Tonight is my last night in this cozy little yellow-walled apartment.  I now sit at a table in the upstairs apartment sipping wine and, well, blogging while everyone else either packs or cleans.  Everyone from my apartment is all packed and cleaned or are already gone, so I am upstairs in one of the apartments I have come to know so well throughout these 7 weeks.  I have loved coming up here to spend time with the guys studying, sipping wine, cooking, sharing stories, planning skydiving adventures, telling jokes, watching Andy make inappropriate ice sculptures out of giant chunks of  ice from the freezer, just having a really great time, and living la vita bella.
I am very sad to be done here. I have come to fall in love with Italy, so these next seven weeks I am in Greece will be a challenge, but at least it's only seven weeks.  Then I can come back, find myself my own little farmhouse out in the country and enjoy this Italian life of slow food, golden sunsets, and beautiful Italian natural landscape.  Oh, you didn't know?  I'm moving to Italy.  I guess I left out that teensy detail.  Oops. Yep, you'll never ever see me again.  I live here now.   I will ever come back.  I am now Italian. So....Arrivederci!  ;-)
I sit here now and soak in the sounds and everything this place has to offer.  The sound of the streets are one of the aspects I will remember the most.  No matter how quiet the apartment is, it never really is completely quiet.  Their are always cars whizzing by, random cars honking their horns, and once in a while about every half hour an ambulance or fire truck siren rings loud and clear.  I have become used to sleeping with earplugs.
To commemorate the final night, our school, CEA, provided for us an "Aperitivo," a light dinner and drink.  We toasted to a fabulous time in Rome and to a fabulous time to be had in Greece.  To be honest, I have not given much thought to Greece.  I really do not know what to expect other than riots and more ruins.  I am sure it will be one heck of a time, but I go there with no expectations.  I have been so focused on Italy this entire time and preparing for the arrival of my mother and Mike in Italy that Greece has seemed so distant. I have my plane ticket booked from Rome to Athens but that is about the extent of my Grecian endeavors.  I go with no expectation, so I hope to be pleasantly surprised....apparently the lunches are delicious...
So Mom and Mike fly in tomorrow at around 4:30.  Boy are they in for one heck of a time!  Today I had my final final in Theology.  Finally!  This week has been a killer week.  On this program, my grade relies solely on that of my final.  We never have papers, worksheets, or anything else throughout the semester, so there is a lot of pressure during finals week.  How Study Abroad works: 6 weeks of vacation to one week of death. Then 7 weeks of vacation, and again one week of death.  Week of death is over.  I did my best.  We'll see how it goes.  Now here's to seven more weeks of vacation, and I see no better way to spend it than with Mumsy and Mike.  Mamma mia!  I'm so excited to see 'em.