Booking Trips

The time is flying by! I just booked a trip to Oktoberfest in Germany, a trip to Greece and the Greek Islands, and a trip to Barcelona. I will be flying for two of the trips and taking a train for the third. The flights are very cheap. The school is taking us to southern Italy on the 2-4^th of November, right after we move into Rome.

I went to a local pub last night and they bought our entire group (about 13 of us) three or four rounds of free shots. We took over the entire pub and mingled with a bunch of the locals. I am getting better with my Italian and I enjoy speaking, or trying to speak, to the locals.

The people in my immediate group of friends are all incredible people: Frederik, Kelsie, Bianca, Brianna, Eda, Joel, Taras, Shelby and the others who I am sure will be named later.

I am figuring out my way around the city of Florence. I love the city life. I am walking everywhere!! I actually have blisters from wearing sandals for consecutive days in a row. The weather is absolutely perfect. A cool 80 has been about the average. Yesterday it rained for the first time since I have been here. I run the city pretty much every day. There is a local park where everyone runs, bikes, or rides mopeds. I saw a local working out using a tree the other day so a roommate and I decided to try it. We did a bunch of pull-ups on a tree limb, some push-ups and sit-ups. I have been doing these things in my room pretty much daily to stay in shape. Walking so much and eating more slowly has been beneficial to me keeping fit.

The city is covered by stone and cobblestone- the sidewalks and roads. There are only tiny cars – mostly fiat . There are no trucks. There are a tonnnn of mopeds and scooters. They fly down the streets, sidewalks, and roads. The drivers are crazy. The people are great. Everyone here is so tan. Everyone drinks coffee, wine, and smokes cigarettes. I love everything about the culture here!

I am currently in the process of editing and labeling my photos to put on here. I am going to try to get some on here today.