the final countdown

We're only in Florence for 5 more days now which seems like absolutely nothing. We'll be here for another 2 weeks traveling after school, but Italia will no longer be home base. A strange thing is, to be honest, time didn't seem like it was going that quickly until I realized it was going quickly. ... If that makes sense. Days and weeks seemed to be going by at a rather regular pace but now that it's time to think about mailing stuff home, checking out of our house, and saying bye to new friends, yes, it has been quick.

This last weekend was fun filled and by fun filled I mean boringish. It wasn't horrible but it went from grand plans to plans that were "mehh." Originally it was: Sat- go back to Cinque Terre with a friend who hadn't yet been and Sun- go to Venice. It ended up like this: Sat- friend who'd never been found another friend to go to Cinque Terre so I opted out since I'd been before and was hoping for a day to finally sleep past 5am and get some chores done. Friend who was going to go slept through her train. I did chores, went to the Boboli gardens, and saw Toy Story 3 in 3d in Italian. (Even in Italian I laughed and cried and followed the movie quite well. Not because of my Italian skills.... sorry Francesca, but because of the brilliance of Pixar. A deaf and blind person would probably understand that movie) (exaggeration) Sun- go to train station early to get tickets to Venice, they're sold out until the late afternoon. Got a picnic lunch and went to the Boboli gardens again. Watched Dexter on Michelle's computer. Went to a pub for a bit.

The end. But our fight to get to Venice is not over yet (we tried another time a few weeks back and it was sold out too). We went TODAY to book a train for WEDNESDAY and this time succeeded. Hallelujah. 100 euro gondola rides, here we come (no exaggeration there). It'll be just like we're in the real live Venetian in Las Vegas.

Well... I am missing home a bit. I miss getting free water at restaurants/ at home. And I miss you- specifically. (No one else really though.) But when I leave I know I'll miss $1.50 wine. And unlimited free pastries. And other things.

Oh but I saw a pigeon that had been run over by a car today and I won't miss that. All the pigeons. Dead and alive. I miss uncaged chipmunks (did I mention they have them in pet stores here? Even if I did, I think it's fair to bring it up again).

Alright. TIme for a nap. And then I might just go hang out at the train station again. I've made it a habit of going there about everyday or two, and I'm definitely gonna miss that too.