thursday top ten.

I'm aware that I skipped my last Thursday top ten [whoops]....my only excuse is that I was busy thinking about packing for Rome. And today, I COULD use the excuse that I'm busy thinking about AUSTRIA, but I'll suck it up, and be a good little blogger :]

Top Ten Things I Miss About America

1. Certain brands of certain foods. Like Fiber One granola bars, Kashi cereal, Quaker oatmeal, Laughing cow cheese....now don't get me wrong: Italy has it's own share of brands that I'm going to miss when I get back to American (Nice Morning by Kellogg, anyone?), but I definitely have had a Fiber-One-bar-shaped hole in my heart ever since I arrived.

2. Driving. STRANGE. I never thought I'd miss having to gas up the old Honda, but I DO! It gave me the freedom to come and go as I please, and though I can walk *most* places in Florence, it gets a little iffy when I have to go all the way across the city. Though I must say, the US should institute a better train system. I'd take a train over my car any day.

3. Measuring cups/kitchen utensils in general. We've had to get a little creative when cooking here, since we literally have no way of measuring any ingredients ("Oh yeah, I used an empty Nutella jar full the last time I made that. It worked great!"). That also means no baking if the batter doesn't come pre-prepped in a bag. Sad day.

4. Everyone is going to absolutely crucify me for this but...the weather! WHAT IS UP WITH THIS ALL-DAY RAIN? I adore Florida thunderstorms because they come, and go, and that is the end of it. Here, you wake up, and it drizzles from dawn until dusk. Talk about a bummer! It makes me want to sleep all. day. long. (which I kind of did yesterday. Whoops!)

5. Campus. I'm not surprised at this one; there are few things I love in Gainesville more than the feeling of being on campus at school, sitting in the Hub with Starbucks and a gooooood book.

6. Free water at restaurants. For real, I literally pay about 2 euro at every restaurant to get a drink. Half the time I order wine, just because it is the same price as water.

7. Long showers. Dear Lord, I will never, ever take a shower (or a BATH for that matter!) for granted again, if you could only just allow me a shower more than 3 minutes long here. Thank you. Amen.

8. Television. We literally have not turned ours on once since we got here, and though I've been using the internet to keep up with my shows, I have had to find other ways to occupy myself when I need veg time. This is not always a bad thing, but more often than not, it leads to bad things like naptime instead of good things like exploring-Florence time. I'm working on it. Also include in this section, all of my TV-on-DVD. I've resorted to watching clips of FRIENDS on youtube to assuage the cravings.

9. My friends. DUH. Who didn't see that coming? I love my roommates and I've met some cool people here, but they all think my football obsession is weird :[ And before we met, they all thought I was some sort of sorority biddy just because I heart Florida. Only you guys truly understand me and the cult that is the Gator Nation.

10. The fam. Oh, I know you're getting teary-eyed! I literally have not spent more than a week at home since Christmas break of my freshman year of college. I take so much for granted being able to zip home for a weekend when I want to living in Gainesville. Being here just makes me appreciate all that my family does for me (even when my siblings are too busy to acknowledge that I'm there).

That's all, ladies and gents....It is almost 6 PM here, and my train for Innsbruck leaves at 9:38 PM. We will arrive in Austria SUPERMADCRAZY early (4:31 AM, what what?), drop our stuff off at the hostel, and then wait for a breakfast place to open, I guess? Haha. Then we will spend Friday and Saturday there before catching another overnight train back at 11:05 PM, arriving in Firenze at 6:18 AM. What a whirlwind!

Me, Laura, and KJ also just booked our spring break hostels! We are going to be in Dublin for three nights, March 19 - 21, then we're splitting off for a night. They are headed to Galway, while I'll be going to visit the lovely Jenny in Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 22. We'll meet back at the airport to head to London for two nights from the 23 - 24, then take an overnight boat to Amsterdam on March 25, where I will be until Monday, March 29. Again, wow.

Expect an awesome update sometime Sunday afternoon, after I've spent all day paying back my sleep deficit. I'm totally stoked for Austria...it's supposed to snow on Saturday, so I've got my excited face on!