the end is near. way too near.

oh my, so much has happened since my last post. i better start typing.

first off: i have 2 days left in this beautiful place. i am in complete shock. my journal entries from this past week has been one sad thought and tear to another. just the thought of coming home is so sad for me and packing has been even worse. with that said, i have made sure not to sit in the apartment, and have really made sure that i do not waste my time studying when i should be out exploring.

second off: there is some background information that is important to mention before i continue this blog. melissa and christine, two of my roommates, met this guy Chris in the market. i might have mentioned him before, i cant remember. but his mom lives in Seattle and his dad lives here in italy and runs a stand in the market. Chris graduated from Gonzaga and is now living here in italy with his dad working for a few years...he said he needed a break from the USA. haha. sweet life huh?

ok, so the journey begins i suppose with last weekend? on saturday we just hung around here and went out and explored-i got some last minute christmas gifts and ash and i went to the boboli gardens for one last time. it was our last time on that side of the river and it was so sad saying bye...saturday night, chris came over and hung out and we took him to Grom for his first grom trip ever. even an authentic italian found the gelato was the real deal :) he loved it! we got back from grom pretty early so he took us to the irish pub, fennigans, on the corner to grab a drink and just chat. we spent the next few hours learning about italians, talking about movies, and just talking about our lives. it was so much fun. at the end of the night, he asked us if we wanted to go to fiesole the next day for a picnic. DUH.

sunday morning we woke up early and got groceries for our picnic. Chris picked us up around noon to drive us through the tuscan countryside to get to fiesole. fiesole is the next town over from florence, and it is a true small tuscan town. there are vineyards on the hills and the hills overlook the city of florence providing you with the best possible view. it was so nice riding in a car again. the last time i rode in a car was in england with ash and two complete strangers almost 3 months ago! anyways, we got to fiesole and he showed us around the town and where to take the best pictures. after looking, and finding the best spot, we stopped for our delicious picnic! the day does not stop there though...he asked us if we wanted to see more of the countryside...

he drove us to the next neighboring town to go check out the Medici Villa...the villa ended up being closed since it was sunday, so instead i kicked around the soccer ball with some younger kids in a field. it was picture perfect-kicking around a soccer ball, in italy, with cute italian kids! after leaving there, chris took us to another town that provided a quite incredible view of the city again, from the other side this time. it was beautiful and we were literally standing on the edge of a cliff. i cant even describe it. amazing.

the streets getting back into town were so narrow and winding around that christine and i were gripping each other in the car, terrified. chris found this super funny. haha. i have a pretty cool video of the countryside streets, ill try to upload it. on our way back into town, he wanted us to stop at this really cool park outside the city to see yet again, another awesome view. we ended up playing on the playground at the park for about an hour or so before it got too cold and we had to come home. it was such a fun day! when we were getting out of the car, he asked if we wanted to join him to go to the christmas market for dinner-of course we could not refuse an offer like that. we went to the christmas market for bratwursts and as usual, they were delicious along with the bag of candy we got. yummm....

monday i had my first final in cooking class. we had to cook risotto and present it to a panel of 5 judges and get graded on the presentation and taste. ashley and i got A's! wooo! not too much exciting stuff happened on monday-we had laura's potluck dinner for her birthday on monday night. and since i dont really like laura, the dinner was blah. hahaha. no but seriously, our entire apartment was like so ready to leave the dinner before it started. we are perfectly content just hanging out with each other. plus, we had to hurry home to do a MASSIVE clean for tuesday when our landlord was coming to give us our security deposit back.

tuesday was probably the best day/night we have had in about a week or two. i take that back, this past week, specifically with our new friend chris, has been awesome. we have seen parts of italy that we could only dream of seeing and we have gone places that no one other than a true italian would know. anyways, i had my hard exam yesterday morning and did really good. it was awesome. melissa and i went to the oil shoppe (one of the best sandwich places ever) for lunch. its so good that i suggest everyone go before your life is over. haha. we both got the spicy sauce on our sandwich and we were doing breathing exercises on the way home because our mouth was on fire from the sauce. it was hilarious. i only wish that i could put it in words. haha.

i spent the afternoon legit studying. i had two exams today that i needed to study for-one was open note so i didnt really need to do too much with that one. but, i did have my huge art exam today that i really needed to spend the night studying for. SIKE. after about one hour of making flash cards, i decided to take a break and make some dinner. it was pretty good-my cooking has slightly improved. just when i was done eating and getting ready to study again, chris called and asked if we wanted to join him for dart and trivia night at the irish pub. study or pub? yea, pub it was.

we invited ryan to join us and boy are we glad we did. once we got there we realized the teams for darts/trivia were teams of two and we had six people so it worked out perfectly. originally melissa and ryan were supposed to be a team, me and chris, and then christine and ashley. however, the boys tricked us and ended up being on the same team so they could "dominate" us. melissa and i were siked that we were on the same team because we knew we would kick butt. the boys totally underestimated us.

first, i threw our darts and we racked in 50 points. then our trivia question was "in what year did the titanic sink?" coincidentally, melissa and i were watching titanic last week and googled the year it sank for our own personal information. haha. we screamed and shouted "1912" and got another 20 points. after rounds and rounds of battling, melissa and i ended up getting second place out of eight teams in the game! it was so ridiculous-we couldnt help but laugh that we did that good. we only lost to toby and his teammate which doesnt even count since toby works at the bar and brings his own darts. loser. haha. the boys were totally in shock. ryan was wondering how it happened. haha. what did we win you ask? a pint of beer. ironically, melissa and i were the only two who didnt buy drinks at the beginning of the night-i have better things to waste my money on. haha.

the rest of the night we sat around the pub talking with these three british guys we met. they were crazy and so so funny. they were probably in their late 20's and had rented an RV for the weekend to explore italy. ryan and them became best friends while chris, melissa, ash and i talked the night away to chris.

we got home around 2 am-and it was way too late to study. who cares. i set my alarm an hour early to get up and study this morning. my alarm went off and it was so cold in our apartment, so of course i was not getting out of bed. we only get heat 6 hours a day and it is only 30 degrees outside and we have hard floors. it is always FREEZING in here. hahah.

