Last
night was my last night at the JFRC. I can't believe I spent most of
it studying. It still feels unreal. I woke up this morning, showered,
and sprinted down to the library already 20 minutes late for my 7am
goal to start studying. I sat next to Preston which means I spent the
better part of the morning joking around and drinking a cafe latte-
which have begun to lose their effect. I think my body knows it's the
end of the semester and is getting sick of my 18+ hour days. The exam
was not as bad as I had expected, which was a blessing considereing
how little I had studied. After lunch I started packing my bags. It
was less like packing, and more like hastily shoving stuff into my
duffle which was already bursting at the seams. My bags left Chicago
with only the essentials, and were about 5 lbs underweight. I am
scared to think about how overweight thay will be when I leave. I
tried to enjoy my last mensa but it was difficult because I was
filled with all kinds of emotions. I was relieved to be done with
finals, trying to process the fact that I would never be eating mensa
with these people again, and nervous for this coming weekend and the
3 weeks of traveling to follow. We joked, gossiped, and tried to
avoid the inevitable fact that in only 2 hours I would be gone for
good. With a stomach full of mensa and butterflies I managed to
finish packing my bags, attend to some last minute details, and say
my final goodbyes. I know I will be back at JFRC this Sunday but it
will no longer be my home, or filled with all the people I have come
to love over the past 4 months.
The
car ride to Bolsona was over two hours, but well worth it. The town
we are staying in is small and quite. Barbara and Giovanni seem to
know everyone. The house we are staying in is at the top of a hill in
the 'new' part of town. It has a great layout with a large open
kitchen and living room that take up most of the ground floor. All
the rest of the ground floor is made up of a small room, a bathroom,
and several gardens and terraces. Upstairs there are two rooms and a
bathroom. My room is plain, but it has a large, comfortable queen bed
in the middle. The best part of the room is terrace which opens
through two french doors adjacent to my bed. Barbara loves to garden
so every terrace contains fresh, colorful flowers. There is a pink
rose bush outside my window, and a small tree with large red flowers
further down the terrace. That night we had an incredible meal of
mozzarella di bufala e pomedore (buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes). It
was by far the most Italian meal I have had in my life. It's 11pm now
and I am exhausted, but excited to start the next leg of my
adventures. I am off to a good night's sleep in my queen bed.
