All of a sudden I'm back in America! How did this happen so fast? I want to go back to Perugia!!!
I had a nice surprise on my last day in Italy. My roommate and her friend who was visiting from home were planning on going to Rome for the day to sightsee. She's staying there for the next month to sing opera for her school. Lucky!!! But it was lucky for me too, because I hadn't seen Rome yet! I had been to the Roma Fiumicino airport twice, once when I first got there, and again when I came back to get my lost luggage (that's right, they wouldn't send it to me...hmph). But the airport was the only part of Rome I had seen! Our flight back to the U.S. was leaving from Rome, so it worked out that I got to go along with them. We stayed in a nice hotel. We got to see the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain. We also had dinner at a nice restaurant, so we didn't have much time for anything else. But the Colosseum was amazing! Of course it was massive, and it was soooo beautiful at night. We walked around the whole thing and took tons of pictures. It was closed, so we couldn't go inside, but we could see inside a little bit from certain places we stood. It's amazing to be there, imagining all the ancient history, and wondering what happened thousands of years ago right where you're standing! And the Trevi Fountain...WOW. So much huge, ornate sculpture that depicts the "taming of the water", the Tritons and Oceanus's shell chariot. Of course, we had to throw coins into the fountain! We each threw one in over our shoulders, because if you throw one in, supposedly that ensures that you'll return to Rome. I really hope it works!! I also read that if you throw two coins in, you will find a new romance, and if you throw three in, you'll either have a divorce or a marriage in your future! I wasn't going to take my chances on that third one... ;-) We also got our last gelato, and ate it on the steps next to the Trevi Fountain. Actually...I got two. haha! But to summarize, Rome really is magnificent, and it's just as big and incredible as it looks in the movies!
Contrary to last time, my flight went well. It was nice not to have to worry so much about trains and buses. I got to ride the train over to Rome with friends, and then I didn't need to catch any trains or buses when I got home. MUCH easier than last time, and my baggage wasn't lost, and nothing was stolen! The only scary part was at the beginning when I went to print out my plane ticket and the machine didn't recognize my reservation!! I had to get the staff people to help me work that out -- they said the computer was messed up, probably because my connecting flight was changed on the way over, which changed my reservation somehow. I was thinking NOOOOOO not again!!! But thankfully, it worked out fine and the rest of the trip went smoothly.
Now that I'm home, I'm really enjoying spending time with family. We went straight from the airport to New Jersey, in Cape May, to spend the the 4th of July at the beach. Hopefully when I go back to PA I'll get to see some friends again. But let me tell you...I am missing Perugia SO much. I feel homesick for it! I fell in love with it the second I got there, and ever since it just felt like the perfect place for me. So one day I want to go back and live there longer, maybe forever. I know I've said that a million times already!
Until then, my goals this summer are to 1) work on getting a dual citizenship with Italy, 2) contact the Sons of Italy in Hanover, to try and get involved with them -- maybe they can give me some Italian lessons, (or I'll get Rosetta Stone, if I don't find a real tutor), and 3) research my family from Italy so I can plan on visiting any distant relatives that might still be there! The plan is to try to find a way to stay in Perugia next year for the whole summer. I'm going to keep in touch with Umbra staff, who said they'll give me advice, and maybe they can help me find a job and some connections. But I'm already happy, because I I've made some connections myself -- my friend Pietro, who lives in Perugia, has rooms he can rent out for a really good price. I have already been arranging to rent from him next summer. It looks like this could be possible, and I'm going to try my hardest to make it happen! I just have to make sure I keep grad school my priority... unless some really great job presents itself to me in Italy -- but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen! So we'll see. I'm SO glad I went through this program. As cheesy as it sounds, the whole experience breathed fresh new life into me!! It's amazing where life can take you. I'll never be the same! :-)
The Godfather is on TV right now...how appropriate. Haha! At this point, I'm just clinging to ANYTHING that reminds me of Italy! I'm still in denial that I'm not there anymore...