But even Michelangelo's unfinished work is enthralling, perhaps that's why he got way with leaving so many projects unfinished. An unfinished Michelangelo was better than a finished .... anybody else...
Tuesday night our professor, Janet, had everyone over to her house for dinner. And her husband Giovanni cooked for us. Oh did he cook for us. There was so much food, and wine and Tarimisu (that was quite possibly worth dieing for, it was so good). Before dinner Janet presented the three of us who were graduating (me, Heather, and Brian) with laurel wreaths and little diplomas. The tradition being in Italy, Rome specifically, that when a person gets their degree they are give a laurel wreath to wear on their head-therefore becoming a Laureate! It was really a nice gesture, Janet made the wreaths herself!
After dinner George, Sarah, Emily, Michelle and I went to a laser show which was really loud but really interesting. It was "of the future" motif and had green and spectrum lasers going with smoke and fog machines. It was a good night!
Thursday afternoon a bunch of us went to piazza Michelangelo to hear the monks chant. It was a hellish bus ride, and my last in Italy (thank the Lord), but at least we all got seats. Propelling ourselves from the bus we climbed the three flights of stairs to the church and crept into the keep to listen. We stayed for about 20 minutes, it was pretty calming to sit surrounded by the cool stone walls and let the monks singing roll over us. We sneaked out as mass started, because mass in Italian seems twice as long as regular mass... just saying.
We sat out on the stone wall and looked out over the city. It was probably one of favorite places. The city looked so beautiful from up there, I could really appreciate it and not be distracted by the uneven pavement, the uncomfortable proximity of buses to the sidewalk or Italian cat calls. Everything looks a little better from a distance.
Friday was my last in Italy, in Europe, abroad! I had done most of my packing the night before, and had to discard half my wardrobe and all textbooks (thank goodness, though there were a few I would have liked to keep-ah well) in order to fit all my souvenirs. Lugging all that to school for Janet to take to charity left me with knot in my shoulder that I'm still untying - thank goodness for Yoga.
After I finished my papers, we all went to get Gelato for the last time. It was bitter sweet, what I am talking about, it was Gelato - it was just sweet! I got 2 (two) cones so that I could get all my favorite flavors which were in tutti (total) Chocolate (regular and fondenti or dark), coffee, pistachio, cheesecake, and caramel. Good stuff. There's nothing quite like Gelato, it's not ice cream it's on a whole different plane really.
Rachel and I had our last dinner with our host mom, Anna, we had fish (to Rachel's chagrin-because she hates fish). And in Italy the fish served looks very much like it had just recently been swimming in the ocean or a river. Luckily the heads were chopped off and sometimes the tails too. But the scaly skin (with fins) was up to us to peel off and take the spine out. And keep an eye out for bones. It wasn't just dinner it was an adventure!
Anna called a cab for me take in Saturday morning to the train station-because I refused to drag my bags a mile and a half. Plus it only took like 7 minutes in a cab versus 45 minutes on foot. It was sad to leave Anna, she was so good to us. I'll miss my Italian Mama! She made a mean cup of coffee and had the widest smile on that side of the world.
That was my last week in Italia, I will post a separate entry about my day of travel home, because it deserves it's own page. No major mishaps, mind you, I made it home in one piece. But it was an adventure, none the less.
Ciao for now!
Aubrey
