Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's been a couple of weeks since I wrote last. Things have been pretty crazy around here! Last weekend was Florence. It's a great city; the only downside for me was there were way too many Americans! I did a lot of shopping and spent way too much money. Right before we came back, my friend Alex and I climbed the bell tower of the duomo! It was 414 steps! The view was beautiful. I had one of my favorite dishes so far on the trip at a nice restaurant in Florence. It was Bitter Cocoa Ravioli with Cinghiale filling. For those of you who are not in the Italian cuisine loop (like me, haha), Cinghiale means wild boar! It was so delicious! It had a hint of cocoa with a delicious savory meat filling. I was definitely satisfied. I have discovered that I love trying new foods! My friends are all impressed by my adventurousness (is that a word?).

This past weekend we went to IRELAND! I was surprised by how much I liked it. I want to go back someday; the only thing I didn't enjoy was the weather. It rained steadily ALL DAY on Saturday. I forgot my umbrella at the hotel so I was miserable! I did try some more interesting food, though. I had Dublin Coddle, which is Irish stew with a big glob of mashed potatoes in the middle and sausage on top! Sunday we got fish and chips. I wanted to try shark but they were all out, sadly. Despite my wet boots, I felt like we didn't have enough time in Dublin. I am going to add it to my list of places to go again.
We had a big adventure on the way back. A group of us took the cheap way home and booked discount airlines from Dublin to London then London to Rome. When we got to the airport we discovered our first flight was delayed by fifteen minutes. We would have been ok but when it was time to land in London we had to circle the airport three times until there was a spot to land. As a result, we missed check-in for our connecting flight by five minutes! We were very stressed out, running across the airport with all of our bags. It felt like a movie, only less funny. When we realized we had missed it we didn't know what to do. Luckily, we had a mom! One girl's mom was coming back to Rome with us, so she made us all feel better. If she hadn't been there we probably would have been bawling on the floor! Just when things were at their worst, we had a comforting sign from home. We were so lost and sad, and then we turned around and saw a KRISPY KREME! The workers probably thought we were insane; I bet they've never seen anyone more excited about doughnuts! Our collective mom bought us two dozen and informed us that she just happened to be a member of the Hilton club. So instead of sleeping in the airport like some people we met, we got to stay in a cushy hotel room! The only problem with that setup was that our flight left at 6 AM, so we had to wake up super early and be at the airport at 4 for check-in! Finally, after only three hours of sleep, we boarded the plane and made it back to Ariccia in time for our class at 11. So the only real harm to come out of the incident was the loss of my cute new umbrella at the security checkpoint and a serious dent in my bank account from buying a new plane ticket. It could have been worse; at least we didn't have to sleep on the airport floor!