December 10, 2011-Last day in Florence

December 10, 2011

This morning I slept in until about 9:30 and had a nice, long breakfast. Then I showered and straightened my hair and headed out around 11:30 to meet Leah at Santa Maria Novella. We walked together to Piazza del Duomo where we met up with Becca. We had thought about climbing the Duomo but it was raining a little bit and we didn’t think it would be too much fun to do it in the rain. So we decided to just walk around Florence and take everything in one last time. We walked all over town, which was lovely, and the spitting rain actually made everything so beautiful. We walked across Ponte Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti and then headed back across the river to Piazza della Republica. There we tasted some olive oil, honey, jam, and wine at the Saturday market, which was fun. After that we decided to ride on the carousel because we had all wanted to do it the whole time we were here and never had. It was only 1.50 Euro so we all paid for it with the spare change we had been meaning to use up. We had so much fun (more fun than any of the little kids, I think) and were so happy we had done it :) After that we wandered our way back through the center and toward the train station. We all split ways around 2:00 so Leah could go pack, I could pack up a few last minute things, and Becca could get all her bags together to leave this evening. On my way home I got off the bus at the stop by Gelateria de’ Medici, got one last cone of crema de Medici and walked the rest of the way home.

When I got home I had a little lunch and finished all of the packing that I can do until tomorrow morning right before I leave. Franzi’s boyfriend is coming this afternoon so she was already moved out and had brought all of her stuff to their hotel so the room looked so barren. I’m glad I’m only here one more night because it looks so sad. After packing and weighing my bags, I hung out with Andrea and Daniela for a little while. Daniela even called ahead and reserved a taxi for me tomorrow morning! Then, around 3:45, I caught the bus back into town to meet Becca. We met at the train station at 4:00 and caught the bus to the airport. She is going to travel with her boyfriend for a week who is studying abroad in Tanzania! I went to help her with her bags and give her some moral support as she had kind of a long journey in front of her. After seeing her off, I caught the bus back to Florence.

At 6:30, I met Leah at the train station once again and we headed to the restaurant we had gone to together at the beginning of the trip, ZaZa, for dinner. The restaurant didn’t open until 7:00 because they eat so late hear but we just took a leisurely walk through the Christmas-lit streets to pass the time. We decided to eat in the “screened-in porch” (it was more of a tent-like thing) at Za-Za because it was so warm outside and, combined with the heat lamps, we didn’t even need a coat on or anything. We had just ordered our food when Franzi came by with her boyfriend, Joe, to introduce him to us and they decided to join us for dinner as well. We all enjoyed white wine and delicious pasta (I had gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce that was so delicious) and had the most lovely time. Even when it rained a little bit it was so cozy to hear it on the tent above our heads. We called it a night around 8:45 because Leah still had some packing to do, Joe was exhausted from traveling, and I (and Leah) wanted to get to bed early because we need to get up so early tomorrow. I caught the bus home but got off one stop early so I could walk in the rain for a couple of blocks and take in Florence at night one last time…it really is beautiful in the rain :)

When I got home, Andrea and Daniela were still out so I turned on some music and packed a few more last minute things. I was really happy when they came home just ten minutes after me because I love just having them around—especially on my last night. They had met friends from Spain from dinner but they were also exhausted from traveling so kept dinner pretty short. Now Daniela and Andrea are just in the living room reading and I am finishing up everything I need to do before I go to bed but it’s still nice that we’re all home as a family, even when we’re not doing something specific together. Once I post this I will probably head to bed pretty soon because Daniela reserved a taxi for me for 6:45 so I will be up very early tomorrow morning—it’s going to be a long day but I am so excited to go home! Of course it is bitter sweet but, after seeing most everyone else leave today, I am pretty ready. I am very sad to leave my host family, however. ANYWAY, I can’t believe this is my last blog post from Florence…118 blog posts…pretty incredible, huh? Thank you all so much for reading what I have had to say over the past three and the months—I really do appreciate it :)

All my love and then some,

Kari

 Riding the carousel in Piazza della Republica!

 My last gelato at Gelateria de' Medici 

 Piazza del Duomo one last time

 Palazzo Medici

 Dinner at Za-Za!

Massimo drew this Christmas picture for Daniela and Andrea and I LOVE it :)

December 9, 2011

December 9, 2011

This morning I woke up around 7:30 to get into school and take my last final at 9:00. We were all a little nervous for the Medici final because we really needed to focus and, being our last day of the program, we didn’t have a whole lot of motivation. However it went very well and it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be. By 10:30, I had completed the final and the ACM Florence program—pretty crazy, huh? After class I returned my Italian cell phone and got 10 Euros back (woo!) and then came back to school to say a couple goodbyes. I said goodbye to Jodie and Kate whom I won’t see again plus Tyler and Erin who are not going out at all tonight. I am very excited because a big group of ACM students are meeting at 9:30 tonight to walk around Florence and see this weekend’s Florence Light Festival. It is sure to be beautiful (even if it’s raining) and it will be so nice to be able to see a lot of people one more time before most people leave tomorrow.

