The End

Well, the follow up to that last post never happened, but I did go to Lake Como with my parents, and we had a wonderful week, biking around Tuscany, exploring Lucca, and taking in Florence. It was a really special thing to have them see my space and life here!

Florence can't handle this much Patagonia...

Chianti!

Morgan visited, too, and all we could think was "We're in Italy. Together." It was so fun to show her around, climb the Duomo, and eat yummy food!

Friends do Florence

On the last weekend in November, I went to Venice!

We saw glass blowing on Murano.

We saw the beautifully quaint and colorful town of Burano.

The Leaning Tower of Burano (jk. that's not its name...)

And of course, all the sights of Venice, including the house where Dad spent a semester when he was at Wake Forest. It was a packed trip, but it is such a unique place and a fun one to visit.

Casa Artom, where Dad spent his semester abroad, as viewed from the Guggenheim Museum

Just another study abroad gal in San Marco (but avoiding the pigeons at all cost)

Of course, these last few days in Florence have been magical as well. The lights are up all over the city and a giant LIVE tree and a huge nativity are up by the Duomo. I told Mary tonight that I feel like I've been in one of those film montages where the seasons change really fast in a matter of seconds, and all of a sudden the characters are wearing coats and scarves. It feels like yesterday that I was wearing shorts (bad move #1: no one wears shorts here...) and sandals. The time has flown.

The Gang after a final dinner with our professor

And now, after what was and will forever be the least stressful week of exams, it's over. Just like that. Tomorrow is our last day in Florence. On Saturday, Mary and I catch one last early-morning shuttle bus to the airport for our 7:30am flight to Rome, where we'll hop on a flight to Atlanta, where I'll say bye to my roomie of four months and head to the Bull City!

As we like to say at Camp DeSoto, an experience like this requires some emotional packing up, which is what I've tried to get my campers roommates to do these past few days.

I'm at such a strange point. I am incredibly excited to be home, to see family, to be back in the familiar. Where the tap water tastes normal, coffee shops are places to linger, and take out is a normal concept. Where I'll celebrate Christmas at Blacknall and rejoice in this time of year.

I love this city, but I've got to get back to my people.

But of course, how will I ever be able to express what this semester has meant to me? I still remember going to the "Study Abroad" session at the Explore Carolina day. This was something I've looked forward to for years, and it has happened. What a gift! I know for certain that I will continue to reflect on this period for months and years to come, grateful for the growth I have experienced.

Grateful for the ways I have experience God's love for me and for his Church that goes far beyond the cities of Durham and Chapel Hill.

Grateful for trips far and wide with good friends.

Grateful to live in a culture far different from my own and for the things I've learned from that.

Grateful for the unique adventures that can only happen when you throw 20 year old girls into a foreign city.

I'm excited to see that ways in which this semester will affect me long after I'm back on American soil.

For now, thanks for reading the 5(?) posts that this blog ended up being. I don't think it'll make me millions, but it's been fun to share from this little space of the internet!

Merry Christmas!

Hello again.

October was a whirlwind of a month, and with two big weekends of traveling with midterms in between and followed by visits from the Poole parental units and Morgan, I had little time to blog. Add in a hard-drive crash, and you're lucky to be reading this right now.

I could/should have had a post about each trip, but I'll try to give a recap! Settle in. Some good stuff happened in October.

The second weekend of October, Mary, who also happened to be meeting friends in France, and I jetted off to Paris, or Parigi in Italian, after a 3am bus ride to Pisa. My goodness, was I in for a treat. I was meeting up with four of my best friends who are also studying abroad throughout Europe, and it was a joyous reunion at the metro stop right near our AirBnB "apartment."

It was a packed weekend in which we did pretty much all you can do in three and a half days. We walked a lot, ate delicious food (except for the beef tartare...), went to Versailles, climbed the Eiffel Tower, saw famous monuments, churches, and art, and enjoyed the great time together. It was truly a dream of a weekend.

At Musee d'Orsay. My favorite museum of them all.

Just me and Mona.

Roomies do Parigi

Luxembourg Gardens, modeled after the Boboli in Florence!

