Birthday in Italy!

Reasons why my 24^th birthday was anything but normal:

1.     I woke up and I was in Italy.

2.     I spent most of the day in Italy with Americans.

3.     I had my wish fulfilled of a Hello Kitty themed birthday. Cortney made me the best birthday cake of all time. Equal parts flour and sugar. An entire block of butter. An entire block of cream cheese. Plus glorious strawberries. It was amazing. Oh, and we had tacos for lunch. Win!

4.     I was surprised when I showed up to teach English to the kids and they had some very nice pink daises for me, complete with a drawing of me and a birthday cake. And they sang Happy Birthday to me and were extremely well behaved and no one cried. It was a great English lesson with some really sweet kids.

5.     I went to my favorite café in Naples, Azar Café, with Cortney and Ellie to enjoy the 3 C’s (coffee, Coke, chocolate). At night Azar has a million white lights on the trees and wall surrounding the outside seating area. It makes me feel like I’m in California. And now the weather is nice enough to be able to sit outside and take it all in.

6.     I went to dinner with my neighbors and their family. It was also one of the ESL mother’s birthdays. Of course, everyone is related here in some way because family is super important so they tend to stick together pretty closely. We went to a steak house and I ate a lot of food. So much so that I was sick the next day. But dang was it good. It was definitely a night to remember and one that takes up several pages in my journal.

7.     Two packages arrived for me! One from my sweet friend Emily and one from my parents. Talk about perfect timing! And I received a ton of very nice emails from friends and family. You guys have no idea how happy it makes me to hear from you. I miss you!

So basically I had the most random birthday of my life and one that I will surely never forget. I thought I was going to be all sad because I’m away from family. And I do wish I could have spent time with them. But I had a fantastic day with my Italian/American family here in Naples. I will never forget my 24^th birthday!