What were you grateful for this week?
I was grateful that my host mom let me take the week off to go to my favorite place in the world and have other adventures!

What was the most challenging part of this week?
The hostel I booked for London was SUPER spooky (gross, run-down, sketchy people). So do your research, folks! 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. 
I wasn’t home very much so my “wow” moment is actually something the host family did for me — on one of the nights I was home, my host mom came in and turned on the air conditioning (for the first time — they don’t use it very much in Italy). It was AMAZING!

Tell us about your week! 
Oh my word this week was crazy and amazing! I spent most of it in London. I saw 8 shows on the West End and got tours of the National Theater and the Royal Opera House! My favorites were “Present Laughter” (with Andrew Scott, who is an absolutely incredible actor) and “Orpheus Descending” (a Tennessee Williams play in a little blackbox theatre that broke my heart).

 

I got to meet up with friends from BYU that were finishing their study abroad there — it was so fun to see folks from home! I went to some of my favorite old haunts from my study abroad last year, including Primark, Dirty Bones, Nando’s, the LDS Hyde Park Chapel, Camden Market, South Kensington, and the Natural History Museum. I also got to go to the London temple and talk with one of the workers there about how it’s different from temples in the States. 

 

On Thursday night as I was getting back to Milan from London, my host mom texted me and told me that I had Friday off as well, so I decided to book tickets to Turin. I went to the Mole National Cinema Museum and it was huge and uniquely designed; I really enjoyed it! My host mom had been telling me for weeks to go to an Egyptian museum if I was ever in Turin, and even though I’m not hugely into that stuff I decided to go, and I am SO glad I did. It was the best museum I have ever been to! It was mind-blowing! 

 

Then, after getting home from Turin, I woke up on Saturday and got on the train to Rome to meet up with S2 (my Rome Abroad travel bestie!). We went to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Vatican City, and Villa Borghese. We also found some fun places to eat (at one of the places, I had pumpkin gnocchi with pistachios and it was actually really good!), including (of course) some yummy gelato. All in all, tons of traveling done this week, and I am so grateful that I have been safe and able to find my way around! Life is good!