The Beginning of the End

Ahh...so tonight is my last night in Paderno!  It is so bittersweet.  I am going to miss this place so much and the friends I have made even more.  It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to them!  All my bags are packed (one is even on its way home) and all my finals are done.  Tonight we said goodbye to the people at the pizzeria and the sports bar.  It is weird to say goodbye to people you will probably never see again.  Normally when you say goodbye to people you assume you might see them again someday but I don't really think I will be coming back to Paderno ever and if I do it will be a long long time from now.  Part of me wants to stay here forever but part of me wants to get back to America so badly.  As weird as it sounds I feel like I have this crazy relationship with America.  When I first got here I hated how we have this attitude that America is the center of the world.  Then there were times when I felt proud to be American or thought "thank goodness I am American."  Then there were more times when I hated it and now I love it again.  It was nice to get an different perspective of it too throughout this semester.  Being removed really makes you realize a lot!  It is the right time to be going home but I am glad I still have 9 days of travel!  Most of us are staying in Venice tomorrow night and then my friend Quincy and I are going to Barcelona, Madrid, Dublin and London and then I come home on the 13th.  The other night we were talking about the things we missed about America and what we would miss about Italy so I thought I'd post those lists here.

Things I miss about America:

• The English language
• The convenience of things
• Being able to go places when I want to
• Maisy
• My friends and family especially Gram
• The Rocky Mountains
• Kokoro
• Mexican food
• Grocery stores
•  Nice waiters at restaurants
• TV!!
• High speed internet!!!!!!!
• The US Dollar
• Not eating pasta
• Being able to get medicine really easily when you are sick

Things I am going to miss about Italy

• The simplicity of life
• Eating dinner slowly
• The people in Paderno
• The people at CIMBA
• Small classes
• Gelato
• Tabacchi sandwiches
• Being detached from reality
• Alberto's bus
• One thing I definitely WON'T miss though is the cafeteria!!!! I will never complain about any food again in my life!!!