- Last week were my FINAL exams. Literally. As of Thursday morning around 10am, I am done with college!! It's pretty crazy. I don't think that's going to sink in either until I get my degree in the mail, until I walk in May, or until I actually get a full-time job. Regardless, I am done with academics - no more classes, no more homework, no more tests, no more papers.. definitely an awesome feeling. :)
- If you glance over at my counters on the left side of my blog, you'll see that I have three more days until home sweet home! Technically though, it's two and a wake-up, as my dad would say, since there is only the evening of today left. :)
- Clean and pack. This process has already begun. (Sort of.) Our room has been swept, random papers and notebooks have been sorted for tossing out, luggages are ready to be filled with stuff to go back home. Aaaand that's as far as I got for today. I was actually really excited about the notion of packing, and then I realized I didn't know where to start. So I'm tackling more of that tomorrow :P
- Hiking tomorrow! After Saturday's short hike on a trail overlooking Alba, I decided it needed to happen again, in greater length. It'll be like my last excursion to take in Alba in all its glory and give it all the appreciation it deserves :)
- Eat out at my favorite restaurants - Duchessa tonight (I wanted to see if I could repeat my feat of eating an entire pizza in one sitting, but alas, I did not succeed, haha), then I think Locanda tmrw and Hemingway on Wednesday. I'm also skipping out on cafeteria meals for lunches, b/c I have enough red tickets to tide me over. I had a lunch date with Nikki at VinCafe today and got this steak dish, and it was like, legit steak with herb seasoning.. so good! Basically I'm going to savor every last meal I have here in Italy.
- Gelato! At Desmosedici, our gelateria of choice, they have those buy 10, get 1 free cards. I only need two more stamps, and then I get a freebie. It's totally happening before we leave. :D
- Almost forgot about this one: I gotta do the last of the souvenir shopping - chocolates and cookies, mostly. :)
- Seeing family and friends, of course! I'm excited for hangout time with my friends, being able to bug my sister next door with random stuff that pops into my head, playing mahjong with my family, Christmas caroling with my best friends, movie nights, everything :)
- My bed, my room, my house, all familiar aspects of home.
- Mom's cooking :)
- The variety of available food.
- Decorating for Christmas!
- Hoodies and sweatpants, oh my goodness. Can't wait to bum it for basically the rest of winter :P
- Texting, and being able to use my phone in general.
- Driving.
- Being able to function in society b/c I'll know the language & customs :P
& Lastly, I don't have a list immediately in mind for this one, but this is what makes leaving Italy feel most bittersweet:
What I'm Going to Miss Most About Italy is..
the fact that it's absolutely, completely, utterly
gorgeous. beautiful. magnificent. stunning.
AWESOME.
I know that for much of this semester, I've kind of lost sight of how lucky I am to even be here. I'm in another country on another continent an entire ocean away from home. It's at times like this when God will remind me how fortunate I am to be here by opening my eyes to the splendor around me. Italy really is a beautiful country. I've got several pictures where I've tried to capture it, but of course they can't. This is why I'm stoked to go hiking again tomorrow, and take one last look out over the amazing town that has taken me in for the last three months. Being able to see the stunning landscapes and countryside with my own eyes is something that I'm not going to be able to relate to others when I'm back home; They can see the pictures I've taken and try to imagine being here, but soaking everything in with my own eyes and reveling in its magnificence is an experience that'll be all my own, and that's a memory that'll be most cherished when I think about Italy. :)
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