What were you grateful for this week? 

This week I am grateful for sunshine. The first of the week here in Gallarate was rainy and gloomy. I felt like it had me down. It was the first time since being here that I really missed home and felt really emotional. Toward the end of the week though, the sun came out, it was nice and warm, and I felt a lot more happy and lifted.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?This weekend durning our travels to Rome, we had some issues with a delayed train. Our train from gallarate to Milan got delated and it caused us to miss our train from Milan to Rome…let me tell you there was PLENTY of time between our train from Gallarate to Milan, and the train leaving Milan to Rome. The next train that we were able to get on wasn’t until 4 P.M. and we had to each pay an extra $50 on top of our pre-purchased train ticket. Once we got on the train to Rome it then had an hour delay. So instead of having almost a full day in Rome on Saturday we didn’t even get there until 9. I was pretty frustrated about the whole situation but had to let it go because it wasn’t worth runing the rest of the trip. Not to mention we couldn’t do anything about it.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. One of the days my host family’s cousin and I wanted to go to the store. We decided to see if we could take the twins with us. We wanted to push them in the stroller, let them get out of the house for a bit, and give the in house nanny a little break. It was quite fun and actually a work out (it is not easy pushing a twin stroller on the cracked streets here). The twins are so cute and they loved being able to go out with us.

Tell us about your week! I would say this week was probably the hardest week so far. Lots of emotions, and even the kids were more grumpy than usual. Maybe the rain really affected us all! I didn’t see [my host family’s daughter] very much during the week again. However, there was one night when she came home that she ran into her room and was in there for a bit, the next thing I know she is telling my name. I went into her room and she handed me a paper that she colored with my name and balloons. It made me so happy because she can be very hot & cold sometimes. 

It was also nice to see K this week. Our schedules have not been matching up lately so for the past two weeks, we really haven’t seen much of each other. We were finally able to meet one moring before Rome at our favorite American Cafe and have coffee like we used to. I’ve really missed my bestie so it was nice to finally see her after a bit! Then this weekend B, K, and I travled to Rome. Beside the struggles of the train Rome was awesome!! The three of us really travel so well together and always have the best of times. They had both been to Rome prior, but this was my first time. It was very crazy because we seriously fit in everything there is to see in Rome in one day! 

We also got to meet up with some other Rome Abroad girls that live in Rome. It was so fun and I love the friendships this program has brought to me. We stayed out extremely late on Sunday night and had a very early train Monday morning. It was definitley worth being tired the next day! We ate at the birth place of Fettucine Alfredo. It was delicious, nothing like what I would have expected but sooooo good! Of course we enjoyed some Gelato and did lots and lots of walking. Weekend travels and being with friends can never dissappoint!