I am back and happy

Vorrei scrivere che sono ancora in Scozia.
Vorrei scrivere che lunedì inizierò la mia settimana con double Physics.
Vorrei dirvi che I am planning to go to Edinburgh next week.

Ma invece sono tornato

Dopo il turbolio e la confusione iniziale, intervallati da continui mal di testa dovuti al parlare in italiano, ora sono completamente tornato.
È stato abbastanza weird riadattarsi alla mia vita italiana, al fatto che i bus sono ogni due ore (se tutto va bene) e non ogni 10 minuti e con il Wi-Fi come in Scozia o che non posso prendere il treno e andarmene dove voglio perché in Italia vivo in un paesino minuscolo.
Penso alla mia exchange country ogni giorno e a dire la verità ora come ora il mio exchange year sembra come un'esperienza lontana, un sogno che ho vissuto e che è terminato in fretta. Non posso dire che non ho imparato niente, anzi sono cambiato moltissimo e ora sono davvero più sicuro di me stesso e della persona che voglio essere.

Nonostante la weird homesickness inversa non sono assolutamente triste . Sono felice di essere a casa. Con tutti i suoi difetti l'Italia è sempre l'Italia e ora voglio make the most of my own country, cosa che non avevo fatto prima di partire.

Siamo già quasi a metà estate e finora essa è passata velocissimamente: tra compiti, incontri con ex exchange student e persone nuove incontrate il tempo mi scorre davanti agli occhi senza accorgermene.

E sì, sto studiando molto perché anche questo fa parte dell'esperienza e negli esami di recupero voglio dimostrare quanto quest'anno mi è servito e non è stato uno spreco di soldi e tempo come molti pensano.

So che quest'anno non ho scritto molto in questo blog, ma capitemi ero davvero occupato.
Ditemi se avete domande e cercherò di nel modo migliore possibile!
Byeee guyzz, Tommaso

Random facts:
-gli esami finali sono andati bene e in agosto saprò i risultati visto che saranno corretti due volte da esaminatori esterni
-mi hanno inviato qua a casa un award che dice che sono il migliore in Francese in tutta Perth (lol)
-mi mancano i surgelati del discount
-la prima cosa che ho fatto appena tornato è stata, ovviamente, mangiare la pizza anche se avevo trovato dei ristoranti italiani veri e propri pure in Scozia

Sorry guyss

Heyaaa guyss, sorry sorry sorry. My last post was about Christmas and since then a lot of things have happened. I have been (and I still am!) so overwhelmed with school, friends and trips and you can easily understand that my last thought was writing on my blog.
By the way everything is going super duper well and I could not be happier. I have amazing friends and I have no idea how I will able to leave them.
In January I did my prelims (mock exams of my finals) and I can proudly say that they went extremely well.

Guys when they say that you find youself during your exchange year they utterly right.
I have so many projects for my future and it actually seems like I am starting to have a proper plan for the next years that makes sense. I am really motivated to perfectly finish this year, get my qualifications and go back to Italy.

There is soo much going on, dear readers, and I am pretty sure I will keep writing this blog after my exchange year.

Sorry for this shitty short post but I just wanted to tell you that I am alive and happy.

See you soon (hopefully). x

P.S: on Monday I am going to Edinburgh with a friend of  mine for a conference about OXBRIDGE (dream dream dream). I am buzzing and I am so looking forward to it!

First Christmas without family

Merry Christmas dear readerrrrsss, I hope you passed this day with happiness and fun.

Before this day I always tried to not think about that. I think I was one of the less Xmasy guys this year and probably it's true.
Christmas is family. Family is love. But, hang on, actually my family is in another country at the moment and I haven't seen them since August.
Yess here the issue. I wasn't completely ready to this day, I kept repeating in my mind to not compare anything because it's the wrong mood and an exchange student should not do it.
But is it Christmas without going to church at midnight?  Or without "Trading places" on Italia 1 (an Italian channel)? Without the big lunch with 378 courses that you have to be ready to it days before? Any Pandoro or Panettone (that I hate but I eat it to make my grandparents happy) this year? Your uncle who asks you about your girlfriend, where is he? Your little cousin who is growing up as fast as bean (can you say that?!)?
Yes it is still Christmas, but it's completely different and dreadfully difficult to deal with it.
Here in Scotland Christmas is alike the Italian one, with some slight differences. Firstly you don't get only one big present, but many little ones. Secondly CRACKERS (I'll also add a picture, from them you get a crown a joke and a tiny present, soo funny). You normally eat Turkey and mince pies (no they don't have mince in them, they actually have raisin spices and they are so goood, even if I don't like raisin).

