What were you grateful for this week?My family. 

What was the most challenging part of this week?Being away while some hard things happened at home.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.My host child wanted to make something creative so I took her to the park and we gathered rocks to paint. It was really fun, something that reminded me of my childhood, and something that she’d never done before, so that was cool.

Tell us about your week! Thinking back on this week it almost feels like it didn’t happen, it just zipped by so fast. I got a chance to go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints temple here in Rome which was an experience I’m very grateful for. I went on a stressful day with one of the other Travelers here and that helped me a lot. I also met up with some other girls in Rome for a picnic in the park near my house one day and that was so much fun. It was nice to sit and talk and enjoy the sun in my favorite part of the city.Absolute highlight of the week was making it to Venice this weekend. That’s been at the top of my list for so long, I’m so happy I got to go! I went with a couple other Travelers and we had a blast. The city is incredible, I loved the streets that would just lead straight out into the canals. We visited a bookstore called Libreria Acqua Alta, with a staircase made of books and a gondola we could sit in…so it’s almost like we took a gondola ride! We also went up the Campanile for an awesome view, walked around in St. Mark’s Basilica, took a vaporetti ride around the Grand Canal, and wandered the streets. That was the best, knowing we were on an island so even when we got lost we’d make our way there eventually. And in the meantime, we could just enjoy being there. 🙂