A wonderful end.

Ciao amici :)

Today was an interesting kind of day. Most people from my program left today yet I still had the whole day here in Rome. I walked all over my favorite places, completing the near 15 items that were on my to-do list for today. It has been quite busy, but it's been a good day.

And I must say it ended wonderfully. I went to the delicious bakery right next to our apartment and I wanted to get a "ciambella," Italian for donut. I am so glad that I didn't discover these ciambelle before last week, because I would have been eating far too many of them. For just discovering them last week, I have already eaten three. I like donuts in the States, but there is something different about these Italian donuts!

They're larger than American-size donuts and they are just plain with sugar covering them. They are so simple and delicious, I really don't even know how to describe it. But fortunate for me, when I went to the bakery for the last time tonight, wanting to get a ciambella for tomorrow morning when I leave for the airport, I got scared because I didn't see them at first! Yet to my happiness, there was one single ciambella left for the day, and I told the barista how happy I was that I got the last one. "Che fortunata!" :) Such a great end to a bitter-sweet last day in Rome.

Too, I've been meaning to mention and was reminded today on my walk home, something interesting about Italy that I have found is that the Smurfs are incredibly popular here! They sell special jars of Nutella with Smurf characters on them and today walking home, I saw Smurf stickers and other merchandise for sale. Just about everywhere you go you can find something about the Smurfs and I think it's fascinating. :) However, here in Italy, they are not called the Smurfs, they are called "Puffi!" So everywhere you go, you see Puffi, and it still fascinates me to this day. :)

Off to Norway tomorrow!! I am so very excited, I cannot wait! I just want to leave right now; I don't want to wait until my flight tomorrow morning. :)

A presto!

Love and Style,
L.M.

It looks like Christmas!!

It isn't just beginning to look a lot like Christmas here, it already does!! There are Christmas lights down so many streets (my favorites being the red, white and green Italian-flag Christmas lights spanning close to the entire width of the street and going all the way down Via del Corso, one of the main shopping streets in all of Rome).

Too, they have these things called Christmas markets, which I had never heard of before. I went to check out the one I kept hearing about, located in Piazza Navona, and it was almost like a taste of home! It was set up just like a small carnival or fair with stands lined up in rows and lit up by florescent lights. They had a carousel, food stands that sold Nutella crepes and these giant donut-looking things that seemed to be very popular, and then they also had games and vendors. The games were much like those of an American carnival (hit the balloon with the dart, etcetera) and then the vendor booths were very unique. You could buy jewelry or leather notebooks, big hanging lights or even nativities. That stand stood out to me the most - it was an entire stand devoted to the selling of Christmas nativities. In a phrase, it seemed to me to be an American-style carnival similar to those we have back home but with a definite Italian twist to it. :) It was so much fun!

What made it even better, too, was the fact that I got a Nutella crepe for my journey to check out the festival. A restaurant worker recommended a good crepe place and he was right! It was quite delicious and made the whole experience even better.

It's already December 10th! Where has the time gone?! I feel the Christmas spirit getting stronger and stronger and I couldn't love it more.

Love and Style,
L.M.