Week 38&39. AFS Pre-Departure Orientation.

 Hello. I've no been writing a lot lately and It's because I felt that last week there was not much to tell. It was a pretty calm week and I didn't really do much. I slept the whole Friday afternoon because I was very tired and I watched a scary movie with my mom. Saturday I woke up late and I started doing my scrapbook (It's been sitting down in my desk for literally five months). It's looking very cute and Maddy is helping me a lot with it. I also went to the beach with Andy and tried to surf. At night I hag out with some friends.We watched movies and we ate burgers. On Sunday I went with Chiara to the beach. It was an awesome day, very sunny. At five we went with Maddy and Andy to the Sebastian Inlet. It's a natural park where you can find dolphins and manatee's. We  swam and I lost my water camera (It really pissed me off). 

Sebastian Inlet.

Jackie and Aurora.

My other italian half

Third wheel but always having fun.

During the week I had testing.I had to do the Algebra 2 EOC and it was very hard. We didn't cover any of the material that was on the test and I was very angry about it. I also missed lots of tests and assignments because of testing so I had to make up all the work. It crazy, when you don't turn in something here in the USA your grade drops from and A to an F. On Wednesday it was an early day so we went with Taylor to have lunch at the beach. I also spend the afternoon with Mads. 

Can't get over this pic.

America's patriotism is alive in the teenagers teeth.

Boring school days.

On Friday, after school was over Chiara and I went to the AFS-Pre Departure Orientation in Orlando. Tony an AFS exchange student that spent his year in Italy was who drove us. He is very interesting and always has tons of this to talk about. When we arrived on Friday late afternoon all the exchange students were already eating dinner. We talked for a big amount of time because there was lots of things to catch up on. Prom was big topic that everyone talked abut. After dinner Chiara, Esra and I went to the dorms and we picked our beds. There were pretty nice but the water smelled very bad. At night we just waited for the rest of the South Florida exchange to come. 

On our way to the Orientation

Jenny is pretty cute.

We arrived!!

East Coast girls.

Squad.

Cute room.

Saturday we woke up early and had breakfast. We had three sessions. The first one was about expressing how you think our year abroad changed us. The second one was to makes lists and know what to do with our little time left (If we need to talk with our Guidance, buy presents..). In the third one we had to make a comment of a newspaper article. Chris, a german exchange was my partner. It was pretty cool to share our opinions. Our article was about the Second World War and it's always interesting hearing the version of a german person. We had lunch at two and in the afternoon we went tubbing to the Springs. It was very fun. We enjoyed the nature and the clean water. We also played volleyball.  We arrived to the campsite at seven. We ate dinner and I enjoyed talking again to Louis. Louis in our chapter president (East Coast). She is a very sweet lady and she gave me a very cute Christmas ornament. At night Neal created a bonfire and we sang songs. It was a pretty sad moment because It's when we started to realize that our exchange it's almost over and that we have very little time left. We celebrated also Claudia's birthday. My favorite Swedish girl was turning sixteen. At midnight we started to play Mafia with all the Volunteers and It was very fun. 

Ready for the next step.

Always smiling.

German boy and Spanish girl.

Jenny, Stephanie and me.

Mint and Chiara.

Sisters.

Happy sweet sixteen to my favorite girlie. 

Tubbing was cool and the water was pretty cold.

When's your birthday?

The ones that make all this happen.

Always having fun.

Because we live where you vacation.

On Sunday we woke up ate breakfast and did our last session. We talked about how difficult is going to be to go home and all the new adjustments we are going to go throw. Everyone is going to notice that we have changed and we have to try and fit in. We came up with ideas that will help us. We finally took some AFS pics (that aren't downloaded yet) and we started to say goodbye. Some foreign exchange we won't see again because they are staying longer or because they are leaving earlier. I had to give a big goodbye hug to Lovisa form Sweden, Auruuke from Kathajistan and Mohammed form Pakistan (Esra is also leaving early but I will see her again this month). It was very sad to give our first goodbyes. It really hit me when I arrived home. I started crying because I realized that the best year of my life it's almost over. 

My family.

I have an Australian friend.

Lots of love for Anna always.

Romina from Uruguay.

One of the last ones I promise.

Goodbye Lovisa, I'll miss you very much!

Aurukee's goodbye.  Have a safe flight back home girlie. 

This afternoon I just studied for my AP Psychology test with Maddy. It's tomorrow and it's scary. I'm just going for three days this week to school because I will be going to Tampa to see my family on Wednesday. I'll spend five days there and I will arrive on Sunday. 

Carpe Diem!!!