Raffaela Arezzo

2008-09 Inbound from Italy

Hometown: Ragusa, Italy

Sponsor: Ragusa Rotary Club, District 2120, Italy

Host: Ponte Vedra Beach Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Ponte Vedra High School, Ponte Vedra, FL

Bio

Raffaela's Bio

Hello everybody!! My name is Raffaela and I'm from Italy, exactly from Ragusa a city in the south-east of Sicily. I was born on the 14 of November of (almost) seventeen years ago, in Catania a city near Ragusa.

My family is composed by me <obviously>, my mother Anna, my father Francesco, and my sister Elena who is 20 years old and lives in Rome where she attends the Catholic University to become a dentist like my parents. My father is concerned that I'm not becoming a dentist because I am completely frightened by needles, blood, and all this stuff! I am attending a scientific lyceum in Ragusa, and finished this, I'm wondering to go to the business and managing university in Milan.

I love having busy days, so I try to keep on a lot of hobbies. I practice volleyball (even here I'm in the volleyball team of Ponte Vedra High School), I love reading and listening to music, I attended an English course, and I am also a member of the scouts; and of course, as every normal girl in the world, I love having long-lasting phone-talk with my best friends, doing crazy shopping and hang out with my friends in the weekend. I also love going to the cinema, I go almost every Sunday with my 'movie-friend'. this is less or more my life. I am going to write more about my life in the states soon to keep you informed about how it is going!

October 15 Journal

I was at the computer and I realized that I didn't write anything about my beautiful life here in Florida! so.. let's start!

My host family is amazing, since the first weeks I have been feeling at home, a family member and now I cannot think about my life without them, and it will be really hard for me when in January I will change family.

School, mmm you know school is school, but living it as exchange student is definitely more exciting and easier, everybody is ready to help you and just going to this big American school is so much fun! I was always thinking in Italy about the school here and I'm not disappointed at all! Of course the first weeks were harder for me because I didn't know anybody so I felt like I hadn't any friends, but now it's so great that while I'm walking in the hall or at lunch I spend most of the time saying 'hi' 'how are you?' 'what's up?' and the weekends going out with my friends, it's fabulous!

Everyday I think about how good was the decision to come here and catch this opportunity because if I hadn't done it I would have lost all the beautiful things that are happening to me, and one of them, probably the most important is GROWING!

February 8 Journal

Ciao a tuttiii!!!!!!!

It's been quite a long time since the last time that I write something, but the last couple of months have been pretty busy and yes, I'm kind of bad with deadlines! :D Anyways, 6 months are already gone, and believe it or not, I didn't realize it since yesterday, when coming back home I figured out that we are already in FEBRUARY! I mean, have I actually lived in another country for all this time? Have I actually been far away from home so long? Isn't THIS my HOME? It's just all so normal for me now. At the beginning everything was a first time: the first time I have been to school here, the first time I've eaten waffles and syrup (of what I'm seriously addicted now), the first time I took a shower in America, the first time I hang out, the first time I went to a movie, the first time I dreamt in English! Now it's completely normal, I wonder if I have not been doing it for all my life!!!! I cannot imagine coming back in Italy, it will be so weird not living with my host parents or not hanging out with my American friends! But I think every exchange student went through this phase, so I just need to chill out a little bit!

About my life here so far, I'm having a really good time! In December we went to Disney! which was so much fun!!!!!!! And compared to the one in Paris, the one in Orlando is HUGEEE!!!!!! We had such a great time that thinking about leaving didn't really appeal to us! But we left knowing that in one month we were going to see each other again in the KEYS!! :D

Then it came Christmas, and it was amazing! My host Granny, my sister, my mom and I cooked together for the Christmas dinner, I learned lots of new recipes to bring back with me, like the squash casserole! I love it!! Then, Christmas day my sister woke up all the family at 7 o'clock in the morning (I was about to kill her! lol ) to open the presents, while we were eating bagels, cookies, and milk and my dad was filming with the video camera. I enjoyed so much, I really felt at home, I even called my host dad "Dad" instead of "Gil"!!! It was also so different from what I usually do in Italy, because we open the presents at midnight of the Christmas Eve.

