Semester 1...Done.

This post has been a long time coming but I have a lot happening so thank you for baring with me. 

For a while, nothing was really happening with my life exciting enough to blog about...I was going about my day to day student life in Bologna.

I knew I was going to wait until after my trip to Amsterdam to blog again, and here we are. 

I was so excited to go to Amsterdam, I have been before, and adored it. Having friends there this time would mean I could not worry about seeing all the sights and just spend time with them having fun, and oh boy, did we have a lot of that.

I'm going to insert several pictures because I know how text-heavy blog posts can be boring. We managed to pack a lot into those 5 days. A few of my highlights were ice skating outside the Rijksmuseum (and not falling over), space cakes, the Anne Frank house, NEMO science museum, vlogging, laughing - a lot, eating - a lot, losing two tram passes (despite being someone who neve loses anything), consuming an insane amount of cheese from the Dutch in a random bar, intense facebook stalking and generally spending time with amazing friends. 

The other thing I can update you on is 'Vlogmas'. This was a project I embarked upon at the beginning of December. I wanted to do something fun, and every year I watch these videos on YouTube. It is a phenomenon (if that's the word you would use?) whereby people in their thousands take to the internet and 'vlog' their daily lives. Just carrying a camera (in my case, my iPhone) around with you from the 1st-25th December and capturing anything that might be worthy and that you would like to remember. It's a great chance for my friends and family at home to see what my life and surroundings are like here, as well as a way for us to be able to look back and remember a part of our Erasmus journey more clearly. I will be sad when it's over but as much as I've developed on iMovie, I will be happy to not have to edit and upload everyday.

Just a very quick shout out to the BEST lecturer in the world, Prof. Ascari..genuinely a legend. 

I guess this blog post also means the end of Semester 1 of Erasmus as I go home tomorrow (thank god). I have made some wonderful friends from across the World and made memories I will never forget. I'm really sad to say Goodbye to them, especially those of you who are not returning for a second semester. I don't believe the hype of Erasmus lives up to all you are told, there are definitely down days but overall I have loved most of these last 3 months. There are so many highlights, here are a few. 

Progressing in learning a new language

'The colony'

Making friends with people from France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, America, Austria, Netherlands etc

Venice

Verona

Gelato (all year round - last week in fact)

Cheap and unlimited pasta

Gigantic fresh pizza slices for €1.50

Italian dogs

Riding the bus for free

Acquiring a coffee addiction

Brioche con Zucchero 

My housemates

Surviving 3 months of Italian roads

Cheese/Prosciutto

Il Rosso

Brachetto

Meals at Chris and Vicki's 

Teaching Italians 'ring of fire'

Italian Christmas celebrations

There are so many more but it's difficult to remember and summarise an entire 3 months. 

Whilst it truly has been incredible, I am so ready to go home. Back to English food, English supermarkets, My bed, My cats, and my friends of family (not in order of importance obviously).

Finally, well done everyone for surviving the end of the world.

Buon Natale
<3