My thoughts on being home

It has taken me a while to decide just how I feel to be home. Everytime someone asks me I feel like I don't have an adequate answer. Its very bittersweet. I think about the moment I finally got home and saw my family waiting for me in the airport, and know that I'm so happy to be home. With all the madness trying to get out of Europe, (I know, who in their right mind is desperate to leave Europe?!)I've never felt so happy to see my family. I'm so glad to be able to reconnect with all the people I love. The hardest part about studying abroad was the feeling of disconnect between me and all the people back at home. The time difference made it hard to talk to people and all I wanted to do was share the excitment with people I care about. I'm glad to be back in a place where I don't get lost every week and I can understand what people are saying. On the other hand I miss Italy. I find myself wishing that I could go walk past the Santa Croce or get a sandwich from Antico Noe. Its definitely not as exciting to go to classes here, mostly because the veiw is not near as great. For the most part I am just very grateful to be back in America, but occasionally I wish I was back in Florence....maybe one day.

The Adventures of trying to leave Europe....

I meant to do this when I got back in December. Once I made it home, I got busy being with my family and catching up with my friends. Then I started school and got even more busy. But for the sake of having this memory forever (as if I could EVER forget), I want to write down the craziness of my return to America. As I mentioned I got snowed in. This is something that,being from Texas, I never thought I would have to deal with. The worst part was that there were no cabs running on Saturday morning. So me and one of my roommates decided the only thing to do was to drag our stuff to the train station to catch a bus. Man was that a sight. We finally found a cab after at least (and probably more than) a hour. After I finally got issued a new ticket and spent the night in a hotel, I went back to my apartment to wait it out with 2 roommates and a couple friends. We spent from Sunday-Wednesday morning in Florence. Since we didn't want to spend too much more money we got minimal groceries and shampoo/conditioner to share. We watched movies most of the time and went to dinner out every night. Wednesday morning comes and I got a cab to take me to the airport. After checking in, I got on the plane and to London Gatewick with no problems. I was so relieved and hopeful. I spoke to soon. I had to take a bus from Gatwick to London Heathrow which is about an hour away. I got there and it was complete chaos from all the missed flights over the past weekend. I made it to the check in desk 5 minutes after the plane had started boarding. The very impolite (to put it nicely) british guy at the desk would not let me go. Needless to say, we did not get along and I cried. The best he could do was put me on standby for the same flight the next day. He told me to get in line around 8 to get on the list. After I was on this list I would just have to wait and hope that I actually get on the flight. If not, the next flight was the day after Christmas. I spent the day in the london airport reading, eating, and trying not to freak out. The good thing about the airport was they had a place for stranded people to sleep and eat. I met many nice people there trying to help. These friendly faces just about made up for the jerk from us airways. I slept a grand total of an hour! There were constantly people in and out of this room, the lights were on,and there was a baby crying all night. I woke up at 6:45 and decided to just go ahead and get in line for standby. Well God must have been smiling down on me that morning. I had forgotten this slip of paper they gave me to get on the standby list and couldn't get out of the airport to get it. Well that ended up being the best thing that could happen to me. I had to go back to the ticket desk (where the mean guy was) and ask them for another. The lady told me that she would just go ahead and check me in. {What they hadn't told anyone is that we were supposed to line up at the ticket desk and not the baggage check. There were tons of people just in line at the baggage claim.} So then she tells me that I'm first on the standby list. Which means I'll get a seat before anyone else!!! If there wasn't a desk in between us I would have hugged her! I checked in my bags and then waited for my gate to be announced. After it was announced, I waited some more to see if I could get on the flight. After abotu 30 minutes I heard my name being called. I made my little way over to the desk to get my TICKET HOME! I immediately emailed my parents that I was coming home! Again, I need to keep my mouth shut! The flight crew announced that there was trouble with the engine and our flight would be delayed 2 hours. UUUUUGH! We finally get to Philidelphia and I had missed my connecting flight which meant I wouldn't be able to go home until the next day. After a hysterical (a girl can't keep it together all the time) call to my mom and a frantic attempt to find another way home, I accepted my fate. The airline put me up in a nice hotel with a free dinner. I relaxed in my room, slept in a comfy bed, watched tv, and ate some yummy cheesecake! I woke up super early and caught the 7 am flight to charlotte and then on to Austin. I finally made it home at noon on Christmas Eve. I speed walked through the airport, dodging slowpokes and smiling with excitment. Then I finally saw the 7 most beautiful faces in the world! I waved like a crazy person and then made my way down the escalator. As soon as I hugged my mom, I just started crying. It was the best moment ever. I was so glad to be home. That night we did our usual Christmas eve things but jetlag showed its ugly face and I fell asleep at 7:30. It was such a wonderful feeling to be home and safe and not longer dragging around 100lbs of luggage.




The saddest part was missing my party! I have always wanted a suprise party. Unfortunately, I am sooo nosy and my mom felt (rightly so) that the only way it would work is if I was out of the country. I {stupidly} thought that no one but my family cared that I was coming home or that I was stranded! What I didn't know was that my besties were helping my mom plan a part for me. They ordered a cake and everything. This party was rescheduled everytime I missed my flight. Unfortunately it never got to happen since I got back on Christmas Eve. It was still a nice gesture and the cake was oh so yummy!

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!