Every New Beginning...

I don’t know if Blogs are meant to have endings, but I seem to find myself at one.

Here I am once more, 30,000 in the air, on the return path of my flight 112 days ago.  So, what did I do?

I survived.

I survived living in a different country with a different language and a very different culture.  I survived jet lag and traveling almost every other weekend.  I survived very different classes and professors with limited English vocabularies.  I survived a rumored earthquake that was supposed to level half of the city on May 11^th.  But I did a lot more than that.

I ate incredible food, half of which I still don’t know exactly what I was eating.  I saw amazing views, beautiful works of art, and miraculous architecture.  And I made some unbelievably great friends to share it all with.

I lived.

Last night was my dear friend and roommate Dorothy’s 21^st Birthday and our last night in Rome.  I woke up at 7:00am Friday morning and have been laughing, crying, and hugging ever since.  Apparently, sleep did not fit into our busy schedule for our last 24 hours.  We finished our exams, got dressed up, and had one last dinner in Trastevere.  There were countless toasts, a few tears, and summer and fall reunion planning.

It was an incredible semester.  Thank you to all of my family and friends from home who sent their love half way around the world.  Thank you to all of my readers, I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing.  Thank you to all of my friends in Rome, you did the impossible and made the semester even better than I could ever imagine.  And, as always, thank you Mom and Dad for this incredible opportunity and your unconditional love and support.

Goodbye for now, my Italy.