End of the Semester

The last two weeks in Florence have been rainy, which is not so conducive to walking around and enjoying the city one last time. However, we have had a few dry spells which has been nice. And, rain is conducive to staying inside to study for finals.

View from the apartment last Wednesday evening

The past Friday, our Italian friends Laura and Gabrielle came over to our apartment for America Night. We made pancakes with bananas and chocolate chips (which we made by cutting up chocolate bars). They had a really great time.

Pancakes!!

During the day Saturday I went shopping and bought a leather purse from the market. I've been eying them all semester, so I decided to finally get one. Saturday evening was the start of Blue Night which celebrates the unification of Europe. It goes on for 27 hours, one hour for each of the 27 countries in Europe. I walked around in the evening with Mary and we saw a concert band playing in Piazza della Repubblica. We also walked around a series of food stalls in front of Santa Croce. We met up with Laura, Gabrielle, Suzanne, Emilie, and Emily for awhile. Then Emily, Mary, and I walked to the Duomo where we sat and talked for a bit before heading back to Piazza della Repubblica to watch the jazz band that had started playing, they were really good!

There was also a car race through Florence on Saturday

There were so many cool cars!

Street Painting Saturday Evening

Concert Band Saturday Evening

Jazz Band Saturday Night

Sunday I studied for my Mafia and Consumerism finals which were on Monday. It was dry on Sunday and even a little sunny, so Mary and I went to the Boboli Gardens for awhile to study. Monday started Finals Week, so we've all been studying and trying to enjoy our last few days in Italy.

Studying abroad has been such an amazing experience. I've had such a great time in Italy and it's really hard to believe that it's already time to leave. On the other hand, I am excited to go home, and it's also been a really long time away from my friends and family. I'm flying back to the U.S. on Saturday via Heathrow in the U.K. Hopefully all will go well and I'll land on time Saturday evening.