100 days left to go

I can’t believe that in 100 days time I will be home and all of this will be a memory. It’s been 196 days since I reluctantly flew to Cologne to start my year abroad. In fact this week is full of key dates. 100 days until I go home, 200 days in Europe and on Friday I’ll have spent a month in Italy.

I feel like I’ve really accomplished a lot during my time away. Not only have I been able to see and experience new things but I’ve grown up a lot. I have so many fond memories already I hope I will continue to make them during my remaining time here.

I really need to concentrate on improving my Italian and start planning for the future. I need a plan for next year. Do I want to go into teaching? If not then what. Will I be doing a masters? Do I want to study in the UK or Abroad? I’m still non the wiser. I could see myself teaching, but I feel like I need to try other things out too just in case I like them more haha.

And I must not forget the people I have met during this journey. I miss my friends in Germany very much. I’m also very jealous of the ones who have gone home for Semesterferien. I’m making more and more acquaintances here in Italy so fingers crossed I can accumulate many dear friends here too. I’m looking forward to seeing my parents next month and seeing more of Italy.

I don’t know whether to be happy that I am going home in 100 days or not. Part of me, although I miss home so much, wants to stay here longer. I think it’s true that the year abroad is one of the best things you will ever do. Despite the homesickness and stress I am eternally grateful for being forced to do a year abroad.

JosephSafe is just too funny

This week I came across two videos posted on Youtube by an Italian Erasmus student who has been studying in Glasgow. He’s only made two videos but they have been popping up on my Facebook newsfeed left right and centre so he looks set to be the next big thing (with Erasmus students at least).

His first video “Italian Stereotypes” is basically parody of how we perceive Italians, whilst the second and most popular video “Sorry, I’m Erasmus” describes the life of an Erasmus student in less that 5 minutes. He is a really funny guy. He has that Italian cockiness which us British girls can’t help but find charming, and doesn’t mind looking like a douche; which is always important if you wanna be a youtube star. But the best bit about his videos is that everything he says is true. I’m watching the videos in fits of laughter, but I’m not only laughing at him, I’m laughing at myself too. Anyway anyone on their year abroad, thinking of a year abroad, completed a year abroad will enjoy these videos. Please show him some support by watching and subscribing, he is a genius and I’m looking forward to his next masterpiece.

JosephSafe, Travelling_Girl loves you <3

 

Children are so sweet and caring.

Today one of the boys in class 2E asked the teacher if he could ask me something. He asked if I had seen what was going on in Japan and if my boyfriend’s family were ok? Then the other children joined in. It was such a lovely moment and I was so happy that children, although they can be loud and disrespectful in class, can be so pure and thoughtful at a time like this. That class made my day and I will pass on their messages to my boyfriend.

Bit of a recap

So tomorrow is my 25th day in Naples, not really much of a milestone but I thought I’d just let you know and its time to have a quick recap of the past few days before school again tomorrow.

School was better this week. I’ve now figured out which teachers/classes I like and don’t, which means I can now brace myself for an awful lesson and look forward to a better one. This week I was with the first class and the third class. I was a little scared of teaching the third class (these are the oldest kids in the school) because I haven’t had much to do with them so far and boys and girls around 13-16 can be very disinterested and cocky. I had a lot of fun with them though. Possibly because I’m so “young” (I hear this at least 5 times a day) they were genuinely enthusiastic about me being there. However I did manage to upset the girls by confessing that I don’t like Justin Bieber. I did consider lying to earn some more cool points with them but I just couldn’t, sorry Bieber fans.

I only had two lessons of school last week. I had two weeks off due to Carnival, but then an unexpected day off on Friday because of another Cumana strike. It was such a beautiful day so I hopped on my first Italian bus or as they call it here the “Pullman” and headed for the lovely area Vomero.

Vomero is quite a sophisticated part of Naples. The buildings are quite grand and there are a lot of good shops, cafes and bars up there. I admit I did do a cheeky bit of shopping, buying a dress, hairband and leggings. There is a department store in Vomero called Coin. It is a little cramped but has some really good stuff. I was so happy to find clothing from Yumi there. It’s one of my favourite shops. The price was a bit ridiculous though. I’ll need to save up a bit before I can justify paying 75 euros for a dress I could buy back home for £35.

Vomero is situated very high up in Italy so if you walk down the right streets you will be treated to a very beautiful view of the sea :)

I haven’t really done much else. My friends were either ill or studying for exams this weekend so I haven’t been out with them. The weather turned from gorgeous on Saturday to dismal today. I woke up to my shutters on the window banging thanks to high speed wind and rain. Good morning to me. Anyway 8.10am start tomorrow so must get to bed. Ciao x

  

What happened to my third meal of the day?

I’m living with a family here in Italy and the first week was amazing. My breakfast was out ready for me in the mornings, lunch was some sort of pasta dish and then dinner was some type of meat. It is heavenly.

But now that I am entering my fourth week I am noticing a increased lack of dinner. This is the second day in a row and third day in the week that there has been now dinner cooked. I don’t know what the son is eating (is she preparing him something or not?) but I know that I am very hungry.

I cannot really prepare anything for myself because the fridge is permanently low stocked because she buys the food on the day of cooking it. So it’s another night of cracker bread and Nutella. My body doesn’t feel satisfied. I’m paying 400 euros to live here and to be fed, in theory I have the right to bring up this subject but she’s too nice for me complain to. I will just have to grim and bare it. Wah :( 

Mmmmm McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives

Look what I found in an Italian supermarket XD

I don’t remember the last time I ate one of these. They are, along with Bourbons, one of my all time favourite biscuits. They were no where to be found in Germany, in fact the biscuit isle in German supermarkets were pitiful. I seems that Italians enjoy a good biscuits a lot more than our sausage eating friends (no offence intended).

This box makes me feel very patriotic.

A sign of legitimacy! They taste legit too nomnomnom.

Condolences to Japan

I’m sure you all know but today the most powerful earthquake ever recorded to hit Japan occurred today. The earthquake was a shocking 8.9 on the Richter scale and caused a giant Tsunami, which resulted in more destruction than the earthquake.

Why am I blogging about this?

My boyfriend is from Japan but he studies in the UK. As soon as I heard of the earthquake I phoned him to check that his family were ok. He was asleep and didn’t have clue what I was on about. His initial reaction was that I was exaggerating but when I repeated again and again that it was 8.9 he hung up and phoned home.

Luckily everyone at home is fine. However you could see by his face, during our video chat on skype, that he is very worried about what is going on in his home country. It must be very hard to be so far from home at a time when you country is going through something so horrific. I know as a follow student abroad that even if something like this happened in the North of England, I would still want to go home and be with my family. 

So to any Japanese away from home at the moment my heart goes out for you, especially my friends back in Marburg who live and study in Tokyo. I pray that like with my boyfriend everything is fine, please stay strong. To any foreign students studying in Japan at the moment I pray also for you safety, I hope that you have been able to contact your parents and family back home to let them know you are safe.

Please let’s keep the people of Japan in our thoughts.