A Bittersweet Goodbye.

As I started my first blog post talking about a rush of emotions upon arriving in Italy, it is fair to say that im feeling the exact same way as my time here in Europe quickly windes down. A mix of emotions are rushing through me. Yesterday and today all of my roommates left to go there separate ways in the states and I head home monday (6/25/12). It is such a bittersweet feeling that is going to be difficult to explain. When I got to the apartment for the first time (after lugging our luggage up 61 stairs!) and found out I'd be living with 6 girls instead of 2 I didn't know what to expect. It didn't take long to realize that we were all so different. That may sound like a bad situation to you but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. If we were all the same or too much alike I don't think we would have gotten along as well as we did. We are all so different that we balanced each other out perfectly as roommates. The different personalities and backgrounds within the apartment added so much to the experience. Yesterday I did some last minute shopping with my roommate Megan which felt like miles upon miles of walking. We must have walked all of Florence for souviners! I personally think I scored pretty good souvenir wise which makes me pretty excited to go home and give my gifts! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon packing (depressing) and cleaning our apartment which looked like a war zone. If you were to take a look you'd think for sure guys were living here, that's how dirty it was! Friday evening we enjoyed our last meal together as roommates at a restaurant right by our apartment and then headed up the piazza Michelangelo to watch the sun set. There you can overlook the city of Florence, it was beyond beautiful! There were so many couples up there bein all mushy, infact we saw a bride and groom up there takin pictures. Made me wish I was up there with a lover too (only for like a minute then I was over it, haha) then I remembered I was so glad to be up there with the girls I've shared the last six weeks with! Then we went to one of our favorite gelato shops on Denri street, so those leaving Saturday could have it one last time. Side note--I've consumed way too much gelato for my bodies liking during my last week here and I'm sure it's showing! Oh well, your not in Europe often so mine as well take advantage of it! A few of my roommates left at 4:45 am for the airport saturday morning so they just stayed up all night and were planning on sleeping on the plane (thats my plan tonight as i wait for the taxi to come at 4:25 am) Unfortunately I've come down with some type of cough that has caused me to have a pretty horsey voice and plugged up ear. Apparently a girl in my hostel last weekend that I shared a room with was diagnosed with bronchitis this week, so I'm praying I don't have that. I think this is my bodies way of telling me it's exhausted and ready to go home and slow down a bit. We work our bodies pretty hard here with all the walking everyday, occasional late nights, and traveling every weekend. It definately takes a toll on your body! Yesterday my roommate Loryn and I moved into our friends apartment for the night since we had to be outta our apartment by 10 am. It was an eventful move thats for sure! Once we finally got the apartment in decent condition we gathered our belongings and headed for the door. Once we closed our door for the last time and left our keys behind things began getting intense. Loryn went first down the stairs with her huge backpack and luggage and I followed with mine. Before I turned the corner to take the next set of stairs I hear a huge shatter. Loryn had hit the window in the stairwell with her longboard that was horizontal in her backpack! It was the loudest glass shatter I've ever heard! There was no turning around because we turned our keys in so our only option was to keep going and leave the glass there. Once we got to the next set of stairs the lady that lived on that floor opened her door and was speaking Italian so we couldn't understand what she was saying, but were pretty sure she was talking about the glass. So in that situation you just nod your head as if you know what there saying. On that same floor one of Loryns bags had broke and stuff was falling out. Then finally we made it out of the stairwell! Apparently the situation wasn't disastrous enough because once we got out of the stair well the wheel on Loryns luggage came off. All this happened and we hadn't even begun the walk to our friends apartment yet. After a long walk in the heat and taking multiple breaks along the way we finally made it to our friends apartment. Once we got there we had no time to waste because our friend Miranda was meeting us at the Duomo to climb it. We were already 45 minutes late because of the shenanigans that happened in the stairwell. After about a 25 minute wait in line and 8 euro entrance fee we made it in the Duomo and were able to climb to the top where it over looks Florence. It was around 436 steps to the top in a really small stairwell where at times there were people going both directions, up and down. It felt very claustrophobic! After the Duomo climb we enjoyed some lunch, went and said good bye to our neighbors from New York, and went to a hostel to use there pool for the day. The pool was relaxing and refreshing and had these sweet cushioned bed like things you could layout on along with bean bags! There we met some pretty cool fellas from Kentucky, where my friend Miranda is from too! We ended up hanging out with them for the night and getting pizza. This morning my roommate Loryn left for Poland and I was the last of my roommates left here. I moved again to my friend Jordan's apartment, but this time the move went much smoother. Today we walked around Florence and bought a few last minute things. This weekend it's a really big festival here in Florence called the festival of San Giovanni. There is soccer game that takes place between the different districts that is extremely violent! It is called the Calcio Fiorentino (youtube it--seriously!) and its basically a violent version of medieval soccer. It is a mix between rugby, wrestling, and soccer. What happens is there are four districts and last weekend there were two days of games where the districts played each other and the top two teams made it to the finals which were today. How it works is everyone basically beats the crap out of each other and the only rule is if someone is unconscious then you can't go after them but other then that players get to go at each other trying to get the ball in the goal. I wanted to get tickets so badly but they were sold out, it's unlike anything you'd ever see played in the United States! So my friend Jordan and I went to Astor and watched it live on the TV's there. Another part of the festival was fireworks! What better way to go out with a bang then with fireworks (: The fireworks were beautiful and the streets and bridges were filled with both tourists and Italians watching and taking photos--it was quite a site! This was a big weekend for the Italians, there soccer team played England in the eurocup tournament. The streets were flooded with cheering as they won in over time! To conclude my last day in Italy I ended with some gelato. Yummmm! Now I sit and wait in my friends apartment while there all sound asleep until 4:25am for my taxi to come and pick me up for the airport. I decided to pull and all nighter because I was scared I wouldn't wake up to my alarm and so I could sleep on the long flight. To help pass the time I skyped my roommate Megan who is already home and it was so weird to think that she was just here with me and is now all the way back in the states. This trip has been so incredible in so many ways. It's a bittersweet feeling going home but I'm ready to see my family and start working back at camp for the rest of the summer! Time to gather the last of my belongings and anxiously await the arrival of the taxi! Thats all from my european written point of view, pictures will come soon after I get adjusted back at home. Thanks for following my blog and I hope though it you've been able to live vicariously through me! Ciao!--xoxox