Every day is a day to shine

It's finally summer in Naples. The sun is shining brightly, not a cloud in the sky, not a worry on my mind. I've been spending a lot of time outside sitting in the coffee bars, eating gelato, or walking around window shopping. Most of my time is spent with Alessandra. I cannot even express how grateful I am for her total acceptance of me. We are like two halves of a whole, except one half is English and one half is Italian. She knows what I'm thinking without me even having to say anything. She is so thoughtful and compassionate and I haven't been this close with someone in such a short amount of time. As I only have 7 weeks left in my program I am at a loss at how on earth I'm ever going to live without her. She is the one person I can turn to no matter. I'm really going to miss her and I can only hope that we will stay in touch and I can continue to come back to Naples and visit her whenever possible. We have already made plans so she can return to Canada with me this summer.

On Sunday we visited Rome for the first time! Pino, Elisa, Matilde and I, along with the other exchange student Avery, all piled in the car early in the morning and drove the two and a half hours to Rome. The first thing we visited was the Vatican. It is incredible, truly. Saint Peter's Basilica is one of the most outstanding pieces of artwork in the world. We all walked around the square, taking pictures and literally just gawking at the church. The details all come together so perfectly as one and give it a real presence. The line to get inside is longer than the ones at Disneyland, something I didn't think possible, but it went fairly quickly and before we knew it we were standing in one of the most holy places on the face of the earth. Avery, Matilde and I bought tickets and took the elevator to the top of the church. After walking up spiral staircases and mazing your way through the crooked walls of the dome you are able to overlook the entire city and let me tell you, it's indescribable. What a sight.

We then walked through the streets of Rome looking for the Trevi Fountain. Rome is the most complicated and confusing cities ever built. I was lost in an instant. We ended up coming across more than one tourist attraction including the Piazza Navona where two architects are at war with each other and the Pantheon where Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino's tomb is. My host mother makes an excellent tour guide. Being both an architect and an art history teacher, she knows every detail about anything you can set your eyes on. She gave us a good background on everything we saw.

Finally we found the Trevi and it is without a doubt one of the highlights of my trip. It gives off an essence of pure magic and making a wish in it fills you with such triumph. I felt like a piece of history myself, making a wish as hundreds of thousands of people had done before me hoping the fountain would be true to its word. The tradition of the Trevi is to throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain and if it hits the very bottom without touching any other coins your wish will come true. Here's hoping mine made it to the bottom!

Continuing onward we finished the day at the Colluseum. It's just as beautiful and grand as I had always imagined it would be. We didn't go inside it but I was just content to sit and stare. There's a certain unexplainable feeling about seeing all the spectacles you've read about your whole life, dremaing about someday being able to see them for yourself. It fills you with a sense of self accomplishment and happiness that bubbles out of every pore. There's nothing like it.

Saint Peter's Basilica

The Colluseum

The beautiful city of Roma

The Trevi Fountain

This is what dreams are made of

I was recently lucky enough to take a trip with my host sister and her class to Budapest, Hungary for a week. It was such a great opportunity to spend time with my friends here and make new ones at the same time. The thing about San Sebastiano is everyone knows everyone. So if you're friends with a few people, being in this group situation will ensure you learn everyone's name.
For many people it was their first time being on a plane, in Europe everything is so close together that they end up driving a lot or taking the train, and although everyone was a little sleepy from our early morning rise, you could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone whooped and cheered when the plane peeled off the pavement, ready to enjoy the freedom of being away from school and our parents and just have a good time.
In the mornings we would go down for breakfast, chatting and laughing and then grab our things and get onto one of the two buses that would take us sightseeing that day. They really made sure we saw all that we could while we were there. From Heroe's Sqaure, to many of the beautiful castles, they even planned out time so we could visit the geothermal springs. I admit, the tour guide was a little dry and she only spoke in Italian (of course) so I only caught bits and pieces of what she was saying, but with this group it was never a dull moment. From posing for silly photos to joining the street performers, they always kept things interesting. I give credit to the chaperones, we must have been a hard bunch, someone was always finding a new way to get into trouble.
We also did a lot of shopping. The Hard Rock Cafe and Starbucks were very popular because they don't have them in Italy. The Hard Rock Cafe had so many people they had a line forty people long just to get in. And yes, I waited in it, for my friends if not for me. However, we also got to see some of the Hungarian markets, getting lost between the stalls. I ended up buying two small boxes which are traditional to the Hungarian culture. You have to move different pieces of the box to find the key which unlocks the top; very neat.
During the evenings we hung out with other people in their hotel rooms, if we could get past the chaperones. It was funny to listen to people bolting down the hallways from room to room trying their best not to get sent to bed. On one particular night the school rented a boat on the shore of the Budapest river so all of the students could see Budapest by night. Budapest is one of the most unique places I have ever been to, made up of two smalls towns Buda and Pest. It has a very gothic theme throughout the entire city and I was stunned by it's beauty when I saw it on the bus during the day. At night? It's unforgettable.
The last night we stayed there we all went out to the disco with another Italian school that was there at the time. I'm a terrible dancer but I did it anyways, the atmosphere was too good to be left behind. By the time we got back to the hotel my feet were killing me and my ears were ringing. A few of our friends came to our room to "say goodnight" and we ended up joking aorund for so long that by the time they really left we had just enough time to finish packing our suitcase and go down for breakfast.
The flight home was a lot quieter, everyone was tired from the trip, but still people were making jokes. Some of the boys even began throwing spitballs down the isles. Not pleasant to recieve but so funny to watch. We landed and as we waited outside for everyone to finish getting their luggage I sat down and took everything in: Naples splayed across the horizon, my friends smoking and laughing beside me, my body ready to collapse from partying a little too hard, and I could only think of one thing. This is what dreams are made of.

Landscape of Budapest. Buda is on the left, Pest is on the right.

Luca and Mauro "living life less serious"

Gigi and I

Group photo in front of the Parliament building