After that I came home and started packing. It actually took quite a while to go through all of my papers, take down cards, photos, and decorations, and then do the packing itself. Each of my bags is going to be right around the weight limit but hopefully it will all be fine. I certainly do have a lot of stuff to bring home, however. Now I am pretty much done packing with the exception of things I will have to put in last minute on Sunday morning before I leave. But hopefully I have packed well enough to allow just enough room for everything I have left. After packing Franzi and I watched some Glee and just kind of hung out.

Tonight was our last family dinner, which I simply cannot believe. We, of course, had an absolutely incredible meal. We started off with spaghetti noodles with fresh pesto, which I had so much of and it was so delicious. For our main dish we had garbanzo beans and eggplant parmesan, which was what we had our first night here. It is still one of my favorite dishes and am so glad Daniela made it for us on our last night :) We finished off with panatone and clementines. Oh and we had red wine with our meal and dessert wine with dessert :) The conversation was wonderful, as usual, and none of us really wanted to stop talking because we knew it was kind of our last chance. We had a wonderful time all together as a family :) We gave Daniela and Andrea a Christmas card we had written in Italian and both of them started crying—it was certainly difficult not to do the same. I have been blessed with such an incredible host family and I will definitely miss them most of all. It will be very difficult for me to say goodbye to them.

After dinner, Franzi and I walked to the train station to meet some friends to check out the Florence Light Festival. We met Willi, Nikki, Becca, and Alex at 9:30 and explored the city. We didn’t really know what the light festival entailed so we just wandered until we found lights. One of my favorite parts of the light festival was Ponte Vecchio all lit up in purple and red! My other favorite part we came upon kind of by accident because, when we walked into Piazza della Signoria, we noticed a projection on a building that translated to “last show at 10:30.” As it was 10:25 when we saw this, we decided to wait and see what happened. First there was a projection/light show on the Gucci museum and then across the way on another building. In addition to the incredible lights and projection, there was also music and sound that went along with the images; it was very cool. As it ended and the music continued, we agreed that we felt like we were in a movie—what a perfect last (or, in my case, second to last) night in Florence :)

After that we split off because we were all pretty exhausted from the week of finals. I also think I might be getting sick so I was hoping to sleep it off as much as possible. Franzi and I headed home, arriving back around 11:15 so not too late. Now I am uploading photos, posting my blog, and going right to bed. However, tomorrow I can sleep in as long as I want, which is just wonderful. I hope you all have a lovely start to your weekend!

All my love,

Kari

 Eggplant Parmasen! 

Piazza del Duomo

 Franzi, Nikki, Becca, Me, Willi

 PURPLE PONTE VECCHIO

 RED PONTE VECCHIO

Projections in Piazza della Signoria

December 8, 2011

December 8, 2011

This morning I woke up around 9:30 and I definitely enjoyed being able to sleep in again. I had some breakfast, got ready, and then studied for about an hour until it was time to head into school. I had my Weaving the Tale final at 12:00, which wasn’t too bad and didn’t take as long as we had planned for it. Because we got out earlier than expected, I decided to walk around the city for a little while because it was a beautiful, warm day. Also, today is a national holiday in Italy so there were so many people out and about, doing their Christmas shopping and such. I even came across some sort of antique car show in Piazza della Republica. After about an hour of walking around I decided to catch the bus and head home.

When I got home I studied for a while, watched last night’s episode of Modern Family, and just kind of relaxed. I think I might be getting sick but I am doing my best to try and nip it in the bud by relaxing and resting as much as possible this week. Thankfully studying at this point means quizzing myself with the PowerPoint I made with all of the images we need to know so it doesn’t take too much out of me to do that. Amidst the studying I also Skyped for a little while, did some stretching, and did a little more packing. Plus, after Skyping, Massimo was over so I got to play with him for a little while :)

For dinner this evening we started out with cheesy rice, which was absolutely delicious! We followed that with a soy burger for me, some other sort of meat for Daniela and Franzi, salad, and bread. We finished off with panatone, gelato, and fruit. I can’t even believe it was our second to last dinner and tomorrow is our last dinner together. I am going to miss our dinners so very much—in fact, I might miss them the most out of anything!

After dinner I did a little more studying and then, realizing I knew as much as I would, I decided to watch Home Alone so that’s what I am doing now :) I cannot even believe that tomorrow is our last final and, come 10:30 tomorrow morning, I will be completely finished with the program. Then I’ll be packing, saying goodbyes, walking around Florence for the last couple of times, and heading home before I know it…I just can’t even believe it. I hope you are all having a lovely week and I hope you have a wonderful Friday!

