It's March already?!

Thursday- March 1

Realization set in today that my trip is flying by way too fast for my liking. Sunday marks the date that I leave in two months. I'm almost halfway done with my experience here, and I feel like I still have so many places I want to go. 

It was funny because last night I was looking at my calendar freaking out because I only have two more weekends left here to choose from to go to places, and then I thought about what I was freaking out about. I was thought, "wow, my life is so difficult. You know, trying to plan weekends to go away and all." I laughed.

But seriously, this weekend I go to Milan tomorrow, Via Reggio Saturday, a soccer game Sunday, Madrid next weekend, Greece the next two weekends, then my family is here for the following next two weekends, and then it's the second weekend in APRIL! AHH I do not like this...I do not like this at all. 

Today was an awesome day though. With it being 73 degrees outside, blue skies and not a cloud in sight automatically put my in an excellent mood. It felt like it was really long, but in a good way. I started my day off in Italian with a quiz. Nicoletta let us leave after the quiz because she thought we wouldn't have enough time to watch the rest of the movie, so I was out of there at 11:20. I went home for the next 50 minutes and had lunch and got all of my ducks in an order.

I left for Italian Art and met the class at San Lorenzo Church. I was a bit bummed because I had already been to this church with my Genius of Florence class, but I ended up learning different things. I was also pleased because I already knew some of the information Rocky was saying because of Fabrizio.

After class I walked back home with Maria and soon departed from her to go to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions. When I walked in there were two dogs laying on the floor. They were so cute and let me pet them. Dogs over here are so well-trained it puts all American dogs to shame. 

After the pharmacist I went to a convenient store to get stamps to mail out several post cards. I spoke to the cashier all in Italian and it made both of us smile. 

Back at the apartment Kate and I finalized our trains and hostels in Rome for our spring break trip. Our trip is a little difficult because we take a train in that Thursday afternoon and fly out Friday to Greece and on our way back we fly into Rome and unfortunately miss the last train back to Florence, so we had to get a hostel in Rome and come back that Sunday. Oh well, it still works!

Around 3:45 I met Lydia at the school and she, Kristy, Laura and Michelle — a few new girls I've met since being in Florence — went to go climb the Duomo. We made a pit stop at Kristy's place to get her camera. She wasn't going to bring it and I had to convince her it was vital to have it since it was going to be a beautiful view. 

We started climbing the Duomo probably around 4:15. It was A LOT easier than I thought it was going to be. It's just such a tall building that I just imagined the stairs being unbearable, but there were random breaks in the stairs where you could rest. It wasn't like climbing up to my apartment where the steps are just 70 some in a row. 

It probably took 15 or 20 minutes to get to the top, but once I saw the light and got to the top the view caught my breath. The city was just gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Our teachers and friends who had been to Florence previous semesters recommended for us to climb it before tourist season started, which is mid-March to April. Thank goodness we didn't because we didn't have to wait in any line! We just walked right up and started climbing those stairs!

While I was sitting up top I still couldn't accept the fact that this was my life. I've always looked at pictures of people studying here and thinking "Oh my gosh I can't wait until that's me." Now that it is, I cannot believe it. I am in love with Florence and the beauty of it. 

After hanging up top for about an hour we decided to head back down. It was the weirdest thing... When I got to the top my legs weren't shaking at all, but when I stepped outside on the bottom my legs all of a sudden felt like jello. Going down was obviously easier, but somehow it made my legs so shaky. Laura and Michelle said the same thing. We were all saying how odd it was!

I left the group to go home and fetch a bottle of wine and go over to my friend's apartment. Six of the CCI girls live here, so we decided we would have a family dinner with all 15 of us. I love it. We don't all hang out all of the time, but we are like one big family and I know if I ever needed anything all of them would help me in a heartbeat. 

When I arrived I got through the front door without buzzing in. I rang the doorbell, which is the same sound as asking to be buzzed in. I figured they would think I was buzzing from downstairs, so I knocked right after. Megan answered and said, "Wow that was really fast!" I said, "Megan, I just rang your doorbell. I would have to be like super duper fast to make it up here in that split second." It was hilarious. 

Bethany, Yelena and Maria were in the kitchen finishing up cooking the dinner. We were having pasta with either tomato sauce or a sauce made with olive oil, tomatoes, lettuce and pancetta....which was delicious!

Everyone but Lydia and Eva joined, so it was a full table. It was a lot of fun to sit around, eat dinner and sip on some wine. We had Italian music playing in the background and Italian Mambo would be forever stuck in my head thanks to Bethany. 

It was the perfect ending to the perfect day. When I came home Lydia was home with Laura and Michelle, so I talked with them for a little bit and then I decided to go to bed a little earlier because it was going to be an early day tomorrow going to Milan!