With the last few weeks of school, life has gotten even more hectic than usual. Sorry for my lack of posts; there has been so much going on that I either 1) didn't want to sit down and try and write everything and/or 2) I have been lazy. I swear, I am the laziest person anymore. We are always tired and half the time the only thing that sounds good to do is take a nap. This constant traveling and exploring has worn me out. Its this feeling that I have to always be dong something, or going somewhere, because my time left in Italy is coming quickly to the end. December 26th has already been set aside as a day of sleep, and I will rejoice when it arrives. But since that is still a few weeks away, I will continue to live my exciting and adventurous life in Firenze. Here are a few snapshots to catch you all up on what's been going on over here the last few weeks.
Week of November 22nd-27th:
We only had class Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week, and then we were off Wednesday for Scotland! While it was a bit cold, our week in Scotland was one of the best trips I've been on this entire semester. It was a school trip, and we stayed in luxury apartments 2 minutes away from the city center. I lived with 8 of my girl friends and we dubbed our apartment the 'Top Model' house (since it reminded of us the houses the America's Next Top Model contestants stay in). We toured Edinburgh all Thursday and then made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with James (Student Life coordinator). It was a great Thanksgiving, filled with good food and good friends. As we sat drinking wine and laughing around a table covered in food, I couldn't imagine a better place to be for the holiday.
The next day we did a day trip to the highlands. We went on a boat cruise of Loch Lomond and saw the rolling hills of the Scotland country side. It was a nice day trip, except for all of us getting sick on the bus from the constant turns and hills.
On Saturday we did another day trip, this time to the coast. We also went to St. Andrews and I had a blast walking around the city acting like I owned the place. We also had some of the most delicious fish and chips. This day was by far my favorite, and if I could live forever on the Scotland coast (North Sea) I would.
We all flew back to Florence on Sunday, and by all of us I literally mean almost everyone on our plane was Gonzaga. We had a little scare; on our flight from Edinburgh to London we had a bit of a delay because this couple got off the plan after they had boarded and put bags in the overhead cabin. Because of the security risk we had to sit on the plane as the flight attendants went through each and every bag checking to see who it belonged to on the plane. In the midst of the mini-crisis we did get a good laugh. One of the boys was asleep and when the flight attendant pulled down his bag the entire plane erupted yelling his name, Granted, everyone else on that plane probably hated us seeing as how it was 7AM, but we found it pretty funny.
Week of November 28th-December 4th:
This was our last full week of school. Classes were pretty boring as usual, and not much happened.
On Wednesday night I went to the Opera with a bunch of people from school. I saw 'La Boheme' which is loosely based off a story similar to that of 'Rent'. It was a very fun experience and even though I couldn't understand a thing they were saying, I enjoyed it.
On Friday we left for our weekend trip to Rome, with the school. It was a whirlwind trip; we saw everything! We got split into three small groups for tours, and on Saturday we had the best tour guide of the entire semester. She was funny and entertaining, and so smart! We all had such a blast with her we asked if she would come out for a drink with us after the tour was over and she did! We went to this cafe and ordered hot chocolate and beer. She told us some amazing stories and it was fun just hanging out. After we all went and got kebabs for dinner and grabbed some drinks to have while we watched the Gonzaga game in the boys' room. We lost, but it was still a good time.
Before we left on Sunday we went back to the Vatican and got blessed by the Pope!
Week of December 5th-December 8th:
This week was our last week of classes, and we only had them until Wednesday since today (Thursday) is a national holiday of the Immaculate Conception. It was a pretty dead week since classes were all winding down.
On Monday night we had our big Christmas Party at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was such a fun night! Everyone dressed up and all of the professors and staff of the school were there as well. A bunch of us girls, and some of the guys, from our pensione took cabs to the restaurant since it was pouring outside- first taxi ride in Florence.
Now that classes are officially done with, we basically have a week until Finals start because I don't have any until Wednesday and Thursday. I should be studying, which I will, but for right now I don't want to do anything. I woke up early this morning and went shopping at the markets with Jaclyn. We are doing Secret Santa in our pensione and I bought my person their present too. We also decided last night at dinner to have a pensione Christmas Party, and we figured out the details of that today at lunch so it will be happening Saturday.
One thing I am going to severely miss is living in Bonifacio with everybody. We have all become really good friends and its going to be sad not seeing/eating with everybody all the time.
We planned the party perfectly, since the pensione calcio (soccer) tournament is Saturday, and we will obviously be winning- the party will be the perfect celebration.
With only a week left of school, and until my mom comes!, life is moving at warp speed. I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done that I want/need too. It will definitely happen, but at this point I just want it to be December 15th
Tuesday, November 22nd - Thursday, December 8th