After a less-than-smooth trip home on Monday that put us back in Florence approximately 7 hours after we were supposed to get home, I had midterms beginning the next day! It was a bit of a stressful week in which I was reminded that I do indeed have schoolwork here. But, I finished those up on Thursday and hopped on the next 3am bus ride to Pisa to head to London!

In London, I met up with Anna Russell and Mary Frances, friends from camp who are both studying in England.

I wandered from Victoria Station to my hostel in South Kensington, taking my time and taking it all in. Along the way I happened by Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Harrod's, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and more. Mary Frances was appalled that I walked that far, but with such a short trip it was a fun way to see all those places, many of which I remembered well from our trip eight years ago.

Because who doesn't love a pretty arch in the middle of London?

Hyde Park in Fall

Once we all gathered at Starbucks (note: this establishment does not exist in Italy. at all.), we ate a yummy dinner that did not include pizza or pasta and went shopping. We also went to a creperie in South Kensington where I got a waffle with Oreos and white chocolate. Yes. It was as good as it sounds.

The next day we waited in line for tickets to a MUSICAL before meeting people for a delicious brunch of eggs, toast, and tea at a delightful spot where Pippa Middleton is rumored to have eaten. So  I've basically met the Queen, right?

Then I made our dear and aggressively local MFD do touristy things like take pictures in front of Big Ben and go to Trafalgar Square. We also went to Buckingham Palace and sat on a bench on the outskirts of Hyde Park. It was lovely.

I then ate a delicious cheeseburger and approximately 10,000 french fries before heading to Memphis, the musical we had decided on. The singers/actors was phenomenal, and I was grinning ear to ear despite my theater critic friends' dismay at irrelevant parts like the ending.

We grabbed some cider at the college pub before being kept awake until 2:30am by the Brazilians in our shared room. However, I still managed to catch a real-live London taxi at 4am to get to my bus to get to the airport to get home. Phew. Traveling is exhausting.

I laid low in Florence once I got home because guess what? I WAS MEETING MY PARENTS THE NEXT DAY!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Holy Switzerland, Batman

Wow wow wow. Last weekend, spent on Lake Como and in Switzerland, was a major highlight of my time so far.

The trip was with school, so travel and a couple of meals were taken care of--a huge plus! We met at the buses on Saturday morning at 5:45am. We drove through Tuscany and then through Lombardy, where we stopped at one of the many roadside AutoGrills for a real cappuccino and delicious Nutella croissant, of course. I've never had gas station food like it.

We arrived in Como, our first stop on Lake Como, in the late morning. So, we saw the beautiful views of the lake, perused the market, and dropped in on the cathedral, because what else do you do in Italy?

We saw almost nothing of this beautiful town, but we had other places to be!

We hopped back on the bus to catch the ferry to Bellagio. At one point, our buses and another bus were heading straight for each other on the narrow road, and it took approximately 30 minutes for them to argue. Someone finally backed up. Actually, our bus driver had the "cool head" according to our chaperone, especially considering that our other bus driver truly did get out of his bus and start yelling at the other driver...The argument drew the locals onto their balconies.

We had more time in Bellagio to eat lunch, which we did at a nice trattoria. I got fried perch with rice.

After lunch we walked to the point on the end of the island that has beautiful views of the lake.

We also saw this man who has got retirement figured out.

Again, we had too little time in Bellagio, but this was our last stop on Lake Como. In case you haven't heard, George Clooney has a villa in Lake Como and is adored by Italians. He was actually in Italy that weekend, but he happened to be getting married in the little town called Venice. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to go back.

Looking good for George

We hopped back on the bus and headed towards Switzerland! Heading north, we saw more and more mountains, which we drove up on switchback roads. Thank goodness I don't get carsick.

Excuse the crummy iPhone pic, but we drove up those roads

We stopped for a photo-op at a time that is the dictionary definition of twilight. The way the sun was setting on the lake was stunning.

Before we knew it, we were in St. Moritz, the "top of the world" and one of the ritziest ski resorts in the world. We stayed in a quaint little hotel, had a delicious four course dinner, and then ventured out into the 30 degree night to find that the off season in such a place is actually not very exciting. The next morning we met our guide for the day, Rudy. He's a ski instructor and does things like heliski. He promised to ski with us if (when?) we came back, but I think my inability when it comes to skiing would terrify him enough to retract that offer.

