Running out of ways to say I love Italia!!

Let me start off by saying how much I miss everyone at home!! Even though I am sad my time in Italy is coming to an end( 26 days), I am so excited for the next season of life! To fill you all in, a week after returning home I will return to Pine Cove for 6 weeks working as a work crew leader. About 2 weeks after camp I will be moving to Birmingham, Alabama for an internship. I will be working for Mallory Events and Interiors (like her on FB) till December! This is going to be a great job and I am beyond excited! Whew, life will be alittle insane but I am a Hickerson and we can’t do anything the easy way! HA!!

Latest traveling as been returning to Tuscany this weekend! On Friday, I went with the school to a small port town called Portofino. Portofino was the home of Christopher Columbus! Cool right?! Portofino was beautiful with blue and white stripes everywhere, sandy beaches and cute hillside buildings. Loved it and would definitely keep my sailboat there one day!





Saturday, I traveled to an medieval town called San Gimignano. It was once known for having over 70 towers scattered among the area. There are only 14 left but this little town was captivating. Seriously, close your eyes and image what you think Italy would look like…..got it?? Now look at these pictures… PERFECT!!!! I was in heaven! This was my Italy, my Tuscany, and summer villa one day;)




Have I mentioned how much I loved it?! EKK best day ever, and best reason to study abroad in Italy!

On our way home, we were trying to catch a train back to Florence. When you buy a train or bus ticket you always have to send it through a machine to validate the ticket. Well as we are trying to run onto this train, Amy, Briana, and Ainsley realize they had forgotten to validate! If you don’t validate, you can get a huge fine, so they run off to validate while my friend Shelley and I wait for them to come back. Before we know it, the train is leaving and only Shelley and I are aboard! HA! Everyone made is home eventually, but it was definitely a hilarious moment to remember!

And I finally found a precious little owl to remember Italy by! I thought it was only appropriate to get it from San Gimignano, since I was having a love affair with the town (Sorry Florence…)!

To wrap up my wonderful weekend, the ladies and I ventured out to a Florentine soccer game! It was fabulous! I was having flashbacks to glorious football Saturdays. Team colors everywhere, wild cheering and chants, stand packed to only standing room…..basically I LOVED IT!!! What really brought it home for me was the row of 8 year olds behind me screaming profanity... no just kidding but it was a new level of “team spirit” ha!




After the game, I went to church and then continued to organize my life for the next 6months! I can’t explain how ready I am to see everyone, I miss you all so much but don’t worry I will soak up the last bit of Italy for you!