April 26th Saturday

The following is taken from my journal which I kept with the idea of posting entries on this blog. Although, of course I'm going to make some grammatical changes, etc, I'll try to keep the mood the same to when it was originally written.

Leaving Perugia

Well, this morning I left Perugia. It was weird and a bit emotional. Most people were at the bus at 1am, either saying goodbye to everyone and leaving for their own trips or getting on in order to take the group flight home to the United States. A lot of people were crying. I didn't feel like finding anyone for an emotional goodbye. I was anxious to get on with my travels as I now realized that I had no place to call "home" for the night. I was not allowed back into my apartment and this was the true feeling of "backpacking" through europe. Quite frightening.

It was mind boggling as the bus was leaving from Perugia. The bus was quiet and most people were sleeping-- outside it was dark. I couldn't see much except for my glowing iPod in hand and the city lights outside my window. The bus was making the usual winding trip down the hill of Perugia one trip that I quite often made during the semester. This was the last time, I thought. I suddenly realized that it was all worth it. I was glad to have studied abroad, not matter what.

After we arrived at the airport around 4am, I got a luggage cart for one euro. I needed it and it majorly released the my stress since my luggage was so heavy and I had 3 bags, not counting my backpack and purse.

Tina and I had to wait until 7am to leave the airport.

I also had some stress from other relationships the past few days, so I took the opportunity to talk to people that I really hadn't talked to much the past semester when we were all in the airport waiting.

As I look back on things, there are many that I would have done differently if I got a chance to Study Abroad again. But these changes only come with the knowledge that I have, since having this experience.

For me though, the time was right to say goodbye to all the dear friends that I made in Italy. This whole trip has been a trip of good timing, each place I go and see seems to just flow into each other, feeling just right.

So many of my friends were just going back home today (April 26th) and although Tina and I took the bus to the FCO Rome Airport, we had a flight leaving to ESPANA, and not Estati Uniti (United States).

So we quickly gave our rounds of hugs and left before anyone could get too teary eyed. I just wanted to avoid awkwardness if at all possible.

And now I am in a hostel. So far, apart from the not great hostel conditions (beds, shower, etc) I'm having one of the best hostel experiences. We are rooming with five people, in a room of four beds. There is a girl from Cyprus, Texas, and Russia (Moscow). It's really great because they are all cool people and we had some good conversations. But it is time for bed soon.

The girl from Russia and I really hit it off. I love talking to her, she is so nice and so cute. Her accent reminds me of my friends from home and I love it.

Anyways, things like this reminds me of home which I'm trying not to think about because I'm worried that it'll be a disappointment for me. I haven't heard from anyone lately, and I'm afraid that I might go home to less friends. I hope that I won't be expecting too much, when I do go home. But this is just a fear that I have, we'll see.