''I said it's something free that means a lot to me, when I'm with my friends I feel home''

So it has almost been a whole month here in Perugia and I cannot even begin to believe that it has been that long already! This month has flown by!! After being a little under the weather at the beginning of this week, I felt for the first time, slightly homesick as well. I think that that's a common occurrence though, when you are feeling sick in a new environment, its natural to miss being close to home and family members. Even at Northeastern, if I'm sick, I'm only a short car ride away, and I can easily head home for a night to recoup. Unfortunately 30 miles by car is a lot easier to travel in a day than the some 3000 miles by plane that I am from home right now. Luckily, my friends here have been taking care of me! One has even brought me cold medicine, tissues and some medicated tea! Being this far from home, your friends become your family a lot more quickly than at home. I have some girlfriends at home that are legitimately a part of my family, and it's nice to know that even this far from home, there are a few people here that already mean almost as much to me as my best friends.
Luckily for me, I didn't come to Perugia having known no one at all. I have one of my sorority sisters here with me and its nice to have a little piece of my life in the states here with me. It has made my transition to life in this new city and country that much easier. As much as you can be linked to the other students here through the shared experiences you are having currently, its nice to be around someone who knows your history. Someone who you already share a bond with, to experience these new things together.
And this week, yesterday actually, one of our other sorority sisters who is backpacking her way through Europe stopped in to visit with us! She was traveling around Italy and had an extra day, so she stopped by with us to see where we were studying and living. It is so nice to see more familiar faces in a place with so few! And its fun to show people from back home in the US around this new city that I have come to call home in Italy. Visitors like her make me glad I'm here, experiencing all of these new things. It reassures me that this was the right choice for me, because it reminds me that home - the people and the places - will always be home, and that is something that can't change, but this experience and this adventure that I'm on right now is something that might change my life forever and I would have regretted not taking the chance that I did in coming here.
In realizing that I've been here almost a month now, makes me also realize that I don't have that much time to spend here, so even though there might be the beginning pangs of homesickness, I'm not worried. I have people here that are becoming just like family, I have a few ties to my life back in Boston and I only have 2 and half months left to be away from everyone else. Since this past month has seemed to go by so quickly I can only imagine that the rest will fly by just as much; though I most definitely do not want it to!