Goodbye my sweet paradise, Carrara

Carrara- the coolest town I've ever been to. There's always a place to go to, something to do. Nestled perfectly between marble mountains and sea, Carrara has the perfect calmness of sun bathing all day and the upbeatness of the marina at night. The people in Carrara are all pretty wild- very..... touchy. But they're all just down for some good fun. I am going to miss walking up to my house up in the mountains, passing through the classic old school italian houses with everyone's underwear hanging outside. I am going to miss the delicious food-meal after meal after meal (yes I'm fatter). Specifically I am mostly going to miss the bread and prosciutto (back to not eating meat once I get in the states because I think I've really done some major dammage on the pig population). I am going to miss both of my incredible host families. The first one I felt right at home within the first day. I really felt part of the family immediately. The grandma was literally superwoman. The way that woman cleaned my room, washed my clothed, and kept feeding me delicious food, just wow. My first family was much more fast-paced, go go go, but I loved it because I hate being bored so literally everynight we would go out on the town. Plus my father was a lifeguard which is really boss, I'm mad though because I never did get as tan as him... he made fun of me for being so white. My second family was amazing too. They were much more calmer and they reminded me a lot of home. The parents reminded me much of my own. It was so homey here, and I was always relaxed. I guess it's easy to forget your worries when you live in the clouds. The mother here did it all too!(cook, clean, laundry... and take care of the cutest and rambunctious 7 year old girl). I really don't understand how every woman here can cook so brilliantly. But sadly this chapter comes to a close and today is my last day in Carrara. I have 3 days in Rome before home but I doubt I'll have anywhere to access the internet. I'll try not to forget all the italian I've learned and one day I'll come back. It's been reak Carrara, thanks for showing me a good time. 

Where did the Time go?

It is impossible to believe that I have less than 12 days left here. I feel like it was just yesterday I hugged my crying mother goodbye as my dad dragged her off. There is not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. I want the day to be long enough for me to read a whole book, travel to another country, swim in the ocean, eat, work off the food I just ate, and still have PLENTY of sleep. I'm only in Carrara for 7 more days and I'm not ready to leave. This is the coolest town I've ever been to. It's like a great vacation city without all the tourists (minus the 7 Americans living here), the night life is booming, and the landscape is beautiful. A perfect town nestled between mountains and sea. I don't know how I'm supposed to go back home and deal with stress and worry because here there are none. I feel like there's so much more I need to do and there's no time left!!!!!

Why Not?

Two days ago I had my first near death experience. With the AFS Carrara group we traveled to cinque terre (5 beautiful sea cities in Italy). At our second stop we decided to go swimming and I was all for it since we were in this beautiful area of water. The water was reallly nice because it was so hot out and then me and one of the other AFS kids wanted to go jump off this baby cliff into the water. For those of you who know me know that I am not a fan oh heights but since I was Italy and I want to experience it all I swallowed my fear and jumped (awesome). After I was dumb jumping and wanted to make my way through shore I saw piles of rocks that led to land so I swam my way over there. There were extrememly large waves crashing from both sides onto the rocks but when the waves died down for a bit I quickly tried to make my way up only to slip down the jaggedy rocks into the water which was when the torture began. I was swept down into the water only to be brought right up slamming into the rocks. My thoughts in order were: I really hope I don't flash someone, OMG my blood is going to attract sharks, my moms going to kill me if I drown, I wonder if Massimo is scared of losing his job if I die, man I'm like Katniss, and lastly how the heck do I get out of here. As my body is being tousseled to and fro rocks and water my knee got caught between two big boulders where I was slapped around by waves with my leg holding me in place. I thought I was never going to get out. Luckily as soon as I had a tiny space of time when the waves were calmed I ripped my leg out of the rocks and dragged my body up to shore. You should have seen all the italian sun bather faces as I left my bloody trail on shore. I slipped and fell onto my butt right in front of a couple who looked absolutely terrified.  But for some reason I had a big smile on my face because I found it awesome that I was so hardcore. I really hope they scar just so I look like a tough guy because I hate it when people think I'm a wimp. Anyways, we wiped up the blood as best we could and carried on with our journey with my cuts covering my feet, toes, legs, hands, fingers, and most importantly half of my butt. It was an awesome day with all the sights we saw and I was constantly reminded how much more there is to see.

