Made it, finally

So I landed in Orlando on Saturday at 4:30.  My mom and Betsy met me at the airport with a "welcome to America" sign as if I've never been here before.  My luggage didn't make it though.  As of yesterday it was at the Orlando airport and I'm hoping it will be delivered today.  Saturday I made it until 9 before I fell asleep.  Since I woke up at 6am and considering 9pm is 3am my time I thought it was pretty good.  I did however wake up at 6:30 the next morning.  Yesterday we went to church, played with my niece Hazel, ate cheeseburgers and Betsy and I made Christmas cookies.  This afternoon Weeg and Lana get in and then tonight we are having a big Christmas dinner with the whole family.  The weather has been beautiful and I love being away from the constant rain of Florence.  I can't wait to hang out with both my brother and sister today, the last time I was with both of them was last Christmas.  Hooray!

Finally done!

Food carousel at the market
Enjoying delicious treats like chocolate covered and candied apples.
One of the vendors. 
The Santa Croce church with the market in the piazza.

Today was my last day of the semester.  I'm so happy to have a break.  Tomorrow I'll be cleaning and packing to be ready to go home on Friday.  I also finished A Prayer for Owen Meany today.  It was a engaging book with a great ending.  I think I'm going to start The House of Mirth next.  I really looking forward to just reading, sleeping and being with my family over break.  

Most of the pictures I included are of the German Christmas market in front of Santa Croce.  It has been there for most of December.  There are all kinds of vendors, herbs, cookies, food, clothing, decorations and jewelry to name a few.  The entire city is decorated.  There are trees and lights everywhere which makes the city very beautiful.  Even though there isn't any snow its easy to get into the spirit.  

Nothing much else is going on.  Tonight will be celebration #2 now that I'm really free.

Celebration part 1

Yesterday was the peak of my finals and the end of this week since I don't have classes on Friday.  This week I had my two Italian finals and my one big presentation.  Next week I have one presentation, one project due and two more finals.  Anyways to celebrate this week being over and almost being done I went out to dinner with four of my friends last night.  It was one of the best meals I've had here.  We shared an appetizer of pecorino cheese with honey, thyme and walnuts.  For primi patti I got penne pasta with lemon meatballs and then shared a second course of chicken in balsamic vinegar.  For dessert I had a warm chestnut muffin with caramel filling that tasted like heaven.  It was a really nice evening, we hung out at the restaurant for a few hours just eating and talking.  Somehow we all starting telling childhood antidotes, specifically about getting in trouble.  It was hilarious and I of course shared about the time I carved a picture into our piano with a screwdriver. 

I'm glad I have the weekend to relax and get ready for my next round of finals.  The second celebration will take place on Wednesday night when I will be completely done for the semester.  

I'm only a week from going home!

Procrastination

A few old photos.  I don't have any new ones because I haven't gone anywhere lately.  


We love coffee!

Its the boring part of the semester when all I'm doing is homework.  I should be working on some now...oh well.  Its less than two weeks until I get to go home.  I'm very excited, but not about the actual traveling part.  I have three flights, first to Paris, then to DC and finally to Orlando.  This delightful trek across the ocean will take about 16 hours.  All worth it though in the end.  

Here are a few of things I'm looking forward to most:  seeing my family obviously, decorating cookies with my sister, forcing my entire family to watch Muppet Christmas Carol, eating my mom and Charlie's cooking, american coffee, being in a car, not having class, seeing my niece Hazel, playing with animals, going to target, and having access to a drying machine.  Ah I can't wait.  

Nesting

Currently reading:

Currently watching:

Currently listening to:


Today is December 1st, so that means that I'm 17 days away from the semester being over and 19 days away from seeing my family.  Everything is pretty boring right now, I have been spending a lot of time doing homework and that will continue to increase until finals are over.  The weather has been horrible, it has been thunder storming all weekend and it is actually raining right now as I am writing this.  It doesn't get cold enough in Italy for snow so I just have more rain to look forward to.  At least I don't feel bad about sitting in my apartment and doing homework.   Tonight I'm making baked corn again since I didn't get much at Thanksgiving and going to watch Muppet Christmas Carol.