What I know...

"If you're brave enough to say goodbye, the world will great you with a new hello"

Five years ago, I left for Alaska. I signed up two weeks before camp started, quit my job, left behind my boyfriend and my friends and went to a remote place called Wasilla to live for the next 3 months.

It changed my life, forever.

I still remember the trips, the girls, the moments, the tears. Those girls motivated me to get back in school, start a life for me and find my own path.

I did.

Now, five years later, I am saying goodbye to another group of girls that I cannot imagine my life without. A group of girls who have changed me again.

As I say goodbye to these girls, I know, without a doubt every single one of them will go on to do great things. Girls who study abroad, or work in remote alaskan towns tend to be pretty damn strong. 

I know that forever, these moments we had will be perfect. That we are leaving Siena as changed people, but together we have a semester of life that nobody can take away. These girls were meant to be a part of my life, what we shared has no flaws, no regrets.


It's like the ending of an era. 

I graduate in December, finally.
I guess you could say I've never been one to do stuff the traditional route.  
I did it my way, on my time, exactly how I should have.


I can't help but feel as though the timing isn't by accident, that these two experiences in my life mark two important moments that together create a chapter, one that is now closing.

For the first time in my life, I feel ready to settle down.

I am deeply in love with a man that I want to be with and create a family with.

I have great friends who I want to become closer with.

I am actually ready for the future, ready for the next chapter, ready to start my version of the American Dream.

The girls here were the perfect ending to a great chapter.

Everything they taught me will be carried over into the beginning.

My life will never be without them.

Grazie Mille Tutti.
Ti amo.

"Your journey has molded you for the greater good. It was exactly what it needed to be. Don't think you've lost time. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now and now is right on time. "

 

Final Recap

Well, to be honest..this post has been sitting in my entries, waiting to be edited for quite some time. Which means, that I have a lot of catching up to do..
Considering my impending doom of finals, and packing and saying goodbye to my dear friends here, I have decided for both you and I, one entry would be better.

So take a deep breath..here it goes...

May 1
For our 'school trip' this year, Siena School organized a trip to the local areas of San Galgano and Spannocchia, Tuscany. It was a great trip.
It started out with a wine tasting at a local vineyard. Yum.
It was unbelievably gorgeous scenery and views, everywhere you looked. 

After the wine, we headed over to San Galgano which is an old area containing a church, with no roof as the construction was never completed. It was very cool. We found out that during the summer it now serves as a concert hall. Jealous.

That night we made our way to the villa of Spannocchia, which was so beautiful.

It is where a lot of Americans come to study/paint/farm etc so there was a mixture of people on the land.We spent the evening cooking and enjoying each others company on one of our last weekends together

The next day a group of Italian musicians came and sang some songs in celebration of May Day. There was a big picnic, a tour of the tower and some little sienese piglets (black and white, the colors of siena) All in all, a completely fantastic weekend.

May 6

The next weekend, we were scheduled to go to Florence for our last Art History trip. The always occurring train/bus strikes put this plan on hold. So a small group of us decided to head up to Cinque Terre, it is a group of 5 small cities sitting right on the coast. Quaint villages with so much charm.

Breathtaking is an understatement for this place. If you ever get a chance to visit Italy, please go here. Everywhere we went was so unbelievable. 

 

<3

May 10

My dearest older seester informed me that the Giro di Italia would be in Italy while I was still here and I was excited to find out it passed right through a town fairly close to us. The roomie and I packed up after class and headed down to Livorno. It was cool to witness something that I may never get to see again, and I am so glad my seester told me about it!

May 12

On Thursday, the art classes had our final exhibition. A chance to display all the work we had spent the semester working on. It was great to see what my friends had been doing, and post some photos I developed. 

I'm soaking in the last couple days in Italy. 

I'll miss many things about being here.

Four months created a special place in my heart for Siena.

Tuesday night is our final dinner, Wednesday is travel to Milan and Thursday morning flight home.

I can't believe it.

It is bittersweet, but I know home is waiting. John, my friends, my family, a dryer, ice cubes, sushi, burritos, starbucks. 

I am ready. 

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.  ~Lin Yutang"

love love.

Part 2: I never knew I would react like that

We departed Dublin early in the morning and upon reaching London, the three of us parted ways. Kelsey flew back to Italia, Amanda stayed in London to see a friend from school and I went to visit my dear friend Edd from camp and his lovely lady Rachel.

It was an action packed couple of days, and I had a total blast. London is completely full of things to do, a million different people and so much public transportation your head might spin. Within the first day I believe I accomplished all the ways of transportation except biking. Walking, the tube, bus, the DLR, and a boat ride to be exact.

Edd and Rachel are both Theater students and were currently participating in the Spill Festival so I got to watch many of the performances which was a totally awesome experience. Although most of the stories, are better explained in person, here are some photos.

For Easter we had a little Easter egg hunt, a traditional english breakfast, explored the city and went to a gorgeous market.

It was such a great weekend, and I was sad to leave London. Hopefully someday I'll go back.

Great friends are such a blessing.

Part 1: I just drank my weight in milkshake.

Hello lads! It's been a while, again. Or maybe this is just a normal amount of time and I should stop apologizing. Either way.. Here we are.. my back is better although still numb, and we are entering our last 3 weeks of class.

Since our last chat I've spent a lot of time, well, in Siena. Giving my back a chance to rest and spending the last few weekends I have in the town that I have come to call home for the past 4 months.

This past week however was our 'Spring Break' and my two vacation spots were Dublin and London. I was excited about both of these cities not only because I would be able to fully communicate with people but because I have wanted to visit them both for a very long time.

Kelsey, Amanda and I left on Wednesday night. The process to get to Pisa Aeroporto is 3 different trains.

  We made our way to the airport around and boarded our flight for London. Our flight into Dublin did not leave until 6 am, which allowed us enough time to sleep, but not to justify the cost of a hotel room. Alas, we camped out in the Stansted airport also known as 'Camp Stansted' by airport sleeping authorities. We found some food and settled in for a nice long nap.

In this story, 'nice long nap' really means 3 hours of cold, hard, floor with a backpack-pillow. We arose from this most glorious of sleeps, boarded the plane and were on our way to Dublin.

Side effects of said, 'long term nap'

At this point, my level of excitement was off the charts. Ireland has always been a place I wanted to go, and it was finally happening.
We checked into our hostel which was great! Then we set out on a walking tour of the city...which lasted about 3 hours, while our ability to fight off sleep only lasted about 2. We went back to the hostel and took a power nap, got some dinner (hello amazing burger) and were signed up for a pub crawl later that night. Turns out that the pub crawl was cancelled due to good Friday, so we just found a couple places on our own and still managed to have a great time..

The next day we took a bus tour up the north coast. Oh my gosh. The world is such a beautiful place...

Of Course, it was delicious

 After our tour, followed by some Fish N' Chips, we got milkshakes. We made friends with the owner, and sat in his shop for an hour or so. He gave us samples of so many milkshakes. We all felt huge, but so intensely satisfied.

All in all, it was such a great trip. Leaving was hard, but there was much in store for London...