What do you do when time is not on your side....make the most of it

Ok so in typical Tanya fashion I am going to start this blog out with the apology for not writing in like 3 weeks. So this will be slightly longer to catch you up on my Italian Summer :)

The first week of summer i chilled at home and hung out with Frida basically everyday. Then every night we'd go to the park. Even though I really really didn't want to I left to and AFS camp on Thursday morning. Its not that i didn't want to see my friends with AFS I just didn't want to leave all my friends here. Anyways there was like 60 of us and it was fun! We spent most the time with orientations but when we didn't have to talk about going home we hung out. Oh and it was in Tuscany :) The first night we all sat in this room and there were candles in the center of the room...you could light one for all the good moments or put one out for the bad. After about 15minutes half the room was in tears. That was when i was like wow, this isn't just a semester abroad this is much more. I mean what can take a room full of teenagers from countries all around the world, who have seemingly nothing in common and have them all brought to tears by one thing. Italy. Its the love for this country we all have and our new lives and families here. Everyone was finally brought to the point where we realized, wow we have to go home soon. Anyways AFS did that all weekend, tried to get us to the point where we can emotionally handle leaving. The second night we hung out on a balcony and found the brightest star in the sky and named it Taker because we were all together under the Tuscan sky staring up and the star...in the country that 'took' our hearts. Cheesy i know but still. The last night we stayed up all night talking and chilling on one of the balconies. No joke i slept like 20minutes waiting for breakfast and that is all. Oh but on a stupid note...since I am just made to get hurt we were teaching them Souja Boi (on mattresses on the balcony) Some how i tripped and hit my head on the edge of the wall. I am pretty sure that is another one for the count lol. It was another super long day but we finally got home. Oh and not to add it was super super hot, the Tuscan sun is so so hot! Anyway it was a fun weekend but it was good to be home.

Monday I got up and made pancakes with my sister and then my friend picked me up. I spent my last days with my friends from school and we just hung out, went to the pool, did fit box at the gym and had a blast. I am really going to miss them! After being at the pool for 9 hours i went directly to volleyball. Oh and it was 38C (AGH!!!) We had a super short practice then went to pizza as a team. I got a pizza with french fries on top! it was good! then my coach and my team gave me presents, they said I'm welcome back to play any day. The gave me a shirt and a vball signed. It was sad to say the first set of goodbyes but we got it done.

The rest of the week was hanging with my friends. I have this set of friends that are literally with me EVERYDAY! Frida, Giulio, Rigo and Matteo. Like they have asked off so much work to just be in Modena before I have to leave. Oh and I even went to the gym again on Friday for Fit Box. Its crazy fun. Saturday I got up after like 3 hours of sleep and got ready to get Erica from the train station. After 3 delays, and not being on the first i finally got to see my sister after 5 months! it was great. we did so much in a week...Disco, Park, Verona, 5 Terre, Milano, Modena, Park again. it was great! I had to be a translator all week and it was so much fun! It was hard too cause her being here showed me that i have changed and that i have to go back to my old life and hope that everyone accepts the changes or at least understands. Saying bye to her at the airport was easy cause its only a week.

Now to the super hard stuff....tomorrow starts the goodbyes that are going to hurt so much. My very best friend here who I am with everyday and is my sounding board here leaves to go home to Norway tomorrow. I am not ready. Like I know I will see her again but I mean when someone becomes apart of your life and is there everyday then all of a sudden like 9,000miles is between you two...yeah it sucks. I think if i can say bye to her the rest will be a little easier. I already talked to my boys and they are all coming over Sunday to help after i say bye. Frida is the greatest friend I could have asked for over here!

But I am done writing a novel, sorry for the length. I am off to have my last Saturday in modena :( I leave next Saturday afternoon. Time is defiantly definitely not on my side so I am going to make this the best week yet! Ti Voglio bene Italia!!!

