Happy Thanksgiving from Italy!

Hello my loves!

I just wanted to take a moment and tell you all how thankful I am for every one of you on this wonderful Thanksgiving day! I feel so blessed to be on this amazing adventure, and I know it wouldn't have been possible without the love and support that you give me every single day. I miss you all more than you could possibly know, and I am excited to see everyone in just a few short weeks, but until then I will be living up my last moments abroad. I'm in Italy for the weekend, Venice now and then Roma again. Although I'm incredibly excited to be in this beautiful city, which was the number one place I wanted to go in Europe, I am also so sad to be missing out on all of the Thanksgiving festivities. So I hope you all celebrate double for me, and eat LOTS of yummy food - especially mashed potatoes, my favorite! Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend, and I will try to do the same over here in Italia!

Besos!

"Love, love, love."

Hello everyone! I know I've been away for a while, so I have a lot to report! I'm going to try and summarize concisely so I don't end up writing this entry all night long. When I last wrote I had just visited Rome and spent a wonderful weekend with my mum (as they would say over here) in beautiful London. I forgot to mention something truly amazing that we got to do while she was here. One morning before class, we were lucky enough to get to wander out to Greenford, a suburb of London, and see a beautiful little church where my ancestor was once rector. We spent a while wandering through the churchyard, and left a note for the current rector who wasn't in, letting him know we had stopped by. My grandmother had given me a photo of her and my grandpa when they had visited the same church, so I left that for him as well. It was a really cool experience to stand in front of the beautiful, quaint church building which had once been a part of my own family.

After mom left, I had a weekend trip to Brussels and Amsterdam. We took the train across the channel to France, then over to Brussels, where we settled in for a short day and a half. The little city was beautiful - a smaller, kinder Paris in my opinion. And the best part, of course, was the food. Chocolate on every corner, waffles sold on the streets, and mussels by the bucket (yes, the mussels in Brussels joke is a real thing). We spent our 24 hours eating, wandering through the little streets, and indulging in the best chocolate I've ever had. By the time we got on our bus to Amsterdam on Saturday, I was so full I was convinced I would never eat again. That last until Saturday evening, when we arrived in Amsterdam in the pouring rain, found some food, and settled into our hotel boat. That's right, we stayed on a boat! A little boat, docked in one of the canals, and run by a very kind man with a big smile and great advice on what to do in the city. We spent all of Sunday riding around on our rented bikes (a very popular mode of transportation in Amsterdam), and got to see all of the sites in a few short hours. It was a very leisurely trip, with a lot of wandering and eating, but over all a truly great time.

The next week was for school, although I did take a break from my studies to go the ballet and see Sleeping Beauty. It was a magnificent performance, with incredible dancing and music. Everything was beautiful and graceful, especially the Royal Opera House where it was performed. I'd been wanting to see that building for a long time, so it was great to spend some time there seeing such a good show. The next weekend was Halloween, so some friends and I did a London pub crawl on Thursday, a pumpkin carving party on Friday, and a night out in costume on Saturday. Our pumpkins turned out great (I carved mine like a kitty cat, of course), and we even roasted up the seeds as a nice autumnal snack. It felt very much like home, and we all loved the feeling. Saturday we went out to Camden dressed up (I went as a hippie, which turned out to be pretty easy for me) and bar hopped with some nice guys we met at the beginning of the night.

The next week was pretty uneventful, and then a whole big group of us went to Prague this past weekend. All I had heard about the city was how beautiful it was, with all of its castles and spires - and it was all true. We stayed in Old Town, right near the famous square, in a really nice little apartment hostel. Seven of us shared the two bedroom flat, which turned out to be plenty of space (especially after the boat). Our first half day was spent eating (of course), and seeing the square, where little food vendors gather with performers, horse drawn buggies, and the tourist crowds gazing up at the infamous Astronomical Clock. We watched it long enough to see it strike the hour, when all of the little statues come to life and the bell tolls out the time. It was pretty impressive considering how old it is, but I was much more interested in all of the amazing buildings in the square. We did a walking tour of the city on Saturday, seeing New Town, the Jewish area, and the river. That evening, two of my friends and I went to a small classical concert in a beautiful church that featured some local Czech music. I was so moved by one of the pieces that I went out the next day and bought a CD of the Czech Philharmonic playing music from that composer. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip! Saturday night we did the city pub crawl, which was a very fun night out on the town. We woke up Sunday to do a tour of the famous Prague Castle and the area on the other side of the river. We saw the Lennon Wall, where people had written messages of love and hope after John Lennon's death. I signed it myself, with my own favorite Beatles lyric, "love, love, love." It's a simple one, but it seemed to fit well. The Castle was really cool, but I preferred the smaller side streets and hidden gems that Prague seemed to have in abundance. We finished off the trip with some great Cuban food, and woke up early the next morning to head back to London.

I had missed London so much this time, and it seems I miss it more and more each time I travel. I'm really starting to feel like this is home. I'm so excited to have the next two weeks here to explore my home even more - and now that it's getting very, very cold, I'll have plenty of time to do all the museums! I want to see the Tate Britain (all British art, with a special Turner exhibit I want to check out), the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery (with a photo exhibit called "Beatles to Bowie" - that has to be good), the Victoria and Albert (fine art), and the National Gallery, just for starters. Then I still have Sir John Soane's Museum, more of the British Museum, and maybe the Natural History Museum if I can squeeze it in. On top of all that, I still want to try to see another show, go back to wonderful Hampstead, see St. Paul's and a few other things in the City, ride the London Eye, and do all of the wonderful London Christmas things that have started popping up around town. I think I might need more than a month! I can't believe it's so soon that I will be leaving. I miss everyone at home so much, but it will break my heart to leave London.

So I'm trying not to think too much about all that sad stuff and just enjoy every second I have here in this amazing place. I'll try to get back to you sooner, since I'm going to be in town for a while. Hope everyone at home is well, I miss you all, and I'll see you soon!

Much love!

Photos: Greenford Church, Sarah and me eating waffles in Brussels, bikes in Amsterdam, Sarah and me at the canals in Amsterdam, all the girls in Prague's Old Town Square, Charles Bridge in Prague, me at Lennon Wall, Prague Castle at night.