To be honest it's been such a good day and I had fun even if I've always been homesick (as it was expected to be). The Christmasy period is really hard during an exchange year (thanks WEP to having informed us from the off <3) but I've understood that I have become so strong and self confident that I am also able to deal with situations like this. With the absence of a normal Christmas with my family I've figured out how much this event is important for me and I am really looking to the next Christmas, I'll surely appreciate ways more everything around me.

I am so grateful to had the opportunity of doing this experience.
It's so true when they say that you really understand the worth of things when they are not with you.

Byee guyss
See yaa soon! :)

100 days here

As I promised here the post after 100 days in Scotland.

It's 100 days that I'm here and I'm only starting to understand now how much this experience is giving to me.
Dear friends, if you have the possibility leave Italy/Scotland and go to another country!
It's not only for learning perfectly another language (that is so cool and give you a big gap within you and the others in terms of jobs opportunities) but it's what you learn and how much you change.
Learning how to deal with your parents more than 1500 km away from you (in the best of the cases!); learning how to make friends in another country, trying to overcome the cultural differences; learning how to study and do well in another language with a school system completely different from yours; learning to know who you really are, who do you wanna be and who you don't want to be;  learning to do the washing up and to grow up fastly.
Yes it's not only for the language that I decided to leave Italy, it's for everything written up here and much more.
And dear people, the exchange year it's the only experience that makes you grow up so fastly, that allows you to make friends from all over the world, that gives you a lot of feelings, sadness and homesickness but also happiness and proudness; how cool is it to have an headache because you always speak a language that it's not yours?
Dear friends leave your warm nests and discover the world!

I didn't know that this experience was so overwhelming and so difficult but also so full of amazing people and moments; I didn't know Scottish people were so kind and so warm and it's not so difficult to make friends; I didn't know what did hard and difficult mean.
I didn't know anything.

Just take a breath, dead reader, and

FLY

My October break

Wowowowo good night dear readers,
I've just started my second term and this means that I've just finished my October break.
This break has been amazing and I am so sad that it's already finished.
BUT, as always, let's start from the beginning.
Here in Scotland I had two weeks of holidays (from the 10th of October to the 25th of October) to separate the autumn and the winter term. I was so glad to have that because I was really tired after 8 weeks in a school where they speak a language that is not yours.
The most important things that happened in these holidays are Kai coming up here, Inverness trip and Glasgow trip.
•As you know I'd have had to live with Kai as host brother but then the fate decided to divide us ahaha. He is so funny and kind and he is a really good friend; he came up here for two days and it's been so amazing and great and I spent such a wonderful time with him.
• around the beginning of October two scottish friends of mine and I decided to go on a trip to Inverness during the October break!
Inverness is 2 hours away from Perth and after a train journey (future exchange students in Scotland you really should get a Young Scot's card so that you have 30% less in the train fares) we arrived in the "capital city" of the Highlands. This city isn't really big, pretty much a bigger Perth, but it is really cute (and the shopping centre next to the train station too). We hung around Inverness and went up to the castle to see the city in all its magnificent. It was breathtaking and I am so glad to have such good Scottish friends with whom I can share this amazing experience.
•Glasgow trip
This has been the most exciting part of these two weeks; I had never been to Glasgow before that trip and I was so excited to explore and discover such an amazing and modern city.
A friend of mine, Francesca, an Italian exchange student, lives in Glasgow (actually in Paisley) and she is really kind and hosted me for three days! (I know I should never speak italian guys but don't worry it was only for three days).
After having left Perth on 23rd October I arrived in Glasgow around 3.10pm. I was so excited but pretty terrified to get lost because I had to change train station in Glasgow (from Glasgow Queen street's to Glasgow Central) to take the train to Paisley; you know Glasgow is not a tiny village and so I had to find my way in one of the biggest cities in UK. After that I was so smug and proud of myself because I felt so independent and grown up.
Arrived in Paisley, Francesca and I went to the city centre and hung around for a while. In the evening we went to an amazing shopping centre in the outskirts of Paisley and I had my first Nando's (it was amazing even if quite expensive).
The next day was the day of Glasgow university's open day! After having been to the Edinburgh university's one, the one in Glasgow was quite obvious.
As you might know I'm thinking to come back here after having finished my Italian school and study something (not sure yet) in the amazing Scotland.
Glasgow university is really beautiful, it seemed to be in Hogwarts, not joking. The event was so well organised and I went to some talks (one for the international students where there was a free buffet for us waaa) and also to a free BUS TOUR JOURNEY around Glasgow; yes guys, to show how Glagsow is to its future students, the university decided to hire some tour buses. I really think it was an intelligent choice and I appreciated so much this part of the day.
In the main building there was also a free photo booth that you could use to take funny pics in fancy dresses!
I really liked this university and I've found out that I can use the diploma I'll get here (if I obviously get high marks) to apply for university! I really hope so, so that my Italian diploma will only be something more that I don't have to use and put a lot of efforts to get a high mark.
The day after the open day we went sightseeing in Glasgow and I really understood that this is my city and I want to live here in the future. It's so urban and so multicultural (and full of amazing things to do/shops). We also visited Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and it was wonderful!

