Gobble Gobble It's Thanksgiving Time

This year was the first year I spent thanksgiving away from home. It made this holiday a bit sweet one. It gave me a chance to reflect on what I am thankful for.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my family as well as friends back in the states without your love and support I would not have become the person I am nor would I be able to be here doing this type of work.

Second I am thankful for the opportunity to come here for school. It has been an experience so far that I would not change at all. I have met so many wonderful people, from many different backgrounds and I am grateful for everything they bring to my life.

My day here on thanksgiving started with Italian class followed by my traditional 5K run. It was a great run even if I did it alone. I finished my 5K in 25 min :-) personal best. The weather was perfect for a 5K. It was a little cool out yet the sun came out at the end :-). I then went home and showered and got dressed for dinner.

 By 2:30 I was over to Luca's apartment where the cooking had already started. Although of course Thanksgiving could not happen without some hiccups. We had to cook with the lights off because in order to use the stove and the oven at the same time the lights had to be off or the power would go off.


We also have no cars and lots of cooking to be done. So, people took a few trips on the metro to get all of their stuff to the apartment. We only had one battle wound and one small fire but noone was hurt and my finger healed just fine, darn chestnuts.

I was able to FaceTime with the family in Minnesota which was very nice. All in all, I think my second family in Milano had a wonderful time and enjoyed the food. No matter if it was their first thanksgiving or their first time cooking for thanksgiving it was a wonderful evening, with lots of food, friends, music and laughing.

Till we meet again,

M

Most of these photos are from Marco Thanks they really captured the evening :-)

Hit the ground running

Over the last two weeks I have been crazy busy. After that last exam you would think I would get some time to breath.... think again. I have been in class basically everyday Monday through Friday since I last posted. I did get a long weekend after halloween as it was a national holiday (all Saints day).

That same weekend my cousin Joe came to visit for a few days. It was nice to see someone from home and show him were I live. :-) I think he enjoyed his time. We did most of the tourist things including going to the aquarium, which was cool as I didn't know Milan had one.

On another cool note I got to fashion a lab coat and gloves during dress up day, Monday. This day was also known as heart dissection day. This was very fun to get to do a little bit of surgery even if my patient was dead.

This week I had to go to the police station to get my permissio (permit to stay). Luck would have it that I had to go to the station in Mascova. This station is the only one that does not do appointments, which means I spent 7 hours and my entire Thursday waiting for an appointment, which took 5 minutes total. Luckily, Nicole was there helping me out so I had someone to talk to and it made me think of the following picture my mom sent me. I showed Nicole and she agreed.

This weekend I decided to stay in as much as possible to get some needed studying done. However... I thought I earned a night out Friday so we went to play some pool. When we got to the pool hall someone pointed out all the car plates on the walls. Check it out :-)

Then it rained all weekend so I got that studying in I needed to. One of the positive things about being at the police all day Thursday Nicole showed me where the catholic english church was. So, at 9 am this morning, I headed down the metro and found it again so I could go to mass. It was nice. It was different from mass at home, with less music, but it was nice to feel a little bit at home even tho I am half a world away.

This week I only have classes three days.. they are full days but still only three :-) so until next time.

-M-