I'll be home for Christmas

It's been a while since the last time I posted here. Things have been a little crazy and a little exhausting.

As a quick update since Rome, I've gone to Oxford, Venice, the doctor's office about ten times and have officially returned to the United States.

Oxford was an amazing experience. It was a beautiful city with beautiful people (Kim, Spike, Ashley, Amy, Angela, etc). There was the Queer Bop and wonderful sight seeing, but unfortunately I managed to get rather sick. I lost my voice in the first day of being there.

Venice is officially my favorite city in Italy. While it was cold, wet and flooded the entire time, it was absolutely beautiful. It's actually very like New Orleans, which is more or less my favorite city in the US, so I suppose I just like cities near water. I always have loved the smell of the sea. Unfortunately, walking around soaking wet up to the knees for two days didn't help my sickness, which only got worse.

Thanksgiving dinner was spent with my school in a little ristorante near Santa Croce. I sat with the Count, whom I had met at a wine tasting. He took a liking to me, showed me around his historical home the next day and offered me his private and ancient library for my own use next semester for conference research. Yes, I realize it's an amazing opportunity, however it's also slightly terrifying.

After about a month of having fever and cough, I went to the doctor's. After a couple of visits and misdiagnoses, they managed to figure out what I had. Despite the fact that I had already bought tickets for England--where I was supposed to spend Christmas--I had to change my plans to come back to the states to spend time at home, sleep and recover. Thankfully, I managed to finish my papers and conference work early, so I left classes a week early and am now home. I'm recovering quickly and will be ready to return to Italy next semester.

My Italian professor is pleased with how my command of the language is coming along and has officially ok-ed me for finding an Italian Sign Language class next semester. I've also managed to find a young-adults-Catholic group at the Duomo (for English speakers), so next semester is going to be quite busy.

Happy Christmas, everyone, and have a wonderful New Year! God bless!