All my love,

Kari

 The Nativity Scene in Piazza del Duomo

The Christmas Tree in Piazza del Duomo

December 7, 2011

December 7, 2011

This morning I slept in until 10:00, which was absolutely wonderful and just what I needed after being out so late at the opera. The rest of my day until 5:30 was not super exciting but I’ll tell you the little there is to tell, nonetheless. After breakfast I showered and straightened my hair, watched last night’s episode of Glee, studied for the Medici final, went to the grocery store, took a walk, and started getting a few things together in order to pack in these next few days. At 4:45, Franzi and I caught the bus into town to head to the art show. The art show featured a work by each student who had taken drawing over the semester and it was really cool to see because every single one of them was just incredible. Even those who had never drawn before had done a stunning job—I was very impressed. There were a lot of people milling about between us students, our professors, the art and Italian teachers, and our host families. They also had wine, snacks, and music and we had fun mingling and meeting each other’s host parents. After a couple of hours there we headed to the restaurant we ate at our first night in Florence—such nostalgia!

Jodie had rented out the entire back room, as there were 104 of us in total. Everyone at the art show was invited to dinner as well so that was a lot of fun. Andrea and Daniela came and it was a lot of fun to have them there and introduce them to everyone. All my friends loved Andrea, especially, who kept dropping by our table :) For dinner we started out with lasagna, followed by caprese salad for the vegetarians and some sort of meat for everyone else, and we finished off with flan and a couple other little cakes for dessert. Plus there was, of course, bread, olive oil, and wine as well. It was a lovely dinner and so much fun to have everyone from our Florentine lives together in one place! And Jodie gave a beautiful speech/toast in Italian that, of course, made us all cry. After dinner, Franzi and I headed home because we were just exhausted.

Now that I am home, I am writing this blog, uploading a few photos and then going straight to bed. My Weaving the Tale final was moved to noon tomorrow instead of nine so it will be nice to be able to sleep in and get a few things done before class. Or, if it’s a nice day, maybe I’ll take a little walk before class because it looks like it might rain the rest of the weekend. Anyway, I can barely keep my eyes open so I’d best go.

All my love,

Kari

 Willi and me at the Art Show

 Me, Becca, and Katie at dinner

 FAMILY!

Me, Jodie, and Becca!

December 6, 2011

December 6, 2011

This morning I woke up at 7:30 so I could be into school for Dante final presentations by 9:00. All we had to do was present on what we had written about for our papers so it certainly wasn’t difficult. It did take three hours to get through all of us, however, because we discussed each presentation in quite some depth. Thankfully it was not very nice out most of the day, though, so we probably wouldn’t have wanted to be outside instead. Once we were through with our Dante presentations I had about an hour and a half break for lunch and then we finished up our final presentations for Medici. Those lasted another two and a half hours so I listened to presentations for five and a half hours today, which was not super exciting. However my presentations did go well so I cannot complain. When all of the presentations were finally done at 4:30, I caught the bus home.

When I got home Massimo was over and he and Andrea were finishing up The Wizard of Oz because they never finished watching it when he was over last week.  They invited me to join them so I watched the second half with them, which was a lot of fun because Massimo really loved it. Once the movie was over I studied for a little bit and then it was time for my early dinner. For dinner this evening I started with penne pasta with a creamy cheese sauce that was very delicious. I followed that with bread, cheese, salad, apples, and more Christmas cake, which were all very yummy! When I was done with dinner I got dressed for the opera and caught the bus.

The Barber of Seville was a lot of fun, although very long. I remember seeing it on choir tour in high school and I remembered it being long then too and it definitely was—three and a half hours. However it was absolutely delightful and I just loved it. The sets were not quite as spectacular but I thought the cast was just brilliant and I love the story much better than that of La Boheme. I would choose a comedic opera over a tragic one any day (well, most days at least). This opera was an optional event but I was surprised at the number of people who did come anyway. Even though we were all pretty exhausted by the end, we really did enjoy it! After the opera, thankfully, the buses were still running so we caught the last bus home.

Now that I am home I am quick finishing this up and then I will be off to bed. Thankfully I don’t have anything in my schedule until the art show and “farewell” dinner tomorrow evening at 5:30 so I can really sleep in as late as I want. I’ll probably spend the rest of the day doing some studying and some last exploring of Florence in some way or another. It is supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny tomorrow so I definitely should be out and about…Minnesota winter is going to be quite a difference for me :P Well, I should be off to bed because I can barely keep my eyes open!

