ONLY THREE WEEKS LEFT!

As of this last Saturday, I will only be in Florence for three more weeks! That is so crazy! I feel like it was just yesterday that it was the day before I left and I was rushing all around Edina getting stuff for my trip and saying good-bye to Bethel the night before. These three weeks will go extremely fast, and this is why: I have a seven page paper to write for Friday, so I'll be doin that all week, I have a project due next week that I'll be doing all weekend, and then it's finals and packing the last week! It's nuts! Having final papers and tests really sucks in the last weeks here!! But, I will work my butt off to be able to do my favorite things before I leave, believe me!

Well, Thanksgiving was last Thursday, obviously, and since the Italians don't quite celebrate it, it was a quiet day. A lot of people had classes during the day, so my roommates and I went out to dinner to our favorite restaurant down the street called "El Gato e la Vope" (the cat and the fox), and it was soooo good. We definitely stuffed ourselves, but this time with Italian food :) I got an order of bruschetta and one of my favorite pastas, pasta carbonara, YUM! After dinner, we made our way back to the apartment because we all wanted to talk with our families, which was SOOOO GOOD!!! I got to talk FOR FREE on skype with Brendon and Emily who were celebrating in Pittsburgh with friends, and I haven't spoken with them over the phone this whole time! It was so so so good! I also got to speak with dad and Linds earlier, before dinner, and dad and Nance were getting ready for hosting at our house and Linds was on her way to the Pietrini's; man us Kirkbrides are just all over the WORLD! I definitely missed being together though, it'll just make next year's holidays that much better. THEN, to top it all off, I got to talk with the Andersons! I got to say hi to grandma and grandpa, almost all the aunties and of course, uncle joe :) It was just sooo sooo good! Love them so much and can't wait to see them when I get home.

This weekend was very wet and has not stopped raining since Friday morning. Rain boots would be nice to have. tThe sweet Puma's I got before I left are nice, but the "breathable" material on the shoe does NOT help in the rain :) Haha, it wouldn't be a problem, but today I had to walk 20 minutes in the rain/hail after class, it was nuts! Hopefully the weather gets brighter because I don't know how much more rain I can handle these next three weeks! I'm getting excited because this Wednesday they open the German markets in the piazza by my apartment, and it will be so fun and so Christmasy, and hopefully start making it feel like the holidays over here. Also, the lights I talked about that they were putting up like two weeks ago, are FINALLY ON! It's really fun walking the streets when they're on, so pretty! Well, it's like one o'clock in the morning here, I should probably go to bed. I've been having a hard time falling asleep lately because when I decide to go to bed is when my mind decides to day dream-about coming home, going back to Bethel, seeing dad and Nancy, seeing family and friends...it's all starting to seem bittersweet, because I can't wait to be home, but I'm getting really sad to think about leaving Florence after it being my HOME for four months. Anyways...lots of thoughts on that, so I'll cut it short for now. Ciao ciao!!!