I just arrived home yesterday after our weekend trip to the fashion capital of the world. We went to Milano for the weekend to stay with one of Renatos' cousins who is actually married to a Canadian from Toronto. Me and the family took the train there for three hours and arrived in the city, which was much colder than Roma. We were greeted at the train station by Renato's cousin and wife and they welcomed us to "grey Milano." This is because Milan is almost always foggy and not normally sunny. There was alot of moisture in the air and it was so foggy that you couldn't see very far ahead of you. I went out for pizza with Amanda and some of her friends from Milan on Friday night.

Saturday was spent Window shopping with Paula while Amanda attended a Bat Mitzvah. Because Milan is the center of fashion we decided to visit all of the prestigious Italian designer shops. We went to every single Armani store in Milan, Valentino, Gucci, Prada as well as other designer stores. We changed the name of our shopping style to "view shopping" because we actually went inside to view the clothes but never actually bought anything... for obvious reasons. My favourite item of the day was a Valentino gown. Only 15 000 euros (approx $24,000CDN). At night we went out for appetizers at a family friends house and then to a restaurant for dinner with other friends of the family.

In the north of Italy things are very different from the south. In Milan everyone drives very civilized and orderly. They only cross the street when the light tells them to, and they dont talk with their arms waving in the air. The cars are parked in parking spaces and can't be sticking out into the street. I also noticed lanes on the roads, which people drove inside of. The police officers were seen giving a ticket to someone selling fake merchandise on the street even! In Rome things are VERY different! Things are so laid back and not very many people care if you don't follow the rules of the road or any rule really. Renato told me last week that there are still laws in Rome.... But they're just never enforced/or heard of. On Sunday it was raining so we decided to go in the car for a historical tour. We visited many churches and a castle and little gardens inside of the old buildings. They're called cloysters. We visited a pastecceria where cornetto's (croisants) and other little pastries are made and I got to sample my first real Italian hot chocolate. I could only finish about four spoonfulls though because it was so rich and creamy! It was much thicker than North American hot chocolate. We ate lunch with the relatives and then headed to the station to catch our train back home.

Last week I went to visit the Vatican. I must say, I was awestruck! It was one of the best visits to a historical sight that I've seen this whole time. Just being in St. Peters Square gave me shivers. It was such a work of art and something I've never seen before. We visited the Vatican for about two hours and I was accompanied by Paula. She's been the best history teacher I've ever had. She gave me a full and complete playback of western civilization for the last 20 centuries. I learned about the many different religions that were created and sometimes discriminated against as well as the different important political rulers of not only Italy but also all of Europe and western countries. Normally when I used to take history class in school I'd be wondering about what I was going to eat for dinner or what I should wear the next day.. but the history lessons I receive here are so much different and really made a spark of interest in me. I'm very very intrigued to learn more about the past civilizations that've occupied this city and the rest of the world before I got here. I feel so lucky to be able to actually walk into the history itself and experience it first hand instead of looking at pictures in a textbook. It's so much different to witness the history and recognize when certain things were made and where they came from. I can now look at different buildings and say which era they came from. Renaissance, Medievil, Boroque, Gothic and fascism. I'm really happy to be learning so much and I sometimes feel like my head will explode from the amount I'm taught! I like these lessons so much though that I even choose to take the optional course at school on the history of world religions. We have to stay an hour after school for it but I think I should embrace the opportunity- especially living in Rome where religion has played such a major role in its past.

For now I'm enjoying the new school I switched to which is much closer to the house. I go on the motorine every morning and I get to leave almost 45 minutes later. My friends at school are very fun to be with and my favourite part of the day is the 20 minute break when I get to talk to all of them outside. This school has more math and science courses which make for extra difficulty inside the classroom. I felt like a little lightbulb went off inside my head one day last week because if I tried extra hard to listen to the prof, then tried to quickly translate it in my brain I could try and figure out what she was saying. I understood the context of what she was talking about but not major details. .. But still, It's improvement!