Goodbye for Now

Arriverderci Rome

                My last week of Rome consisted of many bitter sweet moments. I spent my last weekend touring the ancient port city to Rome, Ostia with my history professor and my classmates. We arrived to the site and spent the day listening to Jan-isms.

                Some examples of these Jan-isms are when he asks us questions pertaining to the readings that we “had” done before class and when no one knows the answer he goes into rants saying “do you want to me to commit ritual homicide by jumping off this cliff here?” Or picking on one of my fellow peers- mostly Hannah; “Goddammit Hannah!”

                The rest of my weekend was filled with studying for my three finals that I had that week all the while trying to entertain my friend that had traveled to Rome from his program in Madrid for the weekend.

                Skipping the time spent studying I felt like the last week of Rome was one of the most bonding times of the trip. All of us in the group were waking up from the dream of being abroad and were realizing what an amazing group we have all been apart of.

                For my last abroad seminar class taught by my director, Greg, we all shared moments from both sites in which we cherish the most. Some choose to recall hilarious episodes while others chose the sentimental path. Each person shared a moment that we could all agree upon being special and woud be one of our favorite memories as well.

                Some examples are:

Caitlin, Gretchen, Katie, Danielle, and I all shared the love that we had of climbing up Mount Olympus in Greece especially the moment where I burned my socks and melted my keens after trying to dry them off/heat them up after our summit climb.

Our whole group agreed that our tour of Delphi (a city filled with tourists traps and incest) with our History Professor Robert Pitt yelling at the random tourists of the sites:

                                “Curious people aren’t they”- to a Chinese group who were taking our picture

                                “I wish that I had a gun so I could shoot him in the head” – to the loud British man

Anther favorite memory of mine was going to the soccer game with Alexandra, Amy, George and Nickos- then celebrating the win at a hookah bar afterwards.

In Rome, we all agreed that our Thanksgiving in Florence was a weekend that we will never forget. We all loved remembering things that Paulo would say or point out- which was always about nudity.

We all had different memories that we cherished and I really liked hearing them all. 

               Caitlin said a really sentimental one about how when she was at the Vatican for the Papal Audience,        she was listening to the Pope as he was speaking he switched to English from Italian and it took her a while to even notice the switch which made her sad that when she back in America she wouldn't be hearing any the Italian language as much and she was going to miss it. 

              Wade remarked that he loved walking at night in the streets of Rome with a group observing all of the Christmas lights illuminating the roads as the roamed through the Via Velenzia, Via Del Corso, and the streets by the Spanish steps and by the Piazza Navona.

              I have to say that I really loved my time that I spent with my sister in the little town of Lucca. I truly enjoyed my time that I spent walking around in the slight drizzle on the uneven cobble stones of the ancient and enclosed city. It felt like I had gone back in time to the days that the city was built. 

I spent my last free day climbing the Dome of St. Peter's. It was AWESOME! I am so glad that I did it by myself. It was right around sun set and I was able to see the sun begin to dip down on the Roman horizon.

 a look down from the top of the St. Peter's Dome

 The view of the Roman horizon

 On top of the St. Peter's

Here I am, on the top!

My last look at the Vatican.

I can't believe that my time in Rome, and my time abroad, is done. I have seen so many things and I have learned soo much in only four months. I have grown so close to the 29 other members of my group and my directors Greg and Jeanine. I have built some relationships that will keep for a lifetime.