Building in Piazza Repubblica decked out in Christmas lights

Hello all! The end of the semester is coming to an end! I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone! I can’t believe Christmas is just around the corner! Walking around Florence seems even more magical with all of the decorations and lights being put up. I come from a small town, so seeing a city with all of the lights is something I am not used to all of the festivities. It’s crazy I am so excited for Christmas time but at the same time I do not want to leave Florence!

Ponte Vecchio at night, one of my favorite sceneries

With all of the holidays it is making me excited to see my family and friends back home. For Thanksgiving, some friends and I cooked ourselves a meal. It was probably just as good as the one I would eat at home, everyone did such a good job. I also had someone from home visit me over Thanksgiving break. That was nice to have a part of home on Thanksgiving so I do not have to miss everyone!

In Turin, there is a countdown until Christmas

View of Tuscany while walking to Fiesole

The one thing that I always wanted to do was hike in the Tuscan countryside. I’ve drove through it and saw it at a glance, but I’ve never walked through it. With things coming to a close, my friend and I decided to go to Fiesole for the day and hike that. It turned out getting to Fiesole was a hike all in itself because we got off too early at the bus stop and had to walk about 30 minutes up to the actual town! The scenery was beautiful though and I finally can say that I hiked in the Tuscan countryside.

View from the top of the Duomo of the bell tower

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Anne is a current student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania studying at Florence University of the Arts in Italy during the Fall 2014 term.