Never a Dull Moment

Erika, Aubrey, Megan and I hanging out in our pensione 

Just finished midterms, which means the semester is half over! I can’t believe how fast time is going here. Last weekend I stayed in Florence and had a relaxing fun time with everyone in my pensione.

I started off the weekend volunteering at this place called Creative Corner, where little Italian kids go to learn English and play games. My roommates and I spent a few hours doing activities with the kids and then we took them trick-or-treating. I worked with 2 adorable first grade girls, who knew very little English. I realized that my Italian is not quite as good as I thought it was and I have a long way to go. But we were able to discuss our favorite colors! Trick-or-treating with the kids was a lot of fun and it reminded me of home.

Superbed

My roommates and I pushed our beds together to create a big superbed where we watched movies and snuggled. I also did a little exploring in Florence and went to the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace and found the most incredible park with leaves of all different colors on the trees.

Happy Halloween

On Monday my pensione decided to have a Halloween party and a trick-or-treating event. The trick-or-treating ended up as liqu-or-treating, where everyone went to each other’s rooms dressed up in costumes and were given a little wine or some other kind of alcohol. We all had a great time and it was nice bringing a little piece of home here, since Halloween isn’t celebrated in Italy.

Everyone in my pensione on Halloween!

Time is flying here and it feels like the semester is going to be over before we know it. November is very busy for me. I’m visiting cousins in Jesi, a small town outside of Ancona, Italy. I am going to Assisi on a retreat, going to Scotland for Thanksgiving, and spending some time with my parents next week! Seeing how little of time is left in the semester is making me so grateful that I am here for the year. Overall everything is going really well and I’m excited for all the traveling I am doing the next few weeks and especially excited for my parents to get here!