i had my art exam today, and i had enough time in between class to study for about an hour total for it. and guess what? the only stuff on the exam was the exact stuff i studied. it was so perfect. thank you jesus!

after class, chris took us to his favorite sandwich place in florence and it was super authentic. i had a sandwich with spreadable sausage, mozarella, and spicy peppers. it was so freaking good and the best part was we were the only americans in the whole place. thats when you know its real italian. chris would not order for me though-he taught me how to say it in italian and coached me through ordering my sandwich. it was pretty funny.

now, its pretty late, well not too late. but we are having chris over for wine, cake and cards in a little bit. then tomorrow we are taking him to the oil shoppe (our favorite sandwich place) for lunch. its going to be a crazy day tomorrow. i have my last final and i am saying bye to david (the statue) for the last time.

its so sad saying bye to everyone now. all of the teachers have hugged and kissed us all bye and it stinks having to say bye to the new friends that we just made that are flying home to all different states. luckily, i have 2 more days to say bye to my bentley friends. whew.

well, i guess i better get going. sorry this one is so long, there is just so much to catch up on...

i am so sad thinking about coming home, especially after meeting and hanging out with such a cool friend. chris even told us he is going to mope around on saturday when we leave...sad...

this might be my last post until i go home. ill try to do another one on friday, but that is my last day here, so im not sure if i will have time or not.

bye bye florence...almost.

late night writing.

i thought i would share my journal entry from last night with everyone. here goes...

Here it is, 3:30 am and i cant sleep. Well, im sure i COULD sleep if my mind and thoughts would stop racing. I just keep reminiscing on these past three months, how fast they have flown by and how genuinely sad i am to have to go home. I was just remembering our first days here and all that has happened since then. Seems like just yesterday we were walking in our apartment, cracking open the shutters for the first time because it was so hot. And how Ash and I explored with Andrew and Britt on our first day here-we ended up getting lost on Nationale (which is one street over from ours). Haha. And how that first night we all sat on the terrace and chatted. And how we had to sleep in our bra and underwear for a week because it was so hot at night, then jenny gave us her fan. I remember holding my computer out of my window to show my mom "the duomo" over skype-really it was the medici chapels. And i remember having gelato for the first time and thinking it was so good until going to grom. I remember standing on the corner with a map trying to get to Piazza della Signoria for the welcome dinner.

And since then?

I have traveled to 15 different cities and 4 new countries. I have broken up with my first love. I have gone out clubbing and karaoke and loved every second. I have swam in the Mediterranean and hiked from one city to the next. I have made several new friends and found a family away from home. I have climbed the Eiffel tower-and the duomo. I have hiked to the top of the city. I have had the best gelato-in all the world. I have enjoyed eating a pizza-with my best friend-on a bridge-while watching the sun set over the Ponte Vecchio. I have made an authentic Italian friend. I have walked the streets-mapless-and managed to make it home. Heck, now i even know street names. I have flown across an oc

ean, a channel, and several countries. I have rode in a car-with complete strangers-in England. I have laughed. I have cried. But above all else, I have been so happy.

ps. Florence, I will miss you.

days go by..

i am convinced that these days are getting shorter-and i hate it. every night has the same ending of tears as i fall asleep thinking about how i only have one week left. its so sad. i do NOT want to leave it here.

today, i was talking to my mom, telling her how i was on food rations. i have 12 euro left for the next week and have declined numerous dinner dates cause i dont have the money. i wasnt complaining at all-i was just telling her my budget. i am so thankful for parents like mom and scott. mom freaked and told me there is no way that i am going to spend my last week in italy with no money to travel, eat, and go site seeing. so thank you mom and scott for your generosity and the money you gave me so i can live and enjoy my last week!

tonight we are going to climb the duomo to get the most beautiful site in all the city! then we are finishing the night by going to the christmas market at santa croce...ice skating outside the church, and dinner at gusta pizza. i am going to miss this crazy awesome life. it is just too good to be true!

last night we had probably the coolest night ever. seriously. we had our farewell dinner with all the school. the food was incredible. the people were awesome. and the goodbye was sad. the place we had it at was a palace and it was BEAUTIFUL. italy and beautiful in the same sentance is almost a given now. after the dinner, a friend melissa and christine met in the market, chris, came over for a few hours to hang out. he is so much fun! his dad is from italy-and he works in the market working the stand his dad owns. his mom is from america and currently lives back in seattle since his parents divorce. chris went to gonzaga and just graduated a few years ago. so he came over to chat and sip hot coco and tell us the places he wants to take me christine melissa and ash before we leave next saturday. he is going to plan a day trip for us this weekend since he has a car. seriously, italy, why are you so awesome.

the other night, me ash melissa and lauren walked to the new ben and jerry's that just opened in front of the duomo! i couldnt pull myself to buy american ice cream when we are only in italy for another week, so i opted out and walked to grom. it was delicious, like always. after getting ice cream, we walked the decorated streets of florence. they are so pretty with all the christmas decorations everywhere. gahhhh. we finished the night by riding a carosel (spelling?) in front of the giant christmas tree in piazza de republica. it was breathtaking-something you see people do in movies.

i would post pictures, but i am running out of time...

closing thoughts? i started packing yesterday. yes, packing. i was sad to pack, but i kinda got a little more excited about coming home because of it. i was not looking forward to coming home at all before that. i have no idea how i am going to get all this stuff home. i really dont. good thing i got a hiking bag while over here to use as my carry on. wooo.

my family is really going to love their christmas gifts this year, but im not gonna lie, the thing i got for courtney is probably the best. i loved christmas shoping in the market this year...it was so much fun!

ok, gotta run! busy busy busy night.

ps. i have been addicted to the song uptown girl by billy joel. gosh. love it.

fire fall down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZpPIKmiMuo

this is literally all i can think about tonight. i love it. and i love the way it makes me feel. you can just feel his presence. check it out for yourself. try turning off all the lights and listening to it. its awesome.

yadda yadda yadda

so just some things that i have had on my mind.

1. i wish i could go back in time to the mid to late 1960's. i want to be the flower child that runs in a long white skirt through the reflection pool in washington d.c. or drive a VW van across the country with a bunch of friends. i want to go to woodstock and listen to all that awesome music for the best three days of my life. if i could go back in time, i would go to the 1960's. there is just so much history its incredible to me.

