Final week of BLISS!!!

As of today I have 6 days left in Italy, only two more days left in Cortona. We leave Friday morning for Venice!!! I can't believe I've been here for almost 3 months! It's truly insane that it's been that long since I stepped foot on American soil! I miss so many things but I'm starting to get really sad about leaving Italy. I really do love it here and I have enjoyed this experience thoroughly! I finished all my classes on Friday and got all my grades back yesterday. I ended up doing really well... helped out my GPA for sure. DEAN'S LIST BABY!!! haha. All my ceramics have been shipped off.. sad part is I won't get them until January after the exhibit in Athens... speaking of which.. you are all invited to that exhibit... come see all the art work of the students here!!! I also made my final book!!! I LOVE IT!!! It's the one I mentioned earlier about the people in my life who have impacted me positively... It's so beautiful and special to me. I titled it "Surrounded by such a Great Cloud of Witnesses" because of the verse that says "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." The last part of that verse is tattooed on my side and it means a lot to me because I see life as a race. The Lord has marked a path for us to follow and wants us to run through it all with perseverance. There will be hard things, sad things, wonderful things, but through it all we must keep our eyes on the goal and push through. We can't do this without the people in our lives that support us and encourage us.... That is our great cloud of witnesses. These are the people who help us to persevere through this race of life. Those are the people that this book was about. There are 18 people in the book and each one is special to me in their own way. People who have taught me something or loved me a special way or been through something hard with me... these are my witnesses!!! It's a great book and my teacher loved it. My teacher is not saved and it was great to share this book with her because I was able to write a lot about the Lord in my life. It was a very honest book that talked a lot about the hard stuff in my life but through it all I got to speak about how the Lord blessed me through every bit of it. A lot of people read it and I hope that it somehow affected them in a special way. I can't wait to share it with people at home.

I went to Rome this past Friday for the third time... We just spent one night there to say goodbye to a friend that left early. Then on Saturday we went to Siena which wasn't amazing in my opinion. It was nice to see but nothing too special... I have to say my most favorite cities have been Cinque Terre, Rome, Vico Equense, and Florence. There are no words for Cinque Terre and Rome just has so much to see and do.... Vico was on the coast and it was beautiful.... It was also our first city and that might have had something to do with it. Florence had so many markets and shopping and leather.... It was beautiful too... Cortona is amazing in it's own special way.... Emanuele took me to Rimini Saturday evening... we spent the night on lawn chairs on the beach and then spent all day Sunday laying out and just enjoying the beach. I don't think I've told you guys much about Emanuele... a little over a week ago my friend Stefanie and I met these two Italian guys who have taken us all over the place... it's been really amazing to see this whole area of Italy from a hometown perspective... They took us to Arezzo and to the lake and to Rimini... They took us to two discotecas and to eat and out for drinks... We were with them every evening for the past 8 days.... I really enjoyed having to use my italian and I got so much better at it... I think I just felt more confident when I realized that Emanuele actually understood what I was trying to say and we could have complete conversations... mind you, they took much longer than they should have because i would have to sit and think through every sentence I said... but it was really great to get to know him. We talked about the differences of Italian culture and American culture. He was so sweet and such a gentleman. I'm so glad I met him because I feel like I truly experienced what italy is like by spending time with him. Italian boys are a little clingy though... and those of you who know me well can attest to the fact that i run away from boys who seem to need me too much or even just like me too much... sad i know... but Emanuele definitely liked me too much... and so I don't think we will hang out again before I leave... but I'm thankful for the experience.

So I'm really looking forward to being back in Athens and moving into my new apartment. I am even excited to get back to work.... I miss everyone in my life and I've realized how much each and every one of them mean to me... If nothing else Italy has helped me not take things for granted that I love. I really can't wait to see my dad!!! I dunno I've just really been missing him these past few days!!! and I REALLY REALLY REALLY can't wait to see the video of my little niece/nephew that Brittany got this week.... It's impossible that anyone else is more excited than I am about this baby... This will most likely be my last post until I'm back in America but I'd really like to keep blogging once I'm back to normal life... It might not be as interesting but I've really enjoyed it... so stay posted... BE HOME SOON!!!