Today was my 17th birthday. As soon as I came downstairs to eat breakfast, my host family greeted me: "Auguri!" It literally means "wishes."
The school was quite amazing, from a brief advisory gathering for a mini-party to going to the pizzeria downstairs during the Italian class. Afterwards, I went to Alex's house and ate a lot of her Asian food that was mailed to her from her aunt. Then, we went exploring Bagnaia. We have been to the main piazza, but the narrow streets deep inside the town were so much cooler! Though they were a little bit sketchy and scary, we walked around in hopes to waste time until our bus arrived.
Then, the highlight: the birthday dinner. Although we usually eat one plate for dinner (which is unlike many Italian families), we ate in a traditional primo-secondo-dolce course. Of course, we had the traditional cake with the classic "happy birthday" song (which is "tanti auguri" in Italian - meaning "many wishes"). They got me a nice wallet for my birthday present, so that was very sweet! And to finish it off, we drank good red wine. My parents offered a little bit to my 7 year-old host brother, and he enjoyed it a lot, which I found very funny. Unfortunately, we did not take any photos!! They are not really into "fare delle foto..."
After not celebrating my birthday with "a family" for several years, it was nice to do so this year. I could not have asked for a better birthday :)