3 weeks and counting!

It has officially been three weeks since I've been in Italy! I can't believe it, because it truly feels like I have been here for TWO MONTHS! Maybe it's just the amount of activity going on that makes the time seem more drawn out than it actually is....well, here we go. I got back from London VERY LATE Sunday night! Luckily my roommates got back from Lake Como around the same time, so we were able to treck 25 minutes together back to our apartment. LONDON IS SO AMAZING! It was SO FUN to be with Leah for four days, SO GOOD. Leah was a wonderful host and was super savy when she was showing me around Regent's Park, where she lives, which is SO BEAUTIFUL. Her college campus is really cute, and it's nice because everything is close together, and the parks surrounding the college are really nice and a good place to go and relax...and see millions of couples making out...but anyways....so when I got there on Thursday we walked around Regent's Park and then we went to Picadilly Circus, which Leah describes as the Times Square of London. It was my first ride on "The Underground" so it was fun! We ended up going to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and it was SO GOOD, and it reminded us of the Village Wok by the U. Friday was a big day for us...we went to Westminister and we got to see the Parliament building, Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminister Abbey. It was so fun and the weather was BEAUTIFUL, so being outside was perf. We then did a little shopping at Primark and headed back to the school. For dinner, we went to Notting Hill! It was at night so we couldn't really see the town that much, but we got a good vibe from it and enjoyed our Italian meal of pizza and pasta :) Saturday we went to Warwick Castle and Startford-the home of Shakespeare! It was a very scenic day and we got to experience a lot of neat things. In memory of making our pilgrimage to Notting Hill, we rented it and watched it Saturday night and it was SO GOOD. I know I'd seen it before, but I think being in London made it so much better :) By the time Sunday rolled around we were a little tired, so we went back to Picadilly and ate at our chinese restaurant and then I headed back to Florence. It was really great to be able to see where Leah goes to school, to meet her friends and to experience a little bit of London! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go back someday, because it's a really great city.
Yesterday was a day that I was missing home a bit. I just saw Leah, and then when I checked my mail for the first time I got two letters from Kelly and Vanessa! It was so fun to hear from them via mail, and made me miss friends from home a lot. THEN, I got to talk with my dad for a while and it was SO GOOD and made me miss my family a lot too! It was just a jam-packed day full of people from home, but I loved it. The weather is finally cooling down here which I'm super thankful for, now we can all go to bed underneath our covers. I did my grocery shopping, buying my typical noodles and sauce, with bonus Oreos to fix my chocolate craving. The rest is pretty quiet besides class, but I'll be starting the weekend off with a wine-tasting in Tuscany and then Saturday morning, my program heads of to Cinque Terre and Genova! I've heard Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful places in Italy, so I'm SUPER EXCITED!
For all ma peeps back at home, hope you're loving the fall weather and PLEASE, go to an apple orchard, listen to Nickel Creek on the way and eat lots of apple crisp and apple cider for me!!!