Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we had an American Thanksgiving in Italy! It was a lot of fun, and the food was so good. We were all talking about how we were so happy to have soft bread, butter, and all of our different courses piled on one plate. The pie was amazing, and it was fun to celebrate our American holiday with the Italian school. They really enjoyed it, and even pushed us out of line to grab the food. We invited the two Italian professors, the chefs of the cooking class and the president of the Dante Aligheri University. We all got to help a little bit to make the meal, and I contributed by chopping the carrots, making the stuffing and taking the pictures for the day. There was so much food, and we did our best to make it the most American that we could. We had Turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, carrots, beans and onions, stuffing, gravy, oreo chocolate pie, pumpkin pie and apple. I tried not to eat too much because I knew I would get a big dinner tonight, but I am still full! We had a lot of fun talking together and being "one big family". It's nice to feel like you are part of something when your family is so far away. I'm glad to have gotten close to the girls and to have made some really good friends. We wanted to give something to the professors that helped us this whole time, so we gave them some gifts. We got Enzo(the Italian Professor) a scarf because he wears the same one, the Chef a bYU 2011 apron and we got our personal professor a decorated plate with the contradas on them. She was happy i think. Anyways, we are all stuffed and don't know what else to do with our day. I already packed so I want to take as many pictures as I can and to maybe go dancing tonight for the last time. I finally realized that I'm leaving this place today and I was so sad about it. It's sad to know that I won't be back, wont be around these people ever again and that this experiance has reached its end! I'm glad I got to be part of the Siena Study Abroad program :)

View of Tuscany from Castle

Goodbye to Siena :(

Today we were swamped with Finals. This morning we woke up to have Italian class ( which we spent studying for our other finals) and then 30 minutes later we took our Humanities 201 exam. The professor was not there for the class, so the Italian teacher did he best to help us with the Exam. He ended up telling us a couple of the answers. In about another hour I will be taking my 2nd exam for the day. It is my Humanities 280 exam given by the Professor over the program. I have heard that her finals are difficult, so everyone is studying as hard as they can so we don't fail. After that exam, I will be going home to pack my suitcase and to see how much room I will have left in my bag. I told a girl on the program I could take some of her clothes in my bags so she would have extra room. I have to make sure everything will fit and that I can get to Utah with enough room in my suitcase. I am so sad that this is my last week here in Italy! I had my last taste of gelato yesterday and tonight we are going to the Tea Room for the last time. We leave Siena Friday morning at 8 in the morning and will be on our 4 hour private bus to Venice. When we get to venice we are going to art museums( modern art this time) and then we get the rest of the day to do whatever we want. Some students are leaving that Saturday, so we get Saturday to spend in Venice to do whatever we would like. I leave Venice Sunday morning at 11:30. My flight to the JFK airport is 10 hours, but I will be arriving there at 3:30. So in reality...I'm only flying for 5 hours. Time change is so strange. I am so sad that I'm leaving. It is getting stressful the closer it is getting to leaving. I need to make sure I have everything worked out. Tomorrow for our last day in Siena we have our Italian exam, and then we are making Thanksgiving dinner with the school. After Thanksgiving dinner we are going home to pack and to get ready for our trip the next morning. AA! It came too soon!

The Last Week

Its my last week here in Italy... Every day I get closer to leaving, the more I realize how much I am going to miss this place. It's so beautiful and I wish I could bring everyone from home here with me. Last Sunday was our last time at the branch here in Siena. We had our branch president talk to us about how happy he was that we came to the ward and how he was glad to have known us. The people there are so sweet and I am going to miss them so much. We had the Primary Program for our Sunday meeting and there are only 2 kids in the ward. One of the boys wouldn't go up there, so the other boy did everything by himself. He did such a good job, and I was embarrassed that he did a better job speaking in church than I did. We also decided to have a Sunday lunch with the missionaries because they did so much with us, and we got to know them really well. We went to our Professor's apartment down the street and we made grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoe basil soup. It was so good! The school payed for the lunch I guess, so we went all out. We ate 5 packages of bread and had Italian motzerela in the middle. It was also nice to eat butter for the first time in 3 months. My host mom uses Oil on everything and it tastes just as good, or better. I decided Im going to try to cook more things with oil than with butter. It is better that way. At the lunch we had, we just played card games and had fun together. We made the most amazing cookies and then had Bueno bars for dessert. They are little candies that are really popular. We eat too many. After lunch we all went home. At dinner we were trying to tell our Host Mom that we leave this week! She's so old and I dont think she knew what we meant. She thinks we are just going to Florence and will be back soon. I am going to miss the home-cooked meals here they are good. Mom's are even beter though! Today we have our Italian class and our last class in HUM201. I am glad to be done with this class, it is really long. Anyways, It is sad to think that I am leaving soon. I get really nervous thinking about coming home, but I am excited just as much.

Clubbing at the Cambio!

So I obeyed Dad, and went clubbing last night. It was so much fun. Usually on Tuesday and Thursday nights, the girls in the Study Abroad program go to Cambio, a dance club to dance and have fun. I never went. One night when all of the girls were dancing, I was skyping Mom and Dad. Dad told me he really wanted me to go and would pay for my taxi if i wanted to stay out late. So....I decided I would go! haha thanks Dad! We wanted to get there early because we knew that all of the gross guys came out after midnight. So we decided to head over there when it opened at 11 so we could have some good Mormon fun! Brittany and I were already really tired and were so cold. We started to get ready an hour before so we could be ready when the bus came. I was already really cold, so I decided I would layer up. It took me about 20 minutes to get my clothes on and this is what I wore. I had on 4 shirts, 2 jackets, pants, shorts, leggings, 2 socks and a scarf. I looked huge but I was really warm. Brittany and I got to the Compo at 9:45 to wait for the girls to come. At 10 a couple of the girls showed up and we just started to goof off and have fun. Natalyia had almost about the same amount of layers I had on, so we took pictures and then tied our jackets together and ran around. I'm sure we looked drunk. When more girls showed up, we headed over to Cambio and waited for the DJ to show up. Me and Natalyia get a long really well so we started talking about boys and what not, and started to goof around. We wanted to see who had the most layers on, so we started to take off each layer and to count who had the most. We thought it was pretty funny, so we started to make a game of it. All the other girls noticed and started getting in on it to see how far we would actually go. I only got down to my tanktop but I won! I had on more layers. After about a half an hour the music started to play and the DJ turned on a strobe light. It was so much fun. We just danced to all these American songs that none of the Italians could sing to. It was actually really funny to hear them try to sing to Katy Perry or other American songs because they didn't know what they were singing, and only sang the sounds. We had a blast! It was starting to get late though, and we wanted to make our bus and not be there out too late, so we went home at 12:30. I came home and took a shower cuz I was sweating so much and then went to bed at 2:30. I am so tired! It was a lot of fun, and today we have no school. All of us are all druggy at the school trying to figure out travel plans and last minute homework. Anyways, that was my CRAZY Italian night! Attached are just random pictures of the girls in our group.

Florence

Last weekend we went on our last trip to Florence. It was really warm and it felt good to be out of Siena. Florence is by far my favorite city I have been to. It's big, has a lot of shopping and famous sites and is fairly cheap. It feels a lot like Rome, but its not as scary. We went to visit a couple of churches we havn't been to yet and walked around a bit. Some of the people in our group are sick of seeing churches(a lot of them look the same) and wanted to go do some shopping. They ran away while the teacher was busy, so they could do their own thing. At one of the small churches we went to, we were able to see some more of Michelangelo's work. A wealthy family in Florence wanted to build their own church to worship and they asked Michelangelo to make them pieces of artwork to decorate the area. We got to see some unfinished works by Michelangelo while he was working for the family. He used to find Cadavers while he was an artist and he would cut them up so he could see the anatomy of a human body. He did this in secrecy and everyone wondered how he could make a statue look so realistic with all of the muscles and bones in the right places. He was horrible at making women though. Looking at the statues of women was actually really funny. It was just a man with....added parts. The women looked really ugly. While we were sitting there laughing at the artwork our professor came by and told us we needed to be quiet. One of the girls under her breath said, "Yeah, like that is ever gonna happen." The professor then clasped her hands together, tilted her head and in a high pitched voice goes, "Well if not, I'm going to have to drowned you all in that little fountain." It was so creepy. She then went off talking to herself about how their might not be enough water and how she would have to position us under the fountain so that it would drown us correctly. She is evil.

Then for lunch we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't want to tell them I had enough money, so I just went with them telling them I wasn't gonna eat, I wasn't that hungry. They ended up paying for me, which I was mad about, so now I have to pay them back. Ugh. I also have this bus fine I have to get out of. It's been a stressful couple of days, expecially since I have finals next week. Crazy. Anyways, I love you. Ciao

Fun with a Stalker

So you remember when I told you about that boy that followed me home? He came by again! This time it was just funny and not scary at all. All the neighbors got in on it and I have never laughed so hard in such a long time.

