Welcome to the Country-Kansas

I flew out to Kansas with sweaty palms knowing that here it is I am going to be reunited once again with my Italian fling who isn't Italian he is Norwegian and from Minnesota. As I sat in the Airport I turned on my laptop and my skype came on. A couple minutes later I received the horrible news that my classmate at CIMBA Danielle Sloan had passed away. It broke my heart. I remained calm and puzzled as I boarded the flight out to Kansas. I couldn't believe it? Why does God take away good people from earth? I know that Danielle is in a better place now and I can understand why she decided to take her own life. I just wish I could have talked to her one more time before she passed and I could have given her the Switzerland video.

When I arrived in Kansas I was so happy to see my best friend Amanda and her husband Cheynne (my adopted best friend). The first thing we did was hit the bars. We celebrated with $6.00 pitchers of Sangria at Coco Bolos. The night turned to a crazy twist when we went to Tubbys and started taking shots. Half drunk I ended up picking up a conversation with some random guy who was cute but not exactly my type. He had a couple flaws. Being a little dare devil that I am I later danced on the bar in front of a group of people at Rustys. It was pretty crazy but a girl should always have some fun in her life.
I spent the remainder of the week hanging out in her classroom, visiting the local stores, and watching Sex and the City.
On Friday I left for Lawrence to attend the Funeral of Danielle Sloan. I decided to carpool with Tara because I thought she knew where she was going. Boy was I wrong! We ended up having the wrong directions and showed up at the funeral as people were walking out because it was over. We went to the Plaza in Kansas City and I talked to Danielle's Dad, Aunt, and boyfriend Henry. Henry was totally distraught. I felt so bad for him and he wouldn't stop blaming himself. I did my best to comfort him but that boy is going to be scared for the rest of his life by this experience. To make matters only worst- Danielle was his first girlfriend.
After a couple days in Manhattan I headed over to Lawrence to reunite with some CIMBAs. It was quite the experience since I haven't seen them since Italy. I first met up at Colleen's place and she wanted to go on a 40 minute run so I decided to join her. We met up at Free State and then headed over to Quintons. I was reunited with my Italian fling and it was very awkward at first because I wasn't sure how to behave except myself. We ended up spending a lot of time together and it felt like we were back in Italy together all over again. The next day I drove around looking at the local sites and spending some time in the pool relaxing. The following evening I joined the Italians and MBAs to cook dinner together. Ethem made his Turkish meat balls. Eva made a peach snapps and garden salad while Mr. Botten helped with the rice and Alberto cooked the meat balls. It felt like we were back in Asolo all participating in household chores. We then went out and had a blast on Mass Street again at Quintons. My final day in Lawrence was spent at Buffalo Wild Wings with a couple MBAs watching the euro cup soccer game. I was secretly shooting for Germany but I couldn't disappoint my Turkish soccer fans. It was an amazing soccer game. Botten and I left in the middle to finish watching at his place and I couldn't believe I missed two goals. The final goal was so impressive because it came in the last couple minutes and was an easy two touch pass.
Leaving wasn't as bad as leaving Italy because I was ready to get back to Cali. I also found out the Italians were going to Vegas the following weekend and I had already planned on going too. So looks like we will be reunited again. Amanda and her hubby are moving back to Cali and should be back in a week so it's not a bad goodbye since I will be able to see them all again real soon