Farewell, Florence.

So finals were steadily approaching and with it came the onset of the reality of the fact that our time in Florence would soon be ending. We rushed to do all of the last minute activities we could. Fewer things are important to me than friends and gelato, so you can imagine what sort of activities took precedence in my final days in Florence.

As you're all aware, I took part in a ten-day tour of Greece back in late August and early September with about twenty-five other students who would be studying in Florence with me. We are all so incredibly thankful for that exhausting trip because it allowed us to quickly establish close friendships that we would maintain throughout the rest of the semester. The TA who accompanied us on the trip organized a reunion at a local pizzeria with the most delicious food last Monday and we were all excited to attend. I took literally no photos, but here are some I stole from the greatest invention of all time: Facebook.


Alex, me and Marin.

Alyssa, Claire, Marin, a squinty me and Alex.

Badiani is one of the oldest and most popular gelaterie in Florence - and, by either blessing or curse, it just happened to be right around the corner from my home. Naturally, Claire, Susan and I met up to share one of our last nights there. :]


In honor of the occasion, Susan decided to tackle the medium-sized gelato. She is holding mine for comparison.

Claire and I doubted her abilities to tackle such a feat.

And yet, she conquered it unfazed.

Claire was bundled up like a snow bunny because it was so gosh darn cold!



And so we began to pack and mentally prepare ourselves to depart in the next couple of days. Little did we know that lurking right around the corner was a freak snowstorm that would effectively bring Florence and much of Europe to a virtual standstill.