c'e il fine ..

hi. it's me again. i know it's been quite a while. i wanted to blog while i was still in rome but the last two weeks there were out of control and i had no internet access whatsoever. boo roma for having terrible wireless.

so yes, anna is back in the states. not happy about it, but she's here. i've been back for almost two weeks now and i still feel like i just left rome yesterday. but, this blog is for the update of the last two weeks i spent in rome, so let's get on with it shall we?

let's see. last i updated lisey and rach came to visit for the weekend. uber fun, as expected. the next week was horrendously stressful. between studying for finals and attempting to see everything on my list i never got to see the whole semester i was a huge stressball. it was crazy. wrote my nasty philo paper on whether God has being or is contained in being. what bullshit that was. chucked out my theo final, which actually wasn't that bad at all. then of course to celebrate the end of classes we went to sloppy sam's, anima, and scholar's and all that jazz. first we had our last aperitivo with dawson in the vatican, then walked over the bridge past castel saint'angelo to piazza navona and then to eat dinner at the pantheon yumm! lots of things went down that night that i won't go into detail about. but it was interesting. lol. anyways, that sunday i finally made it to pisa! teresa came with me, even though she missed our train and had to take a later one. we climbed the tower (a bajillion steps mind you, i was so winded). the view was gorgeous! and the weird thing was when you were standing on the top you could feel the lean! mindboggling i know. haha. afterwards we went to the duomo and took the obligatory pictures with the tower - holding it up, kicking it, leaning against it, licking it? all in all it was a great time, and i really needed a day off from schoolwork.

monday was back to the grind. crammed all day for the history final. if i ever have to read another word about a roman emperor i might kill someone. seriously. the test wound up not being so bad, but maybe that was because i studied like a madman for it. we'll see what kind of grade she gives me. then wednesday was the as roma soccer game!!! they played cagliari and won 2-0. it was sooo much fun! we met these cute young guys who were sitting next to us and they were insane about soccer. one of them asked laura to marry him! lol. we heard lots of our favorite roman curse words, which made us laugh every 5 seconds. it was so much fun. and even though it was legit the night before our theo final we didnt even care. screw the popes. i'm enjoying my last week in rome.

thursday then was the second part of our theo final. 80 popes to memorize. fuck that's about? i did not enjoy studying that after the game til like 4am. he gave us 25 on the test and we had to write about 16. woohoo. found out later i got an A. go me. so glad that was over. once that final was over i was free!! no more exams or studying or anything! it was party time until sunday. and boy did we party. we had our last family dinner together on thursday because diego was going to a concert the next day during our final cena with the whole program so he couldn't come. but it was so much fun. she gave us wine and made us the most delicious food! it made us feel special again. we talked for a really long time. diego gave us his email address (magicodiego lmao. because anything with soccer "non e' professionale"). he showed us some things in his room - a dart board with lazio in the middle, his posters, videos of ligabue at a concert etc. it was a sad goodbye, but we're gonna keep in touch. i think j9 was sadder than me that day bc "diegino" is her fave.

next day was tour time! j9 and i got up early and hit up the janicolo (thanks to niccolo's shit directions it took us forever). it was really pretty! we walked around a bit, then rode the 44 to venezia, went in the museum and took pictures near the monument. then after lunch we hit up piazza farnese bc i was dying to see what pope paul iii took from the baths of caracalla. there were two bins from the frigidarium that were outside, so that was so cool to see! the palazzo had al of the sculptures like the hercules and whatnot, but we didn't go in. afterwards we headed back home to pack. what an adventure. thank god i sent so much stuff home because there was no way everything was gonna make it over. then we got ready and nunzia took us to the final dinner near the gesu'. it was a yummy dinner, and ale was there! he kept pouring me wine and refilling me when i wasnt looking. i think he was trying to get me drunk that sneak. lol. the boys all dressed up in their new italian suits and they looked so handsome and sexxy. love a guy in a tie. lol. we took lots of pictures and said some tearful goodbyes (to aurora, silvia, mario, and ale!) i was tearing up a bit, but had to keep my composure in front of everyone. i promised myself i could lose it when i was alone. anyways, then afterwards we all decided to go out in trastevere to this class bar called izzo. nice choice manny! we all crowded the 8 tram from argentina and took it near trilussa. we stormed the bar and took over downstairs. there was a bearskin rug on the floor- we knew they meant business. so all like 30 of us, decked out in suits and cocktail dresses and skirts ordered the classiest drinks and danced the night away. it was such a great time, and it made me realize how much i was going to miss everyone i met in rome. we really are an amazing group, and we got along so well together. it was like we really fit together. we got home late, as usual, then it was little sleep time before our last day in rome.

