Week 12!

This week was a bit of a shorter week because I left on Thursday evening for spring break! So, I have decided to keep the blogs separated and combine part of week 12 into week 13 :)

I used Monday as a much-needed catch-up day! I started my morning off with my quiet time and then a run. I then started my laundry and set out to find a package I had ordered. I was having a bit of trouble with my delivery because I guess I entered an address that wasn’t compliant with the delivery service because I received word that my package could not be delivered to the address I had requested, so I was in contact with the customer service team to try and figure out where to send my package. Because Cam and I do not have an entrance hallway or an apartment foyer, there was no safe way to have the package delivered to our apartment, so I had to be creative to find a reliable pickup point.

All that being said, I walked over to the pickup point to ask for confirmation that I could use their location, only to find out I could not, so I went home, made lunch, and tried to come up with another solution. I ended up just putting my home address and hoping that, whenever they came to drop off the package, I would, by some miracle, be home to receive it. After lunch, I went to class, then went back home for the evening. I ended up talking on the phone with Maggie, a really good friend from school, for a while, while I ate dinner! After we chatted, I then called my grandparents, Gigi and Gdaddy, and shared with them all about my trip to London! Then, it was time for me to get in bed, so I took advantage of my slow evening and got in bed early.

Tuesday morning I did my morning routine and then headed off to my Italian Style and Culture class from 9:00–12:00. After class I went home, had lunch, and then ventured out to buy a new travel backpack, because post London, my zipper on my old backpack broke, so I needed to find a new RyanAir approved (ish) bag before we left for spring break. Thankfully, there was a little place by my apartment, and I talked to the lady only in Italian, which I was really proud of myself for! I have been challenging myself to try to speak it more when I go places, especially when I’m by myself, just to keep practicing, and it’s so fun to watch people’s faces light up when they can have a conversation in their own language!

After I got my backpack, I went into another store near me that felt like a Dollar Tree, and wandered around, wondering why I didn’t come here more often for basic necessities, especially when we first moved in. Then I went home, worked on my blog and budget, and then went for a nice and long walk. After my walk, I called my mom and then got ready for the evening. I was meeting up with friends for dinner, but I was honestly so hungry that I ended up making dinner at home and just eating a little bite with them later.

We went to Trattoria Sabatino, one of our go-to spots because of how homey it is! I had dinner with Cam, Dillon, and one of Dillon’s roommates, Jonah. After dinner, we met up with my friends Lauren, Liv, and Julia, who were with some of Lauren’s high school friends visiting from Madrid. We met up with them at a nearby bar and spent the evening with them! At some point in the night, Liv and I were ready to go home, so we decided to walk back together. While we were walking home, we ended up helping someone find their apartment after a long night out, and didn’t get home until 3:30ish in the morning. If you want the full story, you might just need to ask me what happened…….. When I got home, I immediately fell into bed and passed out.

Because I am a creature of habit, and I have told myself that no matter how late I stay out, I will wake up and do my quiet time in the morning. I got up at 7:00 am to go about my morning routine. I got ready for the day and then went to my intercultural management class from 9:00–12:00. I was actually really looking forward to this class today because we only had to sit through a little bit of a lecture before going to Mercato Centrale to take a tour of the market to learn about all of the cultural diversity there and how the different businesses have adapted to tourism.

When we got there, our guide was running late, so in consolation we were offered a free coffee and a pastry, which was so kind! Our tour guide showed up a few minutes later, and we began our tour. We started by walking around the entire second floor of the building, stopping at different businesses to either talk to the employees or listen to our guide explain the differences between them. We also got to try different samples at each place, which was so much fun!

As our tour started to come to a close, we had the chance to head to the third floor, the top floor, of the Mercado Centrale, where we found a table set for us with samples of four different kinds of lampredotto to try and a beer to drink! We were not expecting this, and neither was our professor, so it was such a fun surprise. I had already tried Lamperdotto, and I can’t say I am the biggest fan, but I decided to give it another try. Just when we thought we were done, they brought us a fresh margarita pizza to share! It was so much fun getting to share this experience with our small class, spending time with my professor, learning about his life, and getting to know him better.

When it was a little after 12, we decided to head home, so I made my way back to make myself a little snack for lunch because I had filled up so much from all our samples! I spent the rest of the day getting organized for spring break while I hoped my package would be delivered. Thank goodness, but my package (unfortunately, only one of two) was delivered before I had to leave for class! I then had class from 3–4:30 and went home after to keep packing and organizing.

That night, I had plans with my friends Gabby and Olivia to have dinner at Trattoria Sabatino! (Yes, I was there two days before, but as I said, we have become frequent visitors). I was really looking forward to getting together with Gabby and Olivia because I hadn’t seen them since they took their spring break trip, which was super similar to the trip my friends and I were taking, so I was looking forward to getting their advice and hearing about their experiences. It was so sweet to get to spend time with them, and I always leave feeling so encouraged by them. It’s been comforting to get to spend time with Gabby and Olivia because I really feel like I can be honest with them about my experiences abroad and share what I feel like the Lord has been teaching me.

It is also a sweet reminder that I am not the only one who feels the way I do about certain things. Both Gabby and Olivia have so much wisdom, and I really admire the ways they have pursued God while studying abroad and have looked to Him for guidance. When I left dinner, I couldn’t help but feel my heart swell with gratitude for all the friendships I have made abroad and for how much these people have truly shaped my life! They ended up leaving for dinner to watch a movie, so I headed back to keep on packing.

I was really trying to get ahead on packing because I have class on Thursdays from 9–12 and then again from 4–7, and we were leaving directly after my 7:00 pm class, so I had to be ready by 3:30 for spring break. Thankfully, I was still exhausted from my lack of sleep from the previous night, so I quickly passed out when I got home.

Thursday morning, I did my morning routine before class, and then went to my History of Italian Art Renaissance lecture, where I ended up sneaking out a bit early to go home and keep preparing for my trip. Other than packing and still waiting for my package to arrive, Thursday was a lock-in and finish packing day.

By 3:30, I was feeling about as ready (and anxious) as I could be, but it was time to head to class, so I ran through my list in my head one more time as I made my way to my wine and food pairing class. I have also really come to love this class! After our midterm, we started pairing food and wine, which meant we got snacks in class and got to describe different wine profiles that would pair well with them!

This Thursday in particular, we were going to an Enoteca (a local and regional wine shop in Italy) to do a wine and food pairing in a real wine tasting environment. We packed up about halfway through class to walk over to the enoteca, where we wandered through the store before being guided to the basement for our actual pairing assignment. The enoteca was actually so cool, and the vibes in the basement felt like a rustic underground speakeasy/bar with all the elements of a cool-vibe wine shop.

We got to try a red wine, a Chianti Classico, and an orange wine from the Colli della Toscana Centrale region of Italy, and we tasted traditional Tuscan crostinis. Crostini is a little appetizer kind of dish, usually made with little slices of a French baguette with different toppings. We tried one with white beans on top and another one with a ground sausage and parmesan cheese spread on top. I honestly loved both the wines and the crostini, but I thought the orange wine paired better with the white bean crostini, and the Chianti Classico paired better with the sausage one.

When class was done, it was time for me to, almost quite literally, sprint to the train station to meet up with my friends to catch our train to Pisa before our flight. I made it just in time, and that is the start of our crazy spring break adventures!

I can’t even believe that spring break is happening because it feels like we planned our trip just yesterday! TIME IS FLYING!!!!!!!! Anyways, I’ll be posting the spring break blog pretty quickly after this one, sooooooo stay tuned!

Ciao!