The One about missing…

So, I have officially been here for 109 days. We’ve entered the last week. Sadly only 4 days to go, followed by a 10 day adventure with my mom and then…Home. I.love.it.here.in.Italy.and.Perugia. The view is amazing. The people are wonderful. The language I am finally learning. The classes aren’t bad. The food is to die for. The experience is the best adventure ever. I have grown a lot, learned a lot, seen a lot, and experienced A LOT!  So it will be sad to go home, and not that I don’t want to see friends and family, but it will be hard leaving this amazing place behind. I’ve decided to make a little list of those things I will miss, but the things I can’t wait to come home to…so hear you go!

Things in Italy I will miss once I’m home:

10. Walking and Public Transportation. Despite the crazy numbers of hills here, I enjoy walking, and although public transportation sometimes sucks it’s not that bad and makes getting around cheaper. Plus look at the environmental benefits haha.

9. The language. Even with the struggle of learning it, and lack of Italian I have, it is easier to learn a language when you HAVE to speak it…and sadly I will probably not be speaking Italian again anytime soon once I am home. I will miss conversing with some of the natives

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8. Classes and Teachers. Okay, mostly the teachers not so much the classes. It’s not like in normal college or even high school, where despite moving on you can still run into past teachers, and I guess as much as I don’t like some of my classes it’s much cooler learning about things that you then go see (Field trips)!

7. My Apartment. It may be kinda small. It definitely isn’t something you would see in the United States. It’s poorly decorated. The heating/air is weird. It gets dusty real fast because of the walls. It’s missing some “comfort” things like lack of pots and pans etc. But it has been my home for the past 3 months and will always have a place in my heart! (Corny)

6. Montessori. I’m doing an education internship here in Italy. Every Wednesday I get to go to the local Montessori school and work with high schoolers, and let me tell you, it’s awesome! We have focused mostly on music and dance, comparing the two cultures, but we have also looked at food, daily routines, traditions and other cultural aspects. The kids are awesome, and it’s cool to hear authentic Italian perspectives.

5. The Views. Everywhere you go in Perugia there is something beautiful to see. The center has a beautiful fountain, the buildings and streets are old and beautiful and most of all there is a landscape view around pretty much every corner! Not exaggerating.

4. The trips. Whether they are school trips or ones of my own doing I have seen some pretty cool places. In Italy: Perugia (lots of things to do and see within the city), a vineyard in Tuscany, Pisa, Siena, Gubbio, Assisi, Florence, Spoleto, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii and Herculaneum, Naples, Bologna. Outside of Italy: Paris, Nice, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Places I will be getting to before returning home: Sicily, Rome, Milan and Venice. All in all I’d say this time abroad was a success filled with history and culture!

3. Papa Ciao Ciao and Danieli. Wonderful people. see my “ciao ciao” post over…wait for it…wait for it…here.

2. The food. Enough said.

1. My friends. Once we leave, we will be living throughout the country. North, South, East, West…many places of the United States are represented and it will be weird not seeing these people every day but instead being miles apart!

Things I miss from home:

10. Dare I say it…Swimming. Yes, I miss it…so I went to the public pool and that was an adventure within itself. As a student I get a discount and signed up for this last month. It was a little overwhelming the first time I went because of my lack of Italian. More on this story later. All in all though, it was a successful swim. Ohhh rightttt I realized after I was done it was meters (go me swam a lot more than I thought!)

9. Familiar products. Shampoo, conditioner, soaps, toilet paper, body wash, face wash. It’s hard when you have to go into a store and figure out the product first before buying it. Then you get home and it’s not conditioner its shampoo “ughh back to the store”. It’ll be nice to go into Target when I get home and buy what I need and get out!

8. English and “dollars”. Sometimes it’s frustrating when you can’t get your point across because of the language barrier. Also, constantly converting euros in to dollars can be a pain sometimes!

7. My Bed/Shower. Despite my bed being one of the more comfortable ones here in Perugia, It’ll be nice to be home in my own. The shower (which also isn’t bad here) is in the grand scheme of things quite small so a normal sized one will be nice!

6. My clothing. Can you say “repeating outfits?” Always.

5. Dryers. Hang drying EVERYTHING is hard. Our apartment is so small you have to get creative as to where you can dry stuff, and it’s never soft so I guess I should throw in softener too as a thing I miss from home!

4. News and other pop culture things. I am pretty out of the loop here with everything. The news, new popular music, TV shows and movies, celebrities and even in many ways my own life back home! Don’t get me wrong I am not one of those people who reads gossip magazines but I couldn’t even tell you what is going on in the election really, or HIMYM, or at Arcadia etc. etc. etc. and that’s just sad.

3. Food. Specifically Breakfast and other non-Italian dishes. Waffles, Pancakes, Bagels, Eggs, Bacon (although Panchetta is a sweeeeet substitute), home fries, hash browns, coffee, Chinese, Mexican (Guacamole or chips and salsa), apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, chicken pot pie and chicken pie, or meat pie, funny cake, sho-fly pie, meat in general, sandwiches, moms mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese (although I have successfully made that here), cheese burgers, hot dogs…and pretty much mom and dad’s cooking!

2. Friends. You know who you are ;-) You are DA BEST!

1. Family. All of who have been extremely supportive of this adventure…Thank you. And lots of things remind me of ya’ll, wish you could be here to see some of Italy!

Mom- Who doesn’t miss their mother? I miss venting to her because for some reason she always listens (or at least pretends to). I am pretty sure I have adopted your laugh, the one when you just can’t stop hysterically laughing. Pedicures when I am home! Can’t wait for you to visit.

Dad- I miss your cooking for one! I miss fishing (which I had forgot about). When Billy Joel comes on my iPod I think of you! “Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike.” Germany next summer!?!?!?!? haha

Gideon- I even miss my big brother. Despite you picking on me and saying boom boom Italy (or was it bang bang Italy), either way you are my amazing older brother and I want a hug from you when I am home (because you give the best)! Also, we don’t look alike regardless of what my friends here say.

Ashley- I wish you were here to take all of this craziness in with me! And capture it all on film. It would probably be real inspiring for your artsy-ness! Can’t wait to catch up once I am home

Gracie- Wish I could have been there for her first birthday, but gonna make it up once I am home! Love you.

Ironically a lot of my “things I will miss” and “things I do miss” go hand in hand, but not matter what, it is going to be sooo bittersweet going home.

Arrivederci,

Arielle