Playing Catch-up

I'm aware that I've been a little neglectful when it comes to this blog recently and for that I apologize. But I have to say, I have been quite the busy little beaver throughout the month of November!

The weekend after Vienna, took off for my final API excursion to Rome. Although this was my third visit to the Eternal City (2nd this year) it remains one of my favorite cities in the world. While the guided tours were more than a little repetitive, the sights did not fail to take my breath away. I was especially surprised to see Paolo, who had been one of my class's guides on my LC trip to Italy in January and was well known for his mind-numbingly boring lectures on obscure pieces of art.


Now to jump ahead to this past weekend, one of the best weekends I have had since being abroad-- I was able to visit my good friends studying in the greater London area for Thanksgiving dinner!!

Although these plans had been in effect for months, I was feeling a little homesick leading into the holiday. I couldn't picture being away from my family for thanksgiving and we were unsure if we would be able to eat a traditional turkey dinner. Thankfully, the minute I arrived in London all of my worries disappeared as I geared up to cook a huge feast with my Stonehill family. Although the food was nowhere near as good as mom's, I was extremely proud that we pulled together a respectable thanksgiving dinner. It was so nice to be around good friends that I hadn't seen in a while that it took my mind off not being at home. I think we all felt the same way.

"family portrait" of the Stonehill Thanksgiving Crew: Janna, Corinna, Kellie, Brian and I

After a lovely few days in London, I headed back to Florence to cheer on my good friend Christine as she ran the Florence marathon. It was a great day (for me at least) as we watched 10,000 people from all over the world compete in a race that I would never in a million years be able to finish. I'm so proud of Christine as this is her first time (in fact, she never really ran before beginning her training) and she finished within her goal of 5 hours (exact time 4:46:51) Congrats Christine!!

So there you have it, that's what I've been up to the past few weeks. I will add pictures to my webshots within the next few days, but other than that I will be pretty occupied with the "study" part of study abroad. Only 3 weeks until I am back in the USA-- Crazy thought!!