adjustments.

Me and KJ in Twice.

Free Irish carbombs, courtesy of our new Italian friends.

Here they are!

Clubhouse.

Not a good photo of me, but this is Laura and KJ.

I knew that things would start to look up soon; I guess I just needed to vent about my frustrations in the last blog. Since then, things have been improving steadily, and while I'm definitely still getting the hang of Italian living, I'm feeling a TON better. Thanks to everyone who sent me encouraging comments or messages. It feels good to know that I still have a support system back home, and even though it may feel like it sometimes here, I'm not totally alone and lost in a foreign country.

Ironically, I went on another pub crawl the night after I posted my last blog, but this time, I resolved to just go out, have fun, and meet people instead of drinking so much. I did have a couple of shots that these really cool Italian guys bought for us, but that was all. I guess it's a good thing that I learned my limit early on, so that now I can go out and enjoy a couple of drinks without getting completely wasted. This pub crawl was a lot more fun than the last. I met a couple of girls, Laura and KJ, on the way over from Pisa to Florence on the first day, and ran into them again on Saturday. We all did the pub crawl together, and had a great time, dancing, talking, and meeting non-creepy Italians.

Then yesterday morning, Laura and I got up WAY early and walked to il Piazzale Michaelangelo, which is a Piazza located in southeast Florence. It's elevated, and has the most incredible view of the whole city. We were totally out of breath when we reached the top, but it was worth every ache and pain. We just kept looking at each other and saying, "These pictures do it no justice! I just can't capture how awesome this is!" Eventually, though, the wind got to us and we climbed back down. After that, I walked around Florence with my roommates to figure out where our classes for the semester were going to be. They have classes this morning, but I'm off until tomorrow. It's nice to have an extra day to just relax and prep, but I'm definitely ready to have classes and a routine to get into.

At this point, I'm also learning to balance my time between people. After spending the morning with Laura, I hung out with my roommates and we made dinner together. Marissa taught us how to make this DELICIOUS lentil soup, and we ended up eating the whole pot. Mmmmm. I feel like I'm branching out a little more, and best of all, I think I convinced Marissa and Gillian to do a weekend in Prague with Laura, KJ, and me! I think we're also planning to visit Pisa for a day this weekend to get the hang of the train station thing, which, from what I've heard, can be a nightmare at first.

Well, my fingers are frozen, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures! It will only let me post so many, so pictures of Piazzale Michaelangelo later. Again, thank you to everyone for the support. It's weird (but great!) to know that so many people are following me through Italy. I love and miss you all.