We fell in love with Florence (2 weeks ago), ect.

Two Sundays ago, the sun was out, there was no homework to be done, and the wine was plentiful.  A group of about 20-30 people went up to Piazza San Michaelangelo, which overlooks all of Florence and is one of my favorite places I have been to this semester.  It is surreal and gorgeous. Being up there, drinking wine, talking, making new friends and memories, and just basking in Florence goodness really made me appreciate where I am living.  The fact that I can walk about 30 minutes and get to this view point and be surrounded some great people I have met through GIF has made me very grateful for the time I have in Florence and what I have to look forward to while I am abroad.  Here are a few pictures from the afternoon before heading out to Il Gatto e Il Volpe for Mary's sister's farewell dinner!

What else do you need in life?

3 of the 5 Mollys on GIF

Not soon after this wonderful afternoon, we found out that Gonzaga's men's basketball team had won the WCC tournament in Las Vegas defeating St. Mary's College, a team no one in Spokane is fond of.  If they are, they probably do not belong within a 50 mile radius of Gonzaga.  I woke up at 3 am to watch the game .  It is not easy to find the live stream of US basketball games, but I was pretty happy about it once I finally found a site that was letting me watch!  I woke up Michael across the hall and we watched the second half asleep while trying to keep our F-bombs to a whisper wince everyone else was sleeping.  We  I recognized faces in the crowd, in the photography section, and of course on the court.  Just hearing the crowd made me wish I was there to cheer on the Zags to their WCC victory! It was a great win and much needed to carry the team to the NCAA tournament.  After I turned off the game, I quickly checked my Facebook page only to get a message from one of my housemates back in Spokane.  She was letting us know that one of the girls in our freshman year dorm had passed away suddenly.  I have a picture of a group of us skiing freshman year next to my bed and Alexis is in it,  so as I turned off my computer, I  was almost haunted by this mix of emotions of a high from the Zags win and a low from the news about Alexis.  Alexis was a sophomore transfer when the almost all of us were freshman.  She was a fabulous, fun loving person whose spirit will live on forever.  Whether it was blasting Lady Gaga on the way to Schweitzer or just giving us all a good laugh, Alexis is someone that I will never forget and who has left an abundance of special memories in many people's hearts.

This being said, with the good, comes the bad and with the bad, comes the good.  So is life.  As said in previous posts, it is has been crazy watching life go on at home and not being there to be there for the people we love so much in more difficult times.  I am learning that life happens and it happens fast.  It happens to everyone and it is about accepting with and dealing with the trials and difficulties that are thrown your way. I am doing my best to figure out just how to do it and so far this experience has allowed me to learn just how to do so!