3 days until final jury, 12 days until the final day of the program, and 3 weeks until my flight back to the states…
Once again I ask, "where has the time gone?" It literally seems like just yesterday I had taken my very first international flight and set foot on foreign soil for the very first time in my 20 and a half years of life. Italy. A place of diversity, culture, romance, beauty, and history. An exciting new world for those of us from the "new world." I have never fallen so quickly and deeply in love with a place in my life as I have with Italy… with Europe. I will always be an American and of course I hold the utmost pride and love for where I come from but where one comes from can sometimes be different from where they belong. And even in the term belonging there are periods of temporary belonging and permanent belonging. Whichever belonging Italy may be for me, it pains me to leave so soon and I will but count the days until I can return.
For the next three days we will all be wrapped up in our final projects and working on our next theory draft and it goes without question that those days will fly by. After Wednesday we begin Easter Break and while some of us are traveling far, some of us near, with a few remaining in Rome, everyone will be trying to see the rest of what they can and enjoy the last bits of Europe while we have the few days off. Before we all know it it'll be Tuesday, the start of our very last week together in Rome. Bittersweet.
I think almost everyone here has different feelings about leaving Rome; some are most excited to go home and see family, a few could spend many more weeks before returning home, and others wish to spend just a little time home and return to Europe afterwards… But I think it is commonly felt that it is about time that the semester does come to an end and that the 20 of us (22 with Eric and Marina) disperse from each other for a while… I personally have such mixed feelings; I am extremely excited to see my family and friends from home and to do all the typical summer things like BBQs, boating, suntanning, and even working my two jobs this summer. I am definitely ready to be back in my own bedroom and family home but at the same time I wish, after a few weeks at home, I could return to life here. I already know how much I am going to miss the sounds and smells and adventures of everyday living in Rome. I going to miss walking everywhere, passing by the Pantheon, the Colosseum, or the Vatican whenever I feel like it. I may even die without gelato… Ice cream (and dare I say it, Abbott's Custard) can't even begin to compare to Giolitti (best gelato in Roma) or any gelato for that matter. I've already decided to pack my bag full of the large jars of Nutella (and even some of the generic Clever kind because it is so much more delicious) so I don't have to give that up just yet (though lets be real, I'll probably go through a jar a day). Then there's the homemade pasta, the exceptional nightlife, the exceptional daylife, cornetti, cafe, cappuccini, hot chocolate, pizza, panini… Via del Corso, Parco della Musica, Tiber Island, the Tempieto, the Forum, Campidoglio, Vittorio Emanuele, Campo de Fiori, the Jewish Ghetto, Largo Argentina, and our beloved Trastevere, just to name a few things.
But truthfully, the thing I am going to miss the most is the language. Speaking and hearing italian along with bits of french, german, spanish, polish and who knows what else… I'm going to miss speaking italian (or trying to speak italian), I'm going to miss hearing the conversations around me and trying to understand them, I'm gong to miss listening to people speaking english not even realizing they're speaking english. The United States is going to seem so much less diverse and cultured and intriguing when I return…
When I was first preparing to leave for Italy, my parents were extremely worried that I would have the worst homesickness and a very uneasy transition. To this day I still have not longed uncontrollably for home. There have certainly been times when I thought of home and how nice it would be to be snuggled into my bed away from everything else but I think I can honestly say that I never really missed home. It goes without saying that I miss my family and friends but the adventure and joy I've been finding here has always made the sacrifice and distance worth it. I don't miss the physical place of home or the States either. I think the harder transition for me is going to be when I'm back in the States, wanting to and not knowing when I'll be able to return to Europe. It's true what our professors have said before us leaving for Italy about the inevitable changes we were all going to go through. Not one of us is going to come back the same person from this trip as we were when we left. I think mostly the change has been for the good but only the next years will tell for sure.
Indeed I think this turned out to be a decent ramble which means it is time to turn my attention to the final project that sits before me while I have a quiet and empty studio at my resource. Ciao for now.
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