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...