Snowed in

Friday morning, I woke up ready to enjoy my last day in florence. Me and my roommate left our apartment to go to the leather market for last minute gifts and walked out to find SNOW. We were so excited. I found all my gifts. As we headed home, the rain started to get more intense. We rested for a bit and decided to climb the duomo steps. By this time there was tons of snow and it was still coming down. We got to the top after 463 stairs! It was so pretty to see the city covered in snow. After this we started to get nervous. Florence aparently hasn't had snow in 20 something years. So naturally the city shuts down. We went to dinner at our favorite restaurant! I got some yummy alfredo! We got back and were all checkign our flights over and over. Around 1 am (yes that's right) expedia emailed my parents that something had changed on my itenerary. My flight was cancelled. My dad called them and they said we had to go to meridiana. I got up at 5 to leave for the airport. Of course, no taxis were running. So we started to drag our bags to the train station to catch the bus to the airport. We met some nice people who tried to help us. (by us I mean me and one roommate since one had ditched us and we later foudn out she got a cab) We had almost made it to the station when we saw some cabs running. We flagged one down and got to the airport. I spent abotu 5 hours in line waiting to talk to the ticket people. I got to the front of the line and tried to be super friendly to the lady so that maybe she would work some magic for me to leave the next day. She did try but could not do anything for me. The next time I could get a flight was for Wednesday the 22nd. I made 2 friends in line who were supposed to be on the same cancelled flight. The airline put us up in a hotel. At the hotel I find out that two of my roommates didnt' get on their flight either. I am now back at my apartment spending the next few days in my apartment. The bad news is that we already through away everything including shampoo, toothpaste, cleanign supplies and dishwashing soap. The good news is that I have company until wednesday, the taxis are now running, and there is not supposed to be any snow. For now pray that there is good weather in London which is my first stop on the way home. At this point I'm ok with being here. Obviously I would rather be home but I've come to terms with the situation at hand. Here are pics of my "last day"
still enjoying the snow
at the top of the duomo

another pic at the top

the duomo covered in snow
veiw from the top!

Ciao!

Christmas break has finally come!

Its official, I'm done with finals!!! I took my last final this afternoon (Italian) and I am now on Christmas break! I feel pretty confident about all my finals and am just glad I don't have to study anymore. Tomorrow is my last full day in Italy. I am going to take pictures, shop for my last presents, and go to dinner with some of my roommates. Its hard for me to explain exactly how I'm feeling about my time here coming to an end. On one hand its kind of sad. This semester was an awesome opportunity for me. I have learned alot and experience so many cool things. I absolutely love to travel and have really enjoyed being here. I now have no excuse or reason to come back to Europe in the foreseeable future. That is probably the hardest part for me, is not knowing when I'll get an opportunity like this again. On the other I'm pretty excited. I have gotten to do everything I wanted. I finally got to see Venice! When I applied to study abroad and during my preperations this summer, I needed aventure. I needed a change of scenery and to experience something new and unique. It was just something that I really needed. I am so blessed that I got to do just that. So, now I am ready. I'm beyond ready to see my family, sit in my living room, put up the christmas decorations, sleep in my own bed in my room, cuddle my doggies, and make christmas cookies. I'm so excited to see all my friends, catch up on everything in their lives, and laugh til our stomachs hurt. I can't wait to drive my car, use the microwave, dry my clothes in a dryer, and not have to bag my own groceries. So, while its a little sad that I'm leaving Florence, I am so excited to be going home. Its true, there really is no place like home!


Ciao!

1 week

It is just so crazy to me that I only have one week here. And its so sad to me that it will be spent studying for and taking finals. Which I hate! Yesterday was an exciting day in my family! My big brother graduated from college! My family is spending the weekend in Abilene and I got to skype them during the party! And here he is, the college graduate!
fixing his hair...so vain!

