Cinque settimane fa.

4 days. That's it. Four days left living in Rome. I finished one final today and I have another one tomorrow and then I am done. When did that happen? No more eating next to the Pantheon and drinking sexy wine, no more walking past the Trevi Fountain just because I can, and no more getting that feeling that I am almost home when I see St. Peter's Basilica. Who in a million years would ever think I would be able to actually say that I have done these things. Right now I am "studying" for my Italian final tomorrow and then I am done with Italian, in school, forever. I will not be taking any economics classes in the fall because I already finished that minor. I have 5 more required classes to take and I am done with college. Again, when did that happen and why haven't I been warned about this?

My next for days are jam packed. I am going to visit the Mouth of Truth, take a final, climb to the top of the dome of St. Peter's, go to Pisa to see the leaning tower and pretend to stop it from falling, going to Tivoli and Hadrian's villa, packing up my apartment that has been my home for the past four weeks. I know that four weeks may not seem like a long time, but your life can change in an instant, you can have a gazillion life changing moments in just four weeks. What have I done in the past four weeks. I have stood on top of the world, visited 8 cities, saw numerous ancient ruins, experienced a few strikes, got to know the streets of Rome and experienced a whole new culture while still trying to really figure out the language.

Even though I loved my time here and am so lucky to have been able to experience this, I am happy to go home. I am happy to get away from the drama that people create amongst themselves, I am happy to have to have a choice of pizza or penne for every meal, I am happy to not want to cut my feet off at the end of each day. But I will miss being able to wander the streets of Rome, to get mad at all the tourists groups because I am trying to go somewhere and actually know how to get there, to have people ask me for help in Italian and actually being able to answer them. I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything and even though I cannot even remember the moment that I knew I had to come to Rome, I am grateful for that moment. And I am grateful for the people that make me strong enough to let me do this, I am grateful for the people I have met here and hope that we aren't just another page on each other's journeys, that there is still more to come.

Now it is just time to sit back and relax and enjoy the next four days ahead of me, because who knows when my life will ever bring me back to Italy.