Mushroom pasta that was the first course of our dinner in St. Moritz. Proof that I'm branching out.

We took a walk around the lake on what was one of the clearest days so far. I mean come on.

Then he guided us around St. Moritz, showing us places like hotels that have suites that cost $12,000 a night. Yes. A night.

Some of the gals with Rudy. (Pic stolen from Shelby.)

Of course we had to stop and buy Swiss chocolate. I didn't take an artsy pic of all the truffles. I ate them too fast. Sorry not sorry.

After our tour, we boarded the Bernina Express, which took us through the Alps, past a glacier, and back to Tirano, Italy, where we took the bus home!

Sorry. It's hard to just choose one. The pictures don't even do it justice.

It was especially fun to be in the mountains at the beginning of fall. While it feels somewhat like the seasons are changing here in the city, it was so nice to feel the crisp, cool air of the mountains and to see some color changes in the trees. I loved getting back to the city, but man, I loved this place.

September Highlights

I think it's safe to say that my "be a great and consistent blogger" plan has failed, but it's worth a shot. September has been a wonderful month of exploring Florence more and venturing out to Tuscany. Classes are in full swing, and I really feel much more at home here. Maybe there will be a real live how-am-i-doing and these-are-my-deep-thoughts-about-life type of post in the future, but for now, here are a few highlights from the month:

Mary and I went to Lucca, a small town about a two hour train ride from Florence, the weekend after we went to Cinque Terre. It's known for its olive oil and ancient walls. Here, we ate a delicious lunch, climbed a really cool tower that has trees growing on top of it, and biked said ancient walls.

We were very proud of ourselves for managing to get train tickets and be on time, but just to keep us humble, we managed to unknowingly miss our first train because the platform sign was for a stop after Lucca. So, we stood on our platform and watched our train chug away. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later that we realized we'd missed it.

That weekend also included a trip to the Boboli Gardens, which used to be the personal gardens of the Medici family. They reminded me of Duke Gardens back home, except with a whole lot more Italian PDA. Seriously. It's everywhere.

Another favorite green spot of mine is the Cascine, which is basically the central park of Florence. I love running here, and on a Saturday afternoon, lots of families are out biking, rollerblading, or walking along the Arno.

This month also included a trip to Siena. Dad, I have now recanted all of my previous nerd jokes targeted at Rick Steves because he and I are now best friends. He told us the exact itinerary we should plan (arrive late afternoon, spend the night, spend the next half day seeing the sights), where to eat (Trattoria Pepei), and what to do. Thanks Steve. We had a grand time (after figuring out the bus system. Transportation seems to be our weak spot.) and loved the small, relatively quiet town of Siena.

The cathedral here was unbelievable. Visually overstimulating is an understatement. Truly, I keep finding it difficult to accurately describe the things I'm seeing here. The English language needs more adjectives.

A couple of other highlights:

One morning I made the crazy spontaneous decision to run to Piazzale Michaelangelo, a place that's bustling at sunset, to catch the sunrise. It was a clear morning and, in stark contrast to sunset, I was one of the only people up there.

This run was promptly followed by a delicious bagel from the American bakery, Mama's, which has been a favorite discovery.

Also, cooking class. I wear a chef's jacket and hat and make chicken cacciattorre and homemade pasta with mushroom sauce. Our kitchen is at the top of the Central Market and has glass walls for every tourists' viewing pleasure. On the plus side, I do get to go home with a few people on their memory cards, so I guess that's cool. Our teacher waves and smiles like she's on TV. I cringe and turn the other way.

One of the biggest highlights, for which I have no illustrations, has been getting to know a few folks who work with AgapeItalia, which is CRU's name over here in Italy. I've also joined an English Bible study through a local bi-lingual church, Mosaico, that meets in the back room of a cafe. We're hoping to get an English Club up and going on an Italian college campus, so I'm excited to see what's in store with that!

So that was my September, with the exception of this past weekend's trip to Lake Como and Switzerland. Stay tuned!