Arrivederci Italy :(

The last week of CIMBA started off with a bang with Monday- Funday at the sports bar...Emily was an RA with me (blonde) and Maddie was our honorary RA (she was with us constantly, so she might as well been one). We were the sports bar patrons for sure.

Maddie, Me and Jacob (South Carolina boy)

Phil! He was part of a group of guys that we accidentally ran into the first weekend at Cinque Terre...been best buds ever since!

Sunset over campus...it was like Paderno was saying goodbye =/

Tuesday night was the formal dinner...jokingly called the CIMBA Prom. Everyone broke out their cocktail dresses and ties for the affair. It was held at a hotel called Fiore about 45 minutes away. We started with antipasti (appetizers) and wine out on a terrace, then headed inside for the next 23834829 