The Victory Lap!

I have successfully lived in Perugia for four months.

Wow.

I've lived in another country with a different language from my native tongue away from my friends and family.

(Ew, that sentence was SO CLICHE. But I couldn't be bothered enough to really change it. What is this? A watered downed crappy travel blog for a university? You know, those links on study abroad websites that say "Click here to read the banal and cliched blogs of our former student Sarah M.!" I can't tell you how many terrible facebook statuses I had to read last week when the English Program students from my Institute left. I never want to see the words "awesome", "amazing", "unforgettable" and "experience" put together ever again. It was actually funny because they all were EXACTLY the same... while also being forgettable and un-"amazing." Sorry to be a hater, but someone had to say it. As Suzanne would say, "Sucks to suck." Haaaahahaaa.)

I've also lived in my first apartment and enrolled in my second foreign university. I've finally been to Spain and Germany! I survived daytime weather below 30 degrees and bought my first real down coat and snow boots. I know Florence better than I know Perugia...

Don't worry, I somehow managed to be miserable 40 percent of the time. So many times, I wanted to go home or cancel my second semester. But because I was chicken and America is so dang far away, I stayed! Lest we forget, I must also thank my mother, Suzanne and various chums who encouraged me to tough it out!

I also am now at B2 level for Italian! I'm so happy! If you have no idea what that is, here is a link to the European Framework for language levels.

But What Does It Mean For Louisa To Have Just Spanked B1 Real Good? Click here!

Last night, I was messaging Alex and said something completely wrong in English. It was because I just got off the phone with my aunt who speaks Italian, I was messaging my cousin Natasa in Italian, listening to American music and talking to Suzanne in English. Strugggggle bus.

I can't tell you how hard it just was to not call English "Inglese." I'm sure this blog has weird mistakes in general. I've noticed some for sure! Mi dispiace, parlo e scrivo in italiano spesso!

I'm anxious about next semester but there are promising things coming up! I will be taking challenging classes. I'm moving to a new apartment. My school offered an internship teaching English at a local high school. My Italian will improve!

But in between now and then, I GET TO GO TO AMERICA! To quote my soul sister Honey Boo Boo: