I'm Back!

So I think I've decided to try and blog a little bit more this year. I know that normally I just do it when I am traveling, etc. but why not fill you all in on some things that are going on here in Fayetteville? Is life not just as exciting at home as it is in a foreign country?!

I'm going to have a lot of free time this semester so hopefully I will remember to get on here. More than likely I will just get on here and ramble, but maybe every once in a while something exciting will be on here.

I'm going to get back to watching a movie right now, but I may update later today or tomorrow... whenever I think of something good to write.

Hope you all have had a great break! I know I have even though I was sick for most of it. I would have rather had it that way than during school or baseball ;)

Pictures from London!

So I realize that I havent updated this in a while, but things at school were very busy the last couple of weeks and when I wasnt in class I was trying to see as much of the city as possible.

Basically I have lots of good stories from the trip, but not too many good pictures :( My camera was stolen the first weekend I was there and so I lost my pictures from my first few days of sightseeing. Thankfully, I was with two other people that day and so I was able to get their pictures. I have posted some of theirs and then the pictures that I was able to take a few weeks later in an album that I will include the link to at the end of the post.

I also have an album with pictures from Dover, Cambridge, Paris and my trip to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Cambridge was absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully I will be able to go back there, possible for grad school?!?

I will try and write more, but for now I will just post the links to my albums.

London

Day Trips

London

So I dont have much time to write but thought I would post links to my pictures. London is AMAZING and I am having a great time. Class started today so thats not too exciting, but only 14 more days of it so surely ill live. Hopefully I can write more later... these are some pictures from when I traveled around with mom and dad, and I also threw in my College World Series pictures since apparently I forgot to upload them.

St Andrews

Edinburgh

London

College World Series

Ill take some pictures of my room later... It's bigger than my room in Italy, but not much.

London School of Economics

In exactly one month I will be on my way to the London School of Economics! After my study abroad experience last fall I decided that I needed to do it again, this time just for a few weeks. I'm only going to be taking one class at LSE but I have a feeling that this one class will be harder than all of my classes in Italy combined.

Here are just a few pictures I found on the internet. One of the LSE's library, the front building, and a generic London picture. I cant wait to be there!!!

Old Pictures

So since I had to hide all of my pictures on facebook because of recruitment I decided that I would update the links on here to make sure that everything worked... Here are some of the albums that I must have forgotten to put on here or ones that I added after I got back from Italy.

Paris

Cara & Nathan's Wedding

Family Reunion in Napa

Pictures from Growing Up

More Old Pictures

Fall Adventures

Fall Adventures cont.

Goodbye Paderno del Grappa...

Well today is December 6^th and I am on my way back to Arkansas! I always knew that this would be my last day in Italy/Europe (since I leave at 4 am tomorrow) but I don’t think I realized how much of an impact this day would have on me. I am sitting here in my room, waiting for my taxi to come in a little while and as much as I want to say I am excited to be home, I am also a little scared and sad. Being in Italy this last semester has helped me to not only become a world traveler but it has also helped me to develop as a person. I am now more aware of different peoples views/ways of doing things and I have more acceptance for them. Even though I wont miss waking up in my room freezing at night, or having to take scalding hot showers some mornings, there are a lot of things I will miss about Paderno del Grappa. To start I am going to miss all of the friends that I have made. We are all from different areas of the states so I know it will be hard to meet up, but hopefully we will find time to do it. Also, I never thought I would say it but I think I might miss some of the cafeteria food. I’ve never eaten so much pasta and red sauce in my life… but it was actually starting to grow on me. Ha! I’m going to miss being able to just go to Bassano and jump on a train, or getting a super cheap flight to another country. I have been fortunate enough to see lots of Europe, but there is still SO much more that I would like to see… Overall this semester has been amazing and I wouldn’t change one thing about it. I will always remember PdG, not just because of CIMBA and all of the great friends I have made but also the Prosecco, Al Sole, late night gelato and Tabacchi 1 and 2…

Okay… now also, I know that I just wrote about how much I was going to miss Paderno del Grappa, but now I am trying to look ahead and see how things are going to be back home. I am really excited to be back home and see my family and friends.. but at the same time I am scared. I have been gone for a semester and so I know that I have missed out on a lot of things and I just hope that it isn’t too hard for me. I ask for you all to pray for me in making the adjustments of being back home. I know that it is going to be a new challenge in my life and that I will be able to make it through; I just hope that it isn’t too hard on me. I have heard that when people go home from studying abroad they get more homesick then they were when they were actually away from home. As much as I want things to be just like they were when I left, I know they won’t be and that is just something I have to accept and begin to adapt to.

I would also like to put in a few thank yous to some of the people that made this semester so great. First, thanks SOOOO much to mom and dad for letting me have this experience. I know that none of this would have been possible if you weren’t behind me 100%. I am so thankful that you all have let me (and also Areta and Cara) have this experience, and maybe you will let me come again?!? Second, I would like to say thanks to Suzannah for coming with me. Last fall when I decided to study abroad I was a little hesitant because I wasn’t sure if I could do it alone. Thankfully Suzannah felt like she wanted to come too and so we did. Thanks Suzannah for traveling all across Europe with me… I couldn’t have done it without you, and some things probably would not have been as fun or funny if you hadn’t been with me. Hah. I would also like to thank Areta for being my personal secretary while I was gone. The internet in PdG is super slow, and so Areta was always there to look things up for me or even call and check my voicemail. I am so glad that you took time out of your busy workday to help me… Can’t wait to come visit in a few weeks! I also want to say thanks to Strigs, Laura, Courtney and Kelsi and lots of my other friends from home. Yall might not realize it, but the simple phone calls, emails, fbk messages or wall posts always made me so excited! It was hard to be away from all of you, but in just a few hours I will be back!!! I am sure that there are probably 10000 other people that I should say something to, but I am running out of time, and this is starting to get a little long.

I am not sure if I will continue to update my blog over the next few months or not. Since I made it just for my time in Italy, I hadn’t really planned on keeping up with it. But, once I get home I will have much faster internet and I might actually be able to add stories, etc from my various trips.

Thanks again for keeping up with me while I was gone.

Love, Blair

Pictures!

Here are most of the pictures from my trip last weekend! I also added pictures from some of the formal dinners we have around Paderno.

Rome

Vatican

Pompei

Formal Dinners