The end has come

It's a sad day. The end has come and we leave at 6:10am (or something ridiculous like that) tomorrow morning. But it's impossible not to be happy too. I'm going home! It's an end of adventure/start of new adventure type thing and I wouldn't trade it for the world! I bet people are wondering if I'll be different when I come home, or maybe wondering how different I'll be when I come home. Well, I'm wondering the same thing. I know I'll be different, but if it's an easy change then I might not even be able to tell in what ways or how much I've changed. Oh well, that'll worry about itself.

A lot has happened since I posted last. I've been to the Vatican multiple times and seen the Sistine Chapel and been in Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. I went to St. Paul's Basilica and Santa Maria Maggoire and San Giovanni and San Pietro in Vincoli and tons of other churchs. I've stayed in 2 hotels and almost stayed in another and will stay in one more. I've wandered a bit in a maze of catacombs and gone to a mausoleum. I've mastered the metro system and many of the streets. I was a photographer for an "Angels and Demons" adventure. I watched as AS Roma blew a lead against Livorno. I saw the Roman Legion amass around me at the Circus Maximus. I walked in the footsteps of Paul down the oldest Roman road, the Appian Way. I've eaten at plenty of great Italiano restaurants and had my fill (almost) of gelato. I've seen the Colloseum at night lit up with a full moon floating nearby. I've done worksheets and taken my final exam. Yeah, I've pretty well done Rome.

I could write tons about all of those things but home is so close and I feel like I'll be telling these stories over and over very soon. For those of you that want me to type up some more descriptions I will for anything you ask. I'll just wait until the internet is free back in the USA.

I guess then I don't have all that much left to say. Well, except for random things. Like, if anyone comes to Rome they have to go to Giovanni Fassi's gelato restaurant. Or, don't put too big a bill into the automatic metro ticket machines. Or, don't cheer for the away team at a soccer match or in any way be unbiased. "Time Takes its Toll on Us" has been stuck in my head for a few days. I'm going to teach Briscola to whoever wants to learn. My journal is not quite full, but will be soon. And chapel is going to be pretty sweet on Wednesday.

Now I'm done, but just because the trip is over that doesn't mean I'll stop posting. My posts may not be filled with thrilling adventures like they have been, but I still hope to put up some stuff from time to time. Now I say goodbye to Rome and goodbye to this ridiculously amazing semester. I say thanks to God for seeing my through it all and for doing what has been done in my life. And I prepare to say hello to those at home who have been waiting all this time.