Then for New Year Eve, I went to the Gator Parade with all the exchange students of my district, which was really fun! And then we had a party in Jacksonville, that our Rotary district organized for us, in a Rotarian's house and it was a lot of fun! We danced and went to the Jacuzzi, and at midnight we saw the fireworks from the water wharf! We spent the night there talking all the time about our experience so far. We really had a great time!

A couple of days later I changed my host family, that was kind of hard, I had always been thinking about it as not a big of a deal because I already knew my new host family, they knew each other and we have done a lot of things together, but the day that I actually moved, I packed the last things with my sister Lindsay, my room looked so desolated (and so tidy!) and the new house didn't look like home. I really felt like when I left my home in Italy and I came here. It was pretty hard, but my new host family is amazing so I didn't have much time to worry about it! :D Also because my parents, my biological ones, came here from ITALY!!! I didn't know anything, it was a Wednesday night and we just finished eating and we were chatting in the kitchen when the bell rang, so I went to open the door and I saw these two, really familiar, people standing there in front of the door with the biggest smile I ever seen. I swear I stayed a couple of seconds there, doing and saying nothing, trying to realize who they were. Then the idea hit me and I just flew into my father's arms and start crying! And after a minute like that it was my mother's turn! After that I finally introduced everyone. Paula, my counselor was there too!, and I went packing my stuff for a couple of days. When I was packing I start thinking "what if it's just a dream? it cannot be real!! O MY GOD! Am I crazy? " Then my mother came into the room and said "Raffaela, you have to be a little bit more tidy! " and I thought "HERE SHE IS!!!!! No.. It's NOT a dream!!" So we went to the hotel, and we talked so much about everything! And I started all my sentences in English, and then correct myself and came back to Italian, which it seemed so weird, and mine was so full of mistakes! I had to ask so many times what a word was in Italian! But it was amazing, I brought them around, to St. Augustine, to Jacksonville, to go shopping with my mom! :D It was really strange, because for me it was everything normal, for them everything was new and for the first time, my two lifes met, and from this meeting I noticed, and my parents did too, how I have actually been changing!!! We couldn't stay a lot together, because my parents had a meeting in San Diego, but after six months even 2 hours would have been enough!

After my parents left, Amelie, an exchange student from Germany (not with Rotary), left. She was here just for a semester. That was really hard, it was like looking at me in 5 months from now, confused by the excitement to come back and the sadness to leave. It made me think about how good was my decision to stay an entire year! I don't think I could stand to leave when everything was taking shape, when you finally get to the point where you are into the culture, completely absorbed and integrated!

Not even 4 days later I went to the Keys with Rotary with all the exchange students from Florida!!!!!! It was the best time ever!!!!!!!!!! The Keys are beautiful and just stay there with all of them was wonderful! We went snorkeling which was so much fun! We saw so many different things! With my group we even touched a shark (a not dangerous one of course)! And it was our last time all together, which made it so special but also so sad at the same time! I mean, for how much I can love my American friends, the other exchange students are the first people that I had a contact with and that really can understand what it feels like. Each of us made so many important friendships that it was so hard for us say goodbye the last day at Key West, everybody, ok every single girl, the boys don't cry ;) was crying!!!!! In Disney we knew that in a month we were seeing each other, but now we were all thinking "am I going to see you again ever in my life??" Was crying!!!!! But for sure we will see each other again, if not here in the US, someday when we are back to our countries! :D I'm really optimistic about it! :D

So now, after this really busy month I'm staying and enjoying a little bit more my host family, with who I didn't really have a lot of time to spend! And I came back to the normal life, school, which is going great, and track team, which is really killing me. I mean we run even under the rain!!! And sometimes at 6 30 in the morning! :S but at least I keep in shape! And hanging out during the weekend! :D Next weekend is a 4 days weekend and Valentine's day too! :D I'm really looking forward to it!

OK, I hope I didn't make you sleep with this extremely long report!

BACI BACI BACI

Raffaela!!!!!!!!! :D

April 24 Journal

CIAO A TUTTIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How are you?? I can't be better, everything is going perfectly and I'm having so much fun!

