
25 Things I’m Grateful For
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in America! Woo! Tomorrow is also 25 days until I return to America. In order to be festive, I decided to do a blog post about the 25 things I’m incredibly grateful for.
- I’m grateful for my parents. I couldn’t ask for such hardworking, kind, and caring parents. They’ve made me who I am and have taught me everything I know. They’re also very supportive for everything I do. I know that not many parents are like that. I’m very grateful for that.
- I’m grateful for my brothers. I’ve always looked up to them growing up and I’m so glad they’re making their marks in this world.
- I’m grateful for having heat in my house. After living in Italy without heat, I now understand what it is like not to have heat in your house and how precious it really is.
- I’m grateful for working Internet. I know this must be insane to a lot of people. But after living in a house with wifi that would stop working around 6-7pm I think of the good times when Siena Air stopped working for a couple of minutes. It’s helped me become very patient and less reliable on the Internet… and that’s coming from a blogger!
- I’m incredibly excited and grateful to return to a working phone once I’m in the states. Relying on wifi to send a text has been a little stressful.
- I’m grateful for my dogs. After not being able to see my dogs for four whole months, I can say this is something I’m tremendously grateful for. I can’t wait to see their wagging tails and drooling faces.
- I’m grateful for music. Fun fact: Pandora and songza doesn’t work in Italy (Netflix just came to Italy in October). I’ve been dependent on my ITunes library for the past 4 months. All my songs are from 2009 by the way. I’m looking forward to listening to Pandora and Songza as soon as I get home.
- I’m grateful for my boyfriend. He has stuck through me running off to a foreign country for four months and dealt with barely being able to Facetime once a week due to spotty wifi. He deserves a million thank yous and a round of applause.
- I’m grateful for being able to buy food whenever I need to. Seeing beggars every day makes you realize how fortunate you are to be able to eat at night.
- I’m grateful for Mickey and Courtney. They’ve dealt with me mispronouncing almost every Italian sentence. They’ve also dealt with me getting extremely excited and overemotional when I saw certain sights. I’m grateful for our long talks and wonderful adventures.
- I’m grateful to be safe. I never feel like I’m going to be mugged or stabbed in Siena, Italy. I never feel that way in Connecticut or in New York. I know many, many people in this world don’t feel safe where they are and I’m incredibly grateful that I do.
- I’m grateful for home cooked food. One could only imagine how excited I am for my parent’s cooking. I’m also coming home to Christmas food… the holy grail of food in the Porter house.
- I’m grateful for all the 20+ flavors of gelato I’ve had in the past three months. I’ve loved every single one.
- I’m grateful for having clothes. After living out of a suitcase for 3 months, you can kind of say I’m a little tired wearing the same thing over and over again. I’m looking forward to wear all of my clothes, but I’m incredibly grateful for the clothes I have now.
- I’m grateful for having dryers. Dryers do not exist in Italy so you have to wait three days for your clothes to dry inside. I miss getting warm clothes out of the dryer. The clothes at home are also soft because of the fabric softener.
- I’m grateful for apertivo that costs 5 euros.
- I’m grateful for figuring out public transportation. I’m actually really proud of myself. It took me a while (two weeks) to figure out how to actually get home, but I figured it out and I’m so proud! Maybe I’ll be able to figure out the Albany buses…
- I’m grateful for each and every one of you for reading my blog! I never thought I’d have this many people reading and even following it. I’m up to 60+ countries reading my blog! How cool is that!
- I’m grateful for speaking English. It is a language that many people speak in other countries. If I came to Europe speaking another language it would be even harder to communicate with others.
- I’m grateful for my professors. I love how my professors in New York and Italy get to know their students. I’m not a number at either college and I really like that.
- I’m grateful that I go to Siena College. If I did not go to Siena I wouldn’t have met all these wonderful people. Siena students are some of the most genuine, thoughtful people I have ever met. I don’t know if it’s in the oxygen, saga food, or maybe even just the Franciscan catholic morals that make the students and professors the way they are. I can definitely say I’m looking forward to going back to Siena.
- I’m grateful for the community I was raised in. I grew up in a small community where everyone knows everyone. I loved how quaint and beautiful it gets in every season. I love how I was 15, 20, or 30 minutes away from everything.
- I’m grateful for being able to see all the different countries I’ve seen. I never would have thought I’d see this many by 20! I’m incredibly fortunate.
- I’m grateful to for picking Siena, Italy as my study abroad location. It is such a wonderful city filled with so people who love the city. I’ve fallen in love with this amazing medieval city.
- I’m grateful for this opportunity to be in Italy and to explore this section of the world. It’s crazy to think that I only have 25 days left. I can remember just yesterday what it felt like on the first day. I’ve come a long way and this trip has made me more grateful for every aspect of my life. I have a warm home, great food, and great company.
What are you thankful for? Let me know in the comments!
As always,

