I have spent one hundred and thirty days of this year outside of the United States. I have lived in Europe for four months. I have been to Asia, and I have been to Africa. I have enjoyed beers paid for by my school and I have yelled at an Indian man in Italian. I have watched my parents fall into the traps of countless salesmen while managing to leave a country and continent completely empty-handed. My semester abroad was an experience I will never have again, but you can be sure that I will try my hardest to relive every moment, good and bad, because it was an experience that I never want to forget. Of course, all the days I spent wandering Europe would not have been half as interesting, or fun if I didn't have the friends I met and my support system at home to talk to and tell all my stories. Thank you for listening (and reading), especially since I was terrible at keeping in touch. These entries are my attempts to make up for that.
I told you about out Turkish tours, but somehow I didn't get to Istanbul! Firstly, Istanbul is the only city that is broken into two continents. 60% of the city residents live on the Asian side, while the European side is primarily commercial. The European side is then broken up into two parts - one is more modern than the other. This means that Istanbul has an old side, a new side, and a homey side. Tourists tend to stay on the old side, which is great, but we are not tourists anymore - we are world travelers. We do not sight see - we explore, and explore we did! Sure, the old buildings are cool, but did you know that there are about 200 Christian churches in Istanbul? That doesn't sound like much for a large city, especially compared to Rome's 400 Catholic churches, but did you also know that 99% of Turks are Muslim? We found a charming church at the top of the massive hill that makes up the new side, as well as the largest and most crowded shopping street I have ever seen. We also explored the Asian side, only after asking five taxi drivers to help with our iPhone directions to a well-known restaurant they probably would have recognized if we had known any Turkish at all. Is it possible that I actually miss having men try and sell me everything and anything they can ALL the time? Our favorite line - "Are you from America? I'm married to an American and I'm a professor...(5 minutes later)...I actually sell rugs too. Let me show you." Those Turks are sly.
After two weeks of traveling, it was time to go home - so we flew back to Rome. I suppose that's not home for everyone. I made my parents see everything I thought was essential on their last day in the Eternal City (contradiction?). I dragged my mom through the rain to see the Key Hole, which is literally a key hole in a door with an amazing view of the Vatican. UNFORTUNATELY, someone was doing construction and blocking the view! I thought my mom might kill me because I'm nearly certain she was losing feeling in her toes. Oops. That night we had a delicious meal next to a very emotional pregnant woman and went to bed, happy that our trip went smoothly minus one hickup that was easily fixed...JINX! I was planning on spending one more day in Rome while my parents were leaving the next morning for Chicago and then San Francisco. Well, it turns out that when American Airlines has a small hickup, they just cancel your flight at four in the morning. My parents managed to get on my flight the next day, which meant that they had one more day to see everything they needed to!I had been planning for weeks what I was going to do on my last day in Rome. I wanted it to be a special day with gelati, panini, and Roma T-shirts. I had my gelato and I bought my shirt. I was mistaken for an Italian, I ran into my parents (like a local would run into friends), and then I got lost. It was perfect. We ended the night with dinner and drinks at Bir and Fud and a few more drinks at Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa (But what did you come here for?).
Leaving Rome felt like I was leaving a home behind because the John Felice Rome Center became our home, After a weekend away, getting lost on the trains, standing in lines for hours, yelling at Ryan Air, and paying too much for a taxi, it always felt good to see those big green gates and walking down that long road to campus. We always had such a sense of relief, as if we had been gone for weeks. Never mind the bad Mensa food that awaited us, we were home and there is no comfort like that of laying in your own bed (with borrowed sheets) and knowing that when you wake up in the morning you will be greeted by your family - friends, professors, Nella, Rinaldo, and all. Ordinary college life will feel like just that from now on - ordinary.
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