Well… My semester has officially come to an end. In six hours, I’ll be making my way to the airport to start my traveling back to the good ol’ USA. I’m writing this blog post from my cute studio apartment/hotel room in Florence and getting here was a struggle. Me and my two HUGE suitcases and my two HUGE backpacks had to get all the way here and I’m so cheap that I refused to take a taxi. Instead, I tried to take the city buses… and lets just say that didn’t work out too well. I needed to buy a ticket, but the bus driver said he didn’t have any when I asked him. Two stops later, the men that check to make sure you have a ticket got on. I tried to avoid them, but they caught me and asked to see my ticket. I tried to explain to them that I asked the bus driver to buy one (because you can TOTALLY do that). The dudes that check your tickets asked the bus driver if I asked to buy a ticket and he said NO. And then I called him a liar and luckily, the man standing next to me defended me. Long story short, I ended up getting kicked off of the bus in Florence without getting a fine (thank God) on the side of the road, with all of my luggage. I ended up walking the rest of the 1.5 miles to my hotel and it took me an hour and half to get there with all of my crap. I mean, I couldn’t make it out of Europe without getting kicked off a bus right?
Anyway, like I said, in 6 hours I’ll be on my way home and traveling for a very long time. Tonight I plan on staying up as late as I can so that I can sleep the whole way to America on my flight, but honestly, staying up should be pretty easy. My mind is so filled with all of my thoughts and emotions right now. I’ve experienced so many things these past four months, and as soon as I took time to reflect on it these past couple of days, it’s all catching up to me. Saying goodbye to my friends that I’ve made here as well as my host mom was really hard to do but it didn’t feel the way I thought it would. Being really upset when you leave somewhere or someone usually means that there is a chance you might not see that place or that person again, but I didn’t feel that way. Deep down, I knew that I would be seeing everyone again (sometime soon) and that I’d come back to Siena again (probably not so soon since I’m broke now). It’s a funny thing, but that’s how I felt the entire time I was saying my goodbyes or “see ya soons”.
This has been the most amazing experience and I’ve grown so much over these past four months that I’m absolutely astonished. When I came here, I couldn’t speak a word of Italian (I was the girl that would point at the menu at Olive Garden and say “I want that please” because I couldn’t say it in Italian) and now I know quite a bit or definitely enough to order confidently off the menu next time. I also just trekked all over Florence with my four bags and was really sweaty, but completely sure of my ability to get where I needed to be. I could have never done that when I first arrived. But most of all, I have a new appreciation for EVERYTHING. A new appreciation for wifi, for the fact that I don’t rely heavily on public transportation, for the fact that I’m able to communicate and understand everything when I get home. But even though living in Italy for 4 months was a challenge, it was the best challenge I could ever have asked for. And I’m so grateful for the time that I’ve spent here.
So this is it folks. Thanks for keeping up on my blog for the past 111 or so days. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures and realizations and that you feel inspired to do something out of your comfort zone (and it doesn't have to be traveling half way across the world and living with an Italian woman that speaks no English.) Maybe one day, get lost on purpose even if it’s in your home town, you’ll be surprised what you find when you have no idea where you are (trust me on this one). Try new food, go to a new restaurant, go to an Art museum, go to an Opera, go see an NFL game. Just go do something that you haven’t done but always have wanted to. Whatever that is, however big or small it is. Because life is too short not to go out of your comfort zone and try new things, or go do something that you’ve dreamed of. And that’s the truth.
Thanks again to whoever reads this, I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.
Con Amore,
Julia
Anyway, like I said, in 6 hours I’ll be on my way home and traveling for a very long time. Tonight I plan on staying up as late as I can so that I can sleep the whole way to America on my flight, but honestly, staying up should be pretty easy. My mind is so filled with all of my thoughts and emotions right now. I’ve experienced so many things these past four months, and as soon as I took time to reflect on it these past couple of days, it’s all catching up to me. Saying goodbye to my friends that I’ve made here as well as my host mom was really hard to do but it didn’t feel the way I thought it would. Being really upset when you leave somewhere or someone usually means that there is a chance you might not see that place or that person again, but I didn’t feel that way. Deep down, I knew that I would be seeing everyone again (sometime soon) and that I’d come back to Siena again (probably not so soon since I’m broke now). It’s a funny thing, but that’s how I felt the entire time I was saying my goodbyes or “see ya soons”.
This has been the most amazing experience and I’ve grown so much over these past four months that I’m absolutely astonished. When I came here, I couldn’t speak a word of Italian (I was the girl that would point at the menu at Olive Garden and say “I want that please” because I couldn’t say it in Italian) and now I know quite a bit or definitely enough to order confidently off the menu next time. I also just trekked all over Florence with my four bags and was really sweaty, but completely sure of my ability to get where I needed to be. I could have never done that when I first arrived. But most of all, I have a new appreciation for EVERYTHING. A new appreciation for wifi, for the fact that I don’t rely heavily on public transportation, for the fact that I’m able to communicate and understand everything when I get home. But even though living in Italy for 4 months was a challenge, it was the best challenge I could ever have asked for. And I’m so grateful for the time that I’ve spent here.
So this is it folks. Thanks for keeping up on my blog for the past 111 or so days. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my adventures and realizations and that you feel inspired to do something out of your comfort zone (and it doesn't have to be traveling half way across the world and living with an Italian woman that speaks no English.) Maybe one day, get lost on purpose even if it’s in your home town, you’ll be surprised what you find when you have no idea where you are (trust me on this one). Try new food, go to a new restaurant, go to an Art museum, go to an Opera, go see an NFL game. Just go do something that you haven’t done but always have wanted to. Whatever that is, however big or small it is. Because life is too short not to go out of your comfort zone and try new things, or go do something that you’ve dreamed of. And that’s the truth.
Thanks again to whoever reads this, I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.
Con Amore,
Julia