2. i cant wait to be swept off my feet by prince charming. haha. there i go again, being so cliche. but its true. i can not wait for that day to come. and i cant wait to be planning my wedding with the most amazing guy God has picked out for me. and i cant wait for that day...for the best day of my life. to start a life with my perfect match. woooo!

3. i do NOT want to leave italy. i teared up in bed last night thinking that i only have 13 more nights in this crazy country. this semester has been the best semester of my life. i have grown in so many ways, and i have found me. i am so happy. i am a new person for sure. i have found a family away from home, and we all love each other like brother and sisters. its been a life changing experience and i dont want it to end yet. seems like just yesterday that i was hugging my family goodbye to board a plane leaving the country for 4 months. now, i have traveled to 4 different countries, 15 different cities, and 1 different continent. its hard to believe that it is over...

4. i can not wait to see friends and family over christmas. christmas in florence has been such a beautiful start, but i am looking forward to the christmas music in the stores, present wrapping, hot coco, and family time. its going to be one awesome holiday and i am so happy that i am making it home for christmas!

5. i am super stressed trying to cram everything in these next two weeks. i have 4 papers due, 5 midterms, 2 presentations, 2 farewell dinners and an entire list of sites to visit still. its going to be a crazy two weeks. i plan on packing next monday so i can have the entire finals week to explore the city, go to our favorite places, and have a final goodbye.

today i went to the piti palace and bobali gardens. they were beautiful and it was the perfect way to spend a saturday afternoon in florence. the weather was beautiful, something that we had not seen in like 3 days of freezing cold rain.

i am one happy girl. :)

pay it forward

starting tomorrow, and for everyday until we leave in two weeks, i am going to do one thing special for someone each day. kind of like a pay it forward type thing. im going to start tomorrow by buying the gypsy that lays in front of the duomo everyday, a meal and saying a prayer for her. then, i hope that everyday after that i have the opportunity to serve one person in a special way each day.

stay tuned, ill document it.

thank the lord...

...this weekend is over.

this has not been the best weekend i have had in florence. in fact, it has been far from the best weekend i have had. it wasnt terrible, it was just not good. ahhhhhhhhhh! saturday night i got hit with a super super bad fever that put me in bed from late afternoon to dinner time. we went to my favorite pizza place for dinner, and i couldnt even eat. we went to my favorite gelato place after dinner, and i couldnt even get gelato. it was a sad night...

the venice trip was not much of a success either. ashley and her friend decided to spend the night last minute and i had to ride a sketch train home alone.

venice was ok. nothing spectacular. it was pretty, dont get me wrong, but i was bored with it after about 2 hours. we rode on a gondola and our drivers name was...FABIO. haha. we saw san marco church too and the square. other than that, we just walked around. it was fun, but i was as sick as a dog and ready to come home. i got on the first train back home, alone. and it was not a fun ride.

it was night time and i was riding a sketchy train. i bought a ticket to get to bologna, but didnt have enough money to buy a ticket home from bologna, so i had to sneak on the train. it was not fun. i had to stand in a gross bathroom while the conductor checked tickets for an hour. it was blah. but i made it safe and sound back to santa maria novella where sweet ryan met me to take me home. i got back and went to bed fairly early, still feeling pretty sick.

above all, this weekend was disappointing. i know i may be too sensitive at times, but i was pretty much ditched. my feelings and plans were pushed aside. so i am thankful that this weekend has ended...and im thankful for this new perspective i have on friendships.

costumes. friends. and a feast!

thanksgiving was a success. tosay the least. it was so good, and the company was even better. we were all kind of sad that we weren't with family this year, but this family was just as good. never in my life will i be able to have another thanksgiving like this-or a thanksgiving without being with family for that matter. so we made sure thanksgiving counted.

to start thanksgiving day off, i went and got my hair cut. and when i say cut, i mean chopped. i wanted to step out of the box a little bit since i am here in italy, so thats what i did! i got bangs, which i havent had since like 4 years old. a haircut in italy entails also entails a head massage. that was the best part. i sat in the chair and clenched my fists for about 20 mins, not knowing if i was coming out of that chair with a

mohawk. good news, the haircut looks good. i love it.

we spent thanksgiving afternoon preparing for our feast to come. we made turkey hands and put together outfits for dinner. yes we dressed up. i was a Pilgrim, melissa and ash were indians, and christine was the turkey. it was so much fun. hilarious in fact.

the dinner was more than fine. (switchfoot reference) it was so good. we had EVERYTHING. and the guys made one killer turkey. thank the lord for such awesome guys on this trip...they have saved us many times. we all enjoyed the dinner like one little family, but after dinner found ourselves resting since none of us could breathe. we were wayyyy too stuffed.

one of our good friends that we made over here, who happens to be from UNC, was hosting an irish wake in rememberance of her dad, who passed away a year ago. so me and the roommates went to lyons fountain, an irish pub, to hang out with her and others from UNC. it was a good time-although we didnt stay long. turns out it was karyoke night...

christine, one of my roommates, is a rapper at heart. she started rapping for us about 1 month ago, and we had no idea that it was a hidden talent for her. she is REALLY GOOD. her favorite song to rap is changes by tupac. and she knows every word. so, at the pub, we asked her to rap it. and she did! it was so good. you should have seen the place. hands were in the air, and jaws were dropped since no one thought this little white girl would be able to rap it, especially without words. she even threw in the crip walk. the pub was jamming.

we got back to the apartment and changed in pj's...ready to settle down for the night. then chris, a friend from bentley, called and asked if we wanted to go dancing at space with a bunch of people. ashley, ryan and i jumped up and were there in no time to dance the night away!

thanksgiving night concluded at 5 am. i would say it was a pretty good turkey day. :)

a day of thanks.

today is the day. the day at home that i would be with tons of family, enjoying macy's thanksgiving day parade, and eating enough for the next few weeks. mom would be cooking pumpkin pie, scott and all the boys would be watching football, and kate and i would be just hanging out, probably ganging up on corey. not this year. this year is quite a bit different. this year, when everyone at home is sitting down to eat dinner, i will be going to bed. haha.

dont get me wrong. today is still a feast for us over here. as a matter of fact, all of us from NCSU are having a thanksgiving dinner/potluck tonight and im so excited! let me tell you what a thanksgiving dinner over here entails:

-pecan pie

-pumpkin pie

-green bean casserole

-mashed potatoes

-apples baked with raisin

-stuffing

-bacon and Gorgonzola mashed potatoes

-deep fried cranberry sauce fritters

-pringles (thanks abby)

and lastly, A TURKEY! we are all chipping in for a turkey tonight, so this dinner is definitely a legit thanksgiving dinner!

of course, it wouldnt really be complete without the turkey hands and turkey hats. so that is on the to-do list for today.

at my house on thanksgiving we always tell what we are thankful for about each person...since i am not around this year, i just have a few things that i am so thankful for that i am going to share on here.