On other exciting news, christmas decorations are in full swing! This makes my heart very happy! There is a huge tree in front of the Duomo.
how pretty is this?!...you can't spin under it though :(

I have mixed feelings on leaving in a week.I'm a little sad. I don't know when I'll be coming back to Europe and that is disappointing. However, I am getting sick of the pace in Italy. And by pace I mean there isn't one. Everything moves ridiculously slow and it is gettnig on my nerves. I am so excited to see my family. I can't wait to see my friends and sleep in my own bed. Its going to be nice to have my favorite foods, drive my car, and enjoy some fun Christmas happenings! Speaking of chrismas happenings I have been searching the internet to find some fun things to bake and some Christmas crafts.

Ready or not, I will be home in a week!

Ciao!

Fiorentina

I would definitely not refer to myself as an avid soccer fan, or even a small fan really. Thanks to the amount of time I spent with two of my guy friends this summer, I did watch many world cup highlights. In Europe though, soccer is a huge deal. It is pretty much the only sport that matters. With this being true, I felt that going to a soccer game would be an experience that I wouldn't want to miss out on. Me and three of my roommies got our tickets for 10 euro. They weren't very good seats but we didnt' care a whole lot. We went to the Fiorentina soccer game which is the Florence team. We decked out in our purple and headed out into the cold. Lucky for me, purple is my favorite color! The Fiorentina fans are crazy! Everyone is head to toe purple and many bring their own flags. They know all the songs and chants. The atmosphere was really fun. The weather was not fun. Good thing I bought purple rabbit lined gloves the day before! We stuck it out until about 15 minutes before it was over. Fiorentina had just scored and then apparently the ref made a bad call. It went from overjoyed to complete angry mob in 2 seconds. The guy next to us was repeatedly hitting his chair. It was actually quite humorous to us, but it was only funny to us! We decided to leave before we got jumped for laughing hysterically. Overall it was quite an experience. I had a fun time and got to see the true Italian spirit towards soccer. I will leave you with some pictures.

How I spent Thanksgiving

We went back and forth on how we wanted to spend thanksgiving. We first planned to search for a turkey and do it big. Then we decided to go the cheaper route and eat a chicken. The day of Thanksgiving rolled around and we all found ourselves a lot sadder about being away from home than we expected. At about 2:30 right before I left for class we decided to just go ahead with it and have people over. Well now whole turkey was to be found, so we bought chicken breasts, rolls, brocoli, and potatoes. My roommate created a delicious sauce for the chicken and we made brocollie and mashed potatoes. We had 4 people over for dinner and they brought garlic bread, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pies. Including the 5 of us still in town and our friend who was staying with us again, we had 11 people for dinner.

making mama proud, wrapping the rolls

the chicken and the chef

the food

Our friend Robert made apple pies for us. They were delicious! And pretty too!


We even watched a little (disappointing) cowboys football. I was very pleasantly suprised with Thanksgiving. My first thanksgiving without my family was actually pretty fun. I do not, however, wish to repeat it anytime soon!

Ciao!

The last week of classes has arrived!!!

It is crazy that I only have 2 weeks here! Tomorrow starts my last week of class! I present a group project monday, learn a bit of Italian on Tuesday, go to two review classes Wednesday, and review for Italian Thursday! Today I'm going to the Fiorentina soccer game (more to come later), Thursday is my mom's birthday and a party for my school, and Friday my brother graduates from college! This week is way exciting! There is a lot to finish still and studying to dread but that's ok. My last weekend will be spent studying and buying the rest of my presents! In more exciting news, there 21 days til I turn 21! There are also 13 days until I go home. In some ways I feel like I just got here but in other ways, 13 days could not pass soon enough! I will leave you with a picture from a castle/vineyard tour our program took us on a while ago



Ciao!

December is here!

It is my favorite day!! The countdown to my birthday (25 days in case you were wondering) and return to America has begun. I cannot believe its already December. One of the many great things about Italia is that they loooove Christmas here. Every store has Christmas themed window displays. So many of the streets have Christmas lights! It gets dark really early these days. I'm fine with that because that means the lights are on for longer! There is a Christmas market close to my apartment. Seriously, this is a Christmas-lover's dream. I can't wait to explore and,no worries, I'll take tons of pictures of lights! Unfortunately this will all have to wait because I still have class today.

Merry Christmas!!!

Ciao