These four months have gone by so quickly it's unbelievable! I remember coming into my freshman year at Bucknell and thinking "I'm going to Italy junior year; God, I can't wait!" And now all of a sudden it's time to say goodbye to something that I've looked forward to for years. It's been extremely difficult to know that these months are coming to an end, but it's wonderful to also know that everything I've done this semester has been an incredible experience and I would do it all again if I had the opportunity.

The Last Supper

I definitely could not have chosen a better destination for the end of the semester - what better place for a final group trip than Barcelona!? To be honest, I really hadn't heard much about the city before coming abroad, but after having realized the frenzy of bookings taking place I became really psyched about my upcoming trip. The only advice I was given before leaving was get sleep; Get LOTS of sleep. And, boy, did I need it! I don't think there was a moment where we stopped moving in this city and there was always so much to do, especially because it's typically the case that staying out till 5 or 6 a.m. in Spain is a normal night on the town.

Planning trips around Italy can be difficult only because there are so many wonderful places that deserve to be visited. When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to have taken a tour around 13 cities in Italy with my family, although there is just no end to the places I still wish to go. A weekend in Sienna? Sounds fantastic! Touring the Tuscan vineyards on bike tours? Incredible! Visiting the national chocolate festival in the city that recently held the Winter Olympics? Alright, now I'm sold!

When I found out that the national festival was being held in Torino, there was no hesitation on my part; I was going. Then the weekend just got better when I was able to find tickets to an AC Milan soccer game on the way home to Padova. A weekend of chocolate and the chance to watch some of the greatest soccer players in the world (including David Beckham as a visiting player) compete? Now you're talking!

One of my favorite things about studying in Europe is that all of the surrounding countries are so accessible. It is so easy to just hop on a plane or train and travel to another country. How neat is it to just say - okay, what is everyone doing next weekend? How about buying tickets to Vienna? - That is just the coolest thing in the world!

Every day and every weekend brings the opportunity for new adventures and I plan to take advantage of them all. After making a lot of day trips around Northern Italy (so far I have been to Bologna, Parma, Treviso, Venice, Ferrara and Verona), this past weekend I took my first trip out of the country and flew to the Netherlands.

Try to imagine the most outrageous costumes you've ever seen. Now multiply that by 10. Even just waiting in the train station was quite a spectacle; there's a life-sized version of Lumier to my left (from Beauty and the Beast of-course), a 20s flapper girl to my right, and oh yes, there across the track was a jouster with a stuffed horse around his waist. Pretty normal, right? Sure if you're going to a Venetian celebration of Carnevale.

Our first excursion of the semester was to the city of Verona, originally made famous as the setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. And because it is known as the city of such an epic love story (and because we visited so close to Valentine's Day) we were not surprised to see the street lined with enormous red hearts, strung up above us from street poles, their construction allowing them to light up during the night. I'm sure this would have been exceptionally beautiful had we had time to stay for the evening. We, of course, did visit La Casa di Giulietta (House of Juliet) and her statue, a must for any visitor. Apparently it is always good luck to put your hand on her right breast. Good luck for love, perhaps? It is interesting because the walk to the statue follows a tunnel covered with graffiti love notes, with pencil, marker, or whatever people could get a hold of. Supposedly they have to re-plaster the walls every three months because of all the writing. But I kind of enjoyed seeing it there, as if it somehow modernized the story to fit an evolving generation.

To Venice that is. My flight from the Frankfurt airport in Germany to the international airport in Venice, Italy, was filled with the most beautiful views of the sky I have ever seen. Clouds floated gently below us against the backdrop of the morning sky, frequently interrupted by the snow capped peaks of the alps. It was truly a site to behold, and I was certain that this feeling of awe would become very familiar to me once I reached my destination. But that is how all of Italy appears; an outdoor museum full of sights and sounds that constantly evoke a sense of wonder. It is very easy to loose yourself in such a place; but then again, when you're living with an Italian host family, anything can happen and you must always be ready for the quirks that inevitably come from the cultural exchange.