Time seems to be escaping me here in London. I cannot believe it has been almost three weeks since I last wrote. I take this as a good sign-being that busy makes me feel energized and happy. Although the past three weeks have been a blur of trips, classes, work, and nights out, I find myself missing Wake and San Francisco. You can imagine how excited I was then for an early birthday present-my little sister Sarah and big sister Julie in Tridelt are coming to SF in December for my 21st BIRTHDAY!! I am absolutely ecstatic and eagerly anticipating our reunion.
After exams finally ended (only two which weren't two bad), Natasha, Calais and I left London at 5 am for Venice and Florence for a week. I was not enthused about our early wake-up, but we miraculously made it there with time for breakfast. We arrived safely and manuvered our way to our hostel and out to St. Mark's Square to meet up with Avery, Frannie, and Tonis, our lovely friend who is staying at Casa Artom on the Grand Canal in Venice. Venice was more amazing than I could have imagined-the pictures do not do it justice! Every building looked like something out of a fairytale. We had INCREDIBLE wine, pasta, pizza, bread and gelato everywhere we went....hard to imagine having that food around all the time! I discovered a new love of crema gelato and tried the most delicious tortellini. Amidst all the eating, we made it to St. Mark's Basilica which had breathtaking mosaic ceilings and ornate sculptures, took a gondola around the canals, and wandered throughout the shops before heading across the city to make it to the station in time for our train to Florence.
Our two hour train ride was a lovely break from all the walking....only to be surprised by Louisa, who met us at the station in Florence. She is another close Tridelt friend from Wake, and it was so wonderful to see her face among all strangers. I am amazed at all of our friends' ability to adjust to a foreign language and city-it makes London seem like New York or San Francisco in terms of cultural differences.
We found a reasonable apartment right in central Florence that needed after our communal bathroom experience in Venice. Walking down the street with my eight friends and the lit up Ponte Vecchio in the background, I realized just how many once in a lifetime moments I've had the past month.
The following night our group stumbled upon a bar with American music-which was what everyone wanted. In true Wake Forest srat style, we rocked out for hours, explaining to the DJ that we needed some more Rihanna, Annie Lennox and JLo in an attempt to feel more at home. The next morning we strolled the Mercado Centrale and found lots of trinkets and insanely cheap pashimas in every stall. Heaven. After a lunch of fresh tomatoes, sweet peaches, and tortellini, we reconvened to head out for our wine tour.
Best part of my trip this far-Lousia managed to find us a reasonable trip into Tuscany for a tour of the area and wine tasting at one of the local wineries. Our guide, Massimo, pointed out all the landmarks and drove us up high where we could see the gorgeous landscape and setting sun. Casa Emma was a smaller, family business winery that continues to grow and harvest their grapes by hand in order to preserve the taste of wine. We learned how wine is made and sampled several types of Chianti, the wine famous in the area. It was informative and I feel much more competent to understand wine after our lesson!
Saying goodbye to our friends from Florence was hard, but we are all anticipating their trip to London in November. Our trip home tok forever but we finally made it back in time to shower and get to bed before class the next morning.
Monday night, I met up with three Sigma Pi's from Wake who are studying in Barcelona. It is SO incredible to see familiar faces here in London-I am counting down the days until Mom and Catherine get here! It makes my living here seem more of a reality..not sure why.
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