What is an exchange?

Ho trovato questa su una pagina facebook, e vi giuro con tutto il cuore che e' esattamente la descrizione del mio anno!
Prendetevi un attimo per leggerla perche' ne vale la pena :)


Exchange is change. Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most of all constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything. 

Exchange is realizing that everything they told you beforehand is wrong, but also right in a way. 

Exchange is going from thinking you know who you are, to having no idea who you are anymore to being someone new. But not entirely new. You are still the person you were before but you jumped into that ice cold lake. You know how it feels like to be on your own. Away from home, with no one you really know. And you find out that you can actually do it.

Exchange is learning to trust. Trust people, who, at first, are only names on a piece of paper, trust that they want the best for you, that they care. Trust, that you have the strength to endure a year on your own, endure a year of being apart from everything that mattered to you before. Trust that you will have friends. Trust that everything’s going to be alright. And it is seeing this trust being justified. 

Exchange is thinking. All the time. About everything. Thinking about those strange costumes, the strange food, the strange language. About why you’re here and not back home. About how it’s going to be like once you come back home. How that girl is going to react when you see her again. About who’s hanging out where this weekend. At first who’s inviting you at all. And in the end where you’re supposed to go, when you’re invited to ten different things. About how everybody at home is doing. About how stupid this whole time-zone thing is. Not only because of home, but also because the tv ads for shows keep confusing you. Thinking about what’s right and what’s wrong. About how stupid or rude you just were to someone without meaning to be. About the point of all this. About the sense of life. About who you want to be, what you want to do. And about when that English essay is due, even though you’re marks don’t count. About whether you should go home after school, or hang out at someone’s place until midnight. Someone you didn’t even know a few months ago. And about what the hell that guy just said.

Exchange is people. Those incredibly strange people, who look at you like you’re an alien. Those people who are too afraid to talk to you. And those people who actually talk to you. Those people who know your name, even though you have never met them. Those people, who tell you who to stay away from. Those people who talk about you behind your back, those people who make fun of your country. All those people, who aren’t worth your giving a damn. Those people you ignore.
And those people who invite you to their homes. Who keep you sane. Who become your friends. 

Exchange is music. New music, weird music, cool music, music you will remember all your life as the soundtrack of your exchange. Music that will make you cry because all those lyrics express exactly how you feel, so far away. Music that will make you feel like you could take on the whole world. And it is music you make. With the most amazing musicians you’ve ever met. It is site reading a thousand pages just to be part of the school band. 

Exchange is uncomfortable. It’s feeling out of place, like a fifth wheel. It’s talking to people you don’t like. It’s trying to be nice all the time. It’s bugs.. and bears. It’s cold, freezing cold. It’s homesickness, it’s awkward silence and its feeling guilty because you didn’t talk to someone at home. Or feeling guilty because you missed something because you were talking on Skype.

Exchange is great. It’s feeling the connection between you and your host parents grow.. It’s knowing in which cupboard the peanut butter is. It’s meeting people from all over the world. It’s having a place to stay in almost every country of the world. It’s getting 1 new familie. One of them being a huge group of the most awesome teenagers in the world.It’s cooking food from your home country and not messing up. It’s seeing beautiful landscapes that you never knew existed.

Exchange is exchange students. The most amazing people in the whole wide world. Those people from everywhere who know exactly how you feel and those people who become your absolute best friends even though you only see most of them 3 or 4 times during your year. The people, who take almost an hour to say their final goodbyes to each other. Those people with the jackets full of pins. All over the world.

Exchange is falling in love. With this amazing, wild, beautiful country. And with your home country. 

Exchange is frustrating. Things you can’t do, things you don’t understand. Things you say, that mean the exact opposite of what you meant to say. Or even worse…

Exchange is understanding. 

Exchange is unbelievable. 

Exchange is not a year in your life. It’s a life in one year.

Exchange is nothing like you expected it to be, and everything you wanted it to be. 

