La mia vita a Firenze: November 24, 2011- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am so very thankful for all of you and hope you have an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving, surrounded by loved ones :) I started out my morning bright and early, waking up a little after 6:00 to meet our group at the station at 7:45. We took a private bus to a Medician villa first to kind of take the place of the classes they cancelled for Thanksgiving today. The villa was absolutely stunning and it was actually fun to learn about it ;) After about an hour there, we headed to the vineyard/olive oil mill where we would spend the rest of our day out.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day—about 60 degrees and sunny—which made the trip even more wonderful. First we had a tour of the wine cellars and of the olive oil press, learning how they make their wine and olive oil. That was really fun and they had some wine saved down there from the 1920s! After our tour, we had a little time to play Frisbee and relax in the sunshine on the terrace of the villa while we waited for lunchtime. We definitely needed a little time to relax in the midst of our final projects, tests and papers so today was just what we needed. Around 12:30 we gathered in the courtyard for some Rosè wine tasting and bread with olive oil.

Around 1:00 we headed into the porch-like area for our harvest (Thanksgiving) lunch. The tables were so beautifully set, with four different glasses, menus for the meal rolled up with raffia, flowers in the center…just lovely. We started off with a bottle of wine to go with our appetizer that was good but not my favorite of the meal. For our appetizer we had crostini with white beans, olive oil and kale, which was absolutely delicious. We followed that with my very favorite wine of the meal, along with penne pasta with broccoli/pesto sauce, that was also delicious. For our main meal we had olive oil mashed potatoes (to die for), beef (not for me), a selection of incredible cheeses, salads, and garbanzo beans with oil. Oh and there was another new type of wine that was a tad bitter for my taste. At that point we didn’t think we could eat anything else but we somehow managed to squeeze in the apple tortes that came next, which were so yummy and reminded us of apple pie! We also had a dessert wine, which I really didn’t like…dessert wine is just too sweet for me. We had an absolutely wonderful meal with wonderful company :)

After our meal, we had coffee outside and then headed home on the bus, taking in the beautiful Tuscan countryside on the way. We arrived home a little before 5:00 and we all headed home. At 6:00 I got to Skype with my Dad’s whole side of the family who were all over for Thanksgiving! It was so much fun to be able to “be with them” on Thanksgiving and to see them all :) It was a little crazy with so many people Skyping at once but definitely worth it. The highlight of the Skype conversation was when my host parents, Daniela and Andrea, joined in and got to meet everyone. It was so wonderful to be able to introduce them to my parents and Sonja, as well as the rest of the family! It was their first time Skyping and they really loved meeting everyone. It was so much fun to be able to translate for everyone and it was so much fun for me to see them all finally “meet.” I am so thankful for my family :)

After Skyping it was about time for dinner, which Franzi and I certainly weren’t ready for because we were still full from lunch. However we had a delicious meal, nonetheless. We started off with delicious pasta with gorgonzola cheese, nutmeg and a few other things that really made it taste like the holidays. For our main dish we had beans and “cheeseburgers,” which filled us up to the point of explosion. However, we couldn’t be too full because Daniela had gone out and gotten us a blackberry “pie” so we would be sure to have pie on Thanksgiving…we sure have the best host parents ever :)

Now that dinner is over I am about ready to go to bed but it is only 8:30. Franzi and I have decided to put aside the homework and all of the final stuff until tomorrow and watch A Christmas Story on my computer tonight in honor of Thanksgiving and the commencement of the Christmas season tomorrow! I certainly will have a lot to do this weekend so we figured it would be nice to continue the relaxing day and finish it off with a fun movie. Today I am so thankful for my family, my friends and this incredible opportunity to live in Florence. As we are down to just two weeks I am starting to realize just how hard it is going to be to leave this place. I will never forget a single moment and will be thankful for my time here for the rest of my life. I thank you all for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my blog and for your prayers as I have traveled across the world. I love you all so very much and cannot even begin to tell you just how thankful I am for you.

All my love and then some,

Kari