All my love,

Kari

A quick sketch of me by Cleo

December 5, 2011

December 5, 2011

This morning I slept in until about 9:45, which I was so happy to be able to do. Last night I decided to listen to the live streaming of Christmas Fest at St. Olaf on MPR, which was absolutely beautiful but it was from 10:00-12:00 at night my time. I decided that I might as well because I knew I could sleep in this morning and I didn’t have anything going on until 3:00. It was absolutely beautiful :) Anyway, that’s why I slept in so late this morning. Once I was up I had breakfast and got ready before heading to school. Unfortunately there was a bus strike today and it was pouring rain so I had to walk to school in the rain—thank goodness for a good rain jacket, good boots, and an umbrella. Once I got to school I printed out my final Medici paper, finished preparing my presentation for today, studied for the Medici final on Friday, and had some lunch.

At 2:30 we had a belated birthday celebration for Jessica whose birthday was last Friday and we had delicious Italian cake. At 3:00 we began our Medici final presentations on our paper topics. We did not choose the order to go in but I definitely got lucky and got to go second and get it over with. We continued with presentations until 4:30 and then were let out until finishing them tomorrow afternoon. At that point, I decided to start the walk home, hoping it wouldn’t pour rain on me. Thankfully it only sprinkled on me and it didn’t take me too long to get home. When I got home I studied for a while, stretched, did some laundry, and then read some of my book for fun.

For dinner this evening we started with some sort of pasta dish that was very yummy, followed by beans, homemade French fries (so good), and some sort of potatoes things with cheese that was very good as well. We finished off with Panettone, a traditional Italian Christmas cake, and apples. This evening Andrea decided to pull out his I Love Country CD that was absolutely awful but we definitely had fun listening to it :)

Tomorrow I have my Dante “final” in the morning, which is actually just presentations on what we wrote our papers on (just like for my Medici class) followed by finishing up our presentations for Medici. Then tomorrow evening we are going to the opera again—to Barber of Seville­—so I am very excited for that! So tonight I will probably go to bed fairly early so I am plenty rested to enjoy the opera. I am done studying for the evening as I studied a lot already today so will probably just watch an episode of a TV show, stretch a little more, and then head to bed. I hope all of your weeks are off to a good start!

All my love,

Kari

December 4, 2011

December 4, 2011

This morning I woke up at 9:30, got half ready, and had some breakfast. Unfortunately I woke up with a really awful headache so, after breakfast, I decided that I’d better lay low for the rest of the day and, in case it was the precursor to some sickness or something, try to nip it in the bud. Luckily for me it poured rain all day and was pretty cold out so I wasn’t missing out on a beautiful day or anything. So I spent most of my day at home with the exception of a short walk I took when the rain let up a little. It was still sprinkling but I had to get out of the house for a little while so I walked through the park with my umbrella. But other than that I spent my day making a review PowerPoint for my Medici final, studying for that final, and watching a movie. It was actually just the kind of day I needed. Also, I had the house to myself for a couple of hours this afternoon so I got to do some more singing, which was just lovely.

For dinner this evening we started out with spaghetti carbonara, which was absolutely delicious, warm, and just perfect for a day like today. For our main dish we had “pizza pockets” with spinach and mozzerella, salad, and fried cauliflower. We finished off with apples and chocolate. It was a lovely dinner :) Oh and we listened to jazz music this evening!

Well I think I am done studying for the day having done so much of it earlier so my plans are to do a little bit of Skyping and then to go to bed early so I can be well rested right off the bat for my last week. Sorry this was the shortest blog ever but I really didn’t do a whole lot today. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the beautiful new snow (some of you anyway). I can’t believe I’ll be back in just a week…crazy!

All my love,

Kari

December 3, 2011

December 3, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:30, which was wonderful, had a leisurely breakfast, got ready and headed out of the house around 11:00. Even though they had predicted it would rain all day it was an absolutely beautiful morning—sixties and sunny on December 3? I guess I’m all right with that :) I walked into the center of town, watching them decorate the big Christmas Tree in Piazza del Duomo, enjoyed the new Christmas lights they put up since I was out last night and then headed to Piazza della Republica. There I looked around the Saturday market that has wine, olive oil, honey, jams, soaps…homemade food and goods. They have free samples of so many different things so I really love going. After that I walked around some more, just enjoying the beautiful day. I met Tyler and Franzi at 1:00 at the Christmas Market for some lunch. It was crazy busy but thankfully they were really good at dealing with crowds so it wasn’t too big of a deal. Tyler and I had bratwursts that were absolutely delicious! It was such a fun atmosphere and everyone around us was so happy to be in the Christmas spirit. As we were eating we got sprinkled on a little bit but we never got the rain they predicted. It was cloudy and cooler after that, though. We hung out there for a while then walked around town a little while longer before they headed back to school to study and I headed home.

