Rain=No Fun

This past weekend, the skies decided to open up and dump. I mean pouring rain non stop from Friday night to Sunday night. Plus there was wind. And I don't mean a wimpy wind, I mean hurricane force wind. So with that said, I didn't get to go to the festa di zucca. No pumpkin chucking. :(
Instead, I studied and watched skiing. (Yey! Ted Ligety won!) That was basically my weekend. Except there was a bright side. I got to go into the mountains in Slovenia and hang out in the snow! Well, a hostel in a forest where it was snowing. But still snow!
This week, I don't have school on Thursday. It's all Saints day but it's also known as the day the Italian celebrate their dead. Much like dia di muertos in Mexico. I get to go to Verona maybe. The forcast is calling for more rain and wind so we'll see.
Tomorrow, I've been invited to a Halloween party at a friend's house. She said we're going to carve pumpkins, see a film and then sleep over. It sounds pretty good to me. I mean carving pumpkins! Now I just have to think of what I want to carve. Maybe a classic jack o' lantern face. Who knows.
In school, I've changed English classes. I'm now in a 5th year and two 4th year classes. I've only had one class with all of them and they asked me a ton of questions. Like my jaw is still hurting from talking so much. It turns out that I'm the first American some of them have met and all they know about America is from TV. Some popular questions: Do you have the end of year dance? You mean prom? Why yes we do. Is Halloween really like it is on TV? Yep. I've had to explain that one a lot today. Do you know how to drive? Yeah.
It's really interesting hearing their questions. Plus they love it because it wastes class time.
There's one other exchange student at my school. She's from Thailand and she's one of my 4th year english classes. It was so cool today hearing what her school and life is like. She lives in the south of Thailand and it's always hot there. She also goes to an all girls school and has 4 different types of uniforms. We were asked today if we could bring in a slide show of our cities for Friday. I've already finished mine and I'm ready for Friday!
Cross country starts next week!! Yeyey!!! Then there's a race Nov. 17th for track. My coaches are thinking of signing me up for the 4000 m or 4k. 7 laps around the track. What I'm used to. Now if only I could find my race pace.

Get set, Run!

So I've been running a lot. Which is really good! I run everyday with people now. Some days with the triathlon club, some days with the track team. Either way, I'm no longer running by myself. My first day of track was really good. Long run, not to hard. Second day: hard! I mean, I was dying a little. Plus I had the cruel realization that I wouldn't be able to get up in the morning. That was true. It was very hard to get up on Saturday for school.
Sunday, I got to do a 6k fun run benefiting the handicap association of Gorizia. I had a ton of fun just running with my friends. I also got to run in Slovenia for half of the race.
It's so cool being next to another country. You don't feel any different but you notice the distinct differences in the way the houses are built to the stoplights. (Fun fact: The stop lights in Slovenia are like drag lights. They go red, yellow then green to go. I feel like a drag racers sometimes.)
This weekend, I get to go to the Festa di Zucca!(Pumpkin Festival) From what I've been told, everything is pumpkin themed. So I'll eat some pumpkin, chuck a pumpkin and maybe take a picture or two with a pumpkin. :)
Then next week, I get to go to Verona. Juliet's balcony!!! Ahhh!!! I want a picture of it so badly. You can tell I'm a hopeless romantic here. We're going to stay with friends of Marco and Claudia who are from Russia. Russians living in Italy. I'm very curious about their accent.
For the next two weeks, it feels like I'll be running around Italy with my family. Still, what a great way to see Italy and spend it with my host family. I will for sure post pictures.

Barcolana

Hey everyone!
Last Sunday, I got to watch Barcolana. Barcolana is this huge boat race in Trieste. According to my host father 1000 boats participated while only 20 finished in the time limit. So yeah, it's a big deal.
I know I posted that I was going to watch it from a boat but that didn't happen because I was taking the train back to Gorizia and there was a train sciopero (strike) too. The good thing: I got home without the sciopero effecting me. The bad thing: I didn't get to go on a boat! Instead, I sat a restaurant near Miremare and watched the races from afar. Plus I ate a lot. I mean I ate almost all day. Good thing it was awesome food! It was a beautiful day too! The weather forecast had predicted rain and no good stormy weather. Instead it was warm and no wind. Warm=Good. No Wind=Bad.
I should have been prepared for boats going slow since there was pretty much no wind. But since I'm used to watching cars go over 200 mph, I thought the boats would be going a bit faster. No such luck.
On Saturday, after school I got all my stuff and then headed off to Trieste. That night I stayed with the exchange students from Verona and a small town that I can't remember the name of. We got to meet the students staying in Trieste and we went out to dinner at an English/Italian pub. Then afterwards, we walked around the main piazza, listening to the concert and just talking. On the way back to the appartment building, Noah, Emily and I got a bit lost. Before we'd left, out host parents for the night said just look for the church steeple. Well we looked and still were lost. Turns out we were a street over and were walking in circles for a good half hour. Oh well.
Some clarifications about my running situation. On the days I'm not training with the triathlon club, I'm training with the track team. So I'm still running everyday just with different people depending on what day it is. And yes, the track team is extremely fast and extremely good. Time to step it up!
I learned that interrogations in class are kind of like the Reaping in the Hunger Games. You can volunteer as tribute, I mean first to go, and then it rolls on from there. I almost fell out of my seat when I learned that.
On Thursday, Nicola had a basket game. I went and watched it and left knowing a little more about basket than I did coming into the game. Such as; if the dads aren't yelling at the refs they're yelling at each other. Did I mention this is a game with 15 year old boys playing? Still it was pretty fun. I met a girl who's about my age and who's brother is on the team as well as in Nicola's class at school. A friend for the next game.
Friday, I went to another basket game. This time it was a game to honor the grand opening of the new basket/volleyball gym that took 2 years to build. Let's just say, it's a very impressive place. Very state of the art in form. The basket was veccio glory or old glory. So we have men from 40-65 playing basketball. Yes it was kind of boring and yes I was afraid one of them was going to have a heart attack but it was really cool seeing how into basketball the Italians are. I've come up with: If they're not watching Formula 1 or soccer then they're watching basket.
I think that's it for now. I have some pictures of Barcolana for your enjoyment.