Miss and Not Miss

I have been completely occupied since I've gotten here (no complaining since I hate being bored). I wake up, go to school, eat lunch together, go to the beach, come home and usually sleep for an hour, eat dinner at 8, go out with the family at 9 30, and home by midnight. By then I am pooped and pass out and it goes like that day after day after day. So since I've been pooped we stayed home from the beach today so I could relax but I think were going to go to the gym.... it is absolutely necessary. But I was today while sculpting my "masterpiece" I thought of a list of things I miss and don't miss at all.


I miss... 
1. Grass- I live in an apartment so theres no grass I can sit in and even the houses don't have the fluffy soft perfect grass like home. Yes mom take this as a compliment.
2. Reading- I didn't bring any books with me and I definately can't get through an italian book and I always wish I had a good book to read at the beach.
3. Music- I didn't bring my i pod and were not home much so when Im out I always think of a good song I wish I could listen to.


I DON'T miss...
1. DEBS... Em you understand.
2. Drving- public transportaion rocks.
3. Mom's cooking- sorry Mom

Dové?

I have absolutely no idea where I'm headed everytime I enter a vehicle. Since It's hard to understand what anyone is saying the majority of the time I just smile and nod. For example, today I thought I was simply shopping but instead we wound up at a train station. It's so wierd being completely unaware of what youre going to do, what time it is, and where the heck you are. But at the same time it's extrememly chill. I don't need to worry about where and what I'm doing because everyone else is so conscious of that. 

Summer Lovin'

I love the beach, drinking "lemonade" on the beach, and the boys in speedos at the beach. That is all.

Cucchiaio

Now I am very disapointed that none of you are commenting on my blog. I can see that people are creeping and reading it but no comments.... Anyways, I would just like to share with you my thoughts on my first day at marble sculpting school. I thought there would be some introduction, maybe some safety cautions but nope we walked write in and got to drilling. Were starting off with copying this pre made piece adn we have to recreate it. Its pretty hard and really tiring. Its like taking a baby jack hammer and putting it on this 12 by 12 cube of marble. My hand is still cramping. The guy asked me if I played any sports because he thought I was the strongest since I dug mime the deepest the farther so HA! Its a great way to take out your anger and flows your creative juices so I reccommend it. I felt really awesome knowing that I was using this cool tool while carving a marble block in the marble capitol of the world now how many people can say that? Other than that things have been pretty marble just chilling at the beach. Today was pretty chilly though. Oh also I would like to mention the fact that italy had a rough loss against spain in the finals. I was at this sports bar watching the game on the mega screen and I felt like if people found out I was American people would kick me out... Luckily people didnt get angry like I expected if they were to lose but they thought it was funny because we got creamed. The goalie for Italy is actually from the town Im staying in isn't that awesome? Just a random thought- cucchiaio is my favorite italian word. It means spoon. Ciao!

