Arrivederci, America!

This week, we 23 Italian adventurers are in the midst of something.  Something which every college student has experienced, and which every college student has survived (or so I’m told): a Hell week.  A Hell week is defined as a 5 to 7 day period in a college student’s life where, through no fault of his or her own, enormous amounts of work seem to have piled up and must be dealt with quickly.  Hell weeks are often characterized by large amounts of bad coffee, falling asleep in random places, and being forcibly removed from the library at closing time.  I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ve personally run into quite a few familiar faces on my own late-night coffee runs.

Following a test last Friday, our last week of classes has consisted of 3 papers: a 4-6 page one about some aspect of the Shakespeare plays we have read this term; a 5-page one about how Fascism impacted Italian culture; and a 10-12 page paper comparing any aspect of Venetian, Florentine, or Roman civilization with that same aspect of one of the other two cities.  So it’s safe to say that we’re all working on very different topics and time periods, from Fascism to Renaissance Florence to 18th century Venice.  It’s a TON of work to try to accomplish in one week, but we’re being helped a lot by our professors.  Several of our classes have been cancelled this week, and the extra time is a life-saver.

But, amidst all the crazy paper-writing and sleep-deprived commiseration, something else is happening.  Time is passing.  The trip is getting closer, even if we don’ have much time to be excited about it.  Last night, while I was hunkering down on the 6th page of one of my papers, the clock changed from 11:59 pm to midnight.  My friend, who is also going on the trip, looked at me and said: “You know what that means?  3 days!”

3 days!  3 days until the 23 of us, along with 2 of our professors, will be on a plane to Italy!  Despite all of the work, the mood in our classes is changing.  We’re beginning to realize that this is really happening, and that the past six weeks of papers, presentations, reading, and extra class have all been worth it.   Concrete details are emerging.  We found out some of the menus for what we’ll be eating next week (yes, NEXT WEEK!), and some of us are already planning side trips to places like London and Switzerland.  We’ve all been discussing the weather and what we’ll be packing to combat it.  Last minute details are being attended to: banks have been called, shoes have been waterproofed, and driving arrangements to the airport have been made.

We really are leaving!  In 3 days, no less!   So arrivederci America; the next time you hear from us, we’ll (finally) be in beautiful, beautiful Italia.

– Lacey Brantley
Blog Team
Italy 2012