2 weeks off from school was much needed. And in that time so much has happened! I went to Verona for the first time and it was beautiful! I also celebrated New Years and Christmas, Italian style! Tomorrow I move to a town just outside of Cremona, into a new host family. With Rotary you change host families 3 times throughout the course of the year. I am happy to be gaining new experiences and a chance to see Italian life in a new perspective, but at the same time I am sad to be going. I love my host family now, but I also know that I will love my new one!
So on to what I have been doing this break, spending lots of money, eating lots of food, and seeing all my friends. What else does a teenager do in their free time, right? ;)
For Christmas, Rotary had a dinner party and although it was the most boring 5 hour dinner of my life, it was fun to get dressed up and look cute for once ;) Now I will post a picture from the party of all the lovely exchangers!
Here is all 11 of us at dinner! Looking our finest of course ;) 
And I needed to post this, because it is about the only time you will ever see a picture of me and Kayleigh together when we aren't making some crazy face... :) Now on to Christmas! On Christmas eve, my host mom's family all came over and we had a HUGE meal and opened presents. I bought presents for all my host family, but my favorite was the slippers I bought for my younger host brother, I will post a picture in a minute. They were freaking awesome. And he loved them! On Christmas day we went to my host dad's families house for lunch and ate a ton of food. And then we went and got hot chocolate, a family tradition in my host family :)
Our Christmas tree and all the presents! :) Yayayayyayay! 
Corrado and his present from me! I think he liked them :) Now on to New Year's Eve! Me and Regan went to a party at a friends house. We had a good time, and well there really isn't much else to say lol. So that is that. On New Year's Day,, we went with my host family (soon to be her hots family) to Verona! As you all know Verona is the land of Romeo and Juliet! We saw Juliet's balcony and other historical landmarks. I have officially fallen in love with Verona. It is so beautiful and it makes you feel like love is in the air ;) So here are a few pictures!
Me and Regan in front of the Colleseum in Verona! The day was kinda crappy, but Verona is still beautiful! :) 
This is the entrance to Juliet's house. It is graffitied (spelled wrong) with names of thousands of people. It is so cool. Anyone can write their name and leave their mark in Fair Verona <3 
This is a tree filled with letters to Juliet. There were so many languages and so many stories to be told. We wrote a letter and put it on the tree. We felt it was necessary :) Now we have left our mark. 
This is the statue of Juliet and supposedly it is good luck to touch her chest... hints our hand placement. So now we have good luck in love! <3 
Juliet's Balcony! Yay! :) Well that is about all I can say for now. I will make a new post when I switch families! :) So until then, CIAO and thank you for reading!
<3 With love, Kari!
