Written by Hanna Rahel

I had been waiting very long for trip to Italy. I had been to Greece before so it was not my first flight or trip to a country more far away. My first impression of Italy was that it’s a very warm country. Once we got outside in Italy, I felt the hot air breeze. It was very big contrast to Estonian weather, but I enjoyed it very much. Also the architecture was really cool. Italian houses look much fancier than Estonian and they all looked like proper villas.

I was hosted by Veronica and her family. Because we got along so well in January, we were both really waiting to meet up again. Her family was super nice and cool. She has mother, father, one younger sister, a dog and a cat. The first time I met her family was when they came to pick us both up. They all were there, even their dog  Aldo. Aldo was the star of the family. He is a young, energetic dog that loved to play and get any kind of attention. I even saw Veronica train him.

Their home was very comfy and family was really cool. Because they are Romanians, they mostly spoke in Romanian to each other. Her sister and father did also speak in English, but mother knew only Romanian and Italian. Even though her mother didn’t speak English, I got to communicate with her thanks to Veronica translating. Both of her parents were very nice. Her father the funny, joking type of dad and her mother was super sweet and caring. Also her sister, who’s my age, was really cool.

In Italy the first thing an Estonian probably notices is the landscape. Their mountains/hills are very high and our Munamägi is actually really funny next to them. We went to the mountains, but climbing them was hard. I did have blisters from our way to Italy so it also was a problem that didn’t let me climb for long. Their nature wasn’t as different as I expected. They do have very similar fauna, but they also have some plants and trees that we could only dream of.

One thing that I’ve always liked is Italian food. Although we make it quite often at home, we don’t probably make it in the very correct way. I also noticed that the stereotype of Italians only eating pizza and pasta is pretty true. Even though they call those pizza type foods differently, to me they are the same thing. Eating in Italy was nice but they ate so much. I’m not sure if it was just in my host family, but it felt like we were eating in every five minutes. I can’t complain much, but I did actually get fatter in just one week, so living there longer wouldn’t probably be very good for me.

Overall I enjoyed my stay in Italy a lot. i got tanned, or better to say sunburnt, which I haven’t experienced in forever. I also saw many new things and learned a lot about Italians and their culture. I would with no doubt visit it again and also see Veronica and her family. They were the sweetest and I will miss them very much.

Keitlin

The 17^th May was starting nice, when we were ready to start our trip to Saluzzo, Italy. The bus rides and plane flights were boring and exhausting but when we finally saw our Italian friends, then all the bad emotions fade away and we ran to hug them. We ate some of their traditional food and then we got to our houses.

I was hosted by Michela and her super nice family. They welcomed me with warm and lovely greetings. Even though her parents couldn’t speak English, then Michela was nice to translate sentences between us. I also loved all of Michela’s siblings and friends, specially her sister Debora who was a very funny and great person.

I got to see so many nice places in Italy, like mountains, which is very extraordinary for us, Estonian people and also other landscapes and city’s which were the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. Also the culture and food were everything! I love pizza and pasta!
I am very happy that I went to Italy and as I promised to my lovely Marta and Michela, I will go back there and enjoy everything again.

Laura writes

On 17^th-23th May me and many other Kanepi Gymnasiums students had an amazing opportunity to take part of the students exchange with Italian school in Saluzzo. We stayed in host families and it really felt like my own home with my own people.

My host family was very sweet and friendly. I stayed in the family of Elisabetta. They took me to Torino and showed me as much as they could. I am very thankful to them and how they treated me. I started missing them the moment we drove away.

I was the most scared of the weather. I thought it was going to be bad or it would be raining a lot but it didn’t go like that at all. The trip was delightful and we got to enjoy the sun, mountains and even the Mediterranian sea. The sea was my favourite part of the trip even though now I am sunburnt all over my body. Good times.

As me and Merit also took part in the Italian exchange two years ago we already had our friends from earlier who we wanted to see very bad. I have kept in touch with my last host Gabriele for a long time, so we planned to meet with him and Alessandro (host of Merit).

We met in a restaurant where we had eaten also during the last visit to Italy. When they arrived we got extremely surprised as there walked in the boys and also Ionela and Gabriella who we got to know from the last time, too. We talked about our lives now and what we have been up to. It is crazy to think that they are already 20 years old and studying in universities.

Gabriella was the host of Heloona who is Kadris sister. She didn’t know it so she asked who is the cool girl with blue hair. After telling her that the girl is Heloonas sister she went absolutely crazy and basically started jumping around. Then Kadri walked by but we couldn’t scream her name because we were in a restaurant and it would have been rude.

I have been waiting for so long to see them again and finally it happened. Alessandro promised us to come to the next years Weekend Baltic festival and Gabriele  to visit me in Estonia.

It was definitely my favourite students exchange because I got to know so many new people and couldn’t forget the old friends. I hope my red skin will soon turn brown and the Italian people will remember us with only good words!

Impressions from Kristen Kalev

My emotions of this exchange are very positive – except the fact that I have burned all my skin. From this trip I learned that Italian food is the best and the coffee is just amazing.

I stayed in the little farm and I was hosted by Tommaso. The family was very kind and they worried a bit too much. They had 6 cows, 3 dogs and many grass fields. The parents of Tommaso were doing farm work all day. Mainly I saw them making hay. It is very warm there and thanks to it potatoes are seeded 2 months before Estonians do it and the grain is almost ready.

Here was always very warm, even in the evenings and the nature was unbelievably stunning. It felt like Estonia´s midsummer. I was never bored there because Italians are very awesome and we had much to do all the time.

Every evening we had some typical Italian food and wine. All the dishes tasted very good – the only good pizza is in Italy and not to mention, Pasta – the best.

Witten by Angela

Last week in Italy was full of excitement and fun activities. The weather was amazing and people wonderful.

I mostly spent time with my 2 Italian hosts – Joel and Alex. We all stayed in Alex’s home and even though his parents didn’t speak English, it was a pleasure to stay with them. New experience for me was that I had to share a room with Alex’s sister. I have never shared a room in an exchange and it was a bit difficult for me. Luckily, we managed it very well.

The most I enjoyed last 2 days that we spent chilling next to the river and at the Mediterranian Sea. After a long winter in Estonia it was awesome to sunbath and swim in the nature. The whole trip was full of breathtaking views.

I definitely want to visit Italy again in the future and I recommend to students to take part in all the exchanges that are happening.