Going Away Party / Arrivederci

Buongiorno!

Three days until I leave for Sicily. I am definitely feeling nervous, but definitely excited as well. 

Today was my going away party. Lots of friends and family, great italian food, 2 fires going, cake, ping pong, pellegrino! Overwhelming amount of people. Great to see everyone, wish I had more time to talk and mingle. I was sad that it ended. Blowing out all of the candles, taking out my books to study. 

I received lots of great gifts- right now I am immensely enjoying the Pavarotti album I was given by the Gabriels. Beautiful music, and as my dad said, "great to study by". 

Since this is my first post, I guess I should describe a little of what I am doing. I will go to Liceo Martin Luther King, a "liceo scientifico", meaning that it is based mostly on Science and Math. "The Universal Language!" as Jamer Breene says. I am living with the Scibetta family, my host brother's name is Gerlando Savio. We have been in good contact, he seems like a great kid, and speaks great English, but I hope to learn lots of Italian from him! The family owns a food market, and the house is above the warehouse. Gerlando sent me a google earth picture, so I got an idea of where I will live. 

Favara is on the south coast of Sicily, only about twenty minutes from the Mediterranean. One of my contacts, an AFS student from Germany, says she can see the sea from her balcony! The closest large city is Arigiento, which is supposed to be beautiful. From what I hear parts of Favara are pretty nice as well.

Well, thats enough for now. I must go study for U.S. History and Precalculus. As much as I would like to forget about that and just listen to the Pavarotti, I do still have obligations. 

Ciao!