Update.

Dear readers,

Sorry it's been a while since my last update. I've been having a pretty terrible week and haven't felt up to posting just yet.

Last weekend I went to Venice with EuroAdventures. It was very cold and because of some miscommunication issues I did not have the best time. I will be going back to Venice over Spring Break and I hope to post a much more interesting recap of my time there.

The chocolate festival was in Piazza della Reppubblica this week so I was able to drop by there a couple times. It was really fun and delicious, and it almost made me want to give up design and spend my life making cute little animals out of chocolate. Tuesday my boyfriend of 3 years and I decided to take some time off and that's been one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with in my life, but I know there are a lot of people here with me willing to help me get through it.

After moping for a while I woke up this morning ready to enjoy my time here, even with 12 hours of class. Then not even 2 hours of being awake I managed to fall and sprain my ankle. Unable to put any pressure on it at all I decided it was time to call our SOS International health insurance company and see about getting it checked out. They're very nice and extremely helpful, maybe a little slow, but I was able to get myself (through a series of taxis and strangers helping me down stairs) to the emergency room at the Santa Maria Nuova hospital. There was maybe one person on staff here who spoke English and was able to process my info and get me in for an x-ray. It was very strange having nurses come in and wheel me off to different rooms, not able to tell me in English where it was we were going or why.

The view from my wheelchair immediately after getting out of the taxi, realizing that no one spoke English. Probably one of the scariest moments of my life.

The view from my wheelchair for about 4 hours in the waiting room. Not gonna lie, these shoes kind of helped me not feel like a complete mess today.

Anyway, after about 4 hours of that they let me know that my ankle wasn't fractured, luckily, but that I should stay off of it for the next 5 days or so. This is a big problem because I'm supposed to be leaving for a school sponsored weekend in Rome at 9am tomorrow. So at this moment I'm desperately trying to find crutches somewhere in this city at 9 at night, all while being completely unable to get out of my apartment without those crutches.

I'm determined to make it to Rome, because if I don't go I'm going to be trapped in my apartment alone all weekend with absolutely no one around to help me if I need to get out. I feel like if I can just get a pair of crutches and get to Rome all my troubles will disappear, or at least some of them, and at least for a little while. And I really need that to happen these days.

*I chose to come back and edit this post after a couple of hours of reflection (partly because I found out some of my mom's friends read this blog and I want to make sure she can be proud of me). I wasn't able to find crutches at 10 at night, and our ACCENT coordinator told me it would be a waste to try and walk through Rome on them anyway since it would be so crowded and such long walking times. So after trying to walk for a little while I have decided to go to Rome anyway, without crutches. I'm probably going to be slow, and I might be in pain, and I might have to sit some of the tours out back in the hotel, but I don't want to be a victim of circumstance. I decided this morning to stop being a floppy mess, and I'm not going to let a sprained ankle change my mind for me. Maybe I won't have as great a time in Rome as I would have with 2 good ankles but I know for sure it'll be a better time than laying in bed all weekend feeling lonely.