June 6th: Lake Cuomo and 4 days until the family comes.

Walking to the bus at Lake Como.

Kelsey was having trouble flushing the crazy Italian toilet. Obviously she's pissed.

Tug Boat!

Eagle!

Are your ducks in a row? Ok that was really lame...

Tonight is a chill night. We are on the go all the time, so I decided to stay home and get caught up with my peeps back home. It's nice to have some alone time :) My friends just went out shopping anyway, and I figured I've spent enough money here, right?

Today we drove to Lake Como planning on swimming. Too bad it started raining when we got there. It's ok, because we ate at an amazing little restaurant on the water front. I had homemade onion soup (sounds gross but it's awesome) and coke. Yumalicious, truly. Then I got the second best gelatto I've had here. We saw a Rick Steves book on the shelf as we were leaving. He follows us everywhere, I tell you. Oh well, it was worth the 2 euro. Yum yum triple yum. The lake really is beautiful and the clouds and sun were cool because it was raining. We saw a just married couple taking pictures all dressed up. Such a cool place to take pictures, right on the water front by all the greenery and whatnot. That's pretty much all we did today. 

I talked to Maureen and Mom. The baby is so close to being here. I'm getting really excited to be an aunt! Maureen will have here at the end of August right before school starts. I may be babysitting once a week, which will be a nice time to get to know the baby. I can't wait until they pick a name so I can call her something.

Mom is apparently already packed for the trip...so impressive. Mom, Grandma and Judy get here in four days on the 10th. Then we will spend a week in Venice, Florence, and Rome. I'm excited to show them around! I don't know how many times I've said that, but it's still true. 

As things are winding down I am reflecting on my trip. I have experienced some great things, learned a lot of lessons, and made some cool friends. My first trip to Europe has been a success and I am glad I did it in seven weeks instead of one week or four months. It was the perfect amount of time, and we really have seen almost ALL of Italy...at least a lot of different towns that give me a good feel of what it's like. We've seen way down south, in the middle, all the way up north, on the coast, in the mountains, big cities, small cities, old cities, new cities, and everything in between. Eric and Bethanne are truly the best coordinators we could have had on this trip, and they have worked really hard to make things run smoothly. They were a blessing, for sure. I have come to appreciate things about America that I didn't before, and have learned customs in Italy that I appreciate as well. They're very different, but it's good to see how other people live. 

I am off to call my dearest Jeannette, and then Matthew since he is currently saving his siblings from drowning in Utah Lake. Yeah, that's pretty important, I'd say...