Hello again, It's been so long since I've spoken to any of you it feels like. That's a joke, obviously- I posted a blog yesterday. Excuse my poor joke telling skills this morning- it's quarter to 7 and I've been up since a little before 4 thanks to the fly that got into our room and camped out beside my left ear all night and then just when I thought that I had gotten rid of it, the birds wake up and it was all downhill from there. I love you, Italy, but cool it on the birds- just for a bit at least. 

So after laying in bed for an hour and a half trying to fall back asleep I said a few choice words and just got up and brought my electronics downstairs to do some work. Luckily, the WiFi is working wonderfully well at this hour. Probably something to do with the fact that I am the only person awake in the entire country of Italy right now. Go team. I was able to Facetime mom and dad though which was nice since they probably thought I was dead and some ghost has been updating my blog. It was nice to see their faces and hear their voices since I haven't in over a week. 

So here I am watching the sun rise over a valley in Tuscany out the window beside me. Man, life is so difficult. Admittedly, the post I threw up yesterday had been written a few days prior since I can write posts without WiFi, I just can't publish them. That means things have happened since then and I feel the need to update you all. And by feel the need I mean that when I spoke with mother just now she said there was backlash from some persons that I will not name because I haven't been posting as often as they prefer. CALM DOWN FOLKS. I am only one person. I can only produce so many masterpieces with the time and WiFi access I am given. Do you think it is easy keeping all the magical thoughts I have about this trip bottled up inside between blog posts? NO. LIFE IS SO DIFFICULT AND I AM EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED OVER IT. 

I am taking your concerns into consideration and will do my very best to post more frequently. I can tell you though that once I leave the institute here access will be better so you will hear form me more. My word on that, yo. 

Alright- life updates:

We had our big traditional Italian dinner out as a group on Sunday evening. We all get dressed up and then sit through literally hours and hours of food and wine. Just when you think it's over, there's more food and wine walking through the door. I truly have no idea how Italians get anything done away from the dinner table. I love it. I absolutely love it. I was asked o give a toast at this dinner, which I did and it ended with everyone in tears, because I am just that good. Alright, that's a lie. But for a spur of the moment thing, I think it went relatively well. I might have another career waiting for me as a professional toast giver. 

Of course late night bus selfies where we look life Smurfs happened. It wouldn't be a typical day in the life if it didn't.

Yesterday we were in seminars for the better part of the morning. We had feelings talks which is apparently what counselors do- who knew. Dr. Becky did a wonderful job though- I always love her seminars. I'm pretty sure she's my spirit animal though, so I'm a little biased. I DON'T CARE. In the afternoon a few of us took the local bus to the small town down the hill from our villa to get away for the afternoon. As we got off the bus it started raining but me, Ash and Julia trecked our way to the supermarket regardless in search of cookies and shampoo. 

Upon arriving at the surpermarket and loitering for 20 minutes in the parking lot because we determined in our broken Italian that the sign said they would be opening back up at 4p, we discoverd the supermarket is in fact indefinitely shut down. Then we headed for the pharmacy to secure shampoo. This is where things got fun. I got splashed by a passing car. Exactly like the movies. EX.ACT.LY. like the movies- this is real life. After said splashing, we made it to the pharmacy where we befriended the pharmacist and he grew concerned about us and ended up driving us to the next closest market so we could secure cookies. He spoke zero English, but somehow it was like jumping in the car with a friend you've known forever. If that doesn't make you all concerned for my 3 weeks spent alone at the end of the summer, then I don't know what will. 

OH! I completely forgot to share with you all the magical pictures that we got from the photo booth in Greve. How can you pass up a photo booth anywhere- especially in Italy? So here you go, magical beauty from Italy to wherever you are:

As the hashtag properly publicizes, we were #madeinItaly -hair flip.

That should suffice for now. The rest of the country seems to be waking up and I should go shower and prepare myself for the adventure that Is Florence. We'll be climbing the Duomo today, so I need to get in the right mental state for that- it's a bazillion (literally) stairs that wind all up in, around and between the two walls of the dome. The view from the top is absolutely stunning though. I will indeed get a picture for you all. 

Alright: 

coffee. 

shower. 

mental prep. 

That's my checklist for the forseeable future- what's yours?

Sleep well, America.