Soooooo y’all know that I’m currently in Florence, Italy taking a few summer courses for my major. It’s been a BLAST! It’s still so unreal that I’m living here right now, like it still hasn't hit me yet. I walk around the city exploring every day (eating gelato of course) and even just chilling in my apartment and I’ll think to myself, “I’m literally in Europe right now. How did this happen?” 😂 But here I am starting out my summer in the best way possible and I’m just absolutely grateful that God blessed me with this incredible opportunity. And now I get to share my so-far amazing experience with ya!

My month-long adventure in Florence officially started last Thursday. I flew from Cleveland to Boston for a two hour layover, then we flew over to Amsterdam and got there around 6 am European time (I think I only got 30 minutes of sleep and spent most of the time watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Grease), and then we flew over to Florence shortly after. Needless to say, I was completely jet-lagged. I honestly spent my first day in Florence drifting off and taking a bunch of naps. I was also the only person in my apartment (my roommates moved in a day after me) and was feeling super homesick. It hit me then that I was going to be living in Europe far away from home for a whole freaking month. Honestly, I’m still homesick, but thankfully I’ve adjusted a lot more to the Italian city lifestyle.

My first night was spent out on the town with my friend Jill, whom I met on the group flight. We played it simple by going to a small restaurant near her apartment (no joke, it’s literally called The Small!), where we had glasses of Chardonnay and DELICIOUS gnocco alla sorrentina. Afterwards, we got some gelato and rode the carousal in Piazza Della Signora (it was only 2 euros per adult!). and went back to our apartments to get a good night’s sleep. It was a simple yet perfect first night!

Due to still being jet-lagged, I slept till 10:30 am. It was so nice, especially from being jet-lagged for so long! One of my roommates/friends, Marj, arrived at that same time and spent most of her day napping (from being jet-lagged of course). I was very hungry and still exhausted from the plane rides, so I went for a Nutella croissant and iced cappuccino at a cafe called the Habitat. After sitting in the sun enjoying my late breakfast (and trying to not let the pigeons take it), I decided to take a stroll around the city for a while to get a feel of Florence. I walked around Piazza Della Signora, the Duomo, the shopping districts, and much more. I was amazed by all the architecture and the diversity of people. It started to make some of my homesickness fade away. I just felt so grateful to be in Europe traveling around independently and learning about another culture. I felt so empowered during just one stroll! My other roommates finally arrived later in the day and we went out together for a pasta dinner, red wine and gelato for dessert. Another perfect night well spent!

The next two days of the weekend were orientation for the KSU summer institute program. It held basic lectures about how to adjust to life in Florence and details about the summer program. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world obviously, but I’m still glad I went. There were also two tours per day around the city, which wasn’t much sightseeing but still super intriguing. The best part about the weekend was hanging out with my roommates and the new friends I’ve made. The highlight was on Saturday night when a group of us walked over the river (and took pictures at golden hour of course) to get dinner at Regine Pizzeria. It was a little hard because all the waiters only spoke Italian, but it was such a fun night. We ate margherita pizza and calzones, drank red wine, and just had an overall great time laughing and smiling. The waiters also surprised us with a Nutella pizza dessert, which we didn’t even ask for since we didn’t speak their language! It was so delicious, and it kinda made me relieved that we didn’t go out for gelato sooner. We later went to a night club called Space to have a few drinks and dance around till midnight. I’m not a big party girl, but I just had so much fun with all my gal pals. It helped me start adjusting to life in Florence even more!

Classes officially started on Monday. I’m taking Italian Fashion & Culture and Field Experience: European Fashion Study Tour. They are super intriguing, not very hard and I love the professors (especially their Italian accents!), and they both involve field trips which I absolutely love. For the first class so far, we visited the Verrocchio exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi and the Aquaflor (which I highly recommend checking out if you’re a perfume junkie like me!). For the Study Tour class, we took a day trip to Carpi (two hours north of Florence) to visit the Liu-Jo headquarters. There we got a perspective of what it’s like to look for a fashion company. It was really good to learn more about the fashion industry and just made me appreciate my major even more. I’m so blessed for this opportunity to study abroad in the Italian fashion culture and for the opportunities to come!

There’s more updates to come in the next three weeks of the trip. This weekend I’ll be visiting Siena on Friday and then just chilling Florence for the rest of the weekend and upcoming week, so you’ll definitely hear all about those trips!

If you’ve been to Italy before and loved it, what were your favorite things about it? Give me some recommendations while I’m here for the remaining time!

If you are adventurous and creative like me, San Francisco may be the perfect vacation destination for you. Apart from giant red bridges and haunting old prisons, the city is a wondrous beauty full of many sites to see and things to do. What's also cool is that there are so many different personalities all over, no one is exactly the same at all. I can also tell those personalities apart just by looking at everyone's fashion sense, it really says a lot! Of course, I am not one to judge right away.

Despite the loss of the Cleveland Cavaliers against Golden State a few weeks ago, I was still willing to visit SF and have a much-needed vacation. Also my dad had to go for a fundraiser which his business was supporting, so we really didn't have a choice. I love California and I was ready to explore a new city. Plus, the Full House series takes place in SF which is another reason to want to visit!

My dad got two tickets upgraded to first class, so he let my mom and I have those seats while he sat in the section behind ours to watch a few movies and do work. It wasn't my first time experiencing first class, but it definitely has so far been the best one. Now that I'm 21, I got to order some white wine while watching The LEGO Batman Movie and Beauty and the Beast, as well as reading Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn by Donald Spotto.

What's funny is that there are times when people think I'm older and don't ID me at all or there's people who ID because they think I'm fifteen-years old. During this trip, especially getting onto airplanes, many people thought I was still a teen. Well, the Neutrogena must be working very well!

