Last Days in Italy

Monday November 11th - Friday November 15th

These last few days in Italy were super busy and between finals, photography critiques, and submissions for the end of the semester gala, I had very little time to do much of anything. Once again, I think the photography critique went really well, and I improved so much since last week! Also, we had our Italian finals, and even though I studied hard, the test was more difficult than I thought. Even though I thought I did terrible on the test, when I got it back, it turned out I did really well! It made me happy to actually do well on the test, but when it was time for our conversational test with Catia I was so nervous that I couldn't remember anything. I did the best I could, so I try not to worry about it too much. Last, but not least, the end of the year gala went really well, and I had fun looking at everyone's artwork and socializing with the guests. I met a couple of really nice ladies and we talked for a while, and afterwards I played the guitar while this one guy played a strange middle-eastern instrument. We both played improvisation, and since we got requests for Spanish music, that's what we played! We also played a little bit of jazz with this one pianist (who was also one of Rosella's brothers), and a little bit of classic and contemporary too. I wish I had my guitar music, but since I packed it in my storage shed before leaving for Italy, I had to play from memory. I wanted to stay late at the gala, but at about 1am (which technically is late, but a lot of people stayed later) I left because I had to get up to leave at 5:30 the next morning. The bus ride to the airport was torture (as always - I can't wait to be able to drive my own car again!) and the flights were even worse. Although I was almost over my cold, I still had a little bit of a runny nose, so when the plane got up to full elevation my nose WOULD NOT adjust to the pressure. My top teeth on the side of my clogged nose went numb and I had the worst headache I've ever had in my life! I seriously thought I would die (ok not really, but I don't remember much of the flight because the pain was so bad). I know that while I was in so much pain I wished for my tylenol, and I did my best to sleep. I did doze off at one point, and it started getting better when the plane started it's decent. Afterwards I was more careful to make sure I had kleenexes with me for the next flight, and thankfully I didn't have the same problem again (even though my teeth hurt for the rest of the night after that). I went through a German airline, and they fed me dinner and a couple of snacks. The food was good, and I think the Swiss chocolate they fed us was the best I've ever eaten. I really am going to miss Italy, but I'm so excited to see my friend and explore Norway.