Once I got home I sang for a little bit because no one was home! I haven’t had much of a chance to sing on this trip so it’s so much fun to be able to do it every once in a while. After that I started cutting out pictures for my art project for Weaving the Tale until 4:00 when I got to Skype with my Grandparents. It was lovely to see them and so crazy that the next time I see them will be in person in just over a week! After talking to them for a while, I went back to my art project. There was still no one around—Franzi stayed at school until they closed it around 6:30 and Andrea and Daniela were out of town for the afternoon—so I decided to watch a movie while I worked. The other day, Mom and I were talking about how I had never seen all of the old Christmas movies, which is why I had the urge to watch White Christmas. Because I loved it so much I decided to watch Miracle on 34^th Street, which I loved as well! I cannot believe I had never seen either of them and they will definitely become traditional ones to watch! Before I knew it, everyone was home and it was time for dinner.

For dinner this evening we started with spinach and cheese tortellini, which was so delicious. We followed that with cheese, sausage, bread, olive oil, caprese salad, cauliflower, and, of course, clementines. It was absolutely delicious and now I am absolutely stuffed :) Andrea also decided that we needed a little music during dinner this evening and turned on his favorite blues CD, which was very fun and we were all kind of singing and humming along. We had a lovely dinner as usual :) I can’t believe we only have four dinners left just as a family. Because Tuesday I have to eat early because of the opera, we have our big farewell dinner on Wednesday (which our host families will be attending, however), and they will be out with friends from Spain on Saturday…how can there only be four dinners left with them :( Okay I can’t even think about this.

ANYWAY, after dinner I finished up my Weaving the Tale project (!) and finished Miracle on 34^th Street. I cannot believe that I have finished up everything I have to do for finals except studying for my Medici final on Friday. So now I won’t have to be stressed out the rest of the weekend and next week and I can focus on taking in Italy in my last few days here and, of course, studying here and there ;) Tonight I am looking forward to 11:30 when my family along with Kelsey and her family are going to stand in front of the Hi Mom webcam at school (they are there for Christmas Fest) and they are going to wave :) I am actually BEYOND excited heehe. Until then I will probably make a review PowerPoint for my Medici final…woohoo! Well, I’d best get going on that. I hope you are all having wonderful weekends!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. Remembering a certain angel, Leslie, today <3 Live Fiercely!  

 My new favorite Christmas lights/decorations

 Beautiful day on the Arno

My brat! 

December 2, 2011

December 2, 2011

This morning I woke up a little after 7:00 and met my Medici class at the Medici Chapel at 9:00. Connected to the church of San Lorenzo, it is made up of the Chapel of the Princes and the new sacristy, which holds the tombs of Lorenzo il Magnifico and his brother Giuliano. It was very cool because we had never been there before and we didn’t even know it was there. The tombs of the two brothers were made my Michelangelo so it was fun to make comparisons with his other works we have seen over the course of the semester. After that, we went to Lorenzo’s library, which is one of the most well endowed libraries and the world. It has been beautifully reserved and it is just so grandiose! It was a very cool place to see and experience.

After Medici, I headed back to school because I had two hours before my Weaving the Tale class at 1:00. I finished up my preparations for my presentation on my paper topic for Medici on Monday, ate lunch, and did a little more work on my art project for Weaving the Tale. Then we had our Weaving the Tale class/workshop at 1:00, which was helpful in fleshing out our ideas and getting a little bit of feedback. We finished up around 2:30 and I headed home. Once I got home I worked on a little bit of homework and then Franzi and I decided to go to the Christmas Market because it wasn’t raining and it is supposed to rain all weekend.

We headed out around 4:30 so we could see all of the Christmas lights on our way to the market and see the market itself all lit up. We took quite a few detours on our way to Piazza Santa Croce because we followed all of the beautiful lights that are now all turned on because it’s December! We even got to see the Christmas Tree all lit up in Piazza del Duomo (although I did not get a photo, sorry!) It was little a Christmas wonderland with all of the beautiful lights up and down every street :) The market itself was another Christmas wonderland and we decided we want to come back like every night because it is such a fun place to be. It smells absolutely delicious with all of the German food, strudel, and mulled wine…yum. We wandered around, looking at all of the crafts and such for sale, which were all beautiful and, of course, we wanted to buy everything we saw. We did give in and buy a pastry that looked and tasted kind of like mini donuts but wasn’t exactly that…whatever it was, it was absolutely delicious! After spending about an hour at the market, we headed back in the direction of home but walked along the river, coming to Ponte Vecchio, which was decorated with Christmas lights as well. Plus, on top of everything, it was the most beautiful night—it was in the upper 50s even after the sun had gone down and it was clear so you could see the moon and the stars!

