Pensieri di mezzanotte

Yes, it is midnight. And yes I am going to school tomorrow. But as a person who wants to be a writer, I can't fight the urge to write when ideas are storming through my head. And yes this post may have absolutely no point to any of you, and yes I should probably make another blog for all my rambling posts, but this is exchange and it is my life and this is how I define my life... In writing.

Writing, a truly amazing thing and something I feel so priveleged to have a talent in. Maybe everything I write isn't beautiful and they are full of grammatical errors, but I was gifted with the knowledge, that I have the power to write whatever comes to mind. And I was gifted by our founding fathers with the right to speak my feelings.

Many people see these as downfalls in Americans. Our uncanning ability to say what we feel. But I have always been taught to never leave something unsaid. The words unsaid are the ones that you will regret the most in life. And I believe this to be true.

Blessings, something so evident in my life at this moment. I am blessed beyond words. And I know I am so painfully redundant when I say this, but how can I not be? Look at where I am and how I got here. I am one of the most blessed people on this planet. I was blessed with a Mother, who has taught me to love unconditionally and to never give up. A Father, who has always taught me to speak my mind and choose to see the light in all the darkness. Two Beautiful Sisters, who have taught me what it means to have family and have never failed to be there for me when I needed them, no matter the price. Exchange, that has taught me that there is no impossible. Everything can be achieved and the adversity and the strife only make the victory that much sweeter. Friends, who have shown me that flaws do not define me and who I will become but only make me stronger, and who have held me up when my world seemed to be crashing.

Life, the scariest thing in life, is life itself. We are scared to know when we will take our last breath. We are scared to lose the things and people we hold dearest in our lives. But the most important thing about life that people so rarely remember is it is a privelege. I am priveleged to be breathing at this very moment. And I am priveleged to live the life I do. And it is always worse for someone else. But sometimes we forget these things. We get so wrapped up in something that we forget the simple beauties and priveleges of this life. I am as guilty as ever. But one thing this year has taught me is to never take a single moment forgranted. I will never get back the first time I saw the ocean, I will never get back the last time I heard a dear friend laugh, I will never get back the feeling of sitting on my dads' shoulders knowing he could stop any monster from getting me. I will never get these things back, but yet I still focus so much on the future and forget to live for now. What I would give to hear my mom singing a lullaby to me, or to push my little sister in a swing even though I wasn't much bigger than her. Or that feeling of waking up on Christmas knowing Santa had come. So many things that seem so ordinary... but I will never have those moments again in my life.

So what this year has taught me, and the moral of the story is this... Life is filled with blessings that we take forgranted. And try as we might we cannot live for now. We always have to be ahead. I guess the reason I am writing is to say, I am deciding right now to live for now. To remember how blessed I am and to never look back.

I apologize if this made no sense to anyone. I really don't expect my rambling to have any sense even to myself, but when I am laying in bed and my mind is racing, I know I have to write. Whether it has sense or not, I have to write. So thanks for reading.

Much love, Kari <3

England is Calling

ENGLAND, Inghliterra, Great Britain, The UK, Home of the Queen, Land of the most beautiful Prince, The place to keep calm and carry on, One Direction central, that place with that one tower, inventor of tea and crumpets, and so many more.

Call it what you want, but what I have come to know this beautiful country as is, the place where I made memories I will never forget. This past week I went with my school on a trip to England. And let me tell you, it is unlike any place in the world. It is such a mixture of America and Europe and I have never felt so close, yet so far from home. Being there made me realize what this year is. A chance to get away from everything that seemed so normal, but at the same time, keep a little of who I was and use it to better myself into the person I want to become.

I have fallen in love with this country in the short week I spent there. I made memories that will last a lifetime and became closer to some Italians and my lovely American friends (if that is even possible, seeing as we are closer than most families are.) When the week was over, I was so sad to go, because I knew I wouldn't get these moments back. I don't think people truly understand how precious life is until they experience the moments that cannot be repeated. I will never get the satisfactory feeling of seeing Starbucks after 6 months back. I will never walk down the streets of London again with Italians who I have become close to. I will never roam the streets of Bath, purposefully trying to waste time. These things will never happen again. And it scares me to think of all the moments I will lose when I return home, to my real home. But one thing I do know for sure is, I had the greatest week of my life and spent it with the best company I could have ever asked for.

