Fennec in the world: ITA Blog #2- Goodbyes and Hellos

Se sei così coraggioso da dire addio,

la vita ti ricompenserà con un nuovo ciao

P. Coelho

Hey everyone! I know...I know...I told you I was going to write more often but I was just very busy and then I wanted to enjoy my free time and holidays, I admit. Anyway a lot has happened since the last time I wrote so I'll try to be as brief as possible 'cose I don't want to bore you.

GOODBYE HIGH SCHOOL...

Class of 2017!!

On the 4th of July 2017, after my oral test (the last part of my Finals), I officially finished high school! Here is something I wrote the next day...

5/07/'17

Dear beloved High School,

I really don't know when to start...so I'll just start from the beginning: I clearly remember the fisrt day I entered your huge halls and classrooms. I was so scared! I set near people I knew from Middle School or even Primary School. And the teacher all seemed very nice but also very demanding: they weren't treating us like kids anymore.

Then it got all fun and messy as the years went by, the anxious moments before the tests, the interesting lessons, the amizing jockes, the trips, the classmates that became a second family. Those years were great: I changed so much and so much happened but it wouldn't have been the same without you or with a different High School.

So thank you so much for always being there.

I'll miss you. Yeah I said it. I will. Even if only yesterday I was flying happily at home after finishing my last exam. I alredy feel nostalgic. Because I know that from now on it will never be the same. Now a new chapter of my life will start. University is going to be great, but it will never be you.

Lots of love,

Ari

Me and my classmates: 5^A!!

Last day of school!!

Yoshi, me and Giulia

Me after my oral exam in front of the school!

Me and my classmates saying goodabye to the teachers

HELLO UMBRIA!

Lago Trasimeno from the tower of Castiglione del Lago

From the 12th to the 19th of July I then went with my family in Umbria to spend some quality time together. We went camping on the Trasimeno Lake. At the beginning I was really scheptical and I didn't want to go. But then I relized it was probably our last holidays together because from next year I'll be in college and I'll go on vacastion with my friends.
So I put on a smile and said "yes" to all the opportunities that arrived....we had a great time! We visited the Isola Maggiore, the main island of the lake, then we went into a cavern under one of the historical cities around the lake, we also went to a festival and we found many great spots near the sea where sit or bath.
This trip reminded me that family will always be there, no matter what, so it's important to try to keep good relationship with everyone.

The view of the camp from our bungalow

My sister and I

Read to go underground!!

Some meditation...

My beautiful parents

Our family and the Roman theater of Gubbio

Sunset at Passignano

My family and the sunset

My sister and I in Passignano

HELLO LONDON....GOODBYE FRIENDS

London by night

I then attended an intenational summer program in Greenwich (London, UK). It was a two weeks summer school with lessons in the morning and visits in the afternoons, it also had some special Journalism Workshop. It was a great experience: I got to meet so many new people and I to see some pretty cool places.
Yesterday it was the last day, though, and today I had my flight home...so, as usual, I got this weird feeling: on one side I don't want to live, 'cose I need more time to spend with the friends I made there and to discover new secret spots of the city; on the other side I miss my family and my friends back home and I can't wait to see them again and to tell them all about my trip! So after hugging everyone and crying a little bit, especially when I had to say goodbye to my roommates Valentina and Giorgia, I got on the plane home.

Shopping street in London

On the top of the Tate Modern Gallery

On the London Eye

Me, Giorgia and Valentina at West Minster

Southbank

During the "London Street Art Tour"

Valentina, Me and Emanuele (photo bomb)

London Eye at night

Me and Valentina in an open market

Cambridge river adventure

Buckingham Palace

Julija, me, Valentina and Giorgia at Covent Garden

My roommate and I with the Royal Family (Madame Tussauds Museum)

George Clooney, Valentina, me and Giorgia

"E.T. call home"

Just like the Beatles..

Last day of school

Harry potter studios: on the Hogwarts Express

THERE'S A NEW STAR IN THE SKY...

So yeah, there's still one more goodbye that I need to mention...while I was away our family dog, Nuvola (Cloud), died.
She had some problems in her lungs when she was two years old and she had surgery to remuve part of them. Since then she often has trouble breathink and stuff like that. This past weeks in Italy have been the hottest in years, so there we go. The thing is that it happened a few days ago but they told me only today. I don't know exactly how I felt when they told me.

I knew she wasn't feeling too good when I left and I knew about her lungs problem. So I wasn't totally shocked. But at the same time, as we got closer to home, I relized what this actually meant....

...she won't be greeting us every time we open the door, she won't be trying to get on the sofa while we are watching the TV, she won't look at me with her "puppy face" while I'm eating, she won't be here anymore. And tonight the house felt somehow empty. And I know she was "only" a dog and it's better that was she that died and not someone else but still....she wasn't just a dog. She was family. And I'll miss her. We all will. So yeah, as gradma says now she's running in the heaven of dogs 'cose she was a good dog. And if we look at the stars we'll see a new bright star that looks after us from above.
Bye sweety. Love you. <3