Christmas madness has already started in Italy. Everyone has already started putting lights outside, decorating the streets with Christmas trees, and putting Christmas themed food on their menus. I have even started preparing Christmas music for the flute concert I will be in with Camilla in December. Christmas is huge here! From listening to my family’s and friends’ plans for what they are planning to do for Christmas, it seems like they take it really seriously here. I’m excited to see what my Italian Christmas will be like!

On the same subject, the Christmas weather has already kicked in. This morning it went down to zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and I saw a light layer of frost on the ground! Oh man it’s going to be SO cold, but SO beautiful at the same time. Good thing I have a warm coat to keep me warm, thanks Grandma!

Saturday night was super fun, I went out with Camilla, Martino, Alberto, Carlotta, Andrea, Laura B, Edoardo, and Laura C. We all went bowling! Well first we went to McDonalds for dinner, and then went bowling. Bowling was super fun, although I lost big time in the end! Martino got first place. Then we went to the bar “Flamingo” in Angera, but left soon afterwards because it was super cold and the music was way to loud haha. Sunday was a lazy day, I got to sleep in :) I went to Nonna’s house with my family for a little while, and then Camilla and I went to the nearby town, Sesto, and practiced our flutes with like 30 other kids. Apparently my flute teacher is going to have a Christmas recital in December will all of her students and other instruments. So every Sunday from now until the recital I get to play Christmas music with a mini orchestra!

Monday was normal, I went to school and then had a flute lesson afterwards. Today I didn’t have to go to school! Instead, I went to Varese with Camilla and mom to get my Italian visa made! We waited in the waiting room for like 20 minutes, but that’s okay, I got to get my fingerprints copied on a fingerprint machine :) After we finished all of the visa stuff, it was still pretty early in the day, so we walked around the center of Varese for a while and went in a few shops. I enjoyed walking around Varese because I love looking at the differences between each city in Italy and how they compare to Phoenix. I hope to travel to other famous cities in Italy as well this year. I’ve already seen Milan, Turin (kind of), Monza, and Varese. And my family said that we might go see Pisa and maybe Rome later this year too!

Guess what?! It is Camilla’s 18th birthday on Thursday! And as most of you probably know, it is also Thanksgiving on Thursday! Sadly, Italy doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving *cries.* But that’s okay, it will still be a memorable day because we have something special planned for Camilla. I will tell you about it in my next post on Friday or Saturday. Buona notte!