Rosie Double (Returnee) - QLD to Italy

Mon 31 Jul 2006

Rosie Double, from Maroochydore State High School in QLD has returned from her semester program in Italy. Rosie won one of our language scholarships. Here is her news.

Hey to all at Student Exchange Australia!

I’m back in Oz (albeit a little tired from the blur of flights and airports), but thoroughly happy with my time spent in Italy. I miss all my Italian family, but we’ve already been in contact which is great and I hope to manage a trip back in the next couple years. I’ve got the travel bug, and it’s all your fault!

I had such a great time, and still can’t really believe all the places I went and all the real pieces of history I saw and touched. When I wrote emails back to my friends, they joked that it wasn’t really a student exchange to Italy but to the whole of Europe. I got to go to Austria and Budapest on a school trip, which was amazing. We stayed away for a week, traveling by bus across Europe, and you know what? - Italians have annoying bus songs too! It was still winter when we drove through the mountains: everything covered in snow, and every 20 minutes you’d see a rooftop peeking up, or an isolated chimney.

I saw Mozart’s house and went on a cruise down the main river of Budapest, and ate at a massive medieval restaurant. We went to the thermal baths (which was a very interesting experience in itself because obviously the Italians don’t speak Hungarian, and the Hungarians don’t speak Italian – however, they could speak a little English, so I had to try and translate for the teacher, but I’d only been in Italy for a couple of months and didn’t know much Italian, especially not the words for bubble bath and facial steam, which turned into a very funny charades game!) and all sorts of other wonderful, random experiences.

It was also great fun staying in the hotel all together with new-found school friends - and you realise that teenagers really aren’t so different on the other side of the world. Except when the excursion note says “bring some snack food for the bus”, however, and so you rock up with a can of Pringles and a bottle of water, and they arrive laden with hampers and fruit baskets and hams and salads and gourmet cheeses and enough rolls to feed an army!

I also got to go to France - a few times, actually! Once to Paris when we first arrived, because the Milan airport was closed so we were redirected, and were able to make a quick dash into the city to TOUCH THE EIFFEL TOWER! But also a couple times in the Easter vacation…we were staying near Sanremo at the beach when my mum said, “we can go to France today if you want.”

Me: “ha ha, yeah I wish”, thinking she’s joking. Then there’s a pause… “No, really, France. It’s just twenty minutes to the border!” - and so like this I went to Monte Carlo and Monaco, and saw the Formula One race track being set up and quite possibly some famous people, because apparently all the rich actors and models, etc., have holiday houses and boats here, and there were a lot of people walking round in dark glasses!

Also Switzerland! Very Sound-Of-Music style into the hills. We went in summer and there was still a little bit of snow!

Back in Italy, I saw churches and palaces hundreds of years old, Venice, concerts, paintings, Milan! And yet, some of the things I’ll probably remember the most are the small achievements. Nothing was ever really mundane because everything was new and challenging; even waiting in line or answering the telephone were all opportunities to learn something or improve my Italian!

I’ll never forget the day I conquered the post office! I asked for two stamps to Australia and do you know what I got? Two stamps to Australia! A strange bench-mark for success I know, but not long ago, newly arrived with very little Italian, I tackled this same feat with disastrous results. I got stuck in the revolving door, and waited in line for 15 minutes before discovering I needed a ticket, only to be asked: “Did you say one stamp for Austria?” A few months on and it was a triumph for how much I had learnt – of the language, of communication, of traditions – well, at the very least, a mark of progress!

I know I’ve learnt a lot from my time - at the very least, a bit of perspective. Because when you realise you’re stuck on the metro or you miss the last bus, the only thing you can do is stay calm, and remember there’s always a solution – obviously - because I’m now home and not forever stuck at Molino Dorino Station! And you realise that if you can face situations like this by yourself, on the other side of the world, then you can tackle everyday problems in a similar manner.

I’ll really miss Italy - the friends, family, FOOD, music (did you know there’s Italian rap?!), film, attitudes, TV (even Homer Simpson’s dodgy dubbed voice!) markets, shops, the mullet as a fashion look, and most of all the language. The feeling that comes over you when you stop and realise you’ve just been speaking, having conversations, and writing homework all in a new language and people have understood!

After my exchange I can wholeheartedly say my passion for Italy burns strong! So thanks, Student Exchange, for saying yes to my application all those months ago and opening the door to this fantastic adventure…

Rosie Double