So that Sunday when he followed me home, I told him I would meet him at the bar later the next day just so I would get him to go away. The next day I obviously never showed up, and I locked my window and put a chair in front of it. I was pretty nervous. The next day during dinner, someone started to knock on the kitchen window. It was him! My host mom walked over to the window and asked him what he was doing knocking on her window. He asked if I was home, and she knew that I didn't want him to come over and I didn't know who he was. She played along and told him that she didn't know who Abby was. She told him he should try the lady next door and that she didn't know who he was talking about. But the window was pretty big and he could see me sitting at the dinner table. He pointed at me and told her that he could see me and he knew that I was home. Pierina told me to come over to the window and asked me if this boy went to my school. i told her he didnt and that he wasnt my friend. He told her he was and Pierina started to get frustrated. She told me I needed to go talk to him and make him go away. I went to the door and had my whole body inside except for my head. I said hi...that I went to the bar and didnt see him...and that I didn't have a facebook or a phone number and everything like that. He was nt buying it but he left. When I got back inside Pierina laughed at told me that that was my boyfriend. I told him I didn't know who he was, I promise! I don't think she understood. Then later the neighbors came by and Perina told them about the boy. They were like, "Oh thats your boyfriend!" I told them no and that he wasn't my boyfriend from America either. When they finally go it they laughed and was like, "Tell them you don't talk and get him to go away. If he doesn't go away, cut off his arm." It was funny. Pierina later was like, "Well, if he doesnt go away, he's cute no?" It was hilarious.

Anyways, the next day we met as a group to go to the tea house to watch live jazz and to drink. (hot chocolate). When Brittany and I were in the compo he was sitting there waiting! It was so creepy. I told her where he was and we walked really far away. He saw me though and kept watching us. In about 5 minutes, 2 other girls from our group showed up and started to walk towards us. As soon as we were about to join them, the boy stood up and started to walk towards us again. Brittany and I got scared and we didn't want to tell the girls, so we just started walking away, FAST. We walked down a random street and walked as fast as we could. I turned around to look behind us and he was walking just as fast behind us. As soon as there was a corner, we started to run down the steps and hide behind a car. After laughing and being scared, the 2 girls came over asking us what was going on. They told us a man was waiting on the top of the steps and he was acting creepy. We told them what was going on, and we walked together back to the compo. When we got there he was waiting in the same spot again. He saw us, but didn't come over. Soon everyone came over and we all walked to the tea room together. It was scary.

But the Tea Room was a lot of fun. We wore ties and ordered hot chocolate and played chess. The jazz music was loud but it was fun to be there. When we went to the bus station he was not there and I think I will never see him again. If not, I have 20 girls who can beat the crap out of him for me, so I am good. Anyways, that was my crazy story!

Grosseto Beaches

This weekend we had it free! We were allowed to do whatever we wanted and we didn't have to do any homework or go to any school trips. A couple of the girls including my roommate went to Lake Como and Milan, and the rest of us stayed in Siena. Thursday we all relaxed and went home and planned on meeting at the bus station at the next morning at 9:30 to go to Grosseto. Grosseto is about an hour and a half away and is a little town next to the coast. We were planning on going to the Italian Hot Springs nearby, but there were no buses that could take us there, so we decided to take a different bus to take us closer to the beaches. It ended up being a really long bus and we had no idea where the bus was taking us! After a long drive we ended up at this deserted beach. It was beautiful and we had it all to ourselves! It was really windy and there was a lot of fog covering the water but it was so pretty! We ran up and down the beaches and took a ton of pictures. It was really fun to be away from the city and to enjoy being at the beach all alone. After a while a bunch of old men came by and were sailsurfing. They were really good and it was fun to watch them. After a couple of hours we started to get cold, and wanted to get some food. Because the beaches were deserted, there were no places to get food around that area, and had to take the bus back to Grosseto to eat. We waited an hour and a half for a bus and when it came, it almost missed us! We had to run to catch up to it. When we got to Grosseto we found this little pizza place that had huge 5 euro pizzas. We were so hungry that we all ordered our own pizza and ate all of it in 10 minutes. The owner could tell we were a bunch of little american students, so he started speaking in gibberish with his tounge sticking out pretending like he was mentally ill. He thought it was really funny and kept messing with us. After our food, we were so tired, so we came back to Siena. That night my host mom had made pizza and I was already sick from eating an entire 14" pizza by myself. I ate it though and we got to talk a little bit more than we usually do. It was a fun day, and the next day I stayed in Siena and me and two girls studied for school, watched an American Movie and got lunch together. It was really nice. I also got to skype with mom and Dad! Love you :)

Seriously??

