Dead Week……Ya Right!

Here is a summary of what on this week, so many events because we are leaving so soon! :(

Monday: The GIF Christmas dinner at the Hard Rock café. Seriously so much fun, one of the highlights of study abroad for sure! We all got dressed up (I think Gallo might have even over dressed a bit) and we all went there together (the Gallo girls made the genius decision to cab there because we were all in heels and it was sprinkling). GIF had the ENTIRE restaurant to ourselves. Its super nice and like brand new, its supposedly like the number 3 best Hard Rock, it just opened in July. All of the GIF students were there, faculty and staff, and the people that run our peniones. They had a raffle and auction items in one corner. It wasn’t really a dinner which was annoying, because everyone came SO hungry! It was servers doing a tray pass of appetizers. They were also bringing around trays of champagne too, woooo! Then halfway into the night a live band started playing! That was the best part! Everyone was up dancing and having a good time. It felt like we were all at a wedding! It was a great night, with great people and something I will always remember!

Tuesday: School is starting to wrap up, so no new assignments just review sessions for finals….nothing very exciting in that department. Tuesday night we went out, but it was pretty low key. The only reason I went is because it was our last Tuesday (no one will be going out this Tuesday due to finals).

Wednesday: We had our Gallo Family Christmas party! Earlier in the afternoon the boys all went to the store and bought a dinky little Christmas tree. That was cute of them, however it kinda looks like the Charlie Brown tree. It’s all decorated too, with lights and ornaments so they did a good job! After having dinner in Gallo we all gathered around the tree to do our secret Santa gift exchange. By the way, we all wore our matching Gallo shirts that were given to us by Massimo and Sylvia. The front says Gallo d’Oro, the sleeves say GIF Fall 2011, and the back says “One Life…Shared Happiness”. SO SO CUTE! Secret Santa was hilarious, everyone tried really hard to get each other gifts that would be perfect for the other person…while only spending a max of 10 euro. Not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but I have acquired the nickname “dementor” (like from Harry Potter) because I apparently “suck the fun out of things” or “never want to have fun” or “never go out”. All of the above are false…(to some extent) but I gladly accept the nickname and all the jokes that have come from it because I can dish it right back! So my gift included, books because “I love doing homework and never want to go out” and I also got an Oscar-like trophy that says “least likely to have a good time– Allison FitzGerald” and then my real gift was some champagne. Overall, that gift was pretty hysterical and clever – way to go Alan!

After our secret Santa exchange, everyone from Gallo crammed into our room for a long game of charades…..which eventually turned into impressions of each other and just ripping on each other…..just like a true family! Hahahaha Everyone did spot on impressions of each other, it was absolutely hilarious! I was acted out three times everything from someone pretending to read a book, to recreating that one time I thought everyone was going to the library on a Tuesday night. After charades, we all sat around and sang one of our favorite songs her in Gallo at the top of our lungs, “Someone Like You” by Adele. Not gonna lie, I think every girl in the room got a little bit teary-eyed. Really going to miss this great group of people. Then the night came to an end with half of Gallo wanting to go out and the other half (aka all the girls) going to bed.

Thursday: We did not have school on Thursday because it was a national holiday here in Italy, as well as the start of the Christmas season! They lit up all the trees and now there is a nativity scene by the Duomo, very cute! I studied during the afternoon and started to review for finals. Then Thursday night we all went out to a new place called Full Up, and it was super fun! That was about it for Thursday.

Friday: Again never any classes on Fridays, so it has felt like an EXTRA loooonnnggg weekend. Friday just worked on stuff during the day. Then from 6 to 8 our program had a Christmas Concert, where students could sign up if they wanted to sing or play an instrument for everyone. It got a great turnout, so many people that we actually couldn’t find a real seat we had to sit in the hallway. The performances were great and we ended the whole thing by everyone in the audience singing Silent Night, so pretty. After that we had our first (and probably last) roomie dinner. It was about time! We went to Obikah, the mozzarella bar I went to when Mom, Dad, and Aunt Cindy were here. I really liked that place, so I was glad to go back and they really liked it too! After that, I just came back and went to sleep.

Saturday: I got up to meet Ali and we went to the American Bakery here in Florence called, Mamma’s Bakery. I have heard good things about it, but never been able to find it. It is a decent 30 minute walk away. I got a bagel toasted with peanut butter, mmm! Then we walked back to Gallo because over by me there is an ice skating rink! We decided to try that out. The rink is really big and it wasn’t that crowded! However, it was a really bad rink. I had to hold the sides the whole time because the thing was so bumpy! So many dips and bumps to skate over because they don’t zamboni the thing! Dangerous. After that we came back to Gallo and got ready for the Pensione Calcetto Tournament. And by that I mean, that all of the pensiones played soccer against each other, but with smaller teams of 5 on 5. It was super fun! We all wore our shirts and everyone went. The teams had to be coed and the only actually good player was my roomie Kara, she only ended up scoring our only goal! Kara played with four of the Gallo boys, and then two other Gallo girls would also sub in for some of the guys here and there. Once we were losing 1 to 3 and there were only about 2 minutes left, they put in what I like to call “The Dream Team” aka I went in, my fragile and unathletic roommate Grace went in, David went in, and Mary. It was hysterical, during that time we got scored on 3 more times. I’m sure it was pretty entertaining to watch. Then we came back, I did some homework, and then went out because it was our “Last Saturday”…. basically “last” anything has now turned into an excuse to go out.

Sunday: Today, I will be studying all day. Except taking a break to go to my last English for Pasta tonight. So sad! I can’t wait for another fantastic dinner, but so sad to say bye to adorable Martina and her parents! I will be sure to get pictures of them!

It has been one busy week here….starting to feel like I am getting sick again! All I have to do is get through my four days of finals and then I am homeward bound!

As for the blog….I will post just once more here….probably in the next day or two….and then I will do one final post when I am home. :( Getting ready to wrap up Al Abroad!