Last 2 days in Florence...

 A branch of the supermarket chain I volunteered at for the past 6 weeks.

It's been a weird kind of week. Leaving soon, but it doesn't feel such. On friday I'm going to Rome early in the morning for 4 days then to Spain. After that I'll only be in Italy for 1 day before I head back to NY. I just can't believe it's over already - final exams are today and tomorrow and then everyone's going home. The time passed really quickly, and I'm not ready to leave. At all.

I had my last day at the supermarket yesterday, and it was a really, really good ending. I went in, got my own cart and list, and I walked up and down the aisles and was for the first time able to find everything on my own without asking for help. As I did this, the supermarket (like in America) plays music, mostly Italian, and I recognized a few of the songs they played. It was just a really cool experience, in general. To walk up and down the aisles, knowing the music... I feel like I used these 6 weeks for maximum exposure and gained A LOT that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten from just learning from books in NY. I also delivered yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Spoke to some of the elderly people. Usually, the volunteer group is short-staffed and the people who deliver themselves are in their mid-sixties. When I went yesterday, I went with another 30 year old or so guy, and we delivered to 10 people. Every person we delivered to just BEAMED when we walked in with the food. "RAGAZZINI!" (translation: young guys); they were just really excited to see us, and it made me feel good to know that with what I was doing, I was making them happy for a few minutes and making things easier for them. There was Mrs. Necioli, upset that we brought her the wrong peaches but still making me crack up when she reverted to joking and flashing a smile with many gold-capped teeth. Then there was Cicioni, a woman who had TB as a teenager and will breathe through a tube permanently. Actually, many of the clients have health issues, mostly respiratory, and use oxygen tanks and cannot leave home. I'm grateful for going through with this experience in conjunction with my studies; I gained something. It was an emotional and gratifying 'extra' process that I don't think many study abroad students could say they've had. I think my upbringing -my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings- emphasized the value of community service, not just to fulfill 'chesed hours' in school, but to really give something back to people who can no longer do everything on their own and need our help. I left the market yesterday with a feeling of fulfillment, knowing that waking up every Tuesday at 6:30, while not easy, had a greater purpose in the grand scheme of things.

At the end of yesterday's events, I also realized that this really is the end - well, for this summer at least. The nostalgia is starting, and it's already becoming hard for me to come to grips with the idea that I will be going home soon. I could totally picture myself staying here long term, I've said it before and now that I've actually been here for awhile (well, 6 weeks is short, but still) I have some legitimate reasoning to make this conclusion. I plan on coming back here next summer, maybe not to Florence, but definitely to Italy. I'm also cancelling my elective course for this fall and taking an Italian lit course instead; I'm just not ready to give the language up, and when I first came here I kind of knew this would happen. Living here has made my grammar and speaking skills improve on so many levels, and to leave it behind now would be an injustice to all my effort and all that I've taken in thusfar. It's nice to know that some people love math, some people just can't get enough of history - I've found what I love to do. I want to be a doctor, and while biology and anatomy fascinate me, foreign language and culture is where my real passion lies. I really don't know why - I just really love it (try putting that on a med school application, which I've been doing as of late :-). Need to be a little more convincing and eloquent).

David