Un Viaggio Italiano: My Last Day in Italy

Bags are mostly packed. Clothes picked out for tomorrow. My room feels empty. Letters need to be written. Cleaning the apartment must commence. Finals are finished, not like I cared about them anyways. I have less than 24 hours left in this beautiful country, and it is a strange feeling indeed.

I said goodbye to my teachers, and goodbye to my landlord. I said goodbye to the Kebab guys, but I have a good feeling that I will see them again tonight. I went to the market for the last time and said goodbye to the Gerald Butler-looking chicken man, and to my vegetable lady who wasn't there. I was really sad; she always made me smile and sold me the cheapest veggies I could find. I said goodbye to some good friends already, which brought lots of tears that I wasn't prepared for. I've said many goodbyes in my life, especially to my boyfriend in the Air Force, but nothing like this. Will I ever see these people again? I hope so, but most of them I probably won't. There's a sense of finality that I am having a hard time coping with.

I am so excited to go home, but I am not ready to leave. I'm excited to eat Cheez-Its whenever I want, see my loud and amazing family everyday, be silly with Nathan, laugh with Rachel, eat cookie dough with Bonnie, watch Boy Meets World with Cooper, live it up with Carly, get a kissy from my big boy Murphy, and actually spend meaningful and LONG overdo time with my boyfriend, Michael. But at the same time, I am so sad to not joke around with Lindsey, not have thought provoking discussions with Nathan, not goof around with Jimmy/Angelo/Steve, not have Molly to laugh with, not cook with Becca, and not have Laura whenever I need my best friend. It's all a very conflicting set of emotions and feelings, so right now let's call this whole paragraph "bittersweet."

Past Couple of Days: I finally climbed the Duomo dome and saw all of Florence again, just like I did at the beginning of the semester with Giotto's Bell Tower. I bought all my gifts for friends back home. I did pub trivia and appretivo for the last time. I took my final exams; probably could've tried harder, but it's hard to focus with so much on my mind. A shooting happened 5 minutes away from my place, and 2 market workers were killed. All the vendors closed their shops for a day to commemorate the loss and protest the racism. I had never seen San Lorenzo be so eerie in my life. We never went ice skating, but I'm not worried about it. It hasn't stopped raining the past week, but today a little sunshine has decided to peak through.

Tonight: Family dinner. Secret Santa. Finnegan's for the last time (welp!!) and one last goodbye to my good friend Duo (the Duomo). Possibly secret bakery? Who knows with our gang. I'm excited to spend my last night with my Florence family, see where the night takes us, and then it's goodbye for a little while.