1. I am so thankful for our sweet jesus who died for all of us. its incredible when you think about the fact that the person who created everything also created you and i. "that hands that hold the world, are holding your heart." i am so thankful for his new mercy everyday.

2. I will forever be thankful for this experience over here. it has been a blessing to me, and a time i will never forget. i have endured heartache and the best times of my life, all in one trip. and i am so thankful for every second. i am so thankful that i am blessed with wonderful roommates here-especially one of my best friends. i am thankful that i can wake up and decide to go to venice or rome for the day. i am so thankful. i am thankful that i have grown up in ways that i never imagined. and i am thankful for the people (aka. mom, scott, dad, grandparents) who made this trip even possible. you will never know what this trip means to me-it is truly an irreplaceable feeling.

i woke up a little earlier this morning because my sweet roommate bought melissa, christine and i breakfast at the cafe on the corner and brought it home for us. it was so nice-we had a cute little family breakfast on thanksgiving.

im so excited for our dinner tonight. usual potluck dinners entail hours of charades and games after-and just enjoying everyone's company. :)

this weekend, ashley has a friend from home coming. and the other roommates are leaving and going to rome...so naturally we are leaving to and going to venice! it is the last stop before returning to america in 3 weeks. it is so hard to believe that i got here 3 months ago and was counting the days i had left...and now here it is, almost time to go, and im not ready.

well, better get ready for class. its only thursday, but over here, thursday is friday because friday=no class.

ps-friends at home...i am missing you dearly this holiday. im missing hanging out every night and im missing the trips to krispy kreme.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

a friend. a trip. and the best time of my life.

i am jumping out of my seat right now. i just bought john mayer tickets for his february show in connecticut. and i am so excited. da;ksjfd;jewoiajfsdijjoiJ!

ash and i are going up on feb 18! i hope to visit family and hang out with them for a few days. then the concert. then we are doing a day in NYC!

it doesnt get much better.

gahh! where did the week go?!

its friday already. another week gone in florence. i cant believe how quickly these weeks just fly by. why isnt it like this at home? :)

this week was totally awesome. well, pretty much ever week is totally awesome. so i guess this week was better than totally awesome.

i have truly enjoyed getting to know my roommates since we have been here. they are just so much fun-we have had some crazy fun nights with just us in the apartment. you know...locking people in their rooms, freezing underwear, stealing the toilet paper out of the bathroom, hiding ipods, etc. its just been a blast.

so this week, melissa, ash and ryan ganged up on me big time. and i loved every second of it. one night they: stuffed my bookbag with my underwear, locked it to my nightstand and hid the key, put bottles of lotion under my sheets so i layed on them when i got in bed, stole the toilet paper after i TOLD them i had to pee real quick, hid my ipod and my purse, changed my statues on facebook, "fake bought" me a duplo (my weakness) then ate it in front of me while they laughed, and to top it off, they locked me out.

but...they do know that payback is even worse. the best i could come up with this week was freezing underwear. :)

also this week i realized that: mc donalds is pretty much the human feeding trough. seriously, its like, how many italians, and i guess americans, can you fit into one building to buy burgers? its totally crazy. but i love mcdonalds. it hits the spot. everytime. without fail. gosh.

went and did some crazy running this week with ashley and amanda. it is pretty incredible to be able to tell you that i ran by the statue of david, the duomo, through piazza della signoria, along the ponte vecchio, and past the uffizi on just a normal daily run. :) wow. that sentence amazes me. we have found a perfect running route along the arno, which we have done quite frequently these past few weeks. im coming home two sizes smaller! woooooo!

i had some pretty incredible skype dates this week too! you know, catching up with the best friends that i miss from home. i love that. i miss friend so so much and cant wait to be back in raleigh with these loves! courtney found out last week that she will be going to england next semester! i am so excited for her-but so incredibly sad that i am missing an entire year of school with her. but its all good-we have our entire senior year to make up for it-and since we are all living together, it will make it that much sweeter! im excited for christmas break when her and ash come down to SC for a few days for our reunion.

so. I GOT JOHN MAYERS NEW CD!!! it is soo good. i cant even put it into words. dont i always say that though? but honestly, i think i like this cd better than continuum. its that good. you should go buy it, its called battle studies. i dont know what it is about his music, but every song on that cd relates to me. it really does. maybe because all of his songs are about the same things-love...etc... oh my, john mayer. wow. im going to his concert in february too-pretty pumped about that! thanks mom!

last night we hung out again with our bentley friends, and like always, it was a good time. it has been so much fun meeting new people here that are not from NCSU. dont get me wrong, everyone from our ncsu crew is just totally cool, but its also fun to branch out and meet new people as well. i love it.

today, well i guess the rest of this afternoon since it is already three here, is going to consist of running, working on my paper, then snuggling in for a movie and popcorn with ash. im so excited for a relaxing night tonight. and even more excited that i will be watching new moon in about 5 hours! thank the lord for the internet. even though i am not in america, im still trying to keep up to date with everything.

im deeply sad that i will be missing thanksgiving this year. i just sent my family a thanksgiving letter for them to read at the dinner table-of all the things i am thankful for about each of them. im so excited for them to read it, but still sad that i am missing seeing kate and grandma and grandpa. im sure i will be skyping them though :) my thanksgiving here? me and the roommates are going to the american church around the corner and having an authentic american feast with the church. im excited. did i mention that im going to venice for thanksgiving too? i will never in my life be able to say i went to venice for thanksgiving. i am so thankful.

