What were you grateful for this week?
Family. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
Italian…all week everyone was speaking in Italian and I felt slightly out of place. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.
I spent a lot of time with [my host family’s daughter]. More than I’m supposed to. 

Tell us about your week! 
I spent a lot of time this last week on the beach! The extended family seems to be warming up to me a little more. They still only barely talk to me in English, but it’s getting better. 

 

Then on Friday I went to Amsterdam!! It was incredible. My uncle was there with one of his really good friends and when I found out he was going I asked if he wanted to meet up! It was great! It was so fun to see him and hang out in such a beautiful and historical place. We’ve always been close and it was just great to be able to share this experience. 

 

Traveling is fun, but it’s better when you’re with someone you know and love. We did a lot of things! We saw the banksy museum, the cheese museum, the mouse museum, a cow museum, the red light district, the skinniest house in the world, and a cool rubber duck store. Needless to say, we saw a lot of museums! 

 

We struggled to get Anne Frank house tickets but my mom had been checking back home and because of her I was able to get one for Saturday and my uncle got four for Sunday. It worked out perfectly! The Anne Frank house was beautiful and it had a spirit about it. 

 

On Sunday we took a tour to go see the zanshese windmills! We also went into a clog making factory, learned how cheese was made and then got to taste it. It was a really amazing weekend! One of the best ones I’ve had in Europe!