When one door closes, another opens

As cliche as my blog title sounds, it really is words to live by. I believe that everything does happen for a reason and even though I seem to be in an unbearable, painful state, I know that it will lead to something better in the end. I just have to be patient and open to whatever is in my future.

So many of my friends and family have come to my aid during this difficult time. I have a great support system, and I am so thankful for that.

A few days ago I was actually considering going home at the end of the semester. Things were getting to such a point that I didn't see myself staying here and pushing on through. After thinking about it for a few days, I realized that I am in Europe for a reason and there is a greater purpose that is meant to be discovered. Although I am not sure what that is right now, I am sure I will look back on this time in my life as a period of growth and maturity. At least that is the hope...

and for all my friends: "Friends are like four leaf clovers; hard to find and lucky to have"

A normal Tuesday...

I am currently just hanging out at the Gonzaga campus. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the pensione and do homework here or just catch up on emails, phone calls on Skype, etc.

I just talked to my friend Martha and she and her friend Tara are planning on visiting me the weekend of November 14-16! She is a good friend of mine from Gonzaga and she is currently studying abroad in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I am also going to be visiting her in early December. Me and a bunch of friends are going to Amsterdam for a day or two, and then me and my roomie (see pic) are staying one night at her apartment. Fun stuff!

Not a whole lot is new today- midterms are approaching quickly and I am getting pretty stressed! I have a huge ethics paper that is due on Thursday that I am working on. I got started on it pretty early next week so that I could have time to send it to my mom to look at. (Thanks mom!). Tomorrow I am going to an opera with a few friends, so that should be really fun. It is the opera that is based off the musical/movie called Rent.

I do not have an update on my grandfather as of right now. I know lots of my family from Houston are traveling to Seattle to visit him in case this is his time to go. I just have to remain hopeful and continue praying. It is just hard being so far away...

I went to the doctor today and he prescribed me some anti-inflammatory pills for my foot. I am pretty sure it is just a severe case of tendinitis so he said if it is not better in 4-5 days than to come back and see him. We will see what happens, right? I am glad he did not think I have a stress fracture. That is quite a bit more serious.

Well I am going to keep this post short. I am feeling a little un-creative at the moment. I have so much on my mind with all this school work, my foot, grandpa, and other day to day problems that I am finding it hard to find something interesting to talk about. I have to take it easy with walking so nothing in my life is too exciting at the moment. Today we had lasagna for lunch which was amazing; I have not had that since the states! I wonder if Karen will serve chow mein next? Haha fat chance! I will just have to hit up Chens (my favorite Asian restaurant in Seattle) when I get back home. Dad, if you are reading this you should know I really miss our chen's outtings! Italian food is amazing, but I like variety once in awhile!

Well I will most likely post tomorrow- until then!

*Note* The picture above is of me and my current room-mate Lillian. We have become great friends! :-D

An update on my life!

Today has been a much better day than yesterday so things are looking hopeful. I have many people who have been great listening ears and the support from family and friends from here in Florence and back home is great. Thanks so much :)

My mother ended up writing a complaint letter to Dean Burke and forwarding it to two of the study abroad staff members back in Spokane. I am going to be speaking with Shelley (student life Dean) in about an hour so we will see how that goes. I have talked to most of the staff here in Florence on numerous occasions and they are well aware of my problems-- the question is what now? What is the exact plan of action that they plan to implement? This is what I should be finding out momentarily...

Next week is midterms and I am beginning to feel very overwhelmed emotionally (from everything going on) and mentally (with school work). It will be hard to focus on studying for midterms and writing papers in the midst of everything else going on. I hope I can remained focus and be able to "push through" this hard period. I know I will, its just a matter of time. My boyfriend Chris keeps telling me to smile and stay positive and know that all hard periods lead to something greater and amazing in the end... how profound!

As far as the foot situation is concerned-- I scheduled an appointment with the doc tomorrow so we will see what he says. Perhaps I'll need an x-ray, perhaps its merely just tendinitis and simple inflammatory meds will do. I will keep you updated :)

So I just found out that my cousin Julie and her family (husband and three kids) are going to visit on November 3rd and me and my parents are going to have dinner with them somewhere in Florence! I am so excited! I have never met her kids (my second cousins) just seen them in pictures. They are pretty cute! I am hopefully going to visit Julie in France (where she is from) on the weekend of Jan 30th and me and my friend Cierra are going to tour around her area and then go skiing in the Swiss Alps! How fun!

What else is new?! Chris (bf) is going to be visiting for a week sometime next semester. We were thinking he wouldn't be able to get time off because he has not worked for his company for a year yet. Also, with the current economic condition and him being a crucial element to his work, it was looking unlikely that he would have time/money to make it down here. ANYWHO, he was able to convince his bosses to let him have a week off so he is thinking about coming down sometime in January or February. W00hoo!

