Round Two

It's almost that time again. Time for me to venture out and journey to Europe. This time, however, I will be going to Milan, Italy. I am very excited about heading back overseas and I am so ready for another semester of study abroad. This break has been very relaxing. The first night that I arrived home I was greeted by a whole welcome wagon. My mom, dad, my brother Jordan, my grandparents, and two of my aunts were there at the gate to meet me as I broke ground back into this wonderful country. We then went to a nice pizza place in St. Louis called Pi Pizza. (If you are ever in STL you should check it out. It is actually a favorite of the Obama family as well) That wasn't my first taste of American food, though. When I first arrived in the States, I was in the Washington D.C. airport and I went to my usual favorite for that airport-Five Guys. There was no better way to taste America than by eating a double cheeseburger covered with grease and a big cup of cajun fries. That is the moment I knew I was back in the best country in the world. The majority of my break has been spent hanging around my house with my family and spending time with all of my friends. We aren't super exciting so most of our group nights we just hung out at somebody's house and played games. It was a lot of fun though, that is for sure. I definitely missed all of my friends back here in O'Fallon. I would hope you all are reading this so I will say I love you guys and I can't wait for the summer. Spending time with all of my family was great too. It made being back in my own house feel even more like truly being home. One of the days we were home we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie and it was awesome. Better than the first one, I think. Also, two days after I was home, my dad and I had to drive up to Chicago in order to drop off my application for an Italian visa. I was a little worried about getting my visa before I left because the embassy talked about it taking up to three weeks to process an application. (I only had 3 weeks at home) Well, my appointment was at 9:45 AM so my dad and I woke up and started our roadtrip at about 4:00 AM. We drove to Chicago, grabbed a quick burrito, made it to my appointment (with time to spare) and then afterwards we jumped back in the car and drove back home. It was a long day filled with about 12 hours of driving. After all of that worrying, guess how long it took to return that visa? Two days. Those Italians know what they are doing about visas. It took the Spanish consulate 5 weeks in order to process my Spain visa. Moral of the story? Go to Italy I guess. (Although Spain is still very highly recommended by me) Christmas this year was very nice. My grandparents were still in town and everything was very fun and very relaxed. We open presents one at a time (the only true way to do it) and even though it takes all day, it is our tradition and you get to see what everybody gets. My favorite present was from my mom-2 tickets to the 49ers vs Rams game here in St. Louis. That day was so much fun. My mom and I are the biggest 49ers fans in our family, I think. (Yeah I said it, family!) We showed up to the stadium, rocking our 49ers gear and with one look around, we realized we were certainly not as out-numbered as badly as we thought. I would like to describe our section as a "sea of red and gold". There were so many 49ers fans there that it seemed there were almost more than the Rams had. Our seats were only nine rows from the field on the 49ers side and all of these players were so close to us. The 49ers ended up winning the game (of course) and our side was alive with energy and booze. It made for a very fun game and an amazing day out with my mom. As of right now, I am just sitting here in front of the TV watching the Saints play the Lions and I am leaving in the morning. I have been writing off and on on this post for a couple of days because I just couldn't focus. I still can't really focus. I am leaving for Milan tomorrow! I just got home, how can I leave again? With a smile on my face. That is how. I truly am very excited to go to a new place and start a new semester in a place I have never been to before. I am ready for everything that this semester is going to throw at me and I hope that everybody that was reading this blog before keeps checking up on me and I will surely entertain you with my stories from abroad. I hope you will all wish me some good luck, or as they say in Italian "In bocca al lupo!". Talk to you all in Italy.

Luke