Goodbye Firenze!

Well this is it 124 days have gone by and i'm heading back to Pittsburgh! I experienced so much during my time abroad. I learned how to get by in a culture that I don't speak their language, I lived in my first apartment, and i spent the longest period of time from home out of anyone in my family! I traveled to 10 different cities in Italy and 10 different countries! So including my Italian travels I have visited 11 countries, 20 cities, which resulted in me taking 32 plane rides!

Everyone has asked what my favorite trip has been along my journey. Its probably the hardest question I get because every trip was so different. So I have my top two. Croatia was a trip that was right up my alley, beach, water, and the sun and I'm happy! Day one we sat on the beach, day two we did a booze cruise all day. Then day 3 we went to KRKA national park and swam in the waterfalls! It was amazing and also my first big trip of the semester so it just has a special place in my heart. My other favorite trip was Poland! It was historical and the food was amazing and made me feel like I was at home! Day one we explored, day 2 we went to Aushwitz and the Salt mines, day 3 we did a walking and food tour, and day 4 we shopped all day long!

The food tour on this trip was one of my most memorable days of my entire abroad journey! So as you can see these are two completely different trips, but both were filled with fun and memories!

Its interesting to see the 2 approaches people tend to take awhile being abroad. There are the people who, like myself, travel all over and see as many places as possible during their time, OR there are the people who spend most of their time in their city of residence and really dive into its culture and all it has to offer. I definitely am thankful for the route I took, because i think my classes enabled me to see so much of Florence during my school week that I didn't feel like I was missing out during the weekend. My Art history course took me to either a museum or church every Tuesday and Thursday. There were only 6 classes spent inside the class room. So 22 of my 28 classes were on site seeing all the things Florence has to offer.

Florence is definitely somewhere I will miss calling my home, but I also know it is somewhere I will definitely return. I made so many relationships with professors, workers, and owners throughout the city and each of them said I'm sure we will see you sooner than you think.

Im sitting in the airport waiting to board my final flight to Pittsburgh. We somehow managed to fit all three of us in one taxi with our 5 large suitcases, 3 small suitcases and backpacks! It was crazy but definitely well worth the uncomfortable drive because we saved so much $$$! I went from Florence to Paris, Paris to Detroit, Detroit toPittsburgh! We got to Paris and were rushing through border control to make our next flight, but then we realized we were traveling with a girl who was in a wheelchair, and she has to be the first person to board the flight. So our flight was delayed 30 minutes since they had to wait to board! Which I was happy about because I had time now to pick up macaroons! I LOVE macaroons and didn't have any when I visited Paris cause my plans to get them from the airport on my way home! Then we landed in Detroit and once again had to go through border control, customs, and security and it took what felt like forever! Unfortunately for the students traveling back to Cincinnati most of them missed their flight due to the process of reentering the country, and the delay in Paris. I was originally super annoyed because I had a total layover time of 4 hours in Detroit. That got cut down 3:30 with the delay, then once I got through customs I only had 1 hour and 45 minutes! So even though it is currently 3:30 in the morning in my head I ate some Qdoba! I haven't slept at all throughout this travel day. I think I'm just so excited to get home!