Author: Stephanie Larkin

Hey everyone!

This past week was my last in Florence.  Unfortunately, I had had exams up until 12 hours before I was leaving, but I was able to take a study break to walk around and see the city for the last time. They put up a bunch of christmas trees in the piazzas and hung lights over the streets. Walking around once the sun goes down is magical. I was also able to make it to one last soccer game. I had so much fun this semester, yet it was also challenging and taught me a lot about myself and other cultures.
I wish everyone the best in Virginia this week and I can’t wait to be back in January!

See you all soon!

Stephanie

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week! It was a bit strange to be celebrating an American holiday in Italy, but my family made the trip here and we celebrated in Rome! The hotel we stayed at made a huge turkey and everything. I was pretty impressed. 

I spent some time in Milan, Florence, and Rome with my family. In Milan, we saw the Last Supper, the Milan Cathedral, and walked through the Galleria (where the high-end stores are).

In Florence, I was able to show them around where I have been living for the past few months. We all had dinner with my host mom one night and she fed us very well. Also, she doesn’t speak English and they don’t speak Italian.

They left on Saturday to go back home, so on Sunday I had the day to myself. I woke up early to catch the start of the annual Firenze Marathon. It was exciting and I had an incredible view of the Florence Cathedral and the Baptistry from where I was standing! 

Until next week…Ciao!

Stephanie

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in my post, my family was visiting! It was really nice to have them here, and I even got to do some things I hadn’t yet done in Spain! We went to the Alhambra, ate lots of good food, and went to some beautiful churches. We also saw a flamenco show, which I really liked! The dancers, singers, and musicians all have so much passion when they are performing! My family just left this morning, but I already miss them!

It was fun to have Thanksgiving here, even though it was very different than our usual routine. My program had a Thanksgiving dinner together in a restaurant. Although it wasn’t a traditional meal, it was very nice to spend time together. I definitely missed stuffing though (because it’s my favorite food)!

Last weekend, I got to go to Córdoba with my program. The mezquita there is AMAZING, it’s huge! It our final trip for the program, and it was nice to spend some time with friends!

Now I have five days of classes, and then I will be going on another trip (to London and Prague). It’s super hard to believe that I only have about 20ish days left here! It’s actually kind of terrifying, because I really love being here and I’ll definitely miss the friends that I’ve made.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and ate plenty of turkey for me!

Love,

Bix