And for now it's everything; the school has begun and the teacher have started to explain the new topics of this term! They all said that this will be a really hard term because in the end of January/beginning of February I'll have prelims! (mock exams  about what you've done so far from August that you really have to pass to do your final exams; they are taken really seriously and most of the times the marks you get in them are the marks you get in your final exams).

See you soon with some news!
~Tommaso

Happiness and news!

Heyy guysss,
sorry for the absence but I'm always so busy and when I have some time I only want to relax. These last two weeks I had a lot of tests that I had to pass to do my final exams here (before your exams you have to pass some 3 unit assessment during the year!). I passed all with A so I'm really happy and proud of myself.
I have some news and I think I'll draw up my amazing list that seems so much like a shopping list.
• friends: everything is realllly good! THIS week I went out twice and they are all so kind with me (also because I'm italian so I'm cool).
•English: after two months I really feel improved a lot: I understand really everything, they tell me that my pronunciation has improved a lot and I feel more confident. I'm starting to be aware of the fact that I'm using a lot of new words/slang and also some phrasal verbs that in Italy I've heard about.
•School: today is the first day of the October break! I'm so tired and happy. I have an amazing news: I've changed French level because French higher was too easy and I was always bored so on 28th of October I'm starting Advanced Higher French! I'm pretty excited and I'm really looking forward to start it because they told me that the level you'll get with this course is like B2 (like during the lessons you read books and newspapers and you do a lot of speaking!); the final exam is pretty hard (like I'll have to speak for 20 minutes with the examiner) but who cares I love challenges and that's a good occasion to improve a lot another language. I'll have to go to another school to do it but I won't have to pay for the bus to go because it's a thing included in "Perth Campus".
• Host family: I love all of them! Two or three weeks ago we went out together and it was amazing! They really make me feel at home and I couldn't have asked for a better placement.

During the October break I'm gonna do a lot of things like Loch Ness or Glasgow (+ Open day Glasgow university) so I think I'll write a post after it!

See you soon!
~Tommaso

School in Scotland

Heyy guyss,
how are you doing? Here I'm really happy and I'm finally starting to have real friends to go out during the weekend.
But I'll talk about this in another post.
In this post I'm going to explain to you, future exchange students, the high school in Scotland.
So, let's start.
The high school in Scotland lasts six years but it starts when you are 12 (in Italy II media) and it ends when you are 18 (a year before italy).
In the first two years you have to follow all the subjects, like languages, English, Maths, sciences.
At the end of S2 you have to decide 8 subjects that you'll study for two years; at the end of S4 you'll sit the exams called National 5. Normally English and Maths are compulsory. So in S2 the pupils start to decide what they want to study at university, something more artsy, with languages or with sciences.
At the end of S4 you'll decide 5 subjects that you'll study during S5 (they have to be 5 of the eight studied during S4).
At the end of S5 you'll sit the exams (Highers).
And here starts the mess.
Normally the pupils decide to stay on another year and do some Advanced highers (useful for English universities) but some of them decide to go to university when they are 17: here in Scotland, dear readers, you can easily go to you university at that age! A few of them do that but normally the Scottish universities require Highers and not Advanced Highers.
I'm here since a month and I can say without any doubt that the scottish school is really different and for some aspects better.
The level of the 5 subjects that you study during S5 is really high (eg in Maths I'm doing things that in Italy I'll probably do during IV year of high school). Some of you can think "yeah but at the end of the school you won't have a complete cultural background but you'll only know a lot in some subjects"; that's really true but, as said before, you do the subjects that you took really really well.
The school here it's not only study: there are a lot of clubs and sports at school (I've only joined the theatre company (amazing)) but there is also the choir, the string orchestra, the orchestra, climbing club, hockey club and a lot of other things.
I have to do two compulsory hours of PE (I play badminton and you don't get a mark) and three of Personal Support (sometimes we do our homework, sometimes we talk about our future,... Sometimes it's useful and sometimes not).
To be accepted by universities you don't have just to be good at school (like in Italy) but you also have to do some extracurricular activities (like sport, work, clubs, or be a prefect, people that try to maintain the school order ). I really like this point of view because the youth is pushed to work and try a lot of different things.
And for now it's everything.
Byee
~Tommaso

P.S.: At the moment I'm on a train (full of people in fancy dresses) to Edinburgh because I'm going to the open days of EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY!