Bellezza

The Body Electric

We're doing a poetry unit in English.
I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. My favorite title is "I Sing the Body Electric" and my favorite line so far is "Nature without check with original energy". Makes me think of balancing and releasing and expressing and just being without censoring.

I came here searching for myself. I've come a long way. It's hard to see change in the midst of things, but when I step back for a moment and reflect--which I haven't been balancing out quality vs. quantity well--I notice the little things like the shift in sentiment and the new perspective and new tastes and new vivacity to try and struggle and be challenged and sometimes fail but get back up again and keep on persisting because the final result just becomes that much more gratifying when you really have to work there to attain it. Might sound cliche. I don't know. I don't want things to be too easy back at home. I know that they won't which is frustrating because the things that should be basic in life become amplified to be more difficult and the other things come easily, the complete opposite of my life right now here. It's like the other one doesn't exist but in two short months this life won't exist. I will still be. This family will still be. I will still be a part of this family, but this lifestyle and this situation will never and can never be the exact same again. I had so many expectations for the year and I suppose that I've encountered them, just not in the way I'd expected. I've become a different person and I know that I'll do my best to apply it to my old ways and life but I'm just scared. It brings salty tears down my cheeks as I even write this. Why do all good things have to come to an end?

Cathedrals

Firenze

After a whirlwind five day trip to Florence, I'm back home again. Florence was one of the most stunning cities I've ever had the pleasure of visiting...from Ponte Vecchio and the Arno to the Duomo to Piazza della Signoria to the Uffizi Gallery and with a sidetrip to La Torre di Pisa yesterday, I felt pretty well acquainted with this quaint city. Can't wait to return in college~! I want to live in the neighborhood near Santo Spirito...sounds like my kind of scene.

I can't believe it's March 28th already and spring break is in 2 weeks! Things are so crazy that I don't even know how to feel. It's scaring me.

Una delle famiglie

the city that stands on water

As I venture off to this marvelous place, I'm feeling confident, satisfied, and reflective. I've been contemplating my time here a lot, and just as hard to believe how long we've been here as how short a time we have left. So off I go to another city that couldn't remain unvisited in the "Italian experience". This said experience is so telling...it's not a trip...it's something else. It's a lifestyle, it's a mindset. This year has been as fulfilling as it's been because of my open mindset to seek out new adventures and maximize the potential for self growth and independence. As for the summer, I'd love to stay but maybe the timer on this dream-year is running out and I can't tell if staying would just lull me back and make it harder to realize the scheme of things when I finally do go home...or if I'll ever want to go home at all.

Too True