i got into somewhat of a religious conversation with my holocaust teacher this week too-yesterday in fact. here in florence the jewish synagogue is a pretty big deal, its pretty much a delicacy. apparently her husband is the rabbi at the church-which led into a lot of discussion about the jewish faith. im so curious. her and i are grabbing lunch this week to talk about it. she also invited me to join her family to go to their celebration and the lighting of the first candle of the menorah in a few weeks. what an honor huh?

well, gotta get off this, and turn off john mayer so i can get crackin on this paper. urrghhh. anything to put it off more.

ciao!

cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart

To the one who's dreams are falling all apart
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart
I can tell by your eyes you think your on your own
but you're not all alone

Have you heard of the One who can calm the raging seas
Give sight to the blind, pull the lame up to their feet
With a love so strong and never let you go
oh you're not alone


You will be safe in His arms
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart
This is the promise He made
He will be with You always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in His arms

Did you know that the voice that brings the dead to life
Is the very same voice that calls you now to rise
So hear Him now He's calling you home
You will never be alone


These are the hands that built the mountains
the hands that calm the seas
These are the arms that hold the heavens
they are holding you and me

These are hands that healed the leper
Pulled the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross
to break our chains and set us free

chinese food and movies.

yep. that sums up my weekend. i attempted to write papers, but what did i do instead? i drank sparkling wine, ate chinese and watched chick flicks with ryan, ash and christine. it was a pretty awesome weekend. i loved it.

ryan was quite the guy this weekend. he layed with us on the bed and thoroughly enjoyed watching the ugly truth. we had so much fun with him this weekend. we all just hung around the apartment and enjoyed every second.

this week? i really do have to work on papers. seriously. i have 4 8-page papers due in the next few weeks. and im failing miserably at writing them. christine and melissa are going to paris on wednesday, so ashley and i will be here all alone this week/weekend. im sure we will find some fun things to do though. we only have a few more weekends in florence!

next saturday we are going to a florentina soccer match-im so excited-today i went and bought a florentina shirt to wear to the game. now i just need to find face paint so we can get all decked out! woooo

gotta run. christine and i are trying to catch up on the office online before bed. :)

night!

i am in italy. i forgot.

mom and terri left today-after a great past ten day vacation. now its back to reality and school. but ill recap on the past few days first...

after we got home from rome, mom and terri made ashley and i some killer breakfast and american dinner! it was delish...

for the next few days we all just hung out-made more dinners-went out to eat at our favorite dinner places (including mexican) and just had a good time. it was a great time having them here-it was so fun showing mom around and where/what i am doing over here.

today i was walking home from school and i was just looking at the rooftops that line the city and was just thinking: i am in italy. seriously? here i am. im in italy. living here. i only have one month left. but im here. who would have ever thought? this experience has been the best of my life. such a growing experience. i have gone through so much over here. my highest of highs, my lowest of lows. so many memories. and its already almost over...wow, time does fly.

i have really seen that the sky is the limit for me. i can do anything i want with my life. there is nothing holding me back. and it feels so good to be able to do what I want for once. to make the best decisions for me.

i have really been praying about my upcoming summer and am ecstatic to say that i think i have finally gotten some answers about my summer! im pretty sure that i am going to apply for summer project...im still praying about where i need to be, but i have narrowed it down. ill keep the locations a surprise :)

so tonight:

i went to tijuana's with ryan nick chris ash and christine.

went for a late night walk/mc don run with ryan.

and had an amazing skype date to make the night even sweeter than it was!

now tomorrow? im sleeping until my body wakes me up! woo! i havent had a morning like that in weeks. its going to feel so good. but tomorrow is my busy day of writing papers and all that school crap...

then saturday im going on a ten mile hike with christine!

although i am not traveling this weekend, im enjoying one of my last weekends in florence! it doesnt get any better. :)

when in rome...

what a crazy week. thats all i can say. what a good time.

mom and terri got here last monday and spent the day catching up on sleep and preparing for a killer trip to rome! their first night here i took them out for a good italian dinner and for gelato at Grom. they loved it as much as i do...

tuesday i actually went to class...i was missing my bentley friends who i had not seen in two weeks, so i went. it was a bore...as a matter of fact, i spent the class facebook chatting :) woops! ash and i took mom and terri shopping on tuesday afternoon for just a bit before bringing them back to the apartment for dinner. my roommate melissa makes the best bruchetta...so with her wisdom and cooking skills, we had a great dinner!

wednesday morning we woke up pretty early to get on the first train to rome. the train ride was pretty short, and despite our other gross trains, this one was really nice. a few hours later we arrived in rome and checked into our condo. it was sooooo nice. seriously, we had a living room, kitchen, bedroom and a pull out couch. it was so cozy...and a nice change from this apartment. we found this super cute place to grab a late lunch, and with terri flirting with the waiter we got free desert. hahahaha. it was funny. we went back to the condo, exhausted, and decided to rest our eyes for an hour or so before getting up to explore. 2 hours later when i woke up and woke everyone else up, we all decided to call it a night and hang out in the room for the night. it was so relaxing...something ashley and i needed after getting no sleep over fall break.

we made the next morning an early one and ventured first to the coliseum. it was totally not what i was expecting... Thornton Thor

for one, it was HUGE, dont get me wrong, but i thought it was going to be even HUGER (is that a word?). despite the shock when i saw the size, it was surrounded by massive amounts of traffic. it was like right in the middle of a huge traffic circle. so weird. when we got off the bus in front of it, these dorky guys rushed us in gladiator costumes and took pictures with us-it wasnt until after they insisted we take pictures that we found out they wanted 10 euros a piece for the pictures. mom and terri brushed them off. haha.

we ended up taking a tour of the coliseum, even though we vowed not to. this girl from jersey, who studied abroad in rome a few years ago, was working for this tour company and made her income off of commission. terri and mom wanted to help her make money, so we all did the tour-and learned a lot. the ruins were incredible. it was amazing to walk around in and picture it thousands of years ago with gladiators fighting off lions. unfortunately you cant walk on the bottom floor anymore, like IN the ruins...you just walk along side of them. but it was still incredible to look at.