Exchange is the best year of your life so far. Without a doubt. And it’s also the worst. Without a doubt. 

Exchange is something you will never forget, something that will always be a part of you. It is something no one back at home will ever truly understand.

Exchange is growing up, realizing that everybody is the same, no matter where they’re from. That there is great people and douche bags everywhere. And that it only depends on you how good or bad your day is going to be. Or the whole year. And it is realizing that you can be on your own, that you are an independent person. Finally. And it’s trying to explain that to your parents.

Exchange is dancing in the rain for no reason, crying without a reason, laughing at the same time. It’s a turmoil of every emotion possible.

Exchange is everything. And exchange is something you can’t understand unless you’ve been through it.

Hope you liked it folks!

xxx

"Rugby is love"

Basta ho deciso di tornare a scrivere un po' in italiano, ho bisogno di esercitarmi un po' perche' sto peggiorando sempre di piu'! Hahaha
Be l'highlight della scorsa settimana e' stato il torneo di rugby infrascolastico che si e' tenuto sabato. Io e altre 7/8 ragazze ci siamo allenate con un istruttore per imparare a giocare a rugby a 7 per circa tre settimane e finalmente questo sabato abbiamo partecipato a questo tanto atteso torneo.. Era la prima volta che giocavamo una partita vera e propria per cui eravamo un po' nervose ma elettrizate allo stesso momento; alla fine della giornata eravamo davvero contente di aver avuto la possibilita' di allenarci coi ragazzi perche' con loro abbiamo avuto l'occasione di darci dentro davvero nei placcaggi senza aver paura di fargli male hahah. Beh comunque, la mattina alle 9 ci siamo ritrovate a questa scuola dove si teneva il torneo, che ha un "prato" abbastanza grande da poter essere diviso in due campi da gioco, ci siamo riscaldate, abbiamo fatto le foto ufficiali e...Abbiamo finalmente giocato!!
Prima partita.. Per qualche ragione che non ho capito non dovevamo vincere, quindi ce la siamo presa calma e abbiamo imparato come giocare contro un avversario che non conosciamo.. Le ragazze nell'altra squadra erano enormi!!!  Hahah abbiamo perso, ma ci e' stato davvero utile per capire chi e' brava a cosa.
Beh, ora non me ne sto qui a raccontarvi le altre tre partite perche' vi annoierei e passo subito al sodo: non abbiamo passato il primo girone! Non ce la siamo presa affatto perche' in fondo eravamo la prima squadra di rugby a 7 del nostro liceo e non avevamo nessun sostituto e di consegueza abbiamo dovuto giocare sotto il sole cocente tutte e 4  le partite. Abbiamo avuto una giornata fantastica tra lesioni e ferite varie e siamo tutte contente di esserci iscritte! :D
 Il giorno dopo ero letteralmente a pezzi, mi faceva male qualunque muscolo del corpo! Hahah sono praticamente stata a letto tutto il giorno cercando di muovermi il meno possibile.. Oggi mi sento meglio, yayyy!
Here's a couple of pics!

The amazing girls!!

Us with our amazing coach mrs. Michaela Sandersons and the bottle man Ben Ottery :)

St. Fairy's rocks guys! (Siccome la nostra e' una scuola cattolica privata, le altre scuole ci hanno dato un soprannome, da st. Mary's a st. Fairy's! haha)

Rugby is loooooove!

It's disco baby!

Okay so, last Friday we had a disco night at school! Oh my gosh you have no idea how much fun it was!!! For you people in Italy.. You don't know what you're missing out on! I think I almost had more fun than when I go out clubbing hahaha. Oh and I decided that when i come back I'll force the student council to organize one in the gym and everyone has to come dressed up as something or someone.
I went off-topic, whoops! As i was saying we had this disco night on friday and the theme was athletes vs. mathletes. At first i thought i was gonna go as a mathlete but I realized that everyone always likes to dress up as nerrrrrds, soo I decided to be original and i borrowed a basketball suit AND shoes and went as an athlete! Hahaha i looked so funny cause those clothes were way too big for me and they could easily fit two people in them.. So me and two other girls (Cherine was one of them) stayed behind after school finished to make the invitations to Formal and we thought it was gonna go for like an hour or so..we ended up finishing at like 7.40 pm! So we quickly changed in our costumes and off we went to the disco with(personally) blisters and cuts all over my hands. It was oh so much fun! Cause you can dance like an idiot or just chill with people and this year they also had a photo booth for the first time sooo..people knocked themselves out with pictures and what not :)
Here are some shots from the night!

