three midterms down and one to go...

this week has proved to be one of the most stressful weeks thus far. my history of christianity midterm was on monday and i feel like it went well. i made a call to nana and g-dad the night before to have them help me with some of my unanswered questions. aren't i such a good little christian? :-) im actually really excited for my final paper in that class. we were able to choose any topic regarding christianity and my teacher suggested i look into mormonism. i was totally thrilled with his suggestion because i have always wanted to know more about the 'revivalist' religions (as my teacher calls them) like mormonism and jehovahs witness. he gave me the book 'under the banner of heaven' by jon krakauer to read as a jumping off point for my paper and from the first few pages, i can tell it is going to be really interesting. as for my midterm on tuesday, i just had to hand in a paper so that was a nice break from the constant chaos of memorization that all my other classes require. today i had my italian test which was, surprisingly, really great! tomorrow i have my history of the medici midterm which is going to be tough but ill keep my fingers crossed for the best. 

all plans are still on for spring break and it is bound to be memorable. a trip to budapest is also being added to next months agenda. i called mom yesterday because i had myself all worked up over the idea that i wasn't going to be able to accomplish everything i had planned to do. i listen to all the kids in my class talk about the fact that they travel every single weekend and i started to think that i wasn't making the most of my time over here. mom was kind enough to allow me to vent and today i feel much, much better. unfortunately i had allowed myself to become completely comfortable here in florence--i was taking this situation for granted which is something i never wanted to do. i talked about it with my roommates and we all agreed that we need to continuously remind ourselves just how blessed we are to be here. i can't be concerned with how the other kids in my class spend their time here, i just need to be satisfied with my experience and not try to 'keep up with the joneses'.

i will try and write while on spring break, but if not, i will post pictures and updates as soon as i get back! the weather here has been absolutely spectacular and i hope that everyone else is having a similar experience with the arrival of springtime!

lovelovelove