after our coliseum tour, we toured Cesar’s palace! it was CRAZY! the first four floors of the palace are now underground from years and years of sitting, so we were actually walking on the fifth floor. it was HUGE. there was obviously no roof because it was destroyed, but the place was massive!! After hours of touring and being totally exhausted, we decided to get a good dinner and head back to the hotel. before heading all the way back to the hotel though, we stopped at trevi fountain to make a wish and take some pretty cool pictures! it was so beautiful...now i know why it is in so many movies...

our last day in rome consisted of walking through the 4 miles of Vatican museum. It was ridiculous and forever longggg. You had to walk through the entire museum to get to the Sistine chapel though, so we saw everything there was to see. I was shocked when I saw the Sistine chapel. It was just back off the cathedral, in a rectangular building, not a “globe” like I was thinking. It was incredible though. The only part of the painting that was in “blue tones” was the last judgment…the rest of the chapel was in red tones. It was totally not what I was predicting it to look like, but don’t get me wrong, I still loved it! Next we walked through st pauls cathedral. It was so beautiful…there was a mass going on when we were walking through, so we stopped and listened to it for a minute. Also, you can walk through the tombs of the popes underneath the cathedral. It was crazy how people were praying and worshipping dead popes…I was so confused.

We finished our last night in rome with a visit to a killer restaurant. Again, being so exhausted, we went back to our condo at a fairly decent time and began winding down and packing for our trip back to Florence the next morning.

With a few more things to see on Saturday, we woke up early and got a head start. We re-visited trevi fountain where we saw Penelope cruz in a massive amount of paparazzi. It was still cool! We also visited this place called “the wedding cake” which is in the heart of rome and was built in 1911. Its like a governmental building…but im not quite sure what it is beyond that…all I know is that the eternal flame is guarded 24/7 here. It was a magnificent building. lastly, we made a quick stop at the pantheon to see where raphael was buried-and got a quick bite to eat at the mcdonalds right in front of it!

Our train ride back to Florence was breeze…and mom and terri crashed here for the night on Saturday since Melissa and Christine were in Venice for the weekend…

So for the past few days, mom and terri and ash and I have just been hanging out. They made all of us roommates some super awesome dinner-mashed potatoes, chicken, salad and eggs. And made me and Ashley bacon and eggs for breakfast Sunday! Wooo!

It was back to school today…I didn’t think I was going to be able to get up and go honestly. It was horrible. I am failing cooking. How do you fail cooking class? Eh, im not going to stress about it.

The rest of the week will consist of hanging out these next few days with mom and terri before they leave on Thursday, soccer games on Wednesday, and a lot of homework this weekend unfortunately. I think Venice is a possibility for next weekend since Christine and Melissa will be in paris. But, it is pretty expensive to spend the night in Venice, so we will see…

Not too too much else going on. Just trying to recover from a crazy insanely awesome fall break and a week vaca with mom. We only have 1 month left here and its becoming a reality that we actually have to come home. We have gotten so used to called Florence home…its going to be a whole new world getting back to the usa. There isn’t too much to the next month-final exams, papers and a soccer game then I will be home.

So bittersweet….

bonjour paris!

is it possible for the next post to take like hours to write? if it wasnt before, it is now.

ill start with my last two days of london then finish with the five most incredible days in paris:

on monday, me ashley and marissa met up with a few girls from one of my classes here in italy and ended up getting tickets to see wicked on broadway! the tickets were cheap, and i was sitting only a few rows back from the stage...it was an incredible show. we all loved it so so much! after the show we were feeling super tired, so we called in a night and prepared for our flight to paris the next day.

we woke up early on tuesday to go to ABBEY ROAD! as;kdfja ;isjd;fasdfjij !! i was completely in heaven...it was awesome. it honestly wasnt much to see, but it was sweet taking a picture that the beatles took there years ago. it was magical. i loved it!

after walking abbey road, we had to dart to the airport to make it to paris...we arrived at paris on tuesday night and i went in my first taxi. i hated it...it was stressful watching the meter tick. :) we stayed in a hotel fairly close to the airport on tuesday night since we got in kind of late...there was nothing open as far as places to eat, so we went to a mcdonalds-it was huge! and of course i was in heaven!

the next morning we woke up pretty early to check out of that hotel and into the one we booked in the city. we were kind of shocked at the hotel we got in the city-it was pretty cheap, and it was AWESOME! we were on the 4th floor and had a super awesome view of the city street below us! ashley and i shared a room-it was comfortable! we loved it...but we only had a bath tub-and ashley hates baths-but we made due :) haha.

that same day (wednesday) everyone else came in as well...there were 7 of us total from state. ash and i ventured off on our own mission for the afternoon-first seeing the eiffel tower which was breathtaking. it was just as i pictured. so beautiful. we took a million pictures in front of it...and stood in awe for quite some time.

after seeing the eiffel tower for the first time of many over the next few days, we ventured to the champs-elysees and the arc de triumph! it was magnificent!!! there was absolutely no traffic pattern around the arc, so everyone just drove crazy. it was pretty cool-the arc was in the middle of a circular "round about" and off of it there are 12 streets that make it look like a star from high up. :)

the champs was not exactly what i pictured either...i was anticipating a ton of expensive places to shop-but was suprised to find the expensive shops on the street perpendicular to the champs. we found a HUGE sephora on the champs but refrained from buying anything-at least until a few days later :)

after walking walking and walking some more, we took the complicated metro back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. we all ended up eating together-we asked our hotel desk a good place to eat...where did he direct us to? to the sex shop street. everyone in our group was laughing about where we were, and ashley and i were walking with our heads down so we didnt see anything we shouldnt see in the windows of the shops. it was rather sickening. we just so happened to stumble across the moulin rouge and took a few quick snap shots of the outside of it. it was pretty cool...

we ended up eating at an irish pub? haha. who knew we would come all that way to paris and eat in an irish pub...and of course, i got the most american thing on the menu. it was nice just sipping a margahrita and eating some fries :) after dinner, we all decided to call it a night since it was pretty late by this point in time.

