Four more days.. and I'm home. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, maybe for you. But for me, it is bittersweet. I'm ready to come home and see all of my friends and family..I've missed everyone so much. But I also have never been more sad to leave a group of people whom I only met four months ago. To be honest, I don't really know how I feel about leaving. I'm really anxious to get home. Some days that's all I can think about. I miss home more than I thought I would. It will be interesting to see how everything has changed.. It'll be strange to hear songs and see movies that you all have heard and seen months ago.. It'll all be new to me. I'm curious to see how people have changed. If people have changed. I'm sure I've changed, but I don't know how exactly, and I probably won't until I'm home. I don't think I'm a different person, by any means, but I have learned a lot about myself and I've done a lot of growing. Not physically, haha.. Still just as small as I was when I left. But this experience has been nothing short of amazing. I've met the best people. A majority of them, thankfully, live in California and Nevada, but there's a few from the East Coast that I'll probably never see again and two of my best friends here are from New Zealand and Australia. It's hard to say goodbye to them. These people have been such a big part of my life and I don't really know what it's going to be like at home without them. But also, from spending so much time with them, I've grown to appreciate certain people at home even more. It's going to be hard leaving this place, but I have a great life at home that I'm excited to get back to. I'll miss being able to travel every weekend throughout Italy and other countries.. That's going to be a huge let down once I'm home, but that's reality. I'm thankful for everything that's happened here and I can't describe it any other way than as a blessing. This has been a great opportunity for me and a time in my life that I'll never forget. I have the best parents for allowing me to do this. Thank you both so much for everything. I hope you understand just how much this has done for me.

Well everyone, there's not much else to say. I'll see you all very soon!! Pray for good weather so I make it home on-time :)

- Holly

I want to apologize to everyone for not keeping up with the blog.. I know you're all suffering because of it. You need me, I know. Hahaha. Well it's been about a month since I last updated. Ok, so after Paris I went to Perugia for the International Chocolate Festival. It was smaller than I imagined, but still good. The following weekend was Rome. Then after that I went to Florence with two of my roommates. Florence is beautiful. A lot of walking, but definitely worth it. We climbed 463 stairs to the top of the Duomo. Lovely view. Even though it was quite the little work out, I'm glad I did it. The way up was a bit annoying though. The staircase was pretty narrow and dark, and when you're following behind a group of people who clearly have never climbed stairs a day in their life, it took a tad longer than I had planned. Haha. Anyways, the rest of the time there was fun. Did a little shopping. For me, of course, so don't get excited. We had a really great dinner one night. Then we got the bill. 6 Euro for ONE bottle of water. Are you serious? Oh well. Next time we'll pay a little more attention to the menu I guess. The following weekend, which was this past weekend, we visited Venice. Beautiful. I know I say this a lot, but it was my favorite place so far. By a long shot. My weekends just keep getting better! I hope that everyone gets the chance to go to Venice at least once in their lifetime. It's unlike any other place we've seen in the States. I honestly can't express how amazing it is. Pictures don't do it justice. I had a really great time and hopefully I can go back before my time here is over. Mostly because I didn't get the chance to ride in a gondola.. But they're kinda more of a romantic thing anyways.. Haha. Oh well. Ok, let's see... What else.. I'm going to Ireland for Thanksgiving! Dublin. Should be a good time. Then nothing else really after that.. Isn't that just awful?? Hah. Grades are good. Only a little bit of drama with the roommates, but that's expected. How can you live with four girls for four months and there not be, right? But we're good for the most part. It's the stupid things that are becoming a problem. All I'm going to say is that is has resorted to us writing our names on our groceries.. Yeah. The weather is starting to get extremely cold, thanks to the rain and high winds. It's still nice though, if that makes any sense. I'm doing alright. Kinda have mixed emotions right now but I'm dealing with it. It's just weird to think about what it's going to be like when this is all over. I'm excited to get home and see everyone. I really do miss home. But at the same time, I've spent everyday with the same people for three months now and it's weird to think about the fact that I won't see more than half of them ever again. It's a strange feeling. It's also kinda like when you go on vacation somewhere.. You get to the point where you just want to be home already, sleeping in your own bed, back to your normal routine... Then you get there and wish you were back on vacation. That's what I'll be dealing with on a much greater level when I get home. So I'm sorry in advance if I come across like I don't want to be around you. Haha. Just kidding! I'm looking forward to it, don't worry. Alright, well I don't know what else to say.. So here's some pictures to look at. OH! I now have bangs. I haven't cut my hair since sophomore year of high school. I figured now would be the best time for change.. Enjoy!

Paris

Chocolate Festival

(Yes, that cow is made of chocolate)

Florence

Venice

Oh. And another thing. John Springer, I know you're reading this! And I think it would be a very wise decision for you to allow your son to study abroad. It'll be the best thing you could ever do for him. I promise.

Have a good day everyone :)

Miss you all!

