Nearing the end.

The final day of my (first) Italian experience has come upon me extemely rapidly. My picture of the day is only slightly different. I was not expecting to have so many errands to accomplish before being able to enjoy the day. The packing and repacking was expected, also expected was the party the school was throwing for its students. I did not know what to expect when it came to the time I would be spending with those individuals I had lived with since September 3rd. As it turns out, I will be spending some of the closest and most sacred moments of the trip with the other fifteen people I have met or gotten to know because of this trip. 

I fully expect to be asked the question; "What were the best parts of the trip?" And, one thing I am sure of is that no matter how well I explain what the truely best parts of the trip were - learning countless information about the people around me, experiencing and observing the change in relationships between the people who live with eachother and those who are consistantly around, those spontaneous trips to different regions of Italy, and the close relationships formed with professors which resulted in a friendship outside of the classroom but a teaching role within - it will be impossible for others to fully understand what has happened throughout the trip. It is much more than a four month vacation or break from school, I have learned more here that I can use practically in life than several semesters at Stony Brook would have taught me. 

Friends here often ask each other if we are excited to get back to the "real-world." In my opinion, it is just as much of the real-world here as it is back in University. There is no such thing as the "unreal-world" in my opinion. We have not have the opportunity to experience the unreal-world, at least not within our power of memory. Nothing in our life should be considered unreal, as every event can affect us for the remainder of our life and one can take something out of it. Therefore, everything should be looked at, not as unreal and an event that should not be taking place in the "real" life, but as a time to learn and change from the event.

Philosophical conversations have encompassed many of the past nights/mornings. It took me some time to find the right people to talk to about the topic. Although I knew who would be the ones to talk to, I was not in the place to talk to them about it beforehand. Since we have began there have been many good realizations that have been reached. During the conversations we tend not to ignore the tangets that come up throughout discussion and we typically end up on other important topics. We may not come up with conclussions on the original topics, but they are no less important because each individual gains the perspective of another person.

I must end this now. The next time I report will be from within the United States, unless I hold off until my next visit to Firenze. Maybe another blog will come from this. It has been fun but it is time to pack!

Ciao from Italia