Ciao a tutti! I am just realizing that in only two days, I will have been here for 6 months. That’s so crazy to think about! I just want to take a moment to mention the things I have learned so far. A friend of mine who is also an exchange student did something like this on her blog, and I though I’d do the same because it is a very clever idea. In these past six months, I have learned more about myself and more about the world than I had learned in 18 years of life. I have learned a new language, a new culture, and met so many people. But with all of this I have also learned so many lessons about life. In these past weeks I have thought a lot about the lessons I have learned, so I am going to share a few of them with you all. And even though they might be simple, obvious lessons, they are very important.

1. The first lesson I learned is to take things one day at a time. I had heard this idea thousands of times before but I did not understand the full meaning before my time in Italy. I learned this lesson during the first weeks of my time in Italy when the thought of being in a foreign country for ten whole months was way too overwhelming. I had to consistently remind myself that today I am here and today life is good. Tomorrow will come eventually, but today is today and today I cannot do anything about tomorrow. So I should make today count, and I should be grateful for everything today brings.
2. The second lesson I have learned is that low expectations are really the key to a happy life. Here in Italy, life rarely goes as planned. In fact, it almost always never goes as planned and everything seems like a surprise! Therefore, I have learned that if I expect things to happen, the chances of them happening are very low, so it is much easier to go with flow and take things as they come. There will always be bumps in the road, but if I have lower expectations, it will be easier to conquer these bumps and enjoy life.
3. The third and probably most important lesson I have learned is that the only way to get through life is to laugh when you mess up. Everyday I make a mistake with the language. I’m not kidding, EVERY DAY!! At first I was really embarrassed and would beat myself up about it. But now, I know mistakes happen and life goes on, but I just have to laugh it off and let it go. Everyone knows that I’m not fluent in Italian, so they know that I will make mistakes and they help me get through them. The saying about how we learn from our mistakes is true, we just have to be brave enough to make them and not feel ashamed.

Also, if you haven’t already seen my Youtube video for February, here is the link! <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0GVo6snUdk&gt;