Jelly Fish

Everything and everyone here in Italy is chill. Everyday we go to the beach (incredibly nice) and EVERYONE wears skimpy clothing. I think Ive seen 2 one piece bathing suits and 3 long shorts for boys (which isnt a bad thing considering the fact that every young italian has a rockin body). But no matter what the size people flaunt what they got here. Its so wierd how to me it sounds like people are saying hfdkjshfkjhdaskfha when they are actually having a complete conversation. Ive actually gotten a lot better at understanding what people are saying its producing the words thats hard. Yesterday when we were out in a boat Beatrice, my little host sister, saw something scary in the water and everyone kept yelling MEDUSA MEDUSA but I couldnt see it so Im thinking that Im about to be eaten as a shark. It turns out Medusa means jelly fish and Beatrice loves to say jelly fish now. So other than my beach adventures last night we went to the gathering of all of the kids in the Carrara sculpting program. I couldnt believe my eyes when we entered the coolest art room ever. I felt like I was going to the opening of an art exhibit of a famous artist. It was nice to see the kids from America and here about their experiences. One got in a car accident where the car flipped completely over and crushed his hand on the first day. After that me and my two host families walked around the center of Carrara at night. It was the most beautiful sight in the world. Its ine thing during the day but at night its absolutely stunning. Colored lights line the night skies and lit up marble statues are featured in the streets. People sit outside and the restaurants lined on the streets and music hums in the background. I hope everyone has the chance to experience a moment when they want to cry because everything feels simply so right. I knew I was in the right place at the right time. Other than my cheesy moment with the world we ended the evening with gelato and a tour of the marble museum. Now what I am really excited for is the Italia vs. Espagna game Sunday night shown on a huge screen in the town center (: (: (:

Molto Buono

Today is the second day in Italy. I have already eaten the best sandwhich of my life (which consisted of  the most delicious meet in the world called specs), seen an italian woman on the side of the road in just a thong, and a fat old man in a speedo. Nonetheless, this is such an amazing and beautiful place. It is crazy how much there lives are focussed on togetherness. First we play a game where everyone lines up in a circle (boy girl boy girl...) and suck on a post it note and pass it to the person next to you by having them suck on the post it note in your mouth. THEN we played a game where boys line up on one side and girls on the other and one person in the middle. The girl on one side must kiss the boy called before he can kiss the girl in the middle. Thankfully I was wearing shorts because it got very intense and a girls dress went completely up revealing everything each of the 3 times she was called.... These games were ridiculous but extremely fun. Now the food... God the food is bloody delicious. Each meal served with bread, a plate of pasta, and a meat and vegetable dish followed by the BEST DESSERT EVER. For dinner today the dessert consisted of what seamed like a scoop of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. OH NO in was a cake pastry filled with chocolate and vanilla mousse surrounded by a thin layer of ice cream. Now, all of you reading this may be thinking dear god how fat is Grace going to be by the time she gets home but there is absolutely no snacking here so I don't think I'll be too bad...hopefully. The language here is so awesome to listen to I really wish I could speak it. There is an old man here with us named Paulo and he's so precious and old but speaks very little English so it's hard to communicate by I try REALLY hard to understand his italian cause I just want to be a friend, I think he likes me because I try so hard to speak a language I don't know a lick of. Anywho, the internet sucks here but the rest of the art sculpting kids and I will be leaving Thursday morning so I wont be here much longer so I might get better internet soon. Ciao!

Now or Never

Tomorrow I leave for NYC. There are so many emotions that I am facing such as excitement, confusion, nervousness. I have absolutlely no idea of what is yet to come but I kind of like it that way. I like the idea that there is no possible way of knowing what is going to happen so there is no way to anticipate. I just have to let things happen when and if they do. I also like the idea that no matter how much history you have with certain people or a town you can just pick up and start over and that's exactly what I'm doing in Italy. No one there has any idea of who I am or what I'm like and it's refreshing knowing I can become whoever I want to be there. I need to trust it, just trust what happens and realize that I am exactly where I need to be. I need to do whatever I feel is right and trust that it is right. Try new things, don't worry the consequences (I don't mean doing drugs Mom) and act without hesitation. Now is the time to try new things, do something out of your confort zone because this is the one chance we have. And tomorrow is just the beginning...
Did I just sound cheesy? Woops

To Pack or Not to Pack

I leave for NYC in 2 weeks! Then 2 days later I fly to Zurich then to Rome. Ahh! I haven't even started packing. What clothes should I pack? What gifts should I bring my host families? Do I bring a hair dryer?... And how am I supposed to NOT wear sweats out in public? It's basically the only things I wear here.And then we get to the big problem of the fact that I don't speak ANY Italian...that's going to be a problem. There's absolutely no time left and I am totally unprepared but I am sooo  excited!