18 May 2010

Home Again

    I'm back home in Seattle!  It was a day-long journey, with a 2 hour flight from Rome to London and then a 9 hour flight from London to Seattle.  I was afraid that there would be severe delays or cancellations because of the volcanic ash, but none of my flights were affected.  However, only a couple of days after I was home safe and sound, London Heathrow shut down, so I was super-lucky to have dodged that bullet.  I'm still a little jet-lagged and experiencing a little bit of reverse culture shock because the U.S. is so different from Italy.  On a happy note, I got my laptop fixed!  The hard drive was damaged because I dropped it, and so they replaced my hard drive with no charge to me because of the warranty.  So, I have all of the photos that I haven't posted, i.e. from Valencia and Paris, and am planning on loading a sampling of them soon onto my blog, so keep visiting!

12 May 2010

3 Days Left

    Hello everyone.  This will probably be my last blog post while I'm in Italy.  I will probably, once my laptop is fixed, make some more posts with photos once I'm home.  I'm starting to get really sad about having to leave Siena, which has become my second home.  Naturally, I'm looking forward to going home and seeing all my friends and family, but it will be a very bitter-sweet time.  All of my finals are now completed and we have our farewell dinner tonight at a restaurant in Piazza del Campo.  Tomorrow I have free to pack and then to say goodbye to Siena.  On Friday, I will head off for Rome in the morning where I'm staying overnight in a hostel so that I can catch my flight on Saturday at 11 am.  I'm flying home through London, so I really am hoping that there will be no problems with my flight because of the volcanic ash which is now mostly hanging over the Atlantic Ocean.  There could also be another eruption or more ash coming down from Iceland, so I'm really praying that it won't affect my flight.  So, keep reading even though I may be home and I'll see you all back home!

05 May 2010

Updates & Paris

    Hello everyone!  I am so sorry that it's been so long since my last post.  My laptop is broken right now, and I don't know if and when I'll be able to get it fixed.  I've also been SUPER busy with traveling and schoolwork, since finals are coming up next week.  My goodness; where did the time go!?!?  I definitely don't feel like I've been here for 4 months!  I go home in exactly 10 days!!  However, looking back on my time here, I realize that I've done a lot and traveled a lot and accomplished almost everything that I set out to do by studying abroad.  One goal that I've accomplished that I'd like to share with you is that I've found all 17 contrada fountains!  As soon as I am able to, I'll post the photos that I've taken of the last few ones I've found.  I will also post photos from Valencia and Paris (my most recent trip) as soon as my computer is fixed and I'm able to load them on. 
    From Thursday, April 29th until yesterday, Tuesday May 4th I was in Paris celebrating my Birthday with a family friend who lives there with her Parisian boyfriend.  I had such a good time!  Since I was with people who live there, I got to see a lot of touristy things as well as more unknown areas and restaurants of Paris that tourists don't get to see.  I also got to spend some time with a bunch of their french friends, which was really special because if I had gone by myself, I probably wouldn't have met any french people.  I got some really cool pictures and I'm anxious to show them all to you, so bear with me!  Until later, au revoir!