il semestre e finito.

It's hard to believe, but I am officially done with my semester in Italy. All the exams are finished and all of the papers are turned in. My friends are headed back to their homes all across the country tomorrow. Crazy, I know. Where did these four months go? I've done so many exciting things and have made some amazing friends. I don't think I have the words to fully express what an amazing semester this has been. I feel so blessed.

Now it's time for my Italian holiday with the family here in Florence. It's going to be a jam packed week of awesomeness!

I'll be back in the States in a mere 7 days. See you then!!!

12 days...how did that happen?

I cannot believe that my study abroad program ends on Friday! How did that happen? Didn't I just get here? I feel like I have done so much in the last 3 1/2 months and still have so much that I would love to get to do. My time here in Italy has just been absolutely amazing! I can't imagine having a better host family. My host mom is super sweet, not to mention an excellent cook. I have gotten some great Italian recipes from her! Yay!!! She is so nice when I screw up when speaking Italian. She will gently correct me and goes on with the conversation. I think she is just glad I am trying to speak Italian. My host brother is pretty nice, but I don't tend to see him as much. I think the home stay has been one of my favorite parts of my time in Italy. You get to see what life in Italy is really like. I think I am really going to miss this place when I leave. I am 100% that this is the best thing I could have done with my time this semester. Everything has just gone as smoothly as possible. It was the first time I remember feeling like I was exactly were I was supposed at that point in my life. I can't imagine being any way other than exactly as it was. It was great!

My professors are just great. You can tell they really care about their students beyond the classroom. I went to Naples and Pompeii with one of my professors and his wife. We had the best time. This experience wouldn't have been the same without this group of professors. I have learned so much from them outside of what our classes focus on. For once in my life, I feel at peace with how things are progressing. I don't have to have my entire future figured out right now. I can just enjoy being young and explore my options. It's a very freeing feeling.

In the last few weeks, I have come to notice how much I have changed during my time in Italy. I knew I would grow as a person through this experience. I guess I just didn't realize how much you could change in 3 months. It will be interesting to see how the ''new me'' fits into my life back home.

Italy + failing technology = NO fun!

Today has been quite the day, but not in the best way possible. The day started out decently enough. I left the apartment around 8:15 am so I could make it to my 9:00 am class on time. My bus was acutally on time for once so I was 15 minutes early for class. I had to give 2 presentations in class, but I thought both of them went fairly well. From Art and Politics at Palazzo Vecchio, I headed back to the school for my second class of the day, Strange Art in the 16th Century. I was monumentally boring today. I am not really what it was about the lecture today, but I could not focus for the life of me. It was an hour and 45 minutes of extreme bordem. I had a nice hour long break for lunch during which I ate a PB & J and a banana. After lunch, I had my final class on the history of women in ancient Rome and Renaissance Florence. I love that class. It is usually so interesting, but today even it seemed to drag by.

After my classes, my roommate and decided that we needed an American food fix (we haven't had one since we arrived in Italy), so we headed to McDonald's. I ate a Big Mac for the first time in my life in Italy. How odd is that? We came home on the bus, which was crowded as usual with rush hour traffic. Tomorrow I head to Naples/Pompeii tomorrow with 1 professor and 7 other students, and I wanted to make sure my iPod was fully charged for the 3 1/2 hour train ride to Naples. I went to plug my computer in only to finally that my power cord had finally bitten the bullet. I knew it was fading, but I was optimistic that it could hold out for 3 more weeks until my classes ended for the semester. But of course, that was not the case. It is as dead as can be. I still have 2 papers to write and a powerpoint presentation to put together for my classes. That could be a little cumbersome with a computer that I can't easily charge. Luckily, my host mom has the same brand of laptop as I do, so I can at least charge my computer at the apartment. Now, if only, my battery would last more than an hour. I think it is fair to say considering that my computer ate half of my pictures from Athens and that my headphones and my power cord both died, Italy has been rough on all of my electronics. Hopefully everything else can hold out for another 3 weeks.

Photo time

These are various photos from my recent trip to Rome with the ACM.

1-Ancient Roman Port town of Ostia

2-a group of us at Ostia after getting soaked in the rain/hail storm

3-Colosseum

4-Me at the Colosseum

5-Roman Forum

6-Colosseum & Me

7-Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace built by Augustus)

8-St. Michel on top of Castel San'Angelo

9-Me on top of the Castel San'Angelo

10-view from the top

Fall Break, baby! Athens style!

The image of Athens that I had in my had is not at all like the modern city. That is not too say that I didn't enjoy my trip to Athens. The majority of Athens was really dirty, hectic, and crowded. We ended up staying in this somewhat sketchy hostel about a 30 minute walk from the Acropolis.

We flew into Athens from Rome on a Monday. Our flight got in around 4:00 pm, but it took about an hour to get into the city proper. By the time we got to the hostel, we were both exhausted from our power-packed tour of Rome. We ended up taking a 2 hour nap. It was dark out when we woke up. So my first afternoon in Athens consisted of a taxi ride, a nap, and dinner. On the up side, dinner was fantastic. I love authentic Greek pitas! They're cheap and tasty.

