Almost done with the semester

March 27, 2009

Today I took my second to last final here in Italy. It’s been a long road since Monday, coming back from my weekend in the Almalfi Coast. We didn’t arrive back at Villa Bonelli until around midnight. I stayed up until after 1 am, taking a shower and checking my email again. Monday morning we had our last Global Issues class and Bob gave us some information on the cities we would be traveling too. Then, I packed. I packed up everything I possibly could, did a load of laundry, and waited.

We had our last dinner at Etrusca together. Many people said it was the same as our first meal. I’ll have to check back to my blog to make sure but I think they were right. We had spaghetti with the oil and garlic and pepper sauce and then pizza. Everyone was making jokes about our time in Fiesole, things we said the first night there, and so on. It was a happy time, but with the lingering hint of sadness hidden beneath. At the end of dinner, before dessert, Lorenzo stood up and made a toast that all of us agreed to. He toasted Bob, thanking him for everything, and hoping that we weren’t the worst group he had. “Good food, good friends, and great times” I think was what he finished with. It fit the evening.

We returned to Villa Bonelli for our last night as a group, I’m coming back for one night before I leave with Betsy and Eldon. Then the next morning, after eating breakfast, I finished packing up everything else. I took my suitcase down to the storage area, along with everyone else, and we all headed to take the bus to the train station.

On the train to Follonica, I took my first final, Literature. It was a pretty easy final but I had not been feeling good again. I’ve caught my third cold since coming on this trip, my fourth cold since I’ve gotten the flu shot. On the train I had a huge headache and the sniffles. Then, I really had to go the bathroom. When I got up to see where the bathroom was I picked the wrong end of the train. I waited 2 ½ hours, almost just before we got off the train in Follonica, before checking and finding the bathroom on the other end of the car; stupid me, putting myself through the agony, without checking the other end of the car.

Anyway, we had to walk a ways to get to our hotel in Follonica which is right on the beach. The wind that day was horribly strong. It was a chore to walk against it. But, we finally got to our hotel, settled in, and explored. Our rooms face the beach and are better than the ones at Villa Bonelli. We have breakfast and dinner at the hotel. After breakfast, we take whatever final was scheduled for that day. I’ve had to take four finals in a row, one each day. Literature, Art, History, and Global Issues today. It was very stressful because after you took one final, you turned around and started studying for the next with no breaks. UGH!!!! Anyway, they’re done except for language on Sunday.

I’m going to miss it here, even though we’ve only been here a couple of days. I’m still sick, but it’s peaceful here. Falling asleep and waking up to the sea on the beach everyday. The beds are really comfortable too. We leave for Orvieto tomorrow. The bus is picking us up at 11ish or so. We’re only spending like two days in Orvieto before heading off to Rome and the end of our program.

I still need to find a flight back to Florence, and we need to book our train from Prague to Krakow. I’m going to purchase internet tonight and check all that out. But, now I’m going to take a nap, in the sunlight streaming through my balcony window overlooking the sea.

Dinner was great, again. I love eating at the hotel. Bob ordered wine for everyone; I had a little too much. But I had a great spaghetti course and then cooked salmon that tasted heavenly. We leave tomorrow so I bought some internet time. I have to run though because there is soooo much I have to do in this hour and not enough time to do it with.

I love all of you and hopefully Orvieto has free internet! CIAO!!!!!