OH MY GOSH! You are never going to believe what just happened to me today. A man followed me all the way into my bedroom. Not even joking. It was scariest thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm still freaking out about it.

So, I got on the bus this morning to get to church, and I guess a guy came and sat behind me but I didn't notice. I pushed the button for the bus driver to stop at my stop, and the guy came off a couple of minutes behind me, which is normal. But I walked across the street, and around the corner to walk towards the church, and he was right behind me. I got a little weirded out, so I took the small street to the church. He stopped me and asked me some questions, but I didn't know what he was saying. I told him I didn't speak Italian, and he started to ask questions like, where do you study, where are you going, are you meeting up with friends. I told him I was meeting up with friends right now and would just be taking the bus home after. After I told him I didn't have a phone, he said ok, and then told me goodbye. I went to the church, and didn't think much about it.

After church, I walked to the bus station, and he was there. I had just been in the OVS store, and he had an OVS bag. I walked past him and sat on a seat that was surrounded by a ton of people. When my bus got there, I got on at the front and then sat down. He had gotten on the same bus as me. I acted like I didn't see him, and decided that I would take a stop earlier than the one I usually take just to see if he really was following me. When I stood up to push the button, he stood up too and told me this was his stop too. He got off at the same time as me, and told me that he lived in Via Columbini too. I said ok, and he walked the same way as I did. He seriously followed me down the street...up the road..and to my front door. I looked at him, and told him that I was tired and I was going to go to sleep and that i would see him later. He said, "Io?...." which means "and me?".... but I didn't know that. He seriously came inside my house and then followed me into my bedroom. I was freaking out. Pierina was there, and I made sure she saw that there was someone there. I tried to look at her, like i didn't know who this was, but she had no idea. He came into my bedroom, and put his stuff down and then just stood there. I got really creeped out, so I asked him if he wanted to go on a walk with me to get him out of there. He said ok, and I asked him if he was going home. He said that there were too many people there and so he didn't. He kept talking to me and asking me questions. i guess he studys here too..or maybe he doesnt. I don't even know. He's from Egypt and 25. I finally told him I would meet him at the bar tomorrow because I had to go home. I am not planning on going, it was just the only way to get him to go away. Everytime I told him I was going somewhere, he told me he was going to the same place. I'm so freaked out right now. Now this guy knows where I live, and even came into my room! I told Pierina that he followed me home and that I didn't know who he was. She laughed and told me I did a good job for getting him to go away. She doesn't seem to worried, so I feel like I will be fine. It was just really scary. I'm only nervous that if i don't know up at the bar, he will come to my door. Oh my gosh. ... Only in Italy right? Scary

Holidays!

Well its November 2nd!! The past two days have just been fun and festivals! Obviously October 31st was Halloween, and then Italy celebrates All Saints Day on November 1st. It has been a lot of fun, and then today we have FHE. So it has been good to have been really busy.

On Halloween, we decided that we would have a mini party because all the other parties Italy was having...was not the best. We invited the missionaries to party with us, and we rented out the church building. We all got to dress up, and we made caramel apples, played musical chairs, games, ate candy and played a mummy game. I think the missionaries had a lot of fun, and it was good just to all be together and to laugh. I forgot to bring something to dress up, so Michelle wrote on my arm and everyone thought I was trying to be a pirate... I guess that worked. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad that I got to do something to celebrate the holiday. One of the girls in the group Natalia and me have gotten pretty close. She's super nice. I told her I didn't have a Halloween costume, so she told me that we would go to the party without costumes and be adam and eve. It was hilarious. she put a soccer ball under her shirt, and she told everyone she was pregnant with Cain and Able. It was pretty fun.

For All Saints Day, I didn't notice that Italy did anything, but they do have Christmas decorations up already all over the streets. It's really pretty and I can't wait for them to turn on the lights! Anyways, I am just once again letting everyone know I love them. This picture is for mom :) I took one with the teddy bear that sits by my mirror every single day. Love you Mom