I have been happily keeping occupied through my last few weeks in Florence. Two weeks ago I got to go to the Florentine opera house and see a show for free with my program. It was called Iolanta, and it was the last opera that Tchaikovsky composed. It had English and Italian subtitles which made it understandable, and it was a very interesting show.
(My roommate, Bri, and I standing on our lovely street of Via dei Neri before going to the opera)
The next few days I was struggling with some neck pains that came on pretty suddenly. Bri and I went to an craft fair-like event called la Mostra Internazionale dell'Artigianato the following day and between my neck being messed up and she being sick we probably looked a little pathetic, but it was very cool. There were vendors from all over the world selling products that you would find from locals in those areas. It was fascinating, and had we been feeling a little better we could have spent all our time (and money) there.
On Saturday I was able to go on a free trip with my program to Bologna, the capital city of the Emilia-Romagna region, just north of Tuscany. It was a fairly relaxed day, which was good given how we were feeling, and we had a little walking tour of the city and a big delicious lunch. I could not be more grateful for all the cool things SAI does for us, all of which are for free.
(Center of Bologna)
Last week I spent some time at one of the loved Mexican bars, L'Margaritaio with my Wisconsin housemate, Caimyn, for our favorite margs and nachos, and we visited a number of other bars in the area that we had not been to yet, which was a lot of fun. Alongside our bar hopping adventures included riding the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica as well as getting pastries from the secret bakery! That is always a lovely little 2am adventure.
This past weekend I went on a solo trip down to Sicily, and I also got to visit Malta! I stayed in a city called Catania, on the Eastern side of the island and spent one of my days over the weekend taking the shortest flights I have ever been on to the tiny country of Malta.
(Main square in Cantania, Sicily)
Malta was an interesting but very lovely country and though I didn't get to spend any more than twelve hours there, I did ride around the main island almost twice. I took one of the big hop-on hop-off tour busses which turned out to be a great decision because many things in the country are very spread out despite the little size. You also get earbuds on board and get to listen to lots of information about all of the places you are going and what you are seeing so I was able to learn a lot about the country as well!
(Marsaxlokk fishing village in Malta-Although it may not be visible from this picture, the Maltese often put little wooden eye symbols on their boats which represent protection while they are at sea and someone watching over them as they fish)
Between having some very dismal weather while I was there and being on a bus, my hair was definitely challenged, but it was a very fun experience to ride on the double-decker bus before it started to rain. On the right is a picture of the Maltese countryside with the endless prickly pear cacti whizzing by.
The weekend went by very quickly and I am already back home in the midst of my last week in Florence. It's bittersweet as I have my biggest adventure(s) yet ahead of me, and I will be happy to finally be home when it's over, but I will definitely miss this wonderful city I have called home for the past four months. I have already started packing, which is a struggle in and of itself, and I have been spending lots of time heading to favorite places in the city. Just today I was able to spend some time with an old St. Norbert housemate and we went to get my favorite ravioli in the world from il Mercato Centrale. I am done with most of my finals and will be entirely done with my junior year of college after tomorrow, which is actually insane to me.
This Saturday I will leave Florence to head to eight other countries (because I can't forget Liechtenstein) before flying back to Chicago! If I have learned anything from planning all this travel it has been that it is time consuming and somewhat stressful, but well worth it if done properly. I am hoping to be keeping up with writing on my experiences, but let's be honest that may not quite happen, but I will be updating my city locations on the map on my main page if you are interested in seeing where I'm at! For now I just have to say arrivederci to the rest of the world and focusing on actually saying goodbye to my amazing little city of Firenze.
Love, abbie