Watching The LEGO Batman Movie while drinking a delightful glass of white wine in first class. — Watching *The LEGO Batman Movie* while drinking a delightful glass of white wine in first class.

We arrived in SF around 10 PM (West Coast time), and we took an Uber to our the Fairmount we were staying at. It was kind of weird to be the city with the basketball team that beat us during the NBA Finals, but thankfully no one recognized us and booed us for being from Cleveland.

Skyline of San Francisco from the airplane!

I was amazed at how fancy and big the Fairmount was, by far the fanciest and prettiest hotel I ever stayed at! It kind of looks extra, don't you think?

What also fascinated me about the hotel, besides a huge breakfast buffet and a relaxing bath tub for nighttime baths, was the amount of history that was held inside. There were so many portraits of famous people, both dead and alive, who have paid a visit. It also showed a picture from 1906 after the huge earthquake, which was one of the few buildings of San Francisco that survived. How incredible is that! As a history lover, my mom was so obsessed with the hotel's beauty and treasures, as I'm sure many guests are.

To my surprise, San Francisco is actually very chilly for most of the year, even during the summer. I could only pack one pair of shorts, and then I had to pack jeans and leggings. I wish it wasn't so cold, but I was more excited to explore the city than to worry about the weather.

After breakfast at the Buena Vista, most famous for their Irish coffee (which I probably would have enjoyed if it weren't for the whiskey, but I guess it's a traditional thing), we took a walk around Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. I was really hoping to see all the sea lions resting on the docks, but there were only a few because most of the them were out north in the Pacific Ocean for breeding season. On the bright note, we got to see a few!

We also walked the plaza of the pier which greatly resembled Santa Monica Pier in LA, but more clean and less sketchy. The food stands and flowers add a very pleasurable touch.

If I had to choose what my absolute part of my trip was, I would definitely have to say it was touring the Walt Disney Family Museum. My family and I have always been Disney fans and I've always thought of Walt Disney himself as one of my role models, so visiting his museum was a must on our to-do list.

I still curious though, why is Walt Disney's museum located in SF and not in LA or even Orlando? Did Walt Disney and his family enjoy visiting the Bay Area or was it just a random spot that his succeeders decided to use? I'm currently trying to figure out the true answer, and you can comment if you happen to know it!

Each floor was very educational and brought back many fun memories from my childhood. I loved learning more about Walt's life, from when he grew up in Missouri with a passion for drawing to when he made Disneyland a reality in 1955 (which you can see an amazing model of down in the picture below). Not only did he bring happiness and imagination to the world, but he was also a family man who put his loved ones first. I truly admire him for everything that he worked hard for.

I want to say thank you to Mr. Disney for the legacy he left. I hope he's smiling while looking down and from heaven at what has become of his company!

One of the most popular exhibits at the moment was "Awakening Beauty", a special tribute to Eyvind Earle who was the art director for Sleeping Beauty. It showed all of his beautiful and colorful paintings, prior to working with Walt Disney Studios. My favorite thing about Sleeping Beauty is the scenery and colors, so I was so happy to see the original artwork in person.

And of course, it's impossible to go to San Francisco without riding a cable car! To clarify, the car was not actually moving in the picture below. This specific one is always parked on a street near Buena Vista so that tourists can hop on it and snap some pictures, which is what I exactly did. And of course, we eventually had to ride a moving one to get the true experience.

Another favorite site of mine to see in the Bay City, obviously, is the Golden Gate Bridge aka one of the most iconic architectures in the world. Thankfully, we got to go on a perfectly sunny day which is very rare in SF, no fog in the sky! I wasn't even nervous at all walking over the bridge, except for when my mom took pictures with her phone and I was worried about her dropping it. Oh, the things millennials stress about ...

One of the best things about traveling is the feeling of sensation and gratitude. I felt those exact two feelings when seeing the Golden Gate Bridge up close in person. It was so beautiful and breathtaking, I couldn't even believe it with my own eyes. It just reminded me of how truly blessed I am to have amazing opportunities like this, and how I should be thankful for the ones I have had as well as the ones that are to come.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to take a tour at Alcatraz, which my mom and I really wanted to do. On a bright note, we at least got to see it from a far which was enough. Besides, I'm not very fond of the tours that involve a headpiece and listening to an old guy go on about every historical fact in detail ...

We also got to look around Chinatown, which apparently is one of the biggest ones in the country. Things got a little exhausting; however, when my mom and some of her friends deciding to walk from the pier back to the hotel, which meant we had to walk up and down the extremely steep street hills of the city. I didn't choose very good shoes to walk in, so I blame myself for that (but hey, style triumphs pain, am I right?) So to distract myself from exhaustion and my weary feet, I took some time to take some cool pictures of cool street signs which I am a sucker for.

Did I even mention that we visited Saucilito for a few hours? It was a very nice city, it kind of reminded me of Laguna Beach. We actually walked along the highway just to get there. Talk about rebellious! It was totally worth it when we got a bite to eat, refreshing drinks, and an incredible view of the bay.

For our last night in SF, my dad and his company had a special dinner party at a country club hosted by the City of Hope, an organization for cancer treatment. My dad, mom, our friends, and I all went to the ceremony together at the beautiful country club for a lovely dinner, friendly conversations, inspiring speeches from hard-working employees, and an auction that raised a ton of money!

San Francisco did not disappoint me one bit, and I already can't wait to go back there again someday. Hopefully the next time we return will be after Cleveland wins another championship and beats the Warriors in another round of the NBA Finals ...

Next stop, Napa!