HELLLOOO!!! I'm alive everyone.. In case you were wondering. I'm hardly ever on the internet anymore, so I apologize. I've been really busy lately, so here's a quick little update. Since I last wrote, I've been to Sorrento, Capri, and Paris. I don't have time now, but pictures will be coming soon. Sorrento and Capri are absolutely beautiful. Our ferry ride from Sorrento to Capri was terrifying. It was, I kid you not, a small version of something you would see on Deadliest Catch. Hahaha. I'll explain more about it another time. Paris was my favorie trip so far. One of the most incredible places I've ever been to. DisneylandParis was AMAZING!!! But who would've thought otherwise?? Anyways, grades are good. A's on all my tests (so far..). Assignments coming up, so I'm busy with that. Venince, Florence, and Rome are coming up shortly. This weekend I'm off to Perugia for a chocolate festival :) I'm having the best time here, but I miss you all very, very much. I'm especially going to miss the holiday season.. So Mom, save me an ornament or two to hang on the Christmas tree! Ok, my computer is about to die. Sorry I'm slacking so much on the updates!! But hey, I'm in Europe..what do you expect??! Talk to you soon. Ciao!

Last Saturday, some of the Italian students at the university planned a trip for us to go to Bracciano. It's the most beautiful lake I've ever been too. For those of you interested in the celebrity life.. It's the lake where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got married. We also toured the castle where the wedding took place. It was amazing!! I don't have any pictures of the inside of the castle because we weren't allowed, but I have some of the lake and the castle's exterior. After the hour long tour of the castle, we went a little further to another city so we could go to the actual beach part of the lake. When we got there, they were having a motorcycle show. Mostly street bikes, but there were quite a few harley davidsons. It was fun! Perfect weather for the lake! Miss you guys! (Especially you, Bethany!)

Hello everyone! I just got back from a very long, but VERY fun weekend in Munich. OKTOBERFEST at it's finest. Hahaha. And that's all I'm going to say about that!

I finally took some pictures of my apartment, so you're all welcome. Things are going pretty well right now. School is school. Nothing too crazy. I'm enjoying it. Things are still great with all my roommates. We're having such a good time together! We're planning on going to Disneyland Paris next weekend!!! I'm so excited! And then sometime in October we're going to a chocolate festival in Perugia. Don't worry, I'm keeping up with my classes!! The only thing I would say that I'm struggling with is culture shock. It's hard to explain, so I don't even think I'll bother trying. It's a strange feeling and hard to adjust to, but I'm getting through it. It's not like being homesick. (I don't get homesick, right Mom?..) It's much different than that. But don't worry, I'm doing fine. I'm thankful, though, to have Jenna here with me. It's helped a lot. Other than that, everything is really great here. I'm so glad I'm doing this. Thanks Dad!!!

Well if you guys have any questions, please ask!! Love you all!! Miss you!

I know my bedroom is a little plain.. We're working on decorating!

Kitchen

Living Room/Dining Room

My Bathroom

Our TINY Washing Machine

Bedroom
My Side of the Bedroom
Jenna's Side
View out our WindowOur Front Door

Sorry it's taken me so long to update.. I don't have access to the internet all the time :(

This last Saturday my roommates and I, and a few other girls, went to the beach. We took a 50 min bus ride to Tarquinia and then a 10 min bus ride to San Marco. It's a black sand beach and the water is really warm. Lucky us, we went on the day that it decided to rain. But it was our first weekend out of Viterbo so we decided to get in the water anyways. We were having a great time out there, rain and all, until the lifeguards whistled at us and waved us to come inside.. Good thing, because it started to pour down rain and it looked like we were in the middle of a storm. Of course, everyone looks at us with blank stares. We made it quite obvious we weren't locals haha. But who cares. We're all used to that by now. Anyways, we found a restaurant because we were all starving and soaking wet. But it wasn't open til 12. It's 11 at this time.. Thankfully, the guy who owned the place was really sweet and let us sit inside and we only had to wait til 11:30 when he came out with a huge pizza he made for us. After lunch, the sun came out so were able to be outside for a few hours. It was really nice until the wind picked up. It was unbelievable. It was painful. I'm not kidding. Our legs were getting pelted by sand hahaha. What a day! I have a few pictures.. I'm getting more from my roommate later. But here's a few to get you started. Oh, and I promise I'm working on getting pictures of the apartment!! Soon!

Ok, so we went on a little field trip yesterday to a medieval city called Civita di Bagnoregio. I'm pretty sure it's also called "the city that dies." Or something along those lines. You get the idea. But it was really neat to visit. There's only about 10 people or so who still live there because it has been evacuated. The mountain it sits on has basically crumbled to the ground and there isn't much left. It's beautiful, and so amazing that it has survived. There's not much else to say... (it was too hot to even think about listening to our guide talk about it..) It's easier to understand what I'm talking about with the pictures.. So once I stop having problems uploading them, you'll get to see everything . Sorry this one was so short! But I gotta go. Talk to you all soon!


OH! I almost forgot! After consuming a lot of medicine, and doing a lot of praying.. My crazy throat problem is gone :) Haha. So I'm all ready to go now! Sorry Dad, that means I'm feeling well enough to do some shopping.. But I'm sure you were expecting that!



Here are the pictures!...Sorry it took so long. I'll have some of my apartment soon!