From the moment I arrived in Italy and stumbled out of our bus into the streets of Ariccia, I felt something different. It wasn’t the smell of espresso coming from Antico Cafe, or the Mediterranean sun warming our cheeks, but it was the knowledge that our time here was going to be very different when compared to any of our previous adventures. On our first day of class the next morning, Lacey said something that has stuck with me since. “The days are long, but the weeks are short,” she told us. At that moment, I realized that in order for me to appreciate this trip as much as I possibly could, I was going to have to change my mindset completely so that I could utilize my time in Italy to its fullest. Since then, my semester has been nothing short of indescribable.
Singular moments stick out to me more than others: my first porchetta sandwich, getting to hear Mary Lou talk for the first time, or laughing with my friends as we accidentally ordered an appetizer big enough for ten people; This isn’t to say, however, that things aren’t hard. Early mornings, brutal walks through Rome, and some… interesting hotel rooms on weekend excursions make certain days crawl by at a frustratingly slow pace. However, assignments I saw as being forever away in the future are coming at a quick pace now, and weekend excursions I anxiously waited for are around the corner with shocking immediacy.
This semester has flown by- there’s not a question about that. It’s more gratifying than sad, however, when I think about all of the little things I’ve learned to appreciate in the meantime, because even though they seemed to crawl by, those moments have beauty. Grueling walks in Rome turned into side-splitting laughing fits with Ectore, our guide. Early mornings meant naps on the bus and sharing music recommendations, and some “character-filled” hotel rooms encouraged us to go explore the cool cities we were visiting. Coming to Italy and adopting this mindset has made me realize this too: you can apply the same principle to life. In life, some of the days are going to be long. And I am talking very long. But, you are one day going to look back on those weeks and wonder what you could have seen if only you had realized. I am so grateful that I did.
A Big War Eagle, and an Even Bigger Arrividerci!
Emily Fackler
