Viaggiare è vivere.**

So I said in October, this blog will be better than the previous blog. I won't go too long without updating it. Two (almost three) months later, here I am, updating.

Spring semester is over and done with - I pulled out a B average for the semester. I only got one A, but the chances are good that I was either the only one to get an A in that class or one of two to get an A. I am very happy with the B average for the semester though. This semester was a first - all of the classes I took were in the same department (I took all upper-level History classes this semester). Two of my classes were taught by the same professor and his classes were crazy. Apparently everyone in the History and Classics Department's try their hardest to have him as their teacher. Yeah, I found that out after classes started. It was not my greatest, most brilliant idea ever to take two of his classes at the same time. But I made it through and lived to tell the tale.

I have another week left before I leave for Italy. I'm going to try my hardest to update this as often as I can during June, but I make no promises. While in Florence I only get free internet when I'm on campus (two days a week). I'm not too sure about internet when I'm in Venice and Rome. Our hotels may have free internet or they may not. I may have to give in and go to an Internet Cafe somewhere. But it's going to be a great adventure and an even greater experience. I can't wait. Besides Florence, Venice, and Rome I know we will be going to the Chianti countryside and visiting a Castello for some olive-oil tasting. There was talk about going to Milan for a weekend (to go see The Last Supper), and I really want to go to Pisa also. We're going to be in Venice on a Sunday and the San Giorgio Maggiore on Sunday's their mass is a Gregorian Mass with Benedictine monks and Gregorian Chant - definitely going to try to go to that.

I could go on forever about this trip, but I won't. Suffice it to say, I'm excited. Besides the whole taking classes aspect this will be something totally different for me. Whenever I've gone to Mexico or any of the Caribbean Islands (cruises), we've only stayed less than a day, or a couple of days in a city at most. This time I'm going to be spending at least two weeks in Florence, in an Italian apartment, sharing a building with Italian families (I'll share the apartment with three other UA students). Totally different, but it'll be so much more interesting.

Keep checking back after next week for any blog posts and check Picasa Albums for any pictures I upload.

**To travel is to live.