Thanksgiving. Humanities. Christmas Decorations.

Guess which one was my favorite? THANKSGIVING. This whole past week I was in just a bad mood. We had this Humanities paper that I started on last weekend and finished actually on Thanksgiving night. We had a full week of classes because of finals coming up. Which meant I had HUMANITIES three times. Which was almost unbearable. But we all made it through. Thanksgiving was very bittersweet. I had so much fun with my new Florence family but it also made me realize how much I take "family time" for granted when I'm home. I missed them so much. But Sara mad us turkey, dressing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and cornbread. It was so yummy! And the next day we had leftovers. Which were so yummy. And on Friday I got to skype my family while they put up the christmas tree! And they are saving me a few ornaments to put on the tree when I get home in 6 days!!! I can't wait to be back in Nashville.

So pretty much that whole week I worked on my HUM paper and so that weekend I just mostly chilled. I helped people start their papers and get themseleves on track. I was more of a sounding board for people who just needed to talk. I ate Spera. Which is amazing! I was weekend coordinator. So I was in-charge of the house. Which was fun. Nothing too exciting to report. We watched ELF on Saturday night!!! I love that movie so much. It was all in all a chill weekend. I turned my paper in this past tuesday. And this week is "deadweek" so we are all starting to study for exams and finishing up things. I had my oral Italian exam this morning. And that means no class tomorrow. I only have Soc tomorrow. At 2pm! I don't have to wake up until lunch time!

Pizza, How I Met Your Mother and Humanities.

This week has been so crazy! Its just been really busy. I'm definitely ready for Christmas Break! Going home to good ole' NashVegas! The reason this week was so crazy was the fact I had a Humanities reading test. Which doesn't really sound that intimidating, but it really is. Leonardo, my humanities teacher, is crazy. He expects us to recount every detail of every event and person he asks about. Its crazy. So I spent my entire week studying for that. And this next week I will be working on a paper for his class. I hate it. But it's life and I will get through it. But this past weekend was just amazing. I had a blast. On Thursday night, someone put in the third season of How I Met Your Mother. Half the Villa sat down and watched it. It was hilarious. I had never seen an episode before. I loved it so much! The next morning, Friday, I woke up at 11am. I didn't get out of my bed until 12. I left the Villa at 1pm to go to the grocery store. When I got back, some people were watching Knocked Up, so I finished it with them. After the movie was over, we got to talking about How I Met Your Mother and my friend Brea was like, "I have the forth season in my room. Lets watch it!". So, everyone in the villa at this time (about 15 people) came into the student center and we watched 10 episodes from season four. Then we all went to Spera and HOPS. It was a great night. I came back after HOPS and played Monopoly until 3:30am. I didn't get to sleep until 5am. The next afternoon I woke up around 1pm. I did some school work and skyped G. Then I got another Pizza from Spera. This place is the most amazing in the whole wide world. I'm obsessed with their pizza. Which was evident when I walked in and the main cook looks at me and goes, "Pizza Margherita senza Basilico. Si?" I giggles and said yes. Its just too good! When I get back to the Villa people are sitting around eating so I join. And after we eat, we decide to watch more HIMYM. And we finish the whole fourth season. We watched the third and fourth season in one weekend. I was so proud of us! Then this morning I woke up at 12pm, showered and straightened my hair. Then I watched football for a couple hours and did some school work. Next I ate dinner and worked on some more things for school. After that I skyped my sister and dad. Then when my mom came back from the grocery store I skyped her while she cooked! It was so much fun. My night was full skype! After the family I talked to my friend Megan and lastly I talked to Kevin. It was so great to catch up with everyone. I miss people!

23 days and Counting!

This past week has been exhausting. And my patience and sanity are running thin. I've missed my home and family this week. As you know, I LOVE making lists. So to make myself feel better this week I did A LOT of window browsing on Tiffany and Co's website as well as make a list of all the fun things I get to do when I get back to the States! It will be CHRISTMAS when I get back! Which makes me very very happy! Here are the things that I want to do:

1. Opryland Hotel and ICE! For Christmas vibes

2. Go Christmas light trolling

3. Eat at Henpeck Market, Dumplins and Mellow Mushroom

4. SONIC! I miss crappy fast food!

5. Bake Christmas Cookies

6. Breakfast at The Mercantile, Cracker Barrel, Merridee's and Pancake Pantry

7. Go to the Movies!

8. Eat Lucky Charms. I miss them terribly

9. Pam's home cooking

10. Playing cards with the family

11. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

12. Pinkberry/ Sweet Cece's

13. STARBUCKS!

14. Lastly, I get to DRIVE!

London Calling!

