August was a fun month full of trips, friends, family, beaches, boats, and sun! Before my exciting trip home for the first time in 8 months, my 3 friends and I traveled to an island near Sicily called Ustica. It was one of my favorite trips..besides having to take a boat there with huge waves and wind at the time, it was amazing!!
We got there safely, thank god, rented a house and was able to rent the owners' boat for a day..the water was just the most beautiful color of turquoise I have ever seen! The island was made of volcanic rock, so the beaches were tiny black rocks instead of sand, but it was still sooo amazing! I did get stung by 2 jellyfish, but it was worth it to jump in even though barely a minute would pass without seeing a jellyfish..or 20 float by! I had a great time with great friends ..and then shortly after, I got to fly home for another vacation!
Visiting home was great because it had been 8 months since I had been back! I got to see my wonderful family and some of my friends from home and college! Of course, I took as much advantage as I could of my dad having a new boat! I also celebrated my 5 year high school class reunion and the following day was my 23rd birthday...so we had a lot to cheers for in this picture to the right! :) It was very difficult to leave home again, but what made it easier was that my brother and dad were coming to visit me only a few short weeks later!!
Having my brother and dad with me in September really helped me to be ok 
with leaving home in August…otherwise it would have been even harder! Having visitors is always fun…it’s like getting a little piece of home out there with me so I don’t get homesick! Of course, if you know my brother, dad, and me, we had a blast. I met them in Rome again like I did when my mom came out in June. Rome is a city I can never visit enough! I have been there about 4 times now to visit, and about I’d say around 10 times at least now to the airport or just to stay overnight as a connection to other places I was going. I never get sick of it! There’s always something new to see, find, and experience in this wonderfully historic country. So first we stayed in Rome for 2 nights…visited all the top spots, did some great tours, went to Vatican City, which was my first time there, and of course found some great restaurants and pubs to experience the delicious Italian wine and food! Then we headed down south to Palermo so I could show them where I live and meet my host family and friends. We only stayed one night/two days in Palermo, but I got to show them quickly what the city is about, the sea, my family and friends, and of course the top pubs and clubs I go to.
Next was Paris!! I was very excited for this trip because Paris is a city I have always wanted to go to, and now was my chance! It was also the first part of our trip 
that I haven't already been to before, so I was very excited to experience it with my dad and brother. Surprisingly, I could understand somewhat of what people were saying in French because of my knowledge of the Italian and Spanish languages. They are fairly similar, but my semester of French in middle school definitely didn't cut it! Luckily, most Parisians were able to speak English fairly well, so it was ok. They sure didn't seem to like to speak English though! Paris seemed like such a HUGE place (it is, but..still!). We did sooo much walking that I don't think it mattered that we ate soo much as well! The food was interesting for me in Paris because I wasn't sure what to expect. They had many of the things that Italy does with their pastas, meats, salads, and bread/cheese dishes..just with a French flavor to it. They sold crepes everywhere, of course, but at the ONE place we actually ordered it, the waitress took the crepe pre-made out of a refrigerated cooling shelf, probably tossed it on the skillet quick, and brought it to me. It was horrible. I should have tried another one at a different place, but I never did. Unfortunately, my brother ended up getting a really bad viral cold the last 2 days of our trip, and I had really sharp, bad pains in my stomach the last day. I felt bad for my dad because he didn't want to stay in the hotel when he was in Paris (who would!?!), but also didn't want to leave us. We ended up roughing it out and going to the sites we wanted as much as we could. My brother barely made it alive up the Eiffel Tower, but we did it!
My favorite view was standing on top of the Arc of Triomphe looking out at the Eiffel Tower and the rest of the beautiful city of Paris. We made it up to the top just as the sun was setting so we got to see the beautiful view during the day, night, and the sunset. Unfortunately my camera died, but my dad has his camera for us to take memories of this amazing view. Overall, my dad and brother's trip in Europe with me was a great time full of memories we will never forget! :)
