Accepted!!!

Ciao!

So…..as you can probably guess from the title….I GOT ACCEPTED TO ITALY!!! I was actually accepted two days ago (Friday), but these past few days have been super crazy and I haven't had a moment to sit down and write. So anyways, I was sitting in my third period french class, complaining to my friends about how I still hadn't heard back from AFS and how I didn't know how much longer I could wait. Then, I saw that it was almost time to leave, and I grabbed my phone to check how many more minutes until the bell rang. My phone had several messages in all caps from my friend who is also applying to go to Italy saying that she just got the email and that she was accepted. I was really happy for her and I messaged her back super excited! I didn't think to check my e-mail right away, since she had sent in her application around 2 weeks before mine. However, a few minutes later when I was in the hall with my friends, I decided to go ahead and check it just in case…..

And that's when I saw it. The e-mail that determined the course of my life for the next year, which would in turn affect my whole life from this point forward. (Cue dramatic music) The subject line read: AFS You have been Accepted by Italy!

I started screaming and jumping up and down (luckily my school is huge so the hallways are so crowded it drowned out the sounds I was making). I started hyperventilating and I messaged my friend letting her know I was accepted too and then we both started freaking out together. But being the suave, chill girl I am (not), in my fit of excitement I accidentally did something to the email and I moved it to another inbox (darn you touch screen phones!) and I started panicking thinking I had imagined the email and I was going crazy. Luckily, I found it and all was well again. Thankfully, I had dance class afterwards so my happy dance wasn't so noticeable ;)

But YEAH! So guess what? It's official. I, Tamara Moctezuma, am moving to Italy for a year!! The land of spaghetti and stilettos! (Yes, I know there is way more to Italy than just that and I can't wait for that too but it wasn't as catchy so sorry) Ahhhh I can't believe it!! My dreams are finally becoming a reality!! I think it hasn't exactly sunken in yet, but sometimes I get little waves of mini epiphanies about what exactly this all means and I get super excited all over again.

So now, we wait. I do as much research as I can, I start learning Italian, and I keep on trying to be patient. I've heard host family placement takes a loooong time, so this should be fun. But I'm just happy to know that it's all just a matter of time. I'll let you all know when I know more!!

A più tardi! Xoxo

-- Tami