2 months left in America...

Hey kids! haha
Two months to go! If you could only see the state of chaos my mind is in right now! This summer is like the final stretch before I take that huge leap into what will probably be the most life-changing experience of my life! Where do I start?!
Okay, so when I was little, we had a German exchange student, Lisa, stay in our house for the year. She came back for a month to visit and it was AMAZING seeing her again! She stayed here for about a month (may 31st-june 25th). I can only hope that years from now I will still have that relationship with the family I'm going to stay with in Italy! I can't even explain the feeling of seeing Lisa again. When people ask about her, I can simply say she's my big sister. All of our old inside jokes were still funny and we still knew each other so well, even as time keeps on rolling by. Her coming was a great breath of fresh air and it helped reality set in as I look towards my year in Italy. It was sad when she had to leave.
In other news, I have been working my butt off at Hershey Park as a lifeguard. Not that I don't love parts about my job, I really do, but the days become long and monotonous and run together. Spending 8 hours in the sun exhausts me, and though I never really want to go to work, I have to because I need the money. Everything I make this summer is going towards my spending money while in Italy. It's a lot.
I wish I could take this summer to hang out with friends. It's a weird feeling. When people know you're leaving for 10 months, their actions are saying something like "i'm going to miss you, what's the point in getting closer when you're leaving soon?" It sucks. I'm just hanging out with as many people as possible on my days off and I'm going to be sending a MILLION post cards while in Italy.. I just need to find the perfect balance between life in Italy, and keeping in touch with people from the USA. I DEFINITELY don't want to be one of those kids who are always on the phone/computer talking to people from home. I want to fully embrace the experience and culture ahead of me. This is the reason I am NOT bringing my laptop.. I'll have plenty of opportunities to get on the computer there, and I was planning on buying an external hard drive for any pictures or documents I have over there that I want to bring back to America.
All in all, these next two months are going to be STRESSFUL... but I think in the end, it will all be worth it. This is all the time I have for ranting today, but I'll try to write again at a later date. Until then

Chelsea

ps-mess up #1!! So I was writing my host family and the first thing I say is "Ciao!"... later I find out that Ciao is usually only used with peers or people you are well aquainted with, and when it's anyone else, it's considered rude. oops! hopefully they understand my mistake. haha
"Mi dispiace!!!!"