The Colosseum
Rome, Italy

Mellieha Bay
Malta

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia
Barcelona, Spain

Howth Coastal Path
Howth, Ireland


The Louvre
Paris, France


The Highlands
Scotland

The Berlin Wall
Berlin, Germany

Big Ben
London, United Kingdom

I am back in America and life is here once again, whether I like it or not. I have started working full time at Starbucks, I am interning for a PR firm, babysitting and trying to readjust all at once. Needless to say, I have not had any time to write. There is so much to say about my travels, any time I think about writing I get to overwhelmed and just quit. Hopefully at some point I can write some and get some pictures posted from each place I visited. For now, I want to say thank you to my parents. A friend of a friend did this for her parents and I thought it was an amazing idea. So...mom and dad thank you for giving me the world. You may never understand or fully realize how much this trip impacted my life, thank you for your encouragement and support in sending me to Europe. Thank you to everyone else, you have all been so supportive and wonderful, I will never forget this time in my life.

Saying Goodbye to San Lorenzo

I have made amazing friends and learned so much in the small town of San Lorenzo. Tomorrow I am setting out to see more of Europe, I am sad to leave but I cannot wait for everything yet to come and all the things I have yet to experience.
This weekend was absolutely wonderful. We went to this insane wine festival in Casarsa, it was somewhat like a fair. The rides were absolutely ridiculous, they would never be allowed in America, think about your time at a fair minus the workers going around and checking to make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened, rides with no seatbelts whatsoever, rides starting with people still standing up! It was unlike anything I have ever seen, apparently no one is worried about lawsuits...I am sure you have all seen the ride at a fair that consists of one cage with seating on one side and one on the opposite side and they swing opposite directions back and forth like a pendulum and eventually they swing all the way upside down, leaving passengers suspended upside down for moments at a time...the Italian version of this ride adds a cage, a literal cage, on the ends of the seated areas where passengers stand! Yes, they stand and use the bars to hold themselves in place and dangle as the ride goes back and forth. Never never never in America, it was intense...
On Saturday we went to a lovely park and had a picnic and took lots of pictures. Pete and Amanda are the lovely couple in the photos, and my darling Kait is the beautiful girl in most of my pictures. I will miss these three so much. It is crazy how close we have all gotten during the last month...We got all dressed up that night for graduation, it was small and very personal.
Today, Kait and I visited the small town of Sacille to visit Emma. I have neglected to mention Emma in the past because every time I try to write about her I am overwhelmed with a wave of emotion. I feel there is so much to say and no possible way to put it in words that truly express this woman and the place she will forever inhibit in my memory. Kait and I formed a special bond with this woman and we have spent many Saturdays going to listen to her share her wisdom, her experiences and her thoughts on life looking back. Today was a rough day saying goodbye, but Emma would say, "It is life, all part of life..."
I will have limited access to any type of communication so...if you do not hear from me I apologize:( I will try to update the blog here and there when I can. I am headed to Ireland tomorrow, then Scotland, Spain, France, Germany and I will end my travels back here in Italy. If you don't see the photos right away, fear not, I will post them all when I return to the states on May 25! Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you all have a good month.

I

MISS

YOU

Erick and I have this thing for trees, especially single trees...you know the ones that stand out because they are all alone, like whatever took out everything around them somehow just passed them by or their forest just deserted them...making them seem mysterious and out of place...We decided, one day we are going to take a road trip for no other reason than to take pictures of single trees...I can't wait...
Erick, these are some trees that reminded me of you in different places all over Italy, one is in the metro station in Rome, it is a sign and I have no idea what it is for, another is in the Roman Forum. I will see you soon my dearest boy:)

Spring

Spring in San Lorenzo, Italy has been so much more than all my time in every other part of this country. The quiet walks through the vineyards and the moments spent in the sunshine have pulled so many of my emotions to the surface. The silent scenes that play right outside the walls of our school are enough to steal anyone's breath, from the vineyards to the magnificent alps to the tiny flowers that line every dirt road...it's all ridiculously full of life and beauty.