The Poignant Final Blog

I know you've all been anxiously awaiting the Poignant Final Post.  I think I'm supposed to write about how the copious hills and valleys of Italy have changed my life in ambiguously cheesy ways.  Maybe throw in a quote about not crying because it's over, but smiling because it happened.  Going to try and refrain from doing that.  Instead, I will recap the past couple days and my feelings on the following one, with the clear goal of inducing the least amount of vomit possible.  Andiamo.

The last time I left you all I told the story of Kelsey and I's last weekend in Italy/Roma/Ascoli.  Things happened and got moved around and her and I ended up staying in Ascoli last weekend.  We were able to make our final rounds and really cap off the trip with one last Ascoli weekend.  Each meal was planned out days in advanced, down to the food choices (every type of pizza and pasta imaginable was properly represented during our final weekend).  We shut down Murphy's, hung out in the piazza, and got enough bizarre encounters with our bizarre Ascoli characters in to last us until the next time we come back.  

Sunday came and I got to celebrate Easter in San Severo, which is close to Bari.  Roberto and his family were kind enough to have me with them!  It was fantastic.  Still full from all the amazing food I had.  One dish came and went and then another, and another, and another.  I felt very much like a true Italian.  After a day in San Severo we went to San Menaio, which a beach town on the Adriatic.  You can say hi to Croatia from there.  I loved that I got the chance to see the ocean before I left.  Although I I could go to Lake Michigan with a slice of pizza and a vino bianco and pretend it's the Adriatic, it wouldn't be the same.  

Thus began the beginning of the lasts and goodbyes.  It started with goodbye to Roberto, followed by one of my first and lasts Italian train rides.  Equally upsetting. (joke).  I returned to Ascoli Piceno with dread in my heart and an Easter Scarcella in hand.  The school lasts and goodbyes flew by.  A culture final, turning in a food paper, and an Italian final.  The harder parts were saying goodbye to my new friends and home for three months.  However, I did not cry and have yet to.  This is shocking seeing as I am the girl who from the age of 8 onwards would sob while being dragged off of cruise ships that my parents and I were on for two weeks.  I like to think the lack of waterworks are because I know deep down that I'll be in Italy and Ascoli Piceno again.  Next summer I hope to teach English in an Italian city for a couple weeks, and I would do whatever it takes to come back to Ascoli, close down Murphy's, get some pizza at Cavallino, and eat as much Kinder gelato as possible. 

We've been in Venice for two days.  Kelsey already left a couple hours ago and I'm already in plane mode, thinking about my charging i-devices and mentally preparing myself due to my flight anxiety.  If My cliché feelings summed up in a cliché word would be bittersweet.  Leaving Italy is bitter.  Leaving speaking Italian on the daily is bitter.  Leaving the kind of life where eating pizza on a daily basis is acceptable is bitter.  But I know sweet is coming.  My home is sweet.  Chipotle is sweet.  Jury Duty, which I am doing for the first time on Tuesday, is SWEET!!!!!!

I'm not going shopping for a permanent home on Memory Lane.  Studying abroad was a phenomenal time in my life, and I am eternally grateful and happy that I had this opportunity.  I truly think this experience was a door opener for Italy and the Italian culture to be ever more present in my life from now on. 

Ciao, Italia. A dopo.