The Final Count Down

Arrivederla my sweet Italia! Only three more days of class and then 3 days of exams before I say goodbye for now to Italy. Monday we didn't have class because it was still part of Easter Holiday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning were our last day of classes and then Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning we had our final exams. Then it's the start of summer vacation for me!

Tuesday night was our last formal dinner and I thought the food was by far the best. During the dinner there was a slide show running recapping all of our CIMBA travels. After the dinner we had a mini CIMBA prom with a DJ which was really fun. Guys were taking their dress shirts off and crowd surfing, a few of the professors showed us some moves and I shagged the night away. Good thing first thing Wednesday morning I had a final presentation to give for two of my professors who were at the dinner. It went very smooth though, no worries. I even booked my flight home! Yep, I waited until almost 2 weeks before I needed to be home to book my flight. I was trying to delay the inevitable because I refused to accept reality.

Now onto the ever dreaded Thursday...I had two classes in the morning and then my first exam at 5:15 that afternoon, plus I had to finish planning my post-program travels. Friday I had two exams plus packing and then Saturday I had two more exams, mote packing and we had to be checked out by 2pm. After our last meal of pasta with red sauce Saturday afternoon we all rushed to finish packing and say goodbye because the first two buses were leaving for the airport at 1:00 and 1:45. Most people were staying after to travel for about a week, a good number of us planned to spend our fist night of summer vacation in Venice before we all split and the rest were going straight home.

83 days later there we were all standing outside in sleepy little Paderno Del Grappa saying goodbye. Of course it is another over cast day so Mt. Grappa was no where to be seen. Typical. It almost felt like the last day of summer camp accept there was no "see you next summer!" being yelled out. For some people it was "see you at home," or "see you in the fall," but for me it was "I'll see you when I see you." Of course I will see a good number of people as we all finish traveling around Europe but for the majority of the people there that will be the last time I ever see them. For me it wasn't a sad goodbye at all. It was more of a "thanks for the memories, it was fun" type of moment.

At 4 my travel group and I headed off to Venice for the night. Back to the city where it all started. I had never actually seen the city in the daylight and our train to Vienna didn't leave until 9:05pm Sunday so I was very excited to get going despite the end of the semester