Italy: The Final Days

I was never ready to leave Italy. I didn't want to. I didn't really need to go back home, did I? I mean, I had everything I needed right there on campus in Paderno del Grappa. The basic amenities (food, water, shelter), along with a few privileges (weekly room cleanings, tabacchi sandwiches, 70° weather, internet access) were all I needed.

The reality was that I didn't want to take any finals, let alone study for them. Besides this, our schedules did not allow for any celebration after the end of finals - we were required to be out of rooms and on airport shuttle buses within a matter of hours after our last final. Essentially, CIMBA was keen on ending the semester not with a bang, but with a pop.

When my last final was, at last, over with, I scrambled to grab my backpacks, turn in my room key, accept my KT certificate of completion, and pick up the bottle of I. Stefanini (a local white wine) from Prof. Roy Pettibone that I had asked for. Somehow I did it all and was able to get a spot on one of the buses to Marco Polo airport in Venice.

As the wheels of the bus crossed the threshold of the campus, a couple sitting a few rows ahead of me began blasting tunes from their Macbook - songs that the average American should recognize, if not know by heart. None of it was Italian. At first, I felt relieved to be going home, especially since I was finally going to be getting away from these shallow souls of the so-called "Greek" variety. Then I looked out the window at the villages and towns dotting the landscape leading up into the southern Alps (the Dolomites, actually).

A feeling of loss came over me. No, not loss in the sense that I had actually lost something, but rather I felt that there were so many cities, monuments, people, and countrysides that I had missed the opportunity to see while here. Granted, I only had 90 days on the European continent, but most of that time was spent sleeping, eating, and learning in a very secluded, sheltered environment inhabited by American winos. I grew tired of the high-school-esque monotony. My time spent in Venice, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Florence, Rome, Siena, San Gimignano, and Monteriggioni was done during my travel breaks. This, my friends, is what I enjoyed the most about Italy - seeing and experiencing new places, filled with foreign people, events, and cuisine - not the schooling.

As far as the missed opportunities go, I wish I had gone to Spain. I wish I had gone to some of the Eastern European nations. I could list for days and days all of the places I still want to go to. There is one thing I know for sure about the next time I go back to Europe: it'll strictly be a vacation :)