What were you grateful for this week?The Mountain House. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?My family going on holiday without me. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. All of the work and effort that I put into helping prepare for [my host family’s son’s] birthday party. 

Tell us about your week!  So [my host family’s son] is 5 years old (he was only 3 when I first arrived in Milan), and I have never in my life worked so hard for a birthday party. The house turned into a factory. All 4 of us women (myself, Lorena, Oksana, and [my host mom]) were working on different tasks. The party was knights and princesses themed, so I HAND MADE 40 shields, 10 of 4 different designs, and then 3 that were double the size of the others. We baked and cooked the cupcakes, biscuits, small coconut bites, savory crepes for lunch, and an assortment of other treats.

[My host mom] really wanted things to be from our home and from her own hard work, so that’s what we did! And the outcome was so gratifying, so beautiful, and so worth it. Everyone was really happy and I felt so good to have been a part of something like that. 

So I’m coming up on my last week of my stay here in Italy, and my family has gone for a week vacation in Abu Dabi. I was unable to go with them because if I leave the country I can’t get back in. SO, I’ve gone on a little trip up to their mountain house because they so graciously let me come up here with L (she’s leaving tomorrow to go home), and although the weather is gloomy, I’m feeling really grateful to be here one last time.