Ciao! My name is Alex B., I'm 17 years old, and as of now I live in Montclair, New Jersey. I went to Montclair High School for freshman and part of sophomore year, and have been at the Montclair Kimberley Academy from sophomore year on. My senior year, though, I have decided to spend as a year abroad. I applied to AFS, American Field Services, in December to do a year abroad, was accepted into the general program in February, and in May, was placed with a family in Mestre, Italy, which is in the northeastern region of Italy.
Since then, I've been working hard to prepare. I've taken Spanish since elementary school, so I have a basic foundation in it, but Italian left me completely baffled. Over the summer I did over 25 hours of work on Rosetta Stone, an online language-learning program, and have read and worked with an Italian tutor. Thanks to all of this, I now feel only mostly baffled. As for other preparations, my parents helped a lot with forms and paperwork, and tomorrow we will be going to the Italian consulate in Manhattan to get my student visa. After that, all I've got to do is pack, bid my friends and family "Arrivederci!" and I'll be off!
So now for the interesting information, what my trip is all about. From September 6th to around July 7th, I will be living with a family in Mestre, in the region of Veneto. I don't know too much about the whole situation there, but I know I will be with the Bovo family, who have two sons and two dogs, until at least the end of January, and then I may switch to another family. I will be going to Liceo Stefanini, which is a local, public Liceo Scientifico (a science-based school). Besides that, all I know is I will be living the life of a normal teen in Italy.
I will definitely try to keep this blog updated as much as possible with pictures and posts, and will make sure to post at least every 2-4 weeks.
Until then, arrivederci a dopo!
