A Year Ago Today...

It's crazy how much can change over the course of a year. I can remember leaving Florence with mixed emotions. Get me back to America, my body can't take any more pasta or carbs. I miss my bed and my house and my friends. On the flip side, I was envious of the students studying in Florence A. because they had not yet indulged in the pasta and gelato, therefore they were all skinny and B. I was jealous that they would be spending the next several months in the city, which I had grown to love so much. My roommates and I often laughed (and cried) when we would see pictures of people studying abroad in Florence as we missed the city that had brought us all together. Now, over a year later, it's safe to say that I can look at pictures of students in Florence and smile because if they're at all like me, they are having the time of their lives.

While it has been over a year since I was in Florence, I am constantly reminded of my time there as my room is filled with pictures of my time spent there with amazing friends I'll never forget. And for some strange reason, springtime in Columbia, SC just doesn't compare to springtime in Florence, Italy.

It's days like today, cold and rainy April showers that will hopefully bring May flowers, that I miss my weekly Thursday adventures wandering aimlessly around the city, or the Saturday morning runs in a park I discovered on accident, only to find that rollerblading is in fact very much alive--at least in Florence. I miss my morning walks over the Ponte Vecchio, watching the sun rise over the Arno with the promise of a beautiful day ahead. Small things, I know, but it's the little things in life that are often the most missed.

My family and I often talk about our time we spent traveling the wonderful country of Italy, often reminiscing about the crazy times we shared together for those two weeks in May. From accidentally throwing away my dad's invisaline in Pino's to having our hotel reservations canceled in Rome, I wouldn't trade those two weeks we spent together for anything in the world.

So here's a toast, to the best five months of my life

XOXO,
Meggie