Bye Bye Wiligelmo :(

It seems like everything these days is bitter sweet. Last Saturday the 6th was our last day of school. It is great that summer is here but at the same time i miss school. The last week was great! On Monday we had our class dinner and then all hung out all night. Toward the end of the week my friends came over and we made some more American cookies so I could bring them to school on Saturday. We didn't do really anything the last day but it was all because the excitement comes after the bell rings.(I'll get to that in a second) But as i was walking out of the class i just was like wow, I'll never be a student here again. Then I have no idea why but as i was walking out of the school I started tearing up, man has this place impacted me.Everyone was like awwww and i was like no seriously this is sad stuff, its the end of another chapter in my life. Growing up kinda sucks you know :/ But then right when the bell rang eggs were launched into the crowd...and so began the longest water fight I've ever seen. I went across the street to find my friends from the 5th year and i found them, next to the open fire hydrant. lol They had opened it up and water was everywhere! Within seconds i was soaked. Luckily I avoided the flour and eggs that were flying all over the place. After about an hour we went to the park where we found like the every kid in our town. What little I was dried off on the way over there was useless cause i got soaked again. Oh and attacked by shaving cream. There were people everywhere!!! And then people started jumping in the lake and throwing people in. It was crazy! Sure don't do it like that in America! the end of school is craziness for sure! Then i came home to shower before going to Armani with Frida and Leo. I finished my gift shopping for people at home!! Ian is going to be the classiest baby :) After I met my friends in Corlo. I also discovered that it is very very hard to ride a bike with 2 people, 5 pizzas, and a 2liter of coke lol. We got ready together and then went to Rockville. Pretty much everyone in the area goes to the Disco the night of the last day of school. It was the greatest time for sure because it was all outside in the mountains, the music was great and I was with my besties here :) It was an AMAZING DAY!!!


And now that summer has started I've taken it slow. well I'm trying to slow down everything cause I'm not ready to go home at all! I am trying to spend a lot of time with my family and friends. And my closest friend Frida. She goes home before me so we both are just trying to not think of going home. At the same time we spent 30minutes yesterday thinking of reasons we want to go home so we can convince ourselves we are ready.But no worries I'll be glad to get there once i say my goodbyes. Oh almost forgot, on Friday night I called Erica with the web cam and I got to talk to Nick, Gracie and my nephew Ian Troy(OK well he's in her belly still so it doesn't' count completely) And then since they were in Nebraska for our family reunion Erica took her laptop around at dinner and I got to see all my family and say hi. Yeah it was like midnight here but hey i was at my family reunion for a while :)

Since I always right something about the culture or something I've learned I have a big one for you guys....I have decided to start all over, from square one. When I get home I'm selling like all the crud in my room, selling most of my clothes and redoing my room...starting over. This semester has really changed me, I mean I have survived just fine for 5 months with just a small fraction of what I have always had so why do I need all of it when i get home? I already know what I want to do with my room and it is basically going to be my bed, side tables, shelf thingy and a table and that's it. Its about time I simplify things. And the clothes thing, I really don't use all my clothes so why do I keep them? I have no idea, I'll just get rid of them. Life is going to be a lot easier without all the materialistic things. Another thing I've learned is that you can live without the material things but without your loved ones its a challenge. The 6,000miles is nothing when it comes to all the stuff I have at home but the family and friends being so far away for 5 months is what really affects you. Right now I'm stuck, I have to leave family and friends here too but to return to my other friends and family. I think its going to be the hardest thing I've ever down. My best friend here goes home the 28th so that will be a real challenge. Adding 6,000 miles the other way hurts hurts just as much. But with all this in mind I'm coming back, I have to. Talk about a lasting impact. With my recent decision to start over and all the other things I've learned and grown from I can honestly say that coming here is the smartest thing I've ever done with my life.

Love you all, I'll be on US soil in just 25days :/ See you soon!

Sadest thought since i got here...

So today I realized one month from today i'm going to have to leave Modena and my new life behind. Right now i don't know if i'm mentally strong enough but I will survive...i hope. I was talking to my friends at school and we are all so sad. I have some many amazing people in my life here, i've been so blessed. I discovered when i left the USA i suck at saying goodbye and this one is going to be even worse than saying goodbye to all of you. My best friend here Frida leaves 5 days before me so thats then and at the Station the 3rd i have to do the rest. Oh wow. I'm going to lose it, for sure. Anyways once i say bye i'll want to be home. And unfortunately now i'm flying into KC :( So i'll see everyone either at 1am the 6th or after i wake up. Wow has time flown....