to rome, with love.

Well the time has come. Four months have gone by so quickly I can't even tell you. I can't believe I'm am home, but I can tell you that I'm so excited to be back with my family and friends! They have stood by me and helped me get to where I am today. There is no way for me to express the volumes of gratitude towards them. To all those who helped me get to where I am, thank you from the bottom of my heart and please know that this post if so you. 

These past four months have been a seriously whirlwind! I have visited 13 countries and a total of 32 cities. As I look back, I see that in every city I went to, I learned something new about myself. I would go back and list them all but I think that will take too much time. But I think Rome taught me the most about myself. 

I've grown and I feel more like myself then I have in a long time. All through college I was waiting. Waiting for my semester abroad to help me find my way. When times would get hard I would tell myself "just wait til Rome, it'll be okay then." But what about after?? I didn't think about after, because in my mind when I got back the dust would settle and I would magically see exactly what I wanted out of life. I would come home and life would just sort itself out. I was scared of what my life was going to be after I came home, so I didn't ever look to the future, because if I looked into it somehow it made it more real and even scarier. But now that my time in Rome is up.... I'm not afraid of the future anymore. I mean of course I'm afraid of the future, but I'm happy about it. Who's not afraid of the future? It's inevitable. We don't know what is coming but that's okay. Yes life is scary, and takes us by surprise and we never know our fate. But our lives are in very strong, loving, capable hands. I know my Heavenly Father is watching out for me and right there to pick me up when I fall. He wants me to succeed! This semester has taught me a lot, but I think it has helped me find myself again. 

Rome helped me find me again and I thank you Rome for helping me more than I thought you would. For teaching me silly things along with the serious things. Thank you for teaching me to re-love puppies. Thank you teaching me to truly look at things and to want more. Thank you for teaching me patience with others, but especially myself. Thank you for teaching me to love a city all over again. Thank you for helping so many of my dreams come true. But mostly Rome thank you for helping me become more grown up and to not be afraid. 

Until next time Rome,
-O

beautiful. dirty. rich.

We just like to party. Like to pa-pa party, yeah!

About two weekends ago we were in the South of France! Sorry I'm really of my blogging game. Finals are kicking my booty, and I guess the "study" part of being abroad is finally rearing it's ugly head. But before all this worrying about finals, the beautiful tropical fish Channy and I got a weekend of relaxation! Our first day we were in Nice (pronounced niece). We toured the city and learned about it's unique history. We explored an open air market, seriously the market was darling. It was covered in fresh flowers, veggies, fruits, pastries, Nice's famous soaps, and candy. It was amazing, I could have walked around there for hours. Nice is simply gorgeous.

Nice was nice... (chuckles at my own joke). After the market, we were taken to a castle. The castle doesn't exist anymore because it was blown up in protest to the people of Nice a long time ago. But this used-to-be-castle has the best view of Nice. You can see all the roof tops, the ocean, the beach and the whole city.

Isn't that just stunning?? Believe me, I was in awe. When I'm rich, this is where I'll be. The weather was perfect and the people are so nice. I loved it here, and any place where there is a beach Chan is at her happiest. After staring off into what looked like the end of the world, Chan and I got some lunch. We wanted lunch where the locals go, so we ventured into town and found this cute restaurant. Our french is... well it sticks so we were praying that people spoke English. The waiter came out and went off in all French, after a little bit of silence I just said "Parlez-vous anglais?" The waiter beamed and said, "Ah! Yes yes!" After listening to specials we ordered our food and took in the darling French ambiance. After our delicious lunch, we decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach! Hours of relaxing music and laying in the sun. It was perfect, even got to catch up on the sleep we have been so desperately missing. But this beach was different... it was a rock beach so while laying down I received a few bruises but the sun and rest was more than I could ask for. After the beach we, changed and walked around Nice because Saturday we were off to Eze and Monte Carlo!

The food was amazing and gigantic

Hey... more selfies with gelato!

In Eze, we went to the Fragonard perfume factory and had some time to walk around and sample all different smells. It was super cool learning how they make all their soaps, scents, and different oils. After the factory, we got to walk around the village and check out hilarious shops!

No idea what this says, but lolz

#coolkidz

Anyone have desire to see fancy cars and win lots of Euros??? Yeah me too! Monte Carlo was rich to boot. There was 3 Gucci stores within 100 feet of each other it was insane! I felt like Chan and I were co-staring with Selena Gomez. Pretty fabulous right??

Next vacation mom??

Yes there is a story behind this blurry picture. We went inside the Monte Carlo Casino, to see the really fancy people winning the big ones! No pictures are allowed but I got a little to cocky thinking that I wouldn't get caught... I thought we were in the clear, but just as I was snapping the picture Chan said "The man is coming". I thought we were going to get kicked out, or get kicked out of France (which may seem far fetched but I was scared). Anyway the guy just asked me to put my phone away and he walked away. Phew!Thanks French man, you're the real MVP. Even though he could have let me take my picture, but whatever.

This weekend was serving up lots of laughs and no stress. Again... thank you France!!! Sunday we were driving back to Rome, but on the way we stopped at Antibes. This tiny city that is known for it's 48 beaches. We only had time to see one, but we spent hours there reading and just listening to the waves roll in and out. The ocean has the best calming sounds, I was de-stressing before finals and it did a world of good. Plus I got to read another cheesy book, so life is pretty great. 

More flowers cause I loooove them

France did it again. I will be back, I promise. Thank you Europe for the most amazing four months. You'll be missed when I return home, but not forgotten. 

Here I go with the last of my finals. As they say in Italy, "in bocca al lupo", which means "into the wolf's mouth" it's the Italian form of break a leg. Here we go kids! Then one more week until I'm home! 

Until next time,
-O