The next Monday was crazy insane! Everyone was studying. Constantly. And Tuesday was stressful. We had to be done with our test right at 3:30pm so we could make our 3:57 train to the Pisa Airport so we could make our 6:20 gate meet for RyanAir to London Stansted. Luckily, we were on time the entire day. It was perfect. I was thrilled! It was our long weekend and I got to see my dad! That night we got to London and took a bus from Stansted to Victoria Station. We took the tube to Earl's Gate to our hotel. I love the London Tube! We checked into our hotel and went and grabbed some food. By the time we made it back to our hotel G. was almost there! It was so awesome to see my dad! I had been missing my family SO much! It was a great fix! The next day G. had business stuff to do. Anna and I went to the British Museum and had lunch with my friend Carly, who is studying in London. Then we got lost. Which was so much fun! That night Anna was going to see Les Mis with our faculty family who were also in London and I was meeting G. for dinner and a movie! So we went back to our hotel and got ready. We hit the Victoria and Albert Museum before we met up with everyone. It was amazing! That night G. and I went to this amazing burger place and saw The Social Network! I was so excited to finally see it! The next day Anna and I hit up Nottinghill and Portobello Road Markets. Then met G. for lunch at another burger place. I have bee missing cheeseburgers if you can't tell. After that we went to Harrod's and got Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! I was in heaven! Then we hopped on a plane to Dusseldorf Germany. Michael had a show to do there. I unfortunately had an allergic reaction and had to spend the majority of Friday in a German ER. NOT FUN! But thankfully all is good now. Then Saturday morning we headed back to Florence and pretty much chilled the rest of the weekend! All in all it was a great break. I'm so glad I got to see my dad! Best part for sure!

POMPEII!

I freaked out in Pompeii! I have never been that jazzed to go somewhere. As you know, I was in Greek and Roman art last semester. We studied Pompeii and the various styles of mural painting. It was so amazing to see and touch the ruins and murals! We also got to climb Mt. Vesuvius. Which was paradise compared to Mt. Etna. It was warm! Naples was a lot different than I expected. It was pretty outside the city but inside it was a tad on the dirty side of life. Friday night we took a ferry from Naples to Ischia. Which is an island of the coast of Naples. It was BEAUTIFUL! We spent all day saturday at Poseidon. Which is pretty much a water park for adults. There are all of these pools and spas that vary in temperature. You are supposed to go from the coldest ones the the hottest ones. They each vary in temperature. There is also a sauna and hot rocks for your feet! It was so nice to just relax and sit in water all day! It was nice after the crazy week I had. Then on Sunday we went back to Naples and went to the National Museum. Which has a lot of artifacts from Pompeii! Then it was back to Florence to Study for the next 36 hours!

The week full of Studying!

The next week, October 25-28, was full of studying. I had my Italian midterm that Thursday, Sociology Inquires due before we left that weekend and my Humanities midterm that next Tuesday! I spent every ounce of free time studying and writing. I ate meals in the library. I spent hours upon hours studying for these things! It was crazy! Wednesday night I had dinner with my Adopted Family! It was so much fun! We get there and My "mama" had prepared spaghetti con pomodori! Which is spaghetti and tomato. It was the best I have ever had! I was in heaven. For the second course we had rabbit. I had never had rabbit before. All I could think about was the fact I was eating Thumper. We had red wine with dinner and dessert wine with the flour-less chocolate cake she made for us! Which was beyond yummy! And to finish off the night we had Italian MoonShine made by my "papa". It was the strongest alcohol I have ever put in my mouth! It was an experience. I did well on my Italian midterm! And that weekend we went to Pompeii!

Half Way Mark.

The week after Sicily, October 17-23 mark our half way point in being here! It was a really fun week and weekend! Anna, my roommate/bestie, her family came to Florence to visit her! Which was fantastic for her, but nice for me too! I got to see her parents! Which was awesome because it was just really nice to see familiar faces! They were very kind and too me out to dinner with them one night! It was great just to be with people from Nashville! I miss my hometown! That weekend was just awesome! On Friday, a group of us went to the EuroChocolate Festival in Perugia, Italy! It was one of the coolest things I've done since being here! We spent the whole day tasting chocolate from around Europe. I had some really yummy hot chocolate. My new favorite chocolate is the Lindt Milk Chocolate Balls. Seriously, everything under the sun was covered in chocolate! I was in heaven! The other awesome thing about that day was the train ride back to Florence! The train we were on had four seat pods. So, in my pod it was Eunice, Bailey, Alexa and myself. We had a massive girl talk session! We pretty much planned out our weddings and talked about boys! It was the best train ride ever! I loved it! The next day we did a really fun thing at the train station. Lana, Brianna, Chelsey, Sam and myself got to the station and bought tickets for the next train that left the station; which was Pisa! We went to Pisa for the morning and took the really cheesy tourist pictures at the leaning tower and ate lunch! We also bought a bottle of Champagne at the supermarket. But that comes in later in the story. When we were done in Pisa we did the same thing at that train station. The next train leaving was to Lucca. Lucca is precious! There is a fantastic park! The leaves were changing and everything! Just delightful! We just sat and people watched. Then we got on a train heading to Florence. This is where the champagne comes in. Sam and I had bought it at the supermarket in Pisa and drank it the entire train ride from Lucca to Firenze. It was so much fun! It had always been on my bucket list to pop open a bottle and drink strait from it. Got to mark that off! And then that Sunday was just a chill day. I studied for Humanities and slept. It was fantastic.