Final Italy post!

Sorry for the tardiness of my last Italy post! It's just been such a crazy time my blog slipped from my mind! Let's see...where did I leave off?

The last week had its ups and downs. The major down was that I got sick and it was rather miserable for a while. It was the worst cold I've had in years. My teacher sent me home early on Monday and Tuesday so that stunk, though it was nice to get some extra sleep. Monday night Mikel taught us how to make real Italian pizza at the dorm. It was a lot of fun! I didn't handle any of the real food because of my illness but we did get to use some "fake" dough ("play"dough ha!) to practice making the pizza pie/crust so that was cool. Lauren and I were a team and she did our pizza very well! It was a 5 hour process from beginning to end! Pizza is no joke over there! In the end I was bummed because everyone was raving about how AMAZING the pizzas were but I couldn't taste a darn thing....I would rather not know what I was missing out on! But it was still a lot of fun and Mikel was a hilarious teacher.

On Wednesday Carolina called in sick and Paige was on her choir trip so Lauren and I were the music program for the day! It was fun but exhausting! I only had one class to teach (4th grade) and I taught them recorder. It was fun but man is it painful listening to 13 kids play recorder at the same time for the first time haha. Overall it was very successful though so that was good! After school Miranda and I went to the Colosseum because neither of us had gone inside yet. After walking around in there for a while we tried to go to the Roman Forum but it was closed already :( Then we tried to call Whitney and Lauren to meet up for dinner (they had gone to the Pantheon) but Miranda's phone wasn't working....we tried a pay phone and that wouldn't work....so we embarked on an adventure! We walked around the Colosseum looking for Americans to ask them how they called US numbers (so we could do it on the payphone). It was rather awkward asking random people if they were American. After asking a few people with no luck we started listening to people talk, listening for some American accents. After a few minutes we heard a young guy saying "Just SMILE!" so we hovered for a while waiting for them to finish their picture. Well that took a while. Eventually they finished and I asked them if they were American and we explained our purpose (how creepy did we seem??). They were really nice but they didn't know. The guy had a US phone and it was international so he just used that. We started talking to them. The guy had been studying abroad in Madrid all semester and his mom and brother were visiting before he went back to the US. They were from Missouri and it was oddly comforting listening to some southern accents. They were really nice and let us text Whitney with his phone. Well after waiting and chatting for about 45 minutes with no reply we were going to call real quick. It was then that we realized the number was one digit wrong.....oops! So we texted the real number and they said they had just gotten on the tram to go back. So Miranda and I took the bus to Trastevere and had a lovely dinner before heading home.

Thursday was our last day so we had to live it up as much as possible! School was good and Carolina took me to lunch at this LOVELY little place down the street from school. Apparently it's also a bed and breakfast. The food was amazing and it was just a beautiful setting for my last Italian lunch. What I love about Italian food is that it is all so fresh and delicious. They don't use preservatives and all that junk. It's fresh, REAL food and it's just amazing! It doesn't taste bland or anything....it's simple and fantastic! After school Lauren and I rushed downtown so I could go to the Pantheon and we had to do some gift shopping. We got to the Pantheon (remember, the first time I went it was closed because of the holiday) and it was CLOSED! It was closed for Mass! I was so bummed!!! I wanted to cry! The Pantheon was something I REALLY wanted to see in Rome and here it was, my second time there and it was closed again! I took what pictures I could from the door and begrudgingly walked away. Lauren and I did our shopping and I got my last gelato :( As we were going to head back to the dorm to change for our banquet I looked at my watch and realized the mass was ending then. So we walked quickly to the Pantheon and I got to go in! YAY!! It was incredible!! To think they built such an architectural marvel 2,000 years ago with no machines was just mind blowing! I was able to leave Rome happy now! The one thing I didn't get to see was Vatican City....so I guess I'll just have to go back! We took a 45 minute bus ride (standing the whole time with no air conditioning) and arrived at the dorm at 7:30....our dinner was at 8 and was a half mile walk! We quickly cooled off in our room, changed, and ran to the restaurant. We made it right at 8. This dinner was for all interns and our cooperating teachers. Paige was still on her choir trip but Carolina was there. It was so much fun! It was great because the internship was actually over so it was very relaxed. No one was stressing about lessons and observations....we just ate, drank, and enjoyed each others company! I had a pasta dish and I can safely say this.....I did not eat one dish the entire trip that I didn't enjoy. Everything I ate there was delicious. Italy is my kind of culinary location!

Upon arriving back at the dorm (at 11pm) Mikel was there and wanted to take us to MoMo for drinks! A few of us went and it was a blast. I knew I had to get up at 5:30am but I figured "it's my last night in Rome....I don't need sleep!" I had been to MoMo's once with Lauren and Carolina but it was fun to go for drinks with everyone. We got back to the dorm at 1:30am and I still had to pack!! I didn't get to bed until 3:30, took a 2 hour nap and got up to head home!

We all (5 of us) made it up for the 6:15 shuttle to the airport and waved good bye to Italia! I was not sad to leave Il Faro behind but I was VERY sad to be leaving Italia behind! I had a 3 hour flight to London then a 9.5 hour flight to Atlanta, then FINALLY an hour flight to Tampa. I bought a watch in London (I needed a new one and it was for sale....and I needed SOMETHING from London!). As we were coming in over London I snapped some shots and caught a picture of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the House of Parliament. I was impressed with myself! I'm glad I went to London to switch to Delta for the long flight home because it was MUCH more comfortable than Alitalia and much less crowded. I had a window seat and no one was next to me so I stretched out! I got a little sleep on that flight, then I was in Atlanta for 2 hours before my last flight home. It was nice but weird to have my phone back. I got used to having no phone for 3 weeks! I landed in Tampa around 10pm and my parents were there to greet their weary traveler. It was 4am Italy time so I was pretty out of it. They took me down to the beach house for their last night of vacation. My sister, bro-in-law, niece, and nephew were there and I saw them in the morning. I slept SO well that night! From the time I left my dorm to the time we arrived at the beach house it was 24 hours. Sleeping in a real bed was fantastic!!

Sine being back it has been nice to have the usual comforts of home but I still really miss Italy. I am 99% sure that I want to apply for an international job after graduation and I'm thinking I will focus on Italy. I don't think I want to focus on Rome (it's so dirty, big, and populated) but a smaller city would be lovely. Florence was a perfect size for me! I will probably just stay at home and make as much money as I can until next summer and then hopefully make the move across the ocean! Most jobs would be a 2 year contract and then who knows what I'll do! Maybe I'll want to stay there, maybe I'll want to move elsewhere, and maybe I'll be ready to come back to the States and settle down somewhere. I am ready for a fun adventure, though, and I think moving to Europe for a while is quite the adventure! The students were wonderful and a pleasure to teach! I may have found my calling! Now to get through a summer working in Gainesville and then I get to move home (love you, Mom and Dad!) and start my internship! I'm SO excited about that! I feel ready and I think it's going to be a great experience. I can't believe graduation is coming up (FINALLY!) at the end of this fall semester.

I think I may keep this blog going for anyone that is interested. It's nice to have this little outlet, even if no one continues to follow it ;) I am now back in Gainesville and actually at work right now! Ciao, for now!