thursday morning we woke up early to walk to get breakfast...and after walking to the pompeideu (i think i spelled that right), ash and i broke away from the group because we had other things that we wanted to see instead. we accomplished seeing notre dame, st micheal, the pantheon and devoured a crepe. :) it was my first crepe and it was delicious! for the remainder of the afternoon, we settled on the grass in front of the eiffel tower. we napped, took pictures, read the bible and enjoyed the afternoon and watching the sun go down on such a beautiful city.

i was in complete shock at how amazing the city was. i think i fell in love with it like i did a few weeks ago in harrogate. it was the most romantic place i have ever been in. there were couples everywhere, kissing, hugging, being cute-and i realized that i can not wait to come here one day a married woman! woo! the buildings were so ellagant and fancy-the streets were clean compared to florence-i saw grass for the first time since being in england a few weeks ago! the leaves were falling off the trees, the weather was amazing, and i realized that i was doing something i have always dreamed about as a little girl. i was SITTING IN FRONT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER. i was reading my bible, soaking up the culture, enjoying the peace and quiet, enjoying everything about it. best part? one of my best friends was sharing the experience with me.

after laying in front of the tower for quite some time, we decided to take a boat tour of the city at night after the sun set. we couldnt have picked a better time to do the tour-the city was all lit up and it was the 120 year anniversary of the eiffel tower so there was a light show on the tower every hour. it was beautiful. on the boat tour we saw where princess diana was killed in the car wreck, we learned the history of the bridges in paris, and took in the awesome scenery. the boat tour was definately one of the highlights of my trip-despite the bitter cold weather that we encountered on the tour.

the next day, we decided to sleep in a little bit. everyone in our group had plans to go to versailles for the day-and although that sounded really cool, we wanted to stay in paris and finish seeing what we came to see before we went to another city. we finally found the longchamp store where i made my huge paris purchase and bought a new purse :) :) it was worth it to say that i got a designer purse in paris?! wooo! after finding a purse and resting in the nearest starbucks for a hot cup of coffee, we decided to do this free walking tour ashley heard about. it was AWESOME-the best tour i have ever had.

dont get me wrong, after 4 hours of walking around the city of paris, my feet were falling off. i still cant feel them days later. but it was worth it. we learned so much history about the city-including the bridge in the city where in sex and the city, mr.big tells carrie she is the one for him. we also stopped at the fountain that anne hathaway throws her cell phone in at the end of the devil wears prada. of course, all of us girls on the tour snapped pictures as we walked by.

we heard some crazy stories on the walking tour as well-like, last year these australian people decided to try to roast a hot dog over the eternal flame at the arc de triumph and they were forever banned from returning to france. hahhaa. i loved the tour and learned so much that i would not have learned other wise. who would have known the oldest bridge in paris is called the "new bridge?" as you can imagine, after hours and hours of walking, we were again exhausted. sounds like our entire trip-awesome but exhausting. we went back to the hotel and got some pizza and sushi for dinner...we ate while watching and trying to interpret friends in french...hahaha. even though we were not motivated, we decided to get our butts out of bed and go see the eiffel tower all lit up at night since it was a fairly clear night out.

i am so glad we climbed it at night as opposed to during the day. it was a phenomenal site. you could see over the entire city. it was freezing cold, but that didnt even matter. there were couples making out left and right, which was kind of sad. ahhaa. one day i will be back to do that too! the light show was going on while we were on top of the eiffel tower-and it looked crazy awesome looking at it all from the top!

another late night led us to bed exhausted and ready to start another day in the morning...

and now, my last day in paris...it was wonderful. we started the day by going to the louvre. and since we have student visas for italy, which is in the european union, we get in free to all state museums! that makes going to the louvre that much sweeter. i saw mona-and was quite suprised that she was pretty small. i was expecting a much bigger painting-but it was still totally awesome to say that i saw mona lisa. it was neat going through the museum and seeing other paintings and statues that i have talked about in my art history class-now i can tell what they are and even explain them...i loved that. we checked out napolean's "house" which was actually in the louvre. it was the fanciest, nicest, place i have ever laid eyes upon!! everything was red and gold. we didnt spend too too much time in the louvre-its honestly so big that we didnt really know where to start. so we decided to walk from painting to painting and make up our own twisted interpretations of everything. it was pretty funny...

the louvre left us craving some starbucks...again. so we took an hour or so break at the next starbucks we saw, and just chatted before checking out museum d'Orsay. this museum was filled with, i guess you would call it, more modern art than other museums we have seen. they had a few monet and vangough paintings-it was not my favorite museum, but we still enjoyed it for a little bit.

feeling a bit hungry and in need of a break, we grabbed some sandwiches and had a picnic in front of the eiffel tower. another beautiful day and another awesome quite time in front of the monument that i have always desired to see. it is so peaceful...

our tour guide from friday told us that the first 50 people to show up at bistille opera the night of the show get tickets for 5 euro instead of 60 euro. so after another long day of walking, ashley and i attempted to be two of the first 50 in line...bummer, we were about number 72 in line. so we didnt get our opera tickets. instead, we met up with the rest of our group for dinner at Laudree. it was a pretty darn nice restaurant on the champs-elysees. and after dinner, we concluded our paris trip with one last night time look at the eiffel tower from the river. it was an incredible way to say bye.

i would say that the paris trip was more than a success. it was wonderful. probably the best place overall that i have ever been. but, im not going to lie, it would be awesome to have someone to share it with one day. i would recommend saving it for a time when you have someone to share it with. it was that awesome. i am so thankful for such an awesome oppritunity. this entire trip has been such a dream come true for me-specifically, the trip to paris. i remember as a little girl watching mary kate and ashley olsens "passport to paris" movie a million times, and dreaming of one day doing what they did. and now? i can say that i have travelled the world! and i am only 20! i would say that this is more than just one dream come true...

my favorite part of paris? sitting in front of the eiffel tower just in complete awe of the beauty-at night in particular. i have never, and will never, see anything like it in my life. did i mention above that the boys in paris are a site themselves? :) seriously, the hottest boys we have ever seen. like, guys you only dream of seeing one day in real life kind of cute :) its probably a good thing we didnt have too much time to see any other "attractions" than the ones we saw. hahah. kidding...

