- woke up at 9, got ready with caryn, and waited for kari to come over so we could head out to kill the final major thing on our florence bucket list: the pitti palace
- explored the royal apartments, got lost in the museum of modern art, and eagerly examined all the dresses, hats, purses, etc in the costume museum. i discovered that my favorite fashion era was the 1940s, all the dresses were so beautiful. after a couple hours in the museum, we finally decided to brave the heat and wander through the medici gardens... which were more like a park. it was quite nice but, as usual, the weather was unbearably hot and after about 40 minutes we were ready to go.
- got lunch from a cafe just off the piazza santo spirito before our last class of the trip! i will miss going in and out of these old buildings where we have class and wandering down to the piazza to grab a pastry or fill up my water bottle on our breaks. there is a market outside of our class building every single day and i love walking through all the stalls, watching people buy fruits or shoes or whatever else strikes their fancy. i am ready to be done, i am tired and hot and i need a change of pace, but i will miss this city and italy life very much.
- class at 2... which began with our ACCENT evaluation since petrie was, as usual, quite late. then he left while we did our madison evaluation and didn't return until an hour and 10 minutes into our class time... at which point he sent us on a 20 minute break until 3:30. our last class devolved into an hour and a half of listening to music, staring contests, throwing pennies, and looking up pictures of puppies, kittens, and disney characters. kari and i ended up playing MASH while petrie ranted liberality and things that seemed quite wonderfully off topic... ANARCHY! i also got my last break time donut from the cafe down the street... i am going to miss wandering the piazza eating deep-fried goodness coated in sugar granules.
- it started to rain on our walk home which was super exciting... unfortunately by the time i'd gone upstairs to put my stuff down and gone back out to enjoy it, it was over. so i stood on the bridge at the end of our street enjoying the slight breeze and watching the lighting off in the distance.
- spent about an hour trying to figure out train times and the logistics of our trip to pisa and carrara. showered, put my laundry on, made dinner, did the dishes, and began to get ready for the night with kari and caryn
- went out to the old stove with everyone (caryn, kari, breanne, sarah, mike, chris, don, kelly, andrew, alex, brian, david, and mike) we meant to go on a pub crawl but we ended up only making it to our usual haunt and not getting much further... oh well! i did my first irish car bomb with kari which was an interesting experience. we all had a great time hanging out, especially since it was the last night for breanne, sarah and andrew. it's so weird to think that people are already going home! i walked kari back to her apartment and sat with her talking for about an hour before returning back home and going to sleep
day 42: friday
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| it's an absolute must! |
- walked out of the train station all the way across town to the piazza del duomo, most famously known for the leaning tower. we took a superfluous number of the requisite pictures with the tower: leaning against it, pushing/kicking it over, holding it up, etc. then we went inside the duomo and listened to some organ music. the boys decided to pay to go into the baptistry as well, but caryn and i decided to sit on the steps outside for free instead
- made our way back across town to the train station, grabbing sandwiches and ice creams from a cafe on the way
- we intended to go to the marble quarries at carrara (where the best sculpting marble is mined - including the piece used for the david) but caryn and i decided it was too late in the day to try and make it all the way to carrara and back in time to shower and eat before our group wrap-up meeting at 7. the boys decided to go, so we parted ways
- the train home was absolutely FREEZING, which made napping quite difficult. when we got home to florence it was raining! hopefully this means we will have a brief respite from the heat
- organized and folded my laundry, uploaded pictures, talked to krista, briefly skyped greg, made dinner (while watching the daily show), took a shower, and did the dishes
- study abroad conclusion party at the boys' apartment. there was so much food: pizza, cookies, spaghetti, chips, bread & nutella... quite the feast. petrie came and we all just had a good time. we got into tons of ptcd-esque arguments over religion, fate, true love, politics, the usual. i had a particularly good conversation with don about religion/love that lasted about an hour, it was great. david and i went back to our apartment for a while with kari and rocked out to avril and akon for a while. don, david, alex and i had a blink182 jam session after everyone left. i said my goodbyes to so many people: kelly, banda, joe, dylan, petrie, don, david, chris, brian... after tomorrow it'll be just alex, mike, caryn and i. i can't even stand thinking about that, i'm going to miss everyone so much.
study abroad is such an incredible experience and, even though we all know it will be over before we know it, when the reality sets in it is always such a shock. i still have one more major italian adventure left, however. kari and i are going to the palio in siena tomorrow. then my adventures will continue in europe, though i will (thankfully) return to the first world and my family! i can't wait, though i am sad this is all over so soon. this has truly been the experience of a lifetime.
