Home

Well I'm home, and have been for a while. It's nice to be back, I know how things work here, and thing seem to be working well.
I have started my job back at the photo lab again, sadly I only have about 5 or 6 hours of work a week, but school will keep me plenty busy. I've seen my uncle and gone snowboarding with him. I've also stopped by the taco stand and had great sushi with the girls.
I've started to slip into a diet to get rid of all the weight I put on from eating so many carbs. and hopefully this week I'm planning on starting my workout routine.

There's no place like home.

Winery pictures

These barrels where built into the cellar









This is holding Chianti Classico 2006



Grapes drying for the Vino Santo




The wine


Me and my roomies ready for some amazing wine and dine.


Part of the vineyards.

First is last

Well I realize that there aren't any photos of my apartment on here. Which I will be leaving on Sunday at 10 AM for a hotel on the Arno. But here is Stacey one of my roommate's blog link with the photos.
http://staceytravelinlight.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-florence-apartment.html

Soon to Come, I promise

I promise that soon there will be pictures of the winery and Thanksgiving, maybe something else, depending on if I'm forgetting something at the moment.

Though it might have to wait until after finals, which are next week.
Love you all.
Ciao tutti!

What I'm Excited to Come Home to:

• Good Mexican and Chinese food
• Watching Roxanne peel oranges
• The photo lab
• Westminster
• Snowboarding
• Krista’s cooking
• Peanut butter
• Making money
• Real school
• Making Roxanne giggle
• Having inside jokes
• Hamburgers
• Milk shakes
• Sugar House Coffee
• Hanging out in the kitchen with the girls
• Dinners with my uncle
• Friends!
• English
• American boys
• My room
• My bed
• My apartment
• Internet whenever I want
• Calling Shannon
• Texting with out fear of being charged outrages amounts of money
• No exchange rate
• Midnight runs to Walgreens
• Almost midnight runs to the taco stand on state
• And if it’s past midnight Los Betos
• Movies
• Watching dumb TV shows with the girls
• The new need to explore more of America
• Being comfortable
• The feeling of being home
• Going grocery Shopping with the girls
• Buying groceries for more then one
• Sharing without worry with the girls
• Knowing what my roommates are thinking from our psych link
• Random visits from Andrew

I’m sure that once I return home there will be a ‘what I miss about Italy/Europe’ list. No worries, I’m just excited to come home after chilling here with Mom for a few days!

A Few Things About Italy

• Trains are a great way to travel from town to town!
• Casablanca in Italian, just isn’t the same
• Euros are such strange and cool money. You spend “change” and you spend Euros at a time.
• Italian men are just as skeezey as they are in the movies, well they can be.
• The further north you go in Italy the slower they speak, until they start to speak a strange mixture of German and Italian.
• Marble is everywhere.
• You don’t find change on the ground here
• But you do find frescos on every other building if you just look
• If you can find the Arno you can find your way around Florence.
• For some reason people find Florence confusing to get around, “Where’s the duomo?” When the Duomo is the largest building in the city, “You see that huge dome? That’s it.”
• Chinese food here is not good.
• I love the little 3 wheeled ‘cars’ and ‘trucks.’ It looks like only one man would be able to fit, but I’ve seen two at a time.
• Just because it’s a ‘sidewalk’ doesn’t make it safe.
• Wine is cheaper then beer and almost more inexpensive then water.
• Tuscan bread is tasteless and dry.
• Foccacia on the other hand yum yum.
• Tripe should be tried, just don’t think to hard about what you’re eating.
• The measurement etto, is important when buying sliced meats.
• Ciao, is just fun to say.
• Allora, is better.
• There are different types of pizza, regular Italian pizza and panne pizza on bread, both wonderful!
• Meat will go bad the day after you buy it from the grocery store!

Coming to an End

Coming to an End

I have three weeks until my mom flies into Italy herself and I get to show her around the city I’ve been lucky enough to live in for the last few months. We’ll spend Christmas and New Years here, three days in Rome and then back home to America for the both of us. That means that finals are upon me and time is going to fly by quicker then you can say some stupid long drawn out word.

It’s almost the end of my experience here, and I think I’m actually ready for it. I’m excited to see my mom and show her around here. Then I get to go home, and be comfortable. Nothing is cozy here, nothing is home. Though that might sound negative, it’s not entirely that way. Home is home and home is the USA. Home is my own bed, with my sheets and my roommates and my language.

I wish I had learned more Italian, and met more Italian people. I tried, I signed up for a conversation partner and I tried to speak Italian whenever possible, but when you’re in a place that is so full of tourists the locals start to talk to you in English as soon as the first word comes out of your mouth it’s a little hard.

I think I’ve learned some things about the world, I’ve learned a little about living in a different place, and how they live. I’ve seen things older then my own country, I’ve eaten too much new food, enough to gain 10 lbs, and I’ve tried to speak a different language. I can not go home and say that I didn’t gain anything, because I have.

I’ve seen everything from the Duomo of Florence, The Eiffel Tower, and the home of Mozart. I’ve seen priceless pieces of art work by Da Vinci, Monet, Degas, Botticelli, and many, many others. I’ve lived a dream, but now it’s time to come back down from the clouds and I’m ready for my landing captain.

I’m coming home in a little over a month, I’m coming home to snowboarding, spending a lot of time at the gym, the photo lab, I’m coming home to my loving roommates, putting my room back together and making it mine again.

I’m leaving Europe as a whole, new friends and roommates, history, all the art from my history books, the Italian language, and so much more.

But Ciao Bella Italia and hello America the Beautiful I’m coming home!