ok, phew. im finally done with this post. well not quite. my mom is on her way here!!! as a matter of fact, i will be seeing her in like 12 hours?!?!?!?! i am ESTATIC!

welcome to london-the best city in the world.

i can not believe that i am finding a place and time to update my blog, but i was so excited to document all that i have done so far in london. we got in around 5 pm last night, but waited in customs for an hour or so. for some reason, england has been the only customs that has drilled us with questions and taken forever to get through. we made it into the city pretty late and got checked into our hostel. we were not so excited about staying in a hostel, but the price was right and we thought we needed to try it at least once in our lives. oh what an experience it is.

we are in a super nice hostel actually-there is a lounge, bar, restaurant and 15 or so rooms i think? in our room there are 12 girl beds, but only 9 are being slept in tonight including us three. there is no curfew in this hostel, so people came in at all times of the night. it wasnt too bad though because everyone respects each others space for the most part. each bed has a cute curtain that goes all the way around the bed for privacy, and each bed has a little night lamp too. i layed in my cubicle and read while journaling for quite a while last night. the girl that slept on the top bunk above me was from poland and she kept rolling around in her sleep and was pretty loud. but she is gone tonight.

today we had a jammed packed day. i couldnt sleep so i woke up at 6:30 and did some research on the computers for paris on tuesday...just trying to find the cheapest way to get around and get in museums. im pretty excited. ashley and i went to hillsong church this morning! who knew i would come to europe to see two of my favorite christian bands? the worship in the church was CRAZY! it was in a theatre with awesome lights and the entire band jumped around. it was cool.

after church ashley and i met up with marissa in piccadilly circus to grab some lunch. we ended up grabbing sandwiches and eating on a bench. it was so cute. we walked around after lunch before stopping by the national art gallery-the pictures were awesome. then we navigated to the tower of london. marissa wanted to tour the tower, and ash and i didnt have the money, so we went to the london bridge and took some crazy awesome pictures while marissa toured the tower. we were suprised to find that the london bridge IS nothing more than a bridge. its not the bridge you are thinking of in the pictures, that is the tower of london. the london bridge is just a plain jane bridge and the only way you know its the london bridge is because it has a little plaque on it. lameee...

the tower of london was ABSOLUTELY beautiful. i have pictures but will have to wait until i get home to post them on here.

we met up with marissa a few hours later and ventured to the london eye. it is the huge ferris wheel that looks over the thames river and onto big ben and westminister. it was amazing. serioulsy huge, so big that each car holds 24 people. the colors on the eye changed every minute or so and it was quite the site to see. we didnt go on it though, it was pretty expensive for one ride-17£.

we walked through the city a little more once it got dark. we really wanted to see westminister abbey and big ben all lit up. i have never seen anything like it. westminister is the largest church in europe-i hope to tour it tomorrow, but am not sure how much it costs...bummer. we ventured back to our hostel area to find some fish and chips for dinner. we found a cute little place that was showing some NFL football-so we ate there and got a little american fix too.

now here i am, in the lobby of the hostel. i only have 4 more minutes on the computer-you have to sign up for 30 minute time slots-so i better get running.

tomorrow morning we are meeting up with a few girls from one of my classes in italy who happen to also be staying in our hostel. we are going to buy tickets for wicked on broadway tomorrow night! we figured we would save our money these past few days and have a good dinner and a show tomorrow. im so excited. also in store for tomorrow? abbey road! i am so excited for this. i CAN NOT wait to go see it...supposedly its pretty crazy how many people attempt to walk across it. haha. that will be me. we are going to see the changing of the guards at buckingham palace tomorrow morning as well. that will be an incredible experience.

our time here is so short...we leave tuesday afternoon for paris for the next 6 days. there is so much to do in paris-i am so thankful that we have much more time there.

ok, got to go. more to come later. probably not until i get home on november 1st!

did i mention how excited i am to see my mom on november 2? and we are going to rome. me my mom her best friend and one of my best friends. does it get any better? i think not. woop woop :)

fall break has finally arrived!

it is 12:36 and i am still not packed for my fall break trip which starts tomorrow-as a matter of fact, i have spent about an hour drying jeans with a hairdryer. haha.

this week went by crazy fast...it was midterm week! i actually got a lot of studying done and think i did really well on all of them, except for the first one, which i blogged about last time. other than midterms, studying and just hanging around the apartment this week, not much of anything else went on. it was kind of nice just relaxing.

i finally went to the doctor for my cold/flu that i had last weekend. diagnosis: bronchitis. blah. so i have been on a prescription medicine for a few days now, and it actually worked. no more coughing!

today, melissa's mom arrived! it was so exciting to see people from back home. we ate dinner and made brownies! (her mom brought us brownie mix :) ) after dinner, her mom treated me, ash, ryan and melissa to grom...as you know, our favorite gelato place. ummm ummm.

last night ryan and i went out with some friends from class who go to bentley. it was really chill. one of the girls parents were in town, so we went and hung out with them and the rest of the bentley crew-there are 16 of them! it was a lot of fun...so much fun that today shannon and chris came over and cooked lunch with ryan and i. it was pretty cool :)

tonight i talked to my mom for the last time until she is here on november 1! i can not tell you how excited i am to see her-but most importantly to share this experience with her! its so weird to think that she is coming to italy and I, yes I, am her tour guide. it will be awesome taking her to my favorite places around town and stuff. and i kind of have most of our time planned out, which is exciting. me, her, terri and ashley are going to rome for 3 nights before packing our bags for a trip to venice. both cities i have waited to visit with mom, so it will be a new experience for all of us. i can not wait!

tomorrow morning we are finally leaving for london and paris. this trip has been planned since the second week we have been here, but we never anticipated that time would fly by so fast. we are over half way done here-that makes me want to cry.

but anyways, we are spending three nights in london before heading to paris to meet up with 5 other girls from nc state and enjoy 5 nights there! i am so excited for this-the two places i have ALWAYS wanted to go-and i get to spend a lot of time there. in london we are staying at a really nice hostel...and convienently, some friends from my classes are also staying there :) in paris, ashley and i have our own hotel room next to marissa and laura. the rest of the clan is staying at a hostel.

well, i better attempt to fit 8 days worth of clothes into my carry on. this should be interesting...

be back next week! ciao!