Taking Leave of My Senses

Wednesday, June 4, 2:30 p.m.
I wanted this stay in Italy to be a sensory feast, and it surely has been that. Last night was the Farewell Party held at the Villa Delfini, a renovated villa that is possibly 500 years old about 30 minutes outside of Carpi. It now serves as a site for celebrations, and we surely had one last night. See pictures I snapped as we gathered there just before 9:00 p.m. Inside the main hall we had catered buffet. There was Sushi, baked tomato halves, asparagus spears wrapped in proscuitto, and on and on. Wine and more wine. Then the caterer brought out a huge cake decorated as an American flag. It was light and tasted somewhat like Tiramisu.

All the Americans had brought our/their host families and some of the teachers we'd worked with in the schools here. I'll post one of me with my teacher Daniela Bonini, another with Britta and Franco Bovi, and some of the setting.

After the food disappeared we Americans stood on a stage and introduced our host families and teachers in Italian to the crowd. We gave them certificates of appreciation that had been made by the local organizers. Then each group of students sang their college's alma mater and/or fight song. The Italians found that very entertaining.

To bed about 1:00 a.m., and a welcome rest it was. I slept late and leisurely packed my bags. In a little while I'll walk across the street to buy my last gelato. Tonight I'll treat the Bovis to dinner out, at a restaurant of their choosing, and then it's off to the bus station in Carpi for the midnight ride to Milano. We'll find our gate and hunker down to sleep until our flight leaves at 11:00 a.m. We're scheduled to arrive in Atlanta about 3:30 in the afternoon. Three of us will be met by the Clemson Airport Shuttle van and then we'll be almost home.

As I said, I came to Italy for a sensory experience. I've awakened to new sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings every day. I have laughed, cried, gawked, sung, clowned around, taken chances, gotten lost, asked for help, trusted in strangers, bargained for goods on the street, ran for a train with a 20 pound pack on my back, turned down a sexual proposition from a strange man in a passing car, played with a dog, watched parts of countless American movies and TV shows in Italian, been subject to Italian Rap music in shops, tasted 20+ year old Balsamico, discovered that Italian espresso doesn't make me jittery, bought a tacky tourist straw hat in Venice to keep the sun off my head, figured out the keyboard on an Italian computer (the apostrophe is under the question mark, which is up top next to the equals sign and the number zero), seen many, many babies and toddlers, but not many pregnant women. The stork, maybe?

And now I'm satisfied and full and grateful. And tired. Very tired. Time to go home.