The End...

Last night, my 4 friends and I were exchanging photos. Pictures print in a much higher quality when they are transferred directly from a memory stick rather than by e-mail or Facebook. We gathered in a circle in my friend's room, passing laptops periodically one person to the right. As we made our individual folders for the pictures we wanted, we took a long look back on the past 3 months. All that we've done, all that we've seen and all that we'll take back home with us. These four people I had never met before 3 months ago started out as mere aquaintances. Now I can't imagine a day going by without seeing them. But I guess that's the sacrifice of studying abroad. You're basically thrown into this situation where you're forced to make friends as fast as you can to start planning your first travel break. Before you know it, those friends have become your family. My time in Italy has been so much more than a mixture of different cities and classes. It is a collection of memories, growth and people I can rely on, not only in my hometown or college town but all over the United States. I will return to America with a close friend in every time zone. I will return with the experience from different cultures found in: Spain, Holland, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Greece. Three months...8 countries in three months. I feel lucky beyond words that I have had this opportunity and know that I will return home with an evergrowing curiosity about the world. I hope that future "CIMBites" will take advantage of the opportunities they are given here and do everything in their power to live every moment to the fullest. Do nothing to risk losing this privelidge. Some of my peers lack this knowledge and I hope, for their sake, that they have learned SOMETHING from their time here. I'm lucky to have found the friends I did in Italy and look forward to building future relationships with them back in the United States. This is not the end, for Italy and I. I will return someday. It will always feel like another place I can call home.