What were you grateful for this week?Beautiful lake views and great travel buddies.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Burnout in my Italian class.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.I spent extra time with my host brother this week playing board games and the piano.

Tell us about your week! This week absolutely flew by—it went by incredibly fast, and was filled with good dinners, lots of learning, and spending time with friends. Italian class was focused on learning more about “passato imperfecto,” the tense used to describe things that happened a long time ago or were happening when another event occurred. I’m getting bits and pieces of the language here and there. It’s coming slowly but surely, and I had a few conversations this week only in Italian! Granted, it was mostly ordering food and merely repeating back what I heard the waiter or the cashier ask me for, but I’ll take what I can get. Time with my host family was spent as usual, with one minor exception—my host brother brought back Monopoly last weekend, and we’ve been playing it whenever we get free time. We’ve had one game going for over three days, so I’ll keep everyone posted when we finally reach the end.

This weekend, L and M3 and I went to Lake Como on a day trip. While I was disappointed I didn’t catch a glimpse of Amal Clooney, the lake and the weather were gorgeous. We spent the afternoon exploring a villa on an island off the coast of Lenno, which was most recently owned by an Italian explorer and collector. The library alone would have made the experience worthwhile, but the views were stunning, and the decor was just as beautiful. The rest of the weekend was filled with dinner and drinks with good conversation and better friends, and I liked getting to show M3 around Milan for the few hours she was here. I can’t wait to visit her in a few weeks in Canale!