Last Few Hours

Calm, happy, scared, sad, ready, excited, giddy, nostalgic.

What have I learned this year, what have I gained, what have I lost... wow. It's been crazy, ups and downs and in-betweens, excitement and wonder and adventure, heartbreak, sadness, travel, beauty, friendship, love, sunshine... Bologna has given me so much, this year has given me so much. This summer was the best of my life, the best experience I could have hoped for this year.

Walking through Bologna today was surreal. The town is practically empty, of course, because it's August and in August all the Italians run to the sea. I wandered through the streets, saying goodbye to Piazza Maggiore, le due torri, the fountain of Neptune. Wow. I have a few more hours in my apartment, which is also empty. I came home to find everything changed. My walls, which used to be filled with posters and photos, are now bare. Marta moved back to Portugal, leaving behind a sad and empty room. It doesn't feel like my home anymore. It feels strange, foreign. I'm saying goodbye to this place and coming back to my old life, the "same old" but never really the same at all. Wonderful. Oh, side note: I decided to spend my last evening watching Indiana Jones and eating fish sticks. The fish sticks were definitely a mistake, and Indiana Jones was definitely not.

In just a few hours I'll go to the train station, train to Milan, bus to the airport, flight to London and then flight to home sweet home, San Francisco Berkeley Grass Valley California United States here I come!!

Innamorata della Sicilia

I've fallen in love with Sicily. I wake up every morning and feel so, so lucky to be here. After a long and wonderful year, it's the perfect place to end up, the perfect way to say goodbye to Italy.

The only thing I can imagine which might be more beautiful in Sicily... would be a giant burrito, filled with delicious guacamole and salsa and beans and cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese. I honestly think that Mexican food is the only thing keeping me from being sad about leaving Italy.