Another brighter note-- (anything helps!) I got a 100% on my Italian quiz! I also got a B on my journal entries for Introduction to Florence, but now I know what I did wrong (I guess I didn't explain enough historical information about my tours, etc and I could work on being more accurate about incorporating historical information). Its all about a learning experience, right?

Anyways, I probably should go but continue to pray for my grandfather as he is still very sick :(

Love you all!

Note: The picture of the waterfall was taken on my hike in Almafi. I decided to post it with this blog entry because my cousin Carolyn suggested that when I am dealing with times of hardship it often helps to look at beautiful pictures that provoke fond memories. Thanks Carolyn! :)

Sorrento, Almafi, Capri, and Pompei

Hey everyone-

My weekend to Sorrento, Capri, Pompei, and Amalfi was amazing-- but lots of other things are going on right now in my life that has been making my study abroad experience less than enjoyable at times.

I do not like complaining all the time, especially when I am presented with this once in a lifetime opportunity but these past few days and even weeks really have been pretty emotionally stressful and draining dispite my chipper and upbeat blog posts. Many of you knew the room situation that me and my room mate Lillian went through this past month, but many other things have recently come into play. The deal with my foot has only gotten worse- I am pretty sure I have a stress fracture because it hurts to walk in any type of shoe regardless of padding, ointment, heavy socks, etc. I am hopefully going to the doc's tomorrow to get it checked out so we will see...

Also, the past few weeks my grandfather has not been doing well. He keeps having episodes of pnenumia, which can be very serious for the elderly. My g-pa is in his early 90's so any cold is a potential threat. He has been in and out of the hospital and right now he is staying in his adult family home with nurses that take care of his needs. Apparently he is having significant troubles with eating, and swallowing. He can no longer walk and he is very weak. This makes me very sad because I probably won't get to say goodbye if he passes away within the next few days, weeks, even couple months. :( I guess I just have to pray and know that this is in God's hands and not my own. Its just hard when all these things come at once.

Things within my pensione are still not getting fixed either-- such as the internet which we are paying 30 euro for a month (and still have not gotten). It still takes about 3 mins to load a page on a good day, and skype is only as good as texting and not conversations on the phone.

As far as the weekend-- it was fabulous but hard to enjoy with my foot being in constant pain. I went on one of the optional hikes on Friday which probably wasn't the best choice but I knew I would have to miss out on the challenging hike the next day so I thought I would "wing it". It just made it worse-- oh well. The weather was really nice this weekend and it was a bit different because we ended up traveling most to the surrounding islands by either a large ferry or small boat. Today we went to Pompei and had an audio tour of the archaelogical site. This past weekend we stayed in little cabins in Sorrento. This experience was a bit more rustic than the past few weekends but it was nice.

I'm sorry I don't have much else to say-- lots are on my mind and I'm sure you can gather a lot of what I did through my albums on facebook. I hope you like the ones I have posted on here!

I will write later!

* The picture was taken from the little boat ride from Sorrento to Amalfi Coast. Gorgeous, huh?

My feet pain!!!

Today I am leaving around 3:40 to go to Sorrento with the Gonzaga Group. It is going to be quite the schlep there-- the bus is going to be over 6 hours. Yesh! I am sure it will be worth it though. We are going to be staying in cabins apparently. One thing that worries me is there is going to be lots of hiking. I love hiking, but my right foot is in SO much pain right now.

Let me explain... here in Florence we walk EVERYWHERE-- and when I say everywhere I mean it. I don't even have to worry about gaining any weight from the fatty Italian food because I burn it all on walking from place to place. This has been a bittersweet thing because although I am getting great excercise and get to explore Florence and other parts of Italy, my feet are definitely suffering. On opening tour I was dumb and wore my flip flops on a four hour walking tour and got pretty bad tendinitis in my left foot for a week or two. I ended up having to wear tennis shoes the rest of the trip, which was unfortunate because I am very much a "flats, sandals, and flip-flops" kinda girl. Well, I got over that, and I thought I was getting used to the constant walking, but lately after all the traveling, walking around Florence, and hiking my feet have been in so much pain. In both legs I often get shin splits (especially if I am walking at a quick pace) and as of last week my right foot now has gotten the tendinitis even worse than my other foot did on opening tour. This time it is not so much from flip flops, but the flats with no structure and support. I know its probably my own fault, but even when I wear my sturdy tennis or athletic shoes my foot still kills!

My mom suggests to take ibuprofen, and ice it (which I don't really have to access to) but that only mediates some of the immediate pain. It still is very painful to walk with shoes or without shoes, and all the time. This weekend trip is going to be filled with more moderate to difficult hikes and I hope I can make it without being in too much pain.. often times its a very sharp pain and depending on the shoe it can pretty excruciating. I think I might see the doctor next week because it is getting worse by the day (since last week).

Anyways, enough of that! I am done with classes for the day and I'm about to have lunch so I probably should get going, but again if you have any suggestions for topics for me to write about go for it!

**The picture above is from my tour yesterday to Santa Croce. This is where famous people such as Michaelangelo and Dante were burried!