Let's see, in my last report I left you with me coming back from the keys and switching host family! Well a lot has been going on since then! I switched family again, now this is my fourth family, even if my first family was for no more than a week I still consider and love them as much as the other :). Now I live with the Rodericks, of which most of you should know Paula Roderick, the wonderwoman of RYE-FLORIDA, and since the beginning of March, she is my WONDERMOM!

At the same time I had PROM!!!!!!!!! My very first and my very last truly original AMERICAN PROM! I admit I was really underestimating it, I thought that wasn't such a big of a deal, I mean it's just a school dance, I thought... well... I WAS SO WRONG!! Just buying the dress took me two entire shopping days with my host mom (at the time Kim Egan) and my host sister, it was really fun, and finally at the end of the second day we found it!!! The perfect midnight blue back-showing (UUUU) gown!!!!! THE FIRST GOWN I EVER WORE! Then the big day arrived. Because it was the same day of district assembly, I had to leave earlier and I had to go to my third host family's home to get ready, because Paula was still in Palatka. Well I think I had at least 6 people working on me! It was so weird, I was just sitting there in my host sister, Lizzy's room and everything was been taking care of, from my nails to my hair to my shoes, that was an experience! I had 2 Moms, 4 sisters, and 1 grandmother all with me in a room happily chatting and making comments and planning evil plans to make my hair stay perfect even through the crazy dancing I was about to start :D.

Yes, PROM IS A BIG DEAL!!!!! And I enjoyed it, for a day I was the princess, the center of attention of everyone in my HUGE EXTENDED FAMILY! Even my mom from Italy called me! Then ready to go, I had to take pictures (of course) in the back yard with my host sisters, then with my moms, then with my host brother, then with my grandparents etc etc. Finally one of my girlfriends came to pick me up, and after taking pictures with her we went taking pictures all together, with the group of friends I was going to the prom with, to my other friend's house. We went eating to an Italian restaurant (I wanted to try something new...:) ), and everybody in the restaurant was staring at us! So embarrassing! Well, after we headed to the Prom which was hosted in a hotel in Ponte Vedra. After the first 15 minutes of awkwardness, like not a lot of people dancing and so on, we all started dancing and we kept going all the night long! It was a lot of fun! After Prom was over we went to get some dessert to a nice bar that stayed open till late just because of prom (other evidence of PROM IS A BIG DEAL) and then we went to my friend's house for an after prom party and sleep over for a group of us!

I'm so glad I went to the prom because it was really so much fun and in my opinion a really crucial part of the American experience!!!!!!!

To continue in this path I embraced for my spring break the quintessential American experience: RV TRIP!!!!! With my host family we went down to the Keys with our amazing rented RV!! It was.. well.. it was small for 5 people, sometimes the only way to escape each other and have a little 'alone time' was going to the (named by us) "bath house' which is nothing but the building where you could take a shower etc in the RV Camping place.

But besides little problems, like how do we fill in the water in an RV? or How do we back up with a RV without hitting a tree? (which actually happened...) and How do I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without waking up everyone? we survived this adventure and we actually had a lot of fun. We spent some time together as a family and we went to the beautiful beaches and we went shopping in Duval street, snorkle, cook out, roasted marshmallows and anything you can imagine of!

it was amazing! We came back, and after a few days guess what?? I GOT SICK!! yeye!!! I couldn't wait for it! and obviously, when do I get sick? over the week so I miss school? NOOOO!!! Over the WEEKEND!!! Exactly!!! I got sick on Thursday so I basically stayed in bed till Friday and then recover Saturday, and Sunday I could go out again.

Now the moment of my departure is getting so close that I don't even wanna think about it, it's so scaring and freaky...!!!! I don't really wanna leave, I mean I'm excited to see my mom and my dad and my sister and my best friends again but at the same time, I don't know - I can't imagine my life without the people that have been surrounding me for now almost a year and that I love as I have known them forever.

Well, I guess the only solution is to don't let the time control you but control the time (wise pearl borrowed from my Wondermom) and enjoy and make of this time left the best that you can and being grateful for this wonderful experience that you had. This is the spirit I'm gonna live this last month and a half, and that anyone should do as well.

So, write you later!!!!!!!! Thank you everybody for supporting me!

A presto! bacioni a tutti!

Raffaela