Truffle.Skate.Gatto.

Dear ones,
I am safely back from the capital of the EU.
Let the week of packing everything I've wanted to do this semester but haven't COMMENCE!
There's just one small problem. Four of them, actually. Finals.
I guess the good thing about studying abroad is that your classes are...well, let's just say I'm going to study, but I'm not going to miss out on anything worthwhile to do so.
I started this morning. Alece and I met on the Ponte Vecchio and went to our favorite rockin' posh grocery store. We bought some ingredients (and others yesterday at Mercato Centrale directly after getting off the train) and headed to her place.
Alece's mom is a great cook, and she convinced Alece that she should make something with truffle while she had such easy access to it. Alece was hesitant to do it on her own, and, knowing that I take a cooking course, she suggested we make a truffle dish together. Best friend, free truffle lunch, and cooking experience? I was not going to turn down that opportunity!
Her kitchen is huge so cooking was a breeze, and I sighed with pleasure when I saw her gas range stove top.
We used a Pino Grigio and make a white wine sauce, then added the truffle after it had thickened and was off of the heat. All on her own, Lecey made the bruschetta and it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I'm really proud of our Tuscan lunch from scratch. We ate sooooooooo much.
I was thankful that our next stop on the last Sunday in Florence was rollerblading with my ISA buddies. When we strapped the blades on, we shared a sense of nostalgia. I felt like I was a pudgy eight-year-old strapping my rollerblades to nervously trample around Olympia Skate Center for a friend's birthday party.
Thankfully, rollerblading is just like "riding a bike." In a few minutes, I was no longer stressing my thighs, trying to brace in case I fell. I found my center of gravity and glided along the pavement next to the Arno River. Our group even had an Italian guide accompany us down the park. We chatted and took pictures in the sunset, and we exchanged sweet memories of our times in Florence.
Then, we decided we had to go to dinner together. We headed to "Il Gatto e la Volpe" just to have an excuse to spend more time together.
I met a man from Atlanta, and he and I chatted about Natalia's - "The Best Italian Below Atlanta" according to him..I gave him an extra high five because I was so ecstatic about meeting a fellow Georgian.
Il Gatto has cheap, all homemade pasta and pizza! They love students, so we get a 10% discount, too. Plus, they produce their own balsamic vinegar that's sweet and thick and soooooo good. While eating, we traded bites and made plans for the rest of the week. We're basically doing something every day of the week.
The reality of leaving my now-home hasn't quite hit me. I'm weird in these situations. Sometimes I'm so completely in denial that I don't even cry when saying goodbye to a friend. Or maybe it's just that I view "goodbye" as a normal, expected part of life?
Ikes. I've got to go finish studying for my two horrid exams tomorrow. Then it'll be smooth sailing for the week. Hopefully I'll post again and tell you all about our adventures in Brussels and Bruges!
Out.