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month, March 2012 Secondo mese, Marzo 2012 Rotary Youth Exchange Australia/Italy District 9680 MONTHLY REPORT Eva Di Paolo Sponsor Club: Glenhaven, Australia Host Club: Trieste, Italy 15th March 2012 Current Host Family: Manuela Benes Its been two months since I arrived in Italy and already I feel as though Ive learnt and grown so much. In school I still find it incredibly hard to understand the lessons (especially because Im terrible at Maths, Geometry and Philosophy in English, so you can imagine what it would be like for me in Italian) but each day I learn something new and each day feels as though its getting easier and easier. However, I LOVE my fashion classes. My style of figures and design as evolved to heights I didnt know Id ever reach and Im so incredibly inspired by everything in Italy so my designs have changed significantly. But for the better, I love going to school. Since my last report, the weather here has dramatically changed. For those of you that are reading this report and didnt read my first one go back and read my first one for those of you that HAVE read my first report, you will know about Triestes wind. Aka, The Bora. This year has apparently been Triestes coldest winter since 2003, and for the first time in years there was snow in the city. The schools were closed because it was so cold and the citys pier was frozen over (which was absolutely amazing for the people of Trieste because it never happens. Below is a photo of the end of the pier, where the snow was shin deep and in the most amazing form, due to the strong Bora:

Second month, March 2012 Secondo mese, Marzo 2012 This is also an example of the results of Triestes Bora:

In my city, there are as many (or possibly more) scooters and motorbikes than cars, and on extremely windy days, all throughout the city pretty much every scooter is tipped over because the wind is so strong here. Its hilarious, its like a giant version of dominos! At the end of February was the famous Carnivale! A celebration that goes for a full week, where everybody dresses in crazy, ridiculous costumes! Carnivale starts on a Wednesday and finishes the following Tuesday (Mardi Gras), and me and my friends went to a place called Muggia on the Saturday night inbetween. Muggia, a small town just outside of Trieste and when I say small I literally mean the size of about two football fields is where the teenagers of Trieste go to party it up Carnivale style! The party in Muggia goes for the whole seven days (I feel so sorry for all the old people in their houses that have to withtand this noisy week every year) however, for me about 1 hour was enough in Muggia. Its so small that after an hour I had seen everything there was to see, danced in all

Second month, March 2012 Secondo mese, Marzo 2012 the places there were to dance and felt all the coldness there was to feel.

This is a photo of the main Piazza of Muggia, where everyone dances and gets covered with confetti and bubbles! The next day, Sunday, my Rotary District (the same 6 people I went to Rome with) and I went to Venice to experience the REAL Carnivale! More traditional, more beautiful and by far more classy than Muggia. This experience for me was the most amazing thing in the world. The Carnivale Venetian masks are the most incredible things Ive ever seen. They took my breath away! I honestly wanted to buy every single one! And because its my dream to be a fashion designer I felt as though I was obliged to buy every single one! too bad some of them were 230 euros BUT! I did buy a couple of cheap ones and I found one on the ground, so I have a mini collection of Venetian masks that I can hang in my house and brag about when I get home. Even though the sky that day was grey, Venice still seemed like the most beautiful place on earth. The thousands of masks everywhere, people in strange but beautiful costumes, the canals, the gondolas, EVERYTHING! And because it was Carnivale, I decided to join in the craziness

and get my face

painted

Second month, March 2012 Secondo mese, Marzo 2012

[Grishma (from India), Stephanie (from Canada), Me, the Gondola man, Maren Jillian and Elise (all three from America)]

[An example of the many wonderful Venetian Carnivale Masks! Now do you understand how amazed and excited I was?!?!]

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[Venetian Sweets! The cause of my extra kilos in the short space of two months] At the very end of February my host mum took me to Triestes lighthouse, and lord knows I lost at least a FEW calories climbing all those stairs. But it was all worth it, from the top I was able to see the huge Gulf that Trieste is situated in, and where Croatias coastline starts. As well, I was able to see an amaaaazing view of Trieste itself:

Afterwards, we went to an Osmiza, which is literally where a family sells their homemade wines, meats, breads and cheeses and provides adorable little tables

Second month, March 2012 Secondo mese, Marzo 2012 in their yards for people to eat at. So basically a homemade little restaurant for the public, however, they only run for a couple of days of the year. But OH. MY. GOD! IT WAS AMAZING! Me and my host mum sat there in the sun, drinking wine and eating proscutto on homemade bread, it was delicciiiouuuussss!

And what I love about Osmiza is that its only in and around Trieste, where families do this kind of thing so its one of a kind! But then again.. when I go back to Australia Ill never find anything like itwhich sucks Finally, another highlight for this month was my first cooking lesson of the year! But ironically, it was an American recipe not Italian. Maren, an American Rotary student taught me how to make Strawberry Shortcake!

It tasted as delicious as it looks! But from now on Im promising myself that every cooking lesson I have will be an Italian recipe

Second month, March 2012 Secondo mese, Marzo 2012 In terms of language, my Italian has certainly improved! Im at the stage where I can understand most of what people say to me, and when people talk with me very slowly I can have a full conversation in Italian. I still make plennnnty of mistakes when I speak, but people understand what Im trying to say and help me! Everyday I read Harry Potter, and Im now able to sit down without my English dictionary and just freely read now! Therell be a word here and there that Ill have no idea what it means, but the fact that I dont need to look up every second word proves that my Italian is improving! As for planned trips, tomorrow is the arrival of 20 students from an art school in Belgrade (Serbia) that are staying in Trieste for a week, and each Serbian student is partnered with twenty students from my school (me being one of them). So tomorrow I will have a Serbian girl with me in my house! And for the next 7 days the 40 students (Serbian and Italian and 1 Australian) will be touring the main sites of Trieste and showing the Serbians the art thats practiced within our school. Then in April we will be doing the exact same thing again, but instead the Italian students will be going to Serbia! All in all, this month was good, Im absolutely loving life here in Italy. I honestly do feel extremely homesick at times, and everyday I think about my home in Australia, its forever in my heart! Ciao! Until next month! Eva