Sunday, May 2, 2010

home.

This is not going to be a post about how Italy/Europe is better than the U.S. At least I hope not.

I'm home! After the last week at school, which consisted of three performances and very emotional goodbyes, my dad and I set off in his rental car for a bed and breakfast in a small town called Cuna, outside of Siena. From there we drove to Florence for three days until we flew to Boston on Friday afternoon. We were lazy tourists, meaning we went to museums, but only for an hour before we decided to wander the streets and stumble across some gelato. Even though I started missing home a lot towards the end of the semester, it was so nice not having to go straight back after such an intense three months. A five day buffer was definitely necessary- at least for me.

After getting two bottles of wine and three cans of olive oil taken away from me (TSA, you suck), I sat on a plane for eight hours and traveled back in time. Literally. If you've ever flown from east to west for a long enough period of time, you'll know what I'm talking about. The sun just doesn't go down when it's supposed to and sleeping is difficult. The movies weren't working, so after I finished my book (the curious incident of the dog in the night-time), I just sat, listened to my ipod, and tried to process the past three months.

To make a long story short (because many of you will get the long one later), Italy and I had a love/hate relationship. Mostly love, though. The hate part really wasn't even hate, but more like "dislike for a little bit." I guess what I'm trying to say is there were way more positives than negatives to my semester. More pluses than minuses. And that is a good thing.

The performance we had in Cortona was definitely a perfect culmination of the work we had done in one of our core classes. And as always, it's wonderful to have the opportunity to perform on stage for the general public in addition to your friends and family. Despite the fact that we resented how thrown together we felt the show was, I don't think it would have worked any other way. It was a true Italian experience, to say the least.

Saying goodbye to people you've lived, worked, and played with for three months is never easy and I still feel weird waking up each morning and going down into my kitchen alone instead of the mensa full with sixteen other faces. We all got along really well and they are the ones who made the program what it was. Hopefully, there will be a few reunions next year, since some of our schools are relatively close on the east coast.

Slowly, but surely I'm adjusting to home. Running errands yesterday was weird and I think I might have looked like I was walking through the grocery store in a daze, but in a few days, everything will be back to normal. Summer is here, which means a lot of Bikram Yoga, visiting and hanging out with friends, and taking dance classes whenever I can before I go to camp for another summer. Then it's senior year, and well, let's not talk about that.

Since I'm home and this was a blog dedicated to my study abroad experience, this is the last post, so I hope you've enjoyed reading up on my adventures.
_____________________________________________________

Italy,

You were great. Maybe I'll see you again sometime.

Love,
Lizbie

for your listening pleasure.

and viewing pleasure.

No comments:

Post a Comment