We got home a little after 7:00 and soon after it was time for dinner. Tonight was pizza night! We started out with my favorite little doughy rolls with salami and cheese, which I finally remembered the name of! BOMBOLINI! We followed that with salad and the most delicious pizza we have had so far :) We finished off with clementines even though we didn’t think we could eat anything else because we were all so full! We spent about an hour and a half together at dinner tonight, which was absolutely wonderful! I don’t even remember everything we talked about but we certainly had a good time :)

Now that dinner is over I am really quite tired so I will probably lie in bed and finish up White Christmas because I did not have a chance to do that last night. Then I’ll probably go to bed fairly early (at least for a Friday night) although I have nothing to do tomorrow morning so I get to sleep in as well! OH and I just realized that today was my last day of classes because next week is finals…that’s crazy. I hope all of you have a wonderful start to your weekends! Happy Opening to the cast of White Christmas, Happy Birthday to Ben, and Happy Christmas Fest (still) to everyone at St. Olaf!

All my love,

Kari

Christmastime in Florence!

More lights!

And more!

Christmas Market in Piazza Santa Croce

Beautiful 

With my cinnamon "sweet chimney" 

Lights on Ponte Vecchio

Lights everywhere!

December 1, 2011- HAPPY FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER!

December 1, 2011

HAPPY DECEMBER! Wow, I still cannot even believe it is already December! I woke up this morning around 7:15, which wasn’t a lot of fun having been out so late at the opera last night. However, once I was up it wasn’t too bad. We met our Medici class at the Uffizi at 9:00 where we looked at Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus in addition to many other things. The original plan was to stay at the Uffizi for an hour and a half, have a half an hour break, and then segue back at school for another hour. However, Jodie realized that we had far too many works of art to look at to be able to do it in an hour and a half so we studied the art for about two hours and then Jodie treated us all to hot chocolate before we spent the last forty-five minutes in the Leonardo da Vinci room. We finished up around 12:00 and then I went back to the school to meet up with my Dante group for our last meeting as our small group. After our meeting, I headed home.

When I got home I got a sudden surge of motivation, which was so nice as I have had so little of it. Because of this motivation I was able to finish up my Dante final project and finish up half of my final project for Weaving the Tale. After that I finished up my Medici paper, making some final edits to it and preparing my presentation for Monday. In other words, I got so much done with that motivation, which is exactly what I needed to happen. OH and I remembered during all of this that today was the first day I got to open my Advent Calendar so I did that! After getting all that done, I Skyped for a while and then decided to work on the art project part of my Weaving the Tale final while I watched the movie White Christmas on my computer :)

I didn’t get too far into the movie before it was time for dinner but I’m not complaining because I was quite hungry. For dinner this evening we started with pasta with broccoli sauce, followed by cooked vegetables (red peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant) and a soy burger for me, chicken for Daniela and Franzi. We finished off with clementines to keep our immune systems up because a lot of sickness is going around Florence.

Now that dinner is over I am going to do some stretching while continuing to watch White Christmas. Then I think I am going to go to bed pretty early because I am really pretty tired and we have class tomorrow even though it’s a Friday. I’m not upset about it but I do wish I could sleep in a little bit more. Oh well, that’s what the weekend is for. I hope you are all having a wonderful first day of December! Happy first day of Christmas Fest to all of you at St. Olaf!

All my love,

Kari 

Opening my Advent Calendar! It was a mouse eating a gumdrop :)

November 30, 2011

November 30, 2011

Wow, can you believe tomorrow is already the first day of December?! Where has the time gone? I woke up this morning around 8:30, got ready and had breakfast. I decided to straighten my hair for the opera tonight so, while I was doing that, I watched yesterday’s episode of Glee. Then I headed into school around 10:00, dropped of my backpack at school and decided to take a little bit of a walk because I was not really in the mood to sit still quite yet and I didn’t want to be all restless at the opera. I walked down to Santa Croce where the Christmas market was setting up so it was fun to see a little sneak peak of it—it opened this afternoon after I was there. After that I walked up and down the streets, taking in all the Christmas decorations and even seeing them set up the tree in front of the Duomo! After about an hour I headed back to school to get a little bit of work done and have lunch before class.

I had my LAST Dante class (we only have the final left!) at 1:00 and it was so weird when Katy did her wrap up of the semester speech at the end of class. I mean, we still have the final left but that was our last real class. It’s pretty crazy to think we’re already coming up to finals week and, at the end of that, we go home. I was not too sad for the class to be over, though, because it has been a lot of work and I need a little more time to get everything done. After Dante I caught the bus home. When I got home I watched yesterday’s episode of Parenthood (I am into too many TV shows right now!) and then got to work on some homework. I still didn’t have any motivation but I sat down and did two-thirds of my Dante final project so that was certainly rewarding. I have been researching for it for a while but lacked motivation to just do the actual writing. So now I am hoping to finish up the last third tomorrow and be completely done with one of my final projects!

