Hi everyone :)

I cannot even believe that in less than 48 hours I will be back in Ohio! I am honestly astonished with how fast this whole experience went. I feel like I am still just getting home from New York and should just be beginning to think about Italy. The last few days have been very bitter sweet. Of course, I am excited to be home and see everyone, but the realization that I probably will not have an opportunity to come back here for quite some time is really beginning to settle in. It has been such a luxury these past four months having this website, Facebook and Skype to communicate with my family and friends from back home. It truly has made the world seem like a much smaller place and it makes me sad to think that this city that I have grown to love is going to be over thousands of miles away once I am home.

The things I will miss about Florence will be the little aspects of the city that have come to feel like home. I will miss the market that we would buy our groceries at, the Sandwich shop around the corner from school that came to know our order by memory, and I'll miss all of the people from other schools and countries that I have become friends with. I can now say that in leaving Florence I have friends from San Diego, Mexico City and around the Florence area. Who would have thought I would have met people from these places?

Perhaps one of the things I will miss the most is traveling so often and seeing so many other parts of Europe. It's funny how my friends and I don't realize it until after the fact, but we saw five different countries and some of the greatest wonders of the world while we were here. It became the running joke that on the weekend if you were traveling in Italy somewhere it wasn't that impressive because it could be a day trip. The comment, "Oh, we're just going to Rome this weekend" became the running joke during our time here. So many people back in the US or anywhere in the world would dream of going to Rome and here we were taking it for granted because it was only a 3 hour train ride away. Regardless of if it was somewhere as close as Pisa or as far as Krakow, Poland, every trip that I went on is incredibly meaningful to me in someway. Some how each of those trips changed who I am just a little bit. Whether it was having tolerance for the French people, keeping up with the drinking pace in Ireland, or showing respect to those lost in the Holocaust, every single experience I have had here has affected me. It would be impossible for me to come home as the exact same that I was when I left but I'm thankful for that.

In closing, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to have this experience from the start. Although I didn't realize it when I left, and I probably still don't completely realize it, I am so fortunate to have gotten the chance to do this. In addition to this I am so grateful that I was fortunate enough to have my parents come visit me while I was over there. It could have possibly been one of the best trips we have ever taken and it was a great way for my to have a little taste of home halfway through. With the way the economy has been in the US, many of my friends didn't have the luxury of their parents visiting so I guess that really says a lot for how fortunate I am. Thank you parents, for everything you've given me and all the opportunities you have opened me up to in this past year. Also, thank you to everyone else for all of your greetings and interest in my crazy semester! I'm so glad people actually wanted to read my website after spending the time to make it! Haha! Really, all your message board posts and emails meant a lot and I really appreciate all of it!

We will be departing Florence at 2:30 AM tonight to head to the Rome airport. After a 10 hour flight and a 2 hour layover in Newark I will be back in Ohio! I can't wait to see everyone once I'm home and I can't wait to celebrate the holidays! Only rule: no visiting until Tuesday of next week because my hair is grown out so bad that I basically look like a brunette, but no worries I get my hair done Monday night!! … THEN we can have all the visiting! ;)

Love you and miss you all!

Ciao.. for good!
Carrie :)