My view from where I stayed the night

Exchange Student Greatness!

Barcolana

Barcolana

Please guess which one won

This is from the picnic the week before. Hello Slovenia

My Italian Leather boots and Converse

Running with the Big Dogs

Parish, I hope your reading this.
Today, I learned that I'm going to start training with the track/cross country club starting Monday. We meet at the track everyday around 3:30. Sounds pretty good right? Right.
Now for the surprise:
When I was talking with the coach today he said, "Look over there. See that girl? She second in Italy for the 800." Mamma Mia! My jaw was on the ground and I'm still trying to process that bit of information.
So as of Monday, I will be running with the big dogs. Can I keep up? Guess I'll find out Monday at 3:30.

Hard Day's Night

More like the past week has been filled with studying hard at night. All my teachers must have planned this. I've had a chem test, a bio test, an Italian test and a physics test all this week. Then I have a math test, English test, and chem interrogation all next week. So needless to say, I've been studying for about 2 or 3 hours each day for a single test. Welcome back to school!
Saturday, I get to go to Barcollana. Barcollana is a boat race/festival in Trieste. I will meet the other exchange students in my district and spend Saturday night and Sunday with them. Then I get to go on this one Rotarian's yacht to see the races. At least I think so. I'm pretty sure.
Cross country with the school starts next month. We start either November 6,7, or 8. I'm pretty excited because some of the kids in my class are doing it. We train in the mornings around 11. Then starting in January, I get to do Cross with the club. I'm gearing up for about 5 months of Cross Country season! Woohoo!
Last Sunday, I got to attend a picnic for the Grado triathlon volunteers. It wasn't like your normal American bbq. Yes, there was bbq but it wasn't hot dogs and hamburgers. Instead it was pork and chicken plus this type of Slovenian sausage. It was pretty good. And there was strudel and tart for dessert. I was a happy camper! I also got to play volleyball with my friends and host siblings. All in all, Sunday was a good day.
Tomorrow, I don't have to go to school. This is because we start at 10 and then end at 12 but since both of my host parents are working, I'm staying home. My "weekend" aka: sleeping in, is tomorrow since Saturday and Sunday, I'll be busy.
I'll post later about Barcollana and I'll put pictures up too!

Festa di Cibo!

This past weekend was the Gustiera di Frontiera in Goriza. It translates to Taste of the Frontier. So the short version is, an awesome weekend with food from all over Europe and getting fat from all of it. I was able to sample Slovenian food, French food, German food, Mexican (which is better in Colorado) and more. It was really interesting. In the town they had Borgos set up. Borgo is another name for small place. So there was Borgo Latina, Borgo Germanian, Borgo Italiana, you get the picture. I got a pretzel for the first time since I left Colorado! Plus they made the food right in front of you so it was all fresh. There was also farm vendors selling their harvest. I had some really good apple and peach juice.
Here's a very cool story: I was fooling around in class with a euro, flicking and spinning it on the table. Euro coins are good for this kind of fooling around. So I brought out a quarter. Instantly my friend was like, "What's that?" A quarter, no big deal. I let him see it and he told me it was so cool. I go into my wallet and find a quarter with a state on it to show him. A lot of my classmates came over and were in awe just because of a quarter. I had to remind myself they'd never seen this kind of money before and it was like me when I saw a euro for the first time. I thought it was cool.
Also, because I speak English, my classmates think I don't speak Italian. My friend is my helpful translator at times and this last week at school, one of the guys in my class comes up to us and he tells my friend, "Ask her if she was at the track last night?" I understood every part of that sentence and I turned to him, looked him in the eye and said, ask me directly! in Italian. I'm making myself talk in Italian so I can learn a language and communicate with them. This actually seemed to work. Now I talk in Italian with a mixture of English words that I don't know in Italian. Everyone seems to get what I'm saying and I'm understanding more everyday.
I get questioned about if boys and girls in my school are like those on TV. Well, yes and no. Yes we do have mean girls but no they don't attack each other in the cafeteria over a boy. I tell them that people at my school are just like them. That we're all the same. Have to break down the stereotypes some how.