Daniela prepared me an early dinner around 6:30 so I could eat before the opera tonight and not have to miss out on dinner. I am lucky because none of the kids in drawing had time to come home so they had to miss dinner and had to pay for their own (although some parents packed their kids bag dinners). For dinner I had the usual eating without the parents dinner, but it was wonderful :) Pesto, caprese salad, bread, cauliflower (something new!), and clementines. After dinner I got all dressed up in my new dress I got a few weeks ago and headed out around 7:30. The Opera didn’t start until 8:30 but I didn’t want the bus to be late and then miss it or something like that!

The opera—La Boheme—was absolutely fantastic! It was so much fun to get to go see a performance and such a wonderful one at that! The singing was beautiful, the set was spectacular, and we all had such a great time. A wonderful night at the theatre :) It lasted about three hours and we headed home around 11:30. When I got home, I finished up my blog post and am now heading to bed because I am exhausted.

All my love,

Kari

Andrea and me :)

 The best host parents in the world!

Daniela and me :)

November 29, 2011

November 29, 2011

This morning I slept in until about 8:30, got ready, had a leisurely breakfast and headed off to school around 10:00. I decided to walk to school today since it was so beautiful out and it was just lovely. I had Weaving the Tale at 11:00 and we talked about the most recent book we read, Artemisia. We got let out after only an hour so I had my lunch with everyone and started on a little bit of homework before I had Medici at 2:00. However, Kate came in around 1:00 to tell us that Medici had to be cancelled today for some reason and we were going to reschedule it for Friday. So I grabbed the bus home so I could try to be a little more productive before I came back to school at 5:00. I got some research done for my Dante final project but had a little bit of trouble motivating myself as I had planned on being in class then, not working on homework. However every little bit counts so I was productive.

At 4:00 I headed back out, walking to school again and, this time, I got to watch the beautiful sunset. At 5:00 a professor from the NYU program in Florence gave a guest lecture on women writers from Florence and the topics of some of the books she has written (one of which we have been reading parts of for Weaving the Tale). She was very interesting to listen to and to talk to afterward and I was actually happy to sit and listen to her lecture :) After the lecture we had a little reception with wine, cheese and a few other snacks and we were able to talk to her. She had talked in her lecture about some of the scripts for sacred representations (early theatre in the Church) at the time so I talked to her about that and got some citations that I will definitely look into (but not until I get home…I have far too much to do at the moment). After the reception, I headed home.

I got home around 6:30 and worked on some more research for my projects until dinnertime. For dinner this evening we started out with spaghetti with a yummy tomato sauce. We followed that with delicious meatballs and salad, and finished off the meal with clementines. I am definitely cherishing all the food but especially the time with Daniela and Andrea. I don’t even want to begin to think about how much I am going to miss them. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye. But hopefully I’ll be able to come back and visit someday!

Can you believe that tomorrow is the last day of November?! I mean, it’s 60 degrees and sunny here so I certainly cannot. It is so crazy that I come home so soon. Granted I have a lot going on before then, but it still is really creeping up on me. Tomorrow I don’t have class until 1:00, which is nice and then we are going to the opera—to La Boheme—tomorrow night so I am beyond excited for that! It is sure to be quite a lovely day. As for tonight I think I will do just a little bit more research before stretching and then relaxing while talking to friends or watching a TV episode before going to bed earlyish. I hope your November is coming to a wonderful close!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. I am going to do my best to post my blog tomorrow night after the opera but, depending how late it is (and it could get pretty late), I may not be able to post it until Thursday. Knowing me I will get it posted but don’t worry if it waits until the next day. 

November 28, 2011

November 28, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:00 and had a delicious breakfast of pumpkin bread and fruit salad :) I decided to do a little homework before going into school because I didn’t have class today until 3:00. So I worked on homework for a couple of hours and then rewarded myself by watching an episode of Parenthood. After that, I made myself some lunch and then headed into school. When I got to school I decided to do some work-study because I had planned on doing it in the morning but then realized there was a class in the classroom where we work so figured I couldn’t do it. I worked for about an hour and a half and then it was just about time for class. We had Dante class from 3:00-4:30, which was same as always. Like I said, I am kind of ready to be done with this book. I mean, I have finished the readings but it’s just kind of overwhelming at this point to have spent the whole semester on one book. Only one more day of Dante class though and then the final so I should be fine ;)

After class I took the bus home. First I watched the last episode of Parenthood I needed to watch in order to be caught up with the season and then I worked on some homework until it was time for dinner. I am still having a lot of trouble motivating myself but I’m pushing through it and thankfully I have a week before things start being due. And I’m a lot further on my work than most of the other students so I am really not worried. I am just overwhelmed by everything right now, I guess, but it will all get done in time. I worked on homework right up until dinner.

