Today...I am leaving Florence. The girls taxis came at 7:30 a.m., and I was left in the silence of my apartment. We have had our sad moments the last couple of days. Last night the 8 of us, plus my parents went out for dinner, I was taking my parents to the Piazza Michelangelo after dinner, so I had to say my goodbyes to Scott, Jane, Melissa, and Jr. I didnt expect it but everyone started crying. This morning I said goodbye to the girls and it happened again. After that I tried to fall back asleep and managed to for about 10 minutes, but that was it. I have grown to love this city, it has been my home. It was sad to close the door and walk down my street of the last time.
For class we had to write a final reflection paper. This was my paper.
This trip has truly been a trip of a lifetime. Coming on trips like these, and being a woman, you daydream and think of how perfect it will be: leisurely mornings, endless shopping (because there is an endless money supply of course). But then life happens: conflict arises between roommates, tomato sauce splashes on your favorite white tee shirt and you schedule an appointment to visit the doctor for your sinus infection. Life, it follows you wherever you go.
I had dreams of getting up in the morning and popping in to my regular coffee bar, sipping my café, making small talk with the baristas (because I would know them by now), and strolling to school. But instead my morning friend is my alarm “Bob” whom I grumble at to “be quiet”, and give him a few nice taps, I quickly get ready and run out of the apartment, past the coffee bar filled with “regulars” sipping their café, weaving in and out of the travelers window shopping on the Ponte Vecchio. By the time I make it to class I am 15 minutes late and sweating like a beast. That is just a little different than I had planned.
The thing about “life” is that it is comforting. Having things go wrong, break, or emotions arise; oddly make things feel more like home. This has been my home for the last two months. The place I have laughed until my stomach hurts, the place I have napped when I cant move because of the heat, and the place where I have found my comfort after various travels abroad. Via Dei Sapiti, #2, this has been my home. But I will soon find myself leaving this residence and taking residence up back in Chino Hills. I can’t remember what it is like to drive a car; I have spent most of my time dodging them. I will be expected to quickly step back into the flow of things, the fast pace flow of living in southern California. I will miss the simplicity of Florence, oddly enough I will miss walking everywhere, I will miss my “Italian Family”, and I will miss my evening gelato runs down the street.
Despite the major adjustments made and the culture shock, I have been blessed to have learned about the culture while staying here. I am no longer surprised when our waiter yells at someone for cutting the spaghetti, and I am no longer the last to be helped at our local grocer, because in this short amount of time I have been here I have done my best to fit in and “do as the Florentines do”.
posted by Michelle @ 2:58 AM
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