Heart at Home

Today I had every intention to write about my weekend in Paris, which will probably still happen after I finish this post..but it somehow felt weird not to acknowledge what happened in my home state last night, so close to my own home. I woke up this morning to check my Facebook newsfeed (as I usually do when I'm avoiding getting out of bed) and found that tornados had touched down in Mayflower and Vilonia. For those of you who aren't as up-to-date on your Arkansas geography, my hometown of Conway is incredibly close to these two cities.
While I'm so thankful my town was not hit, that doesn't mean I don't know those that were affected. The amount of prayer requests and support was overwhelming to see on my newsfeed this morning. Last night I was seeing reports of bad storms across Arkansas, and after checking the radars, I determined that it would be fine and went to sleep-- obviously I don't see weather forecasting in my future anytime soon. It was an eerie feeling waking up and seeing that something so devastating came so close to home. I was relieved to know that my parents and my dog (who was probably enjoying being allowed inside) were all safe. But-- it was also frustrating knowing that I am so far away and can only send my thoughts and prayers.
In our first few days at IES, we had a few discussions about adjusting to life abroad. Among the many conversations about culture shock, we also discussed life at home. We talked about the fact that just because we're abroad, life back home doesn't stop. It keeps on moving. And I totally grasped that concept to an extent. I was prepared for those that I know to get new jobs, graduate, move, etc. Normal life changes. But it's the things that we don't plan for that I didn't know how to handle abroad (and I know that it's always the things we don't plan for that are the hardest to handle). The distance always seems to add another difficult element to any upsetting situation. So while I may physically be in Siena for a few more weeks, my heart is back home.

Il Mio Compleano!!

The thing that I was the most sad to leave behind in the States when I came abroad was not my friends. It was not my school or my pets. It was getting to celebrate my 21st birthday in the United States (note: this was tied with missing my family..because come on, I still have a heart). I knew that when I went to a place where the legal drinking age was...Oh who knows. It's Italy, apparently there are 14 year olds drinking wine over here. But I did know that while Birthdays were still important in Italy, turning 21 was no where near as exciting as it is in the United States. I was fully prepared for an uneventful birthday and I had my standards set pretty low.
Now with all of that being said, thank goodness I've made some pretty amazing friends abroad, because turning 21 was no where near as sad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it was probably the best birthday I've ever had.
My wonderful roommates had decorated our apartment while I was asleep, so I woke up to streamers, banners, and "Il Mio Compleano!" (It's my birthday!) balloons. After skyping with my parents-- (Thanks for the birthday care package, Mom and Dad!), I went out to dinner with "the family" My apartment (Grace and Christine), Sam and Dana, and our RAs, Camilla and Giusi. After dinner we came back to our apartment, where I found all of my IES classmates waiting to surprise me and homemade miniature cupcakes that Sam, Dana, and Grace baked. Life's always good with cupcakes around, and birthdays are even better.

So again, thank you SO MUCH for all of the dear dear friends who made my birthday so incredibly special. Who knew 21 was still exciting in Italy?
Also, thanks to Freddy, my favorite bartender who let me go behind the bar and make a drink. I will probably never feel that cool ever again.

Too busy perfecting my bar-tending skills to fix my crooked birthday tiara

Counting Down the Market Days

I looked at my calendar today and realized it was April 17th. April 17th! I don't quite know how I let over half of the month of April go by without even noticing (not to mention without writing a single blog post).
I am going to be completely honest and tell everyone that I had every intention of being a really great blogger for the month of April. But, of course, life happens as it usually does and between schoolwork, travel, turning 21, and a mean case of Tonsillitis, it was well into April.

I'm also getting to the "I can't believe I have less than a month" phase in the study abroad experience, which makes everything a little bittersweet. This past Wednesday I experienced one of these bittersweet moments. Every Wednesday there's a market in Siena. For anyone who enjoys shopping, it's basically heaven on earth. But I realized that my afternoons at the market are numbered (ugh, how sad is that?) One of my favorite routines on Wednesdays is getting out of class and walking around the market for the last hour that it's open. And not to brag, but I feel as if I have a knack for finding great deals at the market. Sadly, that's not exactly the best thing. While I may love finding 5 euro sweaters and 10 euro shoes..I'm running out of room in my suitcase! I think I'm dreading packing my suitcase more than I'm dreading saying good-bye to all of my friends. I know, I know-- I've really got to work on my priorities.