On Tuesday, we headed up to the Acropolis. I recommend that if you ever travel to Greece you buy a good map of Athens and guidebook. Mackenzie and I figured we would just wing it when we got there. It worked out, but it probably would have been a lot more enjoyable if we knew more of what was going on. Ultimately, we found a place to buy our tickets and made up to the top. The view of Athens was incredible. I can't say as much for the Acropolis itself. I was somewhat disappointed by it because all of the buildings were covered in scaffolding. You couldn't fully appreciate the magnitude of the place. Oh well, it was still kind of cool to visit such a historic place. We also made it to the new Acropolis Museum in Athens. It just opened a few weeks ago and only cost 1 Euro to get it in. It was definitely worth the cost of the ticket. There are so many interesting artifacts to explore. If you ever go to Athens, you should probably check it out.

My last day in Athens was pretty laid back. We had a late start to the day. There wasn't a whole lot else that Mackenzie and I knew about that we wanted to go see. In fact, the only thing that was on our agenda was going to see Socrates' prison cell. That stop was my idea. Being a philosophy major, it seemed absurd to be that close to it and not go. I was so excited to see it! It wasn't anything grandiose by any means, but I still think it was cool. Otherwise, the day consisted of wandering/hiking in the area surrounding the Acropolis. We found this little secluded hill top clearing with a beautiful view of the sea in one direction and the Acropolis in the other. I would love to share my photos with you, but my camera/computer decided to eat them. So here are a few of the ones I have left. Enjoy!

Fall Break, baby! (aka my "Roman Holiday")

I just got back from fall break a week ago. What an experience--volcanoes, donkeys, 36 hours with no sleep, American college football, a cold, beautiful weather! What more could you ask for?

The whole thing began with a train ride from Florence to Rome. It only took about an hour and a half on the Eurostar. Mackenzie and I's first stop was our hostel, the Pop Inn Hostel, right beside the Termini Station in Rome. That in and of itself was quite the experience. We walked into the receptionist area to the music stylings of Usher and Pitbull. There were bright red velvet couches pushed up against the brightly colored walls. When we got to our room, we found Japanese cartoons and walls that looked as if they had been colored on with highlighters--yellow on the top and green on the bottom. The bedspread was pinkish-orange. We even had a pedestal sink and mirror surrounded by cobalt blue tile. It was a very visually dynamic room to say the least. From the hostel, we headed to the Colosseum. We figured it was quintessentially Roman site. I don't remember ever taking that many photos in one outing. It was gorgeous. There were people everywhere, but most of them were pretty nice.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with a Coe graduate that our professor knows. His name was Tad. He's lived in Rome for 4 years now and owns his own tour company. He was a great host. Friday night we went out to the bar with he and his girlfriend. We also went by the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. He took us to the most amazing restaurant I have been to. Tad was kind enough to order for some pasta typical Roman pasta dishes. I had penne with a cream sauce and sausage. It was amazing! We split a nice bottle of a Roman white wine and a tiramisu. What an incredible meal!

Saturday we got up and it was freezing out compared to how the weather has been. I ended up buying a gray pashima scarf just to stay warm. We went to the Piazza della Repubblica which has an awesome fountain. We also went to a nearby a Basilica. It had the biggest organ I have ever seen. It was huge! I would love to hear it played. I bet the entire building would shake. It would be awesome! Our next stop was the Spanish Steps. We saw 2 couples who had just gotten married taking their wedding photos. How cool would it be to have your wedding photos taken around Rome? We also went by the Trevi Fountain to take more photos during the day.

After our trip to Fontana di Trevi, we headed back to our hostel to meet up with Tad. He let us go on one of his "All Around Rome" tours for free. It was awesome. We made it to all of the major sites of ancient Rome. It took about 4 hours, and I loved every minute of it. We covered all of the history of ancient Rome in about an hour. We went to the Circus Maximus, the Mouth of Truth, a Roman amphitheater, the Jewish ghetto in Rome, the Colosseum, and all sorts of other stuff. It was so much fun! I love Rome!

Saturday night we went to a Irish pub with Tad and some of his friends with the goal of watching the U of I/Wisconsin football game. I got a pleasant surprise when we got there. The Red River Rivalry game between OU and Texas was on. It was the first time I have been able to watch any sort of American football since getting to Italy. I think I had been going through football withdrawals. It was a great surprise. I only got to watch 3/4 of the game, but it was better than nothing. I ended eating Chinese food for dinner. Italian-ized Chinese food is different from American-ized chines food, but it's good. Overall, it was a pretty great day.

My last day in Rome, Sunday, was a little more relaxed. It was equally enjoyable. We spent the entirety of the morning in the Piazza Navona. It is this nice Piazza with 3 main fountains. There were all sorts of artists selling their watercolor and oil paintings. There were also some people doing caricatures in the piazza. We had a great time just wandering around looking at the numerous paintings. We ate lunch at a cute little cafe that looked out over the piazza. Pizza Margherita is fantastic. We also went to see the bridge of angels. There are several beautiful statues of angels on the bridge leading to the Castel Sant Angelo. Then we decide that since we could see St. Peter's Square from where we were, we might as well wander on over there. It is a pretty impressive space. There was some sort interesting event taking place at the Vatican with a long procession of men in purple and white robes. I never found out what was going on, but it was definitely interesting to see. Our day concluded with a trip to the same Irish pub as the night before to celebrate Tad's birthday. So we got to hang out with he and his friends once more. It was a good end to an already amazing trip to Rome.

Next stop...ATHENS!

Fall Break

Ciao!

So as of today I am headed to Rome for 3 days and then to Greece for 7 days for my fall break. I definitely can't wait to go!!! There will tons of pictures and many descriptions when I get back. Hope you're enjoying the fall weather!

Arrivederci!