Saying goodbye is never easy...

On Thursday night, the time finally came: we had our farewell dinner, and said our goodbyes.  We had a lovely (very Italian) dinner of mozzarella, prosciutto, tomatoes, grilled veggies, pizza, pasta, and panna cotta.  But we weren't very focused on our food; mostly we were just trying to enjoy our last night together, and not think about the fact that in a few short hours we would be saying goodbye.  We toasted our professors and each other, saying thank you for an amazing term.  When the time came, there were some tears and a lot of hugs.  As a senior, I will not be returning to Carleton in the fall, so I was feeling particularly sad.  Yet I kept reminding myself that the goodbyes were hard because I loved the group so much.  If I weren't sad to say goodbye, it would mean that I hadn't formed the amazing bonds and friendships that I did over the ten weeks.  Besides, with modern technology, staying in touch is a much easier thing to do.  As I sit in a coffee shop back in Northfield, I am texting with one of my friends from the program who is in Prague for a week.

Reflecting back on the term, I am so happy I decided to go to Rome.  I have not even the slightest bit of regret about going.  Going abroad spring term of your senior year is uncommon, and it's a big decision.  It meant leaving behind my friends of four years for my last term in hopes of making new friends in a new city.  I guess I figured that at the very worst, I would be in a cool city for ten weeks, and I felt independent enough to travel on my own even if I didn't make any friends.  Little did I know I would come away with two dozen new friends who mean the world to me.  We traveled together, studied together, laughed together, and cried together.  We saw each other through the adventures and stresses of navigating a new place, and our friendships came away stronger because of it.

I also had the opportunity to get to know a beautiful and friendly country with so much to offer.  We travelled all over Italy, and yet I still feel like I've only scraped the surface; I am so excited to go back!  Rome was an amazing city, with so much history to share with us.  Each day I saw something different and learned something new.  Getting to live in a residential neighborhood with "regular" Italians living their "regular" lives allowed me to sink into life in Rome.  I felt like I was actually living there, that I wasn't just a tourist, because when I went home in the evenings I didn't see any tourists, and I went grocery shopping just like the rest of the neighborhood's residents.

I would like to say "thank you!" to the wonderful students, professors, and country who made my term in Italy some of the best months of my life!

Ciao, Roma!  It's been wonderful!  Until next time...

With my apartment-mates on one of our last nights in Rome--photo credit to Will Schedl