For dinner this evening we started with a pumpkin, barley soup that was so warm and absolutely delicious! For our main dish we had salad and “cheeseburgers,” which were wonderful as well. We finished off with some apple pie (they really do spoil us), dessert wine and leftover pumpkin bread…so yummy :)

Well I guess it was another pretty uneventful day to blog about. I feel like Mondays always seem like a let-down day to blog because I had something exciting over the weekend, complete with photos and everything and then it gets to Monday and I went to class, did homework and that’s all. Oh well, sorry Monday posts are boring! I hope you all are having more exciting days than I had! Things should start getting a little more exciting in the next few days, though, so I am not worried at all. Now that dinner is over I think we’re going to do some laundry (woo!), change the sheets on our beds (woo!) and then try to get a little more homework done (woo!); sounds fun, right? :)

All my love,

Kari

November 27, 2011

November 27, 2011

This morning I woke up at 8:30, got ready and then Franzi and I headed into town to experience the Florence Marathon. The bus didn’t go all the way into town because of the route but we just walked most of the way, which was actually nice after being cooped up most of the day yesterday doing homework. On our way to Santa Croce we found an antique market that was a lot of fun and we looked around there for a while. After that we walked the rest of the way to Santa Croce where the finish line was. It was pretty crazy there but a lot of fun. There was so much excitement and it was especially fun after having gone to the half marathon a few weeks ago. We got to see the first three men and the first three women, which was really exciting! After that we’d been there for about two hours so we decided to head home. We walked part of the way, I got a yellow balloon, and then we caught the bus home. Thankfully it was running again because we didn’t quite want to walk all the way home.

When we got home we started on the pumpkin bread. Tonight Franzi and I are making American breakfast for dinner for our family and we decided to get a head start on the pumpkin bread because it needed time to cool. We listened to Christmas music while singing along as we baked. While we were waiting for it to bake, I colored some pictures in my Christmas coloring book and then, after an hour, we took it out and it looked pretty good so hopefully it will be. After that Franzi headed out to meet a friend and I watched another episode of Parenthood. We started back up with our cooking around 7:00.

We started with the hash browns. I had never made them from scratch before so it was kind of fun and actually very easy. After that we made a fruit salad with apples, bananas and clementines. Following that I made French toast while Franzi made scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese. It took us a little bit longer than we thought it might so we ended up eating around 8:15 but it was so lovely. We sat down to French toast and syrup, scrambled eggs, pumpkin bread, fruit salad, hash browns, orange juice and milk. We even had a candle on the table! Daniela and Andrea were so excited and they wanted to know exactly what everything was. As if dinner weren’t already wonderful, the table was set so that we could watch Il Mago di Oz (The Wizard of Oz) while we ate. It was so much fun to watching in Italian, especially at the end of our trip when we can actually understand it. And Andrea had put on the English subtitles so we could see how all of our favorite lines were translated. And the songs were all the originals, in English so we were happy about that. Andrea and Daniela absolutely loved the meal and they neither could stop talking about the pumpkin bread (thanks, Mom!) Also, Andrea put so much syrup on his French toast and loved it so much that he even tried it on his fruit salad…he reminded me of you guys, Dad and Grandpa Gunard ;)

Once we were so full we couldn’t eat anything else, we paused the movie for a few minutes to clean up and push aside the table so we could sit on the couch to watch the rest of the movie. They kept trying to tell us that they would clean up but we had made such a mess in the kitchen that we wouldn’t let them do it without us. With all of us working together it certainly didn’t take long. We still had a loaf and a half of pumpkin bread left, which we were very excited about because now we can have it for breakfast and lunches! Once we were all cleaned up, we started up the movie again. It is already pretty late so I decided to finish up my blog while we were watching. We still have about an hour left of the movie so I will probably head to bed pretty soon after it is over. It has really been such a wonderful family night :) Just the perfect way to end the weekend! I hope you have all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and been able to spend lots of time with loved ones.

All my love,

Kari

 The first place runner! 26 miles in 2 hours and 9 minutes!

 The finish line of the Florence Marathon in Piazza Santa Croce

 The beautiful Duomo

 My Marathon balloon!

 Making pumpkin bread!

 Fresh out of the oven!

 We made a bit of a mess...

 Making hash browns

 Still making hash browns

 Eggs and french toast in progress

 The finished product :)

 Andrea getting excited for dinner!

 Daniella too!

 Our dinnertime entertainment :)

 LET'S EAT!

 Such excitement! 

Delicious :)