our last day in rome, saturday, was a great one. we met at the spanish steps and had lunch, then headed out to villa borghese for a game of sardines. i know, we're so cool. villa borghese is beautiful! we played for a little while, then stood by this "magical tree" and passed around a bottle of wine, sharing stories like we were around a campfire. lol. it was awesome. j9 even took a swig- i was so proud! her transformation was complete lol. afterwards we went back to the steps to see if we could find the pope crowning mary on top of the column, but the place was insane! i never realized how popular the feast of the immaculate conception is. anyways, we wound up walked to piazza del popolo (which i hadnt seen since la notte bianca) and took the metro home. we waited forever for the 31 (no shock there) and got home to finish packing and get ready for dinner. then we met the girls at the trevi and walked to l'archetto for our final dinner in rome. so sad! the food was amazing, as always. afterwards we walked past the pantheon for one last time and headed over to piazza navona for the christmas mercato! i bought lots of ornaments for everyone, and jessie and i rode the carousel in the middle of piazza navona like 5 yr olds. so if anyone ever asked how i spent my last day in rome, i'll tell them i played sardines in villa borghese and rode a carousel in piazza navona lol. anyways, afterwards we met up with the crew on the spanish steps and drank wine, just like we did on our first night. love that we started and ended the same way. then we went to old bell near via barberini and ddv came to meet us at the bar. i had absinthe- an alcohol that's apparently illegal in the us. awesome! hey, i was gonna go out with a bang right? the waitress brought my drink to the table and there was a black spoon with a sugar cube on top of the shot. she lit the sugar on fire and it crystallized and dripped down to the absinthe. then she lit the absinthe on fire and added a little water. holy crap it was so strong! all i needed was that shot and i would have been so set for the night lol. all in all it was a great night and a perfect ending to the most amazing 4 months of my life.

we wound up sleeping like 2 hours that night only to get up mad early to get to the airport on sunday. nunzia and niccolo woke up early just to have breakfast with us how sweet is that! nunzia was crying a bit when she said goodbye to us. it was so sad! it was quite an adventure to get the beast and the collosal down 4 floors to the taxi but i managed. we made it to the airport, and of course the beast handles broke on me. awesome. i only went over on one bag, i think it was 32kg. the other was totally fine, which i was surprised about. go me! lol. it was basically all the loyola kids at the airport who were flying home on the 9th bc the depaul and catholic kids were staying extra time to travel. lucky. we left at 9:55am roma time and landed about 2:15ish newark time. i had no problems with customs thank god, and was legit bombarded by the rentals as soon as i walked out of baggage claim. they even bought me flowers. how redic. they took me straight to grandma's to see the fam and they were all so happy to see me. it was good to be home.

that feeling, however, lasted for maybe like the first three days. now i'm bored as hell and i hate americans. lol. all i want to do is go back to rome. not even like i want to. i NEED to. rome became such a part of me. it's my home. i tried explaining this to my mother but she just doesn't understand. i waited for this semester for so long. i wanted to study in rome since the 6th grade. i had the most amazing and perfect 4 months of my life, and now it's over. what do i have to look forward to now? mcats? labs? graduation? yipee.

i am so glad i studied abroad. i had to work my ass off to get there, and had to work around my schedule to fit it, but i'm so glad i did. studying in rome was the best decision i have ever made. i would have regretted it and hated myself if i didn't go because of orgo or physics or that crap. rome changed me. i feel like i'm a completely different person. i don't know if that's a good or bad thing. we'll have to see what happens. but i will always remember the people i met, the places i visited, the things i saw while abroad. i love italy. i love europe. so much. i could definitely see myself living there. i wish i could live there. it's so different from here, and i think that's why i love it so much. i miss roma already, and i want to go back so badly. i technically do have an excuse to go back to italy though - my family in bari, first of all. plus kat is studying in firenze next semester and hannah is studying in roma. i'm so jealous of them, specifically hannah bc she's going to be doing everything i just did. lucky girl. she's going to have an amazing time.

well i guess this is the end to my little travel blog. it's been a great ride, and i wouldn't trade these last 4 months for anything in the world.

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."

ciao bella roma. mi manchi molto. tutto insieme per sempre. ♥