Lost in my laptop- Pictures coming

So its December and I think I'll be spending the rest of the semester watching lost on my laptop! Not really but I did just download the 3rd season.... Its definitely Christmas season in Florence. The shope all have the decorations up and the streets are draped in lights. There is a german holiday fair in Satna Croce with amazing bratwurst, saurcrout, mulled wine, beer, crepes, potatoes, whole pigs, tents of candy and other great food. Also lots of arts and crafts. Pretty cool. We've been going and filling up the last few nights. On thursday for our nutrition class we went to the first brewery in Florence that makes very good beer. We walked about 30 minutes to get there and met the class. First they gave a tour of the production area (which was in the bar) and then they told us how they made their beer. They produce 3 kids, a light colored beer, a red and a double malt. They then sat us down and to our surprise out came sliced meats, bread and pizza after pizza. On a hard crust there was about 6 different kinds, each coming after the other. With a pizza for every 4 or 5 people there was alot to go around. Cheese was followed by prociutto followed by mushroom then mixed veggies then a white pizza then a pesto pizza then a caper and anchovi pizza a spicy red pepper pizza and finally the classic basil mozarella and tomato. The beer was easily the best I've had in Florence and they served us with pitchers of each kind. It was a great class! After that we met up with Brittany and then went to the german market. Yesterday Mario me and a couple other guys from school walked to Cacine park to play some basketball. We were met there by our teacher, Damiano, and a few other kids from school. Surprisingly there was a crowd at the court - about 25 people were there. The most Ive seen there previously was 10 so I was very excited. We got to play full court and half court games for about 4 hours and Im proud to say that I didnt loose a game! Included was a game winner in my teachers face! Its fun playing with Italians because its a chance to learn alot of words that I wouldnt learn in class. Not just cuss words but slang and other everyday words that they dont teach. After our teacher gave us a ride home we went back to the market to try some different sausage and walked around looking at decorations. There was about a 3 week period where the streets seemed slow and unpopulated but its picking back up now with the holidays and the streets are full of energy again. I cant believe that Im Packing up in 2 weeks and going to stay in NY. Sometimes it feels like its going by really fast but then I think about everything Ive done and I know that it hasnt. Next semester should be even better because supposedly we are getting the nicest apartment available and Ill be able to do more. I had been limiting my travel because I didnt want to run out of money next semester but now that I made it throught this one Ill be free to do more. Althought I wish I could see everyone at home Im really excited to go to NY. Especially for 3 weeks because Ill actually be able to get a feel for the city, instead of just going for a weekend. I'm looking forward to all the touristy stuff as well as trying to get on Conan O'brien and SNL. Not only that but two of my best girlfriends will be in NY for the holidays so I'll get to spend time with them. Then its off to Rome to meet big Poppa and conquer Europe! He's a great explorer so we should have a very interesting time.