I suck at consistently blogging.

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up. Here's the brief summary: went to Cinque Terre, made friends with an Australian, ran into Paul at the train station, broke more pots in Ceramics, finished classes, and here we are.

Yesterday, I brought home all of my pieces from Ceramics, but there are more than I thought there were, so I didn't really prepare that much room for them... I am packing my roller carry-on inside of my suitcase for my days of independent travel so that I don't have to worry about carry two suitcase-like bags. However, it's super difficult, but I am convinced to make it work somehow! I'm a little bit nervous about how baggage will work on the train, but we'll see. Actually, I haven't even looked up train times yet. Whoops.

We went out last night, but we only went to the same places as usual--Eby's and Slowly. I feel silly for going to Slowly because I was trying to save that 10 euro to go today and have appertivo, but we went last night, and they didn't have appertivo, but we had already eaten anyways. I think the issue is that I just don't want to miss anything with my friends, but it's difficult not to with such a tight budget. Anyways, at Eby's Lily and I tried a shot called "The Illumination." I wish that my mom could have taken that because it tasted like her favorite treat--chocolate covered cherries! Excellent!

So...here's the game plan. Today- go to Pitti Palace and watch the sunset from Piazza Michelangelo if it's not raining, eat leftovers for dinner, go to Secret Bakery later. Tomorrow- pack up and catch a train to Pisa, drop my bags off at my hotel, go see the leaning tower and sight-see a little, go to the beach. Sunday- pack up and catch a train to Venice, drop my bags of at the hotel, go sight-see, possibly visiting some of the islands, maybe meeting up with Jessica for a little bit. Monday- Venice tour! Walking tour in the morning, boat tour in the evening. Tuesday- Get up to catch the shuttle to the airport! Ahhhh! I really am not ready to go home.

I have gotten to know Florence as a "small town" especially compared to Rome, but when I first got here, I thought that Florence was huge and impossible to navigate. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for reverse culture-shock. How am I going to handle going back to fields and forest? Having to drive everywhere? NO MARKET?! I hate thinking about it all, but I have to accept it because I obviously have to go back eventually. It will be nice to see family again, but I'm dreading the long flight and the fact of knowing that it will be a long time before I ever get the opportunity to return to such a beautiful place.

It's not over yet! I've still got a few days! I'm going to hang out to them as much as I can.
Blessings.