Had to share this...

The mis-matching socks are what got me here...happens every time.

Ciao, ciao

Well, it looks like it might just be time for me to leave.

Tomorrow is my last day in Italy. Technically I leave Friday, but days spent on airplanes do not count as days.

Exams are done-wait, is it still an exam if you're drinking wine with it? Oh right, yes, this is Italy, and I was graded on how I drank that wine. Bags are packed, passport is located and ready to go. Flight is triple-checked, gluten-free meal is reserved. Last call for cheesy souvenir requests. Wine popener anyone?

Yesterday evening as a last hurrah my Tavel Writing class adventured to the Hotel Raphael, a beautiful, vine-covered hotel just off the far corner of Piazza Novona. We toasted the view from the rooftop bar with a bottle of prosecco, and watched those glorious twenty minutes when the last daylight turns Rome gold. A perfect sendoff, thank you Andi.

I suppose this is where I'm supposed to have some big, epitomizing thought to show how my semester abroad changed my life, but all that is coming to mind is how leaving the Eternal City feels a lot less like saying 'goodbye' and a lot more like saying 'see you later'. This is Rome. I am leaving it in good hands, hands that will still be gesturing wildly over their fifth espresso before noon when I return.

So in the words of Brad Pitt, arrivederci.

Oh yeah...

I can't believe I forgot to mention my trip to space before now. It was a little over-rated, to be honest. Everything looked almost fake. 

Abruzzo

Last Friday LdM went into the wild. We were told to prepare for hiking, cheese-making, and bears. Well, we walked quite a bit, but I wouldn't exactly call it hiking. The promise of cheese was more than fulfilled. Bears...we may have seen one. We definitely found some cows (jealous, Aunt Lynda?) Something about being in the countryside reverted us all back to children for the day-we frolicked, screamed at bugs, and ate sugar like it was our last day on earth. The weather was perfect, and I have the sunburns to prove it.

Overall, it was my favorite school trip. We walked through the beautiful national park to a cabin where we made ricotta, and had a dizzyingly good lunch of ravioli, salad, sausages, wine, and coffee, and ricotta with nutella for desert. We then all promptly passed out in the sunshine.

The water was lovely.

Although I love Rome, this trip reminded me how much I miss nature. Ancient ruins are nice and all, but give me any old mountain over the coliseum any day. Especially if I continue to stumble upon such great coffee in the middle of the woods. Flower child at heart for sure.

The South

A few weekends ago Liese and I visited Naples, and then we drove through it again two weeks ago on our way to the Amalfi Coast. Before I get to the rest of the trip, I would like to turn to my good friend Ross Geller to explain Naples for me:

"You know how you throw your jacket on the chair at the end of the day… like that, only instead of a chair it’s a pile of garbage, and instead of a jacket it’s a pile of garbage, and instead of the end of the day it's the end of time and garbage is all that has survived."


Yup, that pretty much sums up Naples.

On to the coast...

Well, I was going to write a lot about the coast but I don't think I can do it justice, so instead, photos-and lots of 'em!

This was the view from our hotel room. It reminded me of Spain so much it hurt.

The foggy weather was beautiful, not even a little depressing. It set a good mood for the area; nearby is supposedly where Ulysses sailed by the sirens-very mythical.

Oh, we also toured a pasta factory. Never fear, those are not my hands holding all that gluten. Gross.

Because it's not fast food. No really, that's it. The slow food movement was founded in response to the McDonalds put in at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. They are preserving the integrity of food-and my god are they doing it right.