Jacob, Kate, Sam and meeee

Me, Kaitlyn and Kateee

asdfghjklisjdncduisbhvu, EEEEEEH MACARENA!

Tayla and Bianca, someon enjoys danciiiiing ;)

Sam, Jacob and Zac.. Studs! Hahah

Jacob and Cherineee

Bianca and Corinne, someone enjoys dancing part 2!

Kaitlyn and Sam, the school captains :)

One of the attempts to do a dance off, girls vs. boysss

Rachel and Caitlyn, bootiful! 

asdfghjkloiugfvxsbhjd, EEEEEH MACARENA! pt. 2

Kail and Marty, someone felt a bit too short :o

Me and Cherine, GANGSTA MAN!

Me and Katee <3

Kate, Me and Kaitlyn drama llama version ;)

Me and Sammm!

Aaaaaand all the amazing year 12s that made an effort and came to the disco to have an amazing night, love 'em all! <3

See ya soon guys!

xoxoxo

This is so cool!!

Hey guys!
Okay so, at school I started Film and Television and basically we learn how to be cameramen, directors and all that jazz regarding movies. This term's assessment is.. Commercials!! So we have to design our own ad and then film it. As I love to make my life complicated with hard stuff, for the filming technique I decided to use the stop motion, and yesterday at home I did a test to see how it would look and... Oh my gosh it looks so good!! I'm so excited and i can't wait to start filming! It'll take ages to do a 30 seconds ad with the stop motion, but it's worth it!

For those of you who don't know what stop motion technique means, it's basically a series of shots of every movement; you then put them all together in a fast sequence and tadaaa! It looks like it's moving! And you can use ANYTHING, so for example i used two strings but on Youtube I watched a guy doing a video with chips. Really, you can use whatever and it'll always look awesome and cool and good! Oh you know Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride? Well in that kind of movies made with playdoh they use this technique! :D It's awesome, seriously! Hahah I might be a little overexcited by the way..

Anyway, here's my test!

Don't you just LOVE it?? Hahaha

See ya later alligators!
xxx

Here we go again..

Heeeey guys! Voglio fare un esperimento.. Ho deciso che ogni tanto scrivero' qualche post in inglese per farvi fare un po' di esercizio (haha) e perche' per me al momento e' molto piu' facile ora come ora. Quindi.. There it goes!
Heyy guys! So, guess what? It's flooding again! Haha yeah, it's been raining for a week and some days now, and because of that the rivers started to flood again.. And this means days off school!! :DD So basically wednesday and thursday I slept in and had some cute coffee dates and what not with people. Aw yes, loved it! It's a bit annoying though cause for example i can't go out riding.. Yepp, the paddock where the horse is gets quite muddy and it's not good to ride and the other thing is that the bridge that gets there is flooded so we would have to go the long way and that just takes too long and everyone's busy so i wasn't able to go.. :( Ohh well, next week they say it's gonna stop raining finally! Yayayayyy
Another thing i couldn't do was driving down to Brisbane and catch up with some friends, and that made me a bit sad but ehhh, we'll surely drive down some time soon cause Isabella will have to see some kind of play at the theater and we'll all go down with her :)
Moving on, today is the 2nd of march and exactly 3 months from now i'll be flying home and.. I don't know, I'm excited and depressed at the same time. I wanna go home but I wanna stay here and enjoy this new life I started. Ahhhhh doesn't make much sense, but if you experienced something like this in your life then you know what i'm talking about :)
Soooo, lately didn't happen much stuff.. As my school is a catholic school, to "bless" the students and the beginning of a new year, we had an opening mass! And as I'm in the choir..I got to siiiiing :) Then all the year 12s received their badges from the school principal and I had my moment of glory.. When they called my name they didn't really know how to say my surname soooo they just said: "Costanza.. From Italy!" and apparently it was quite funny cause all the parents and students laughed..Hahah
Oh I got a picture now that I think about it, i'll post it to you lovely guyssss :D