And to everyone who made this week special, Vi voglio TANTO bene. <3

Now on to pictures. I don't want to have to type out some long description of the weeks events, so I will try my best to show it in a few photos. REMEMBER, you can always check out all the photos on my Facebook!

Before I start with photos, I will add just a few comments. So we left Monday night from Milan and got into London at about 11:30pm local time. That was a fun night trip. We stayed in a hotel and spent the whole next day exploring London. We saw things such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, and even the Hard Rock Cafe. (a must see for all Italians.) After the day spent in London, we took a bus to Bath, England. We spent the rest of our week there, staying in host families. Kayleigh and I had a very old host family, who happened to give us both the flu, thank you for that one! Anyways, in the mornings the Italian students had English lessons, so we spent the mornings roaming town and drinking Starbucks. I don't think anyone realizes how much we have missed it! After their lessons we would eat lunch then go on little trips around England. We saw StoneHenge, Bristol and the SS Great Britain, as well as Salsbury and the Magna Carta. It was such an amazing week. We came home Saturday afternoon. And since then I have been extremely sick, hints why I am writing this so late at night! No school for a few days :( And yes I am actually sad about that because I miss my class!!!!

Now for the photos!


 This is the Roman Baths in Bath, England. They were used during Roman times as a type of spa. The stories are actually really interesting, not to mention, they are beautiful.

 Oh hey British boys! Hope I wasn't being too creepy for you ;) But really though, marry me?

 Pizza night!!! The Italians liked it, but quite honestly I prefer authentic Italian pizza... Maybe I have become to spoiled.
 I am now the captain of the SS Great Britain. ;)

 London and Weasley ;) But for real though, does this kid not look like Ron Weasley? IDENTICAL!

 The bears of the group. All they do is eat and sleep, therefore they are bears. <3

 We were just way too excited to drink our 800th Starbucks of the week. Honestly though I think we had about 15 each. Maybe more. To the CEO of Starbucks.... we now deserve to own a piece of your company.

 Hahahahha, this picture cracks me up. The British humor is something else. This is a store, which clearly everyone believes the name to be something it's not.
 In the Cathedral in Bath, England.


 The Salsbury Cathedral. Inside is the Magna Carta. This church is breathtaking.

 Kayleigh and I at Stone Henge!!!

 I have seen so much history, another thing that shows me how truly blessed I am.

 If this doesn't explain the life of an exchange student, then I dont know what does.

 We found Krispy Kreme.... We cried.


 About 10 minutes and 5 exchange students later.


 The London Eye!


 As much as I want to KILL this kid at times, he is still family. Love you Connor!!!

 And we found KFC ;)

 M&M World, London, England

 London at night, someting everyone must see once in their life.

 Hard Rock Cafe, London!

 Buckingham Palace, where one day I will be living with Prince Harry ;)

 The Americans, plus Weasley, in front of Big Ben! :)
 This screams London, does it not?

 Guards!!!


 The official first Starbucks after 6 months.

 The Rossetta Stone inside the British Museum!

 The inside of the British Museum was so cool.

And now for some of my favorite pictures from the trip, courtesy of Regan Wagner Photography ;)


 London at night, like I said, unlike any other.

 USA <3

 M&M World.

 We MUSTACHE you a question ;)

 What I will wear during my marraige to Prince Harry ;)

 We should have read the signs ;)


I absolutely LOVE this picture. These girls are unlike any others. I cannot explain how much I love them. They are family. <3

 Everyone has to take a telephone booth photo, right? ;)

 With our lovely German <3 :)
 Representing the USA with two Italians and a German!


 Ignore the two strange men in the back. They are not our friends!

And one final photo with the people who made this trip what it was. I love you all so much. <3 I had the best week of my life and it was thanks to all of you.

So there was my week in short. Hope you enjoyed it! <3

Much love, Kari <3