wrapping up rome

so it's taken me quite a while to get back here, and that's for good reason -- i've been busy. my stint in rome ended with finals (par normal), a goodbye dinner, and the ever-favorite joy of last minute packing and getting out of an apartment by 11, which soon turned into leaving at 11 45.

the finals were pretty much what i'd come to expect, plenty of studying followed by plenty of writing. i was lucky enough to have my cousin rebecca come visit but sadly didn't get to spend too much time with her as i was in the thick of studying. all of my classes included zero multiple choice and plenty of short-answer questions on one-sided, slightly too long, italian test paper.

after finals, we had a final 'good-bye' dinner (we had a welcome dinner at the start of the program) with all the faculty in attendance. it was there that i was able to tell my sociology professor that his picture on the faculty page of the program's website made him resemble tom wolfe nearly to a t. he responded by saying he hasn't seen it in a while but kinda laughed that i pointed it out.

the next morning we had to be up relatively early to entirely clean and leave the apartment by 11. we did a great job cleaning, however ended up making it out by 11 45ish. good thing no one stopped by to make sure we were out early, huh? after that my roommate philippe and i trekked over to our hotel for the night by the stazione termini where we'd stay before leaving the next morning.

on our final night, all of us roommates and some others who had not quite left hung out by the trevi fountain with plenty of libations to ward off the cold. it was pretty low-key, but that was a good thing because i was starting to get a cold and a night of clubbing probably would've resulted with me in pieces. this couldn't happen because that next morning on was set to head off to paris! and in a city like that, i'd need all the strength i had left.