Lists

Well, here are those lists I promised you all! While I am home now (yay) I wrote these up during my last full day in Florence - Thursday - while I was sitting sort of near the river during my good-bye walk. They actually turned into three - things I won't miss, things I will miss, and things I was looking forward to. Without further ado...

Things I Won't Miss about Florence
- Having to forever watch my step in case there was evidence of dogs on the ground - many people do not clean up after their own dogs!
- Being accosted by random unpleasant smells while walking along the streets
- Sidewalks that are glorified curbs and therefore really difficult to navigate when sharing them with people and the narrow streets with cars, buses, bicycles, and motorinos.
- Things just not functioning - the university, the trains, the list goes on
- Feeling like my guard was always up in order to protect myself in a foreign country
- Not having a kitchen in which I could store food and cook whenever I wanted - this was the downside of the fact that my host family provided me with so many meals
- The unfamiliar system of schooling, replete with deciding things at the last second, having to wait on the day of an exam for everyone else to go ahead of me, and always wondering if something unexpected and inconvenient would arise
- The constant threat of one-day strikes - be the the train or the bus - and the uncertainty caused by wondering if they would truly be striking or not
- Having to buy everything in euros. I never paid attention to the exchange rate because I had to buy things no matter what! I'm much more fond of the dollar's exchange rate with my bank account.
- Walking through a cloud of smoke every time I exited a building, or being stuck behind someone smoking on the sidewalk.
- Guys trying to sell me things on the street all the time - purses, sunglasses, umbrellas if it's raining, pictures, and so on and so forth

Things I Will Miss about Florence
- My host family
- My host mother's (Cristina's) cooking
- My "host dog" - Briciolo
- My rather comfy Florence bed
- Days where the sky was beautiful and pleasant and blue
- Piazzale Michelangelo and its view
- Gelato, Italian wine (cheaper than soda!), and the food in general
- Easy access to beautiful destinations in Italy
- The atmosphere around the Ponte Vecchio and the river at night
- Walking by the Duomo as a matter of daily routine
- The scenery in general - cypress trees, beautiful hills, and the gorgeous country even just outside Florence

Things I'm Looking Forward To
(or was looking forward to and am enjoying now)
- Watching TLC and the Food Network
- Free, unlimited internet (free to me anyway!)
- Quality time with family and friends - I learned to value it so much more this year!
- Snuggling with my David
- Trips planned this summer with family - I'm so lucky!
- Working on planning the wedding
- Going back to Georgetown - its atmosphere, its people, its classes and much more
- Shopping at CVS
- Familiar stores to shop for clothes etc (Target among others)
- More ethnic food choices - Thai, better sushi, better Mexican, etc
- Listening to the radio while driving - and driving in general
(I drove for the first time in nine months today, crazy!)

So there you have it - maybe that gives you a snapshot of where my head has been during this transition. In the next couple days, I hope to post about my trip home and about how being home has actually been. Tomorrow I am going to New Jersey to see David for the first time since January 3! Needless to say I'm just a tad excited to finally spend some quality time with him again... Hope you enjoyed the lists!

Done with school and almost with the year!

Wow, somehow I've arrived here and I only have two days left in Italy! Sorry again that I've been so slow with the blogging... but for whatever reason I've just been less motivated. So I'll try my best to catch you up in a sort of brief way.

From where I left off, in mid-May I was able to spend a few days in the Tuscan countryside with my grandparents, which was great. For the second week of their stay, they rented a house in a small town called Lucciana, with their friends Rhonda and David. The house itself was great and had a view, and during my time there we went to Volterra, Chianti (all over the region), and Montalcino, where the famous red wine Brunello is made. It was such a luxury to be able to do all these things that are much harder without the use of a car, even when the Tuscan countryside has been so close all year. All the towns were beautiful and quaint, and we had some lovely nights in Casole d'Elsa, which is near Lucciana. Another thanks to my grandfather for driving me and us all around in the rental car! :-)

The weekend after my time in Tuscany with my grandparents, Eva and I went to Viareggio because she wanted to go to the beach. We ended up walking for a verrrryyy long time to get to the free access beach (as opposed to paying for access) but it was worth it when we got there. We spent a good couple hours on the beach, ate our snacks that we'd bought at the supermarket, and went in the water. Even compared to two weeks prior, the water temperature was definitely warmer and it was really nice to spend some time in the sea... and it was good to have a fun outing day with Eva.

Last Wednesday, I got two of my exams done with. I just had to officially get the grade for one subject, since I'd already done the paper and presentation. Then with the same professor I had an actual exam, and that went really well. It was a relief to have 2 out of 3 classes out of the way!

Last Saturday, I cooked for my host family once again. I made guacamole and quesadillas, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (or "biscotti americani"). Everything went over really well, especially the guacamole and cookies. Since some of Cristina's friends were over on a couple nights to taste the cookies, I got multiple recipe requests! Lisa also helped me cook a little and that was fun.

Today was my "Storia del Risorgimento" (history of Italian unification) exam. I'd also written a paper for that class, so part of the work was already done. The worst part of the whole thing was having to wait about 2 hours while others went, getting more nervous and just wanting to get it over with! (Most exams here are oral, so you go in one or two at a time.) I also ended up getting tested by my professor's assistant, and assistants have a reputation for being more difficult about exams, but mine went fine anyway. And with that, I've officially finished all my school here in Italy! It's a big relief and feels really good.

It's been strange, exciting, and slightly sad to process the fact that my time here is coming to an end. For a lot of this year, I've been really looking forward to going home, and I still am. I've come to appreciate home (the people and other things) in my time here, so I am looking forward to being there. Nine months is a long time! And as great as Italy is, it's never stopped being another country, and it could never be as much of a "comfort zone" for me as the US is.

I also have a lot to look forward to in the next chapter of my life. This summer I'm blessed to be going on some great vacations with family, I'll be planning my wedding and enjoying being home.
Then, I'll be going back to Georgetown for my last year. After a year here in Florence, I appreciate Georgetown more than ever before! And I'll be living with four amazing friends in an apartment! And of course, after that, I'm getting married which is obviously really exciting... I've reflected many times on all the blessings waiting for me.

At the same time, departure actually arriving is making me face some sad good-byes - my host family, Eva, Lucia, and the things I like about Florence in general. These good-byes have an added dimension that it's not clear when or if I will see these people again, which makes it a bit harder. Either way, I am just trying to soak things up as best I can so I can look back and know I appreciated everything here while I was still here. For example, I had gelato yesterday, today, and haven't ruled it out for tomorrow!

Pretty soon I am going to do another post in the form of two lists - things I will and will not miss about Florence/Italy. I think it will be a good reflection on my time here and hopefully it will be kind of funny too! And as for this blog in the future, I may post once or twice after I get home, but I created the blog for my year abroad, so I will probably stop posting sometime during the summer as I move on past the experience. In the meantime though, stay tuned for the lists!