(Or he''l kill me haha) Credits to Samuel Truscott for the photooo

Tadaaaa! Oh and in full formal uniform, so you know how i look without the jet-lag ahaha

See you soon guys!

xxx

Ouch!!!

Brutte notizie dal fronte! Oggi ho avuto quest'illuminazione alquanto scioccante.. MI RIMANGONO POCO PIU' DI 3 MESI IN AUSTRALIA!!! Devo dirla tutta, non voglio partire per quasi nessuna ragione al mondo. "Ma come, non ti manca la tua famiglia, i tuoi amici, la tua vita?". No! Beh, la mia famiglia mi manca un po' perche' di quella ce n'e' una e una sola, ma per il resto.. Gli amici si cambiano, la vita si evolve. Seriamente, se solo la mia famiglia potesse trasferirsi qui, che ragioni avrei per tornare in Italia? Ora come ora li' vedo solo grigio e un gran casino -politico, economico,scolastico,sociale. Qui e' tutto cosi' diverso, e' difficile da descrivere.. Le persone ti guardano e ti parlano in modo diverso, sono tutti piu' gentili, persino i commessi al supermercato! Haha
Ma ora basta, vi raccontero' un po' come va la vita.. Oggi ho avuto il mio primo allenamento di rugby a scuola e siccome ieri ha piovuto.. hahaha abbiamo giocato nella fanghiglia quindi dopo ero rossa come un peperone per il caldo e ricoperta di fango, e dovevo andare a lezione. Hahahah ooops! Pero' e' stato davvero divertente perche' le ragazze con cui mi stavo allenando sono competitive e per una volta mi e' venuta voglia di competere io stessa (MAI, MAI, MAI successo!), quindi ci ho dato dentro nei placcaggi ;) Credo di avere un livido enore sul sedere a furia di cadere.. Ohhhh well! Hahah
A scuola va tutto alla grande, sono tutti gentili e simpatici e nelle lezioni mi diverto un bel po', specialmente in Drama(teatro) perche' e' come un parco giochi, e nessun freno alla fantasia! Per cui c'e' chi rappa, chi balla, chi canta, chi ride, chi chiacchera e poi ci si mette al lavoro di buona lena. Davvero, quel relax e' propedeutico per lo studio! Hahaha
For the rest there's not much to say, apparte ( o a parte? Can't remember, oops!) il fatto che ho ricominciato finalmente a cavalcare e sono felicissimaaaaaaaa!! Ah, amo cavalcare, amo i cavalli!
Un'altra cosa che voglio assolutamente condividere e' questa canzone con cui sono totalmente ossessionata in questi giorni, la trovo stupenda! Hahaha sto pure cercando di impararla sul piano visto che e' semplice. Hahaha furba Cossie!

P.s. In questo video tra l'altro trovo che lei sia bellisssssssssimissssssssma! :D

Valentine's day!

Okay so, qui in Australia non e' come in america, ma nemmeno come in Italia. Diciamo che il festeggiare San Valentino e' una via di mezzo tra i due stati. Quindi niente.. Giovedi' mattina sono andata a scuola.. e mi sono trovata un po' di cosine ad aspettarmi.. :3 Strano ma vero hahah specialmente perche' non ho mai ricevuto regali per San Valentino! Hahah oh Australia, mi stupisci sempre di piu'!

awwwwhhh aren't they cute?? :D