Red Clay Roots

This is where I apologize for the four months that have gone by since I last posted. A lot of things have happened in these four months.... mostly in the last month, but still. Four months of a ten month exchange is a huge chunk of time. With those four months winter came and went, school was cancelled for weeks, I got at least two haircuts, read a bunch of books, travelled to another country, took numerous tests at school, saw the very north and very south of Italy, and an infinite number of other things that changed my life in imperceptable ways. I haven't avoided writing on this blog just for a lack of time, or the hesitance to write in a language I would like to forget, but because of how difficult it is to put into words this experience, how strange it is to put a pretty little frame around this life that has become mine, that has become hard to see through the lense of a 10 month exchange. In 10 weeks I will leave this country to go back to my other home in the states, and I still can't tell you all what it will be like, what it will be like to leave this life and go back to my old one. It is a change that is surrounded by doubts and fears that regard not only relationships with groups of people on both sides of the Atlantic, but also school, languages, the future. In the past four weeks - the month of April - I had the opportunity to travel not only to England, but also to Turin, and Lecce. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and while I had seen this happen in relation to my family of origin in the states, I didn't know if it would hold true for my italian family. It breaks my heart to say that it's true - that I have become so close to these people, not only my host family, but also my friends here, that I really do *miss* them while I'm gone. In Lecce I also had the opportunity to stay with a host family for a week, and came away from the experience with even more close friends and host family members. Leaving will be the strangest mix of emotions possible, and I can already feel them creeping up on me, with various friends and family members leaving for the summer once the schools finish. And so I am fully commmited to making the most of these last 2 and a half months - whether it be AFS camps, hanging out with friends, dropping a history course that was only causing me pain, or just speaking italian and spending my days with my host family. I'll try and update a couple more times in the next few months, and below I'll attach the open links to all of the pictures I took during my time in England, Turin, and Lecce. Thanks for reading, until next time. - Helen England http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.302633216472815.68985.100001784182164&type=3&l=52a08e63ab http://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.302633216472815.68985.100001784182164&type=1&bef=302650696471067&aft=302668659802604&l=52a08e63ab Turin http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.310940315642105.73410.100001784182164&type=3&l=cae3cb15ba http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.310965715639565.73428.100001784182164&type=3&l=917a94b8f1 Lecce http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.318030121599791.74751.100001784182164&type=3&l=305cdb273e http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.318454168224053.74818.100001784182164&type=3&l=c2783c61fb