What were you grateful for this week?

New friends. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Balance. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.Waking up to a panicked host mom because all of our decorations had fallen down in the night, so we frantically redid EVERYTHING. 

Tell us about your week! This week, I celebrated [my family’s oldest son] nonstop. I have NEVER seen anyone in my life receive as many gifts as he did for a birthday. It was like Christmas. We got multiple pirate ships, some board games, a few puzzles, and some flash cards that I’m pretty sure I appreciated more than he did. 

I also attempted to make some new friends, as well as saying goodbye to one. The New Zealand girl that C and I had befriended has gone home. So I met with her and C in the city to say goodbye on Tuesday, and it’s always sad saying goodbye to people that you’ve enjoyed spending time with.

I spent a decent amount of time with my friend Merina that I’ve met through my Italian classes, which has been a lot of fun. And then I was finally able to meet up with M, who is here with Rome Abroad as well. We’ve been trying to hang out for a while but it’s been difficult for some reason (100% my fault). So it was nice to finally meet her and be with someone from home, because that covers about 70% of the get to know you part. 

This coming week should be fairly uneventful, as will the weekend. I don’t plan on leaving for another travel weekend until the beginning of November, so for now I will just continue trying and kind of failing to learn Italian and forever try to build my relationship with [the older son].