UConn Studio Arts in Florence: It's Already Halfway Over

According to everyone on the home front I am already halfway through my time abroad although it doesn't feel like it. I feel like I’m stuck in some sort of strange time warp. At some points it seems as if I have been here for a week and other times it seems as if I have been here for years. I feel that I will wake up on December 14^th and this will all have been a dream. Time feels like it has frozen back home but I know things will be different when I return. I am in some sort of limbo…but what a fantastic limbo this is.

I have seen some of the most beautiful things, ate some of the most fantastic food, and met some of the most amazing people during my time in Florence. All I want is more. I want to see more, to do more. After returning from my ten day break and barely skimming the surface on all the beauty that the world has to offer all I want is more. I wish there was a way I could wander forever; to get lost in the world but be okay with it. I just want to travel the world and draw what I see. I feel as if there is not enough time to see all there is to see and experience all there is to experience. That’s just a fact of life though. Everything seems too short and there is never enough time in a day. I just know this adventure will pass in the blink of an eye.

Although my time here in Florence has been fantastic thus far not all of it has been a walk in the park and a spectacular adventure. I have gotten used to the fact that I cannot understand most things people are saying or doing around me. I have become somewhat comfortable with uncertainty even though I still get stressed with the unknown. I miss the little things at home; a simple chat with my Dad, playing video games with my brother, and getting into random shenanigans with my friends. It’s strange that although I miss these things I don’t find myself getting homesick. This whole experience confuses me because I am acting differently than how I would have expected. I would have expected to be more homesick, but I would rather have my family come and stay with me here if that was at all possible. I still get half way upset when exciting things are happening back home. Why should I be upset though? I’m on the adventure of a lifetime, right?

I sit here now writing this unsure of how I will feel by the time I need to return to the States. I know I will be overjoyed to see my friends, family, boyfriend, and dogs (can’t forget the puppies). I don’t know if I will feel lost though. I am afraid that going home things will be different and I will have to re-adapt to a place that I should feel most comfortable. Hopefully everything will be as it was, if not better. One thing I do know though and I realized this as soon as I landed in Florence in August; my time here will be one of the most amazing experiences of my life.