Ellie B In Italy

 Hey Blog People, Guess what! Exciting news! My Visa came in the mail! I can officially get over to Italy. My dad got the notification that the package had arrived, and I opened it last night and there it was: my Italian Visa. Now that I have my passport and Visa, I could leave tomorrow if I really had to. It got to Chicago on August 2 and got back to me on August 28. Not long at all.  In other news, I have been doing a lot of shopping and prepping for Italy. I have started my list of things to bring. It is very hard to pack your life into a suitcase or two. WITH weight limitations. Thankfully, I'll be back for Christmas, so I can bring winter stuff back with me. But I have to be prepared. I think the list is coming along well so far.  And so is my Italian. Kind of. I'm working on it, ok? I don't want to be completely in the dark when I get there, and at least now I can count to 100 and say address and order coffee, so I can survive for a bit.  Anyway, just wanted to...

 Hello Blog People, I've been thinking for a while that I need to do a little update on here. I need to get in the habit of writing to people and letting them know the process. I can't remember if I said why I was doing a blog over my trip, but the short answer is this. A lot of people have said "Send me pictures!", " Let me know how it goes!", and other things like that. And instead of sending my pictures to tons of people and probably forgetting many, I figured I would just put them in one place and let people come and see as they would like to. Then I don't have to say "oh yes! I definitely will send you pictures!". Instead I can say, "Oh I actually will have a blog going while I'm over there, so let me just send you the link and you can check it when you want to." Anyway, I hope that works out, and that I stay vigilant about writing.  So here's where we are in the process so far. On July 31st, my dad and I drove up to the ...

  Hello Blog People,  Here is the first post in my blog. I'm starting this for my year studying abroad in Florence, Italy. I'm super excited and hope to show you all the cool places I travel to, the things I create and see, and the people I meet. This is going to be a big adventure, probably one that will challenge me and will change my life. I'm looking forward to it.  I wanted to create a space where I could post pictures and update people on what I am doing, without having to send updates and pictures to a million people. I will also start talking about the process of getting over there (which has been crazy). So come and check it when you will. I don't know how often I'll be posting, but I will try to be consistent :) Anyway, thanks for supporting me and taking an interest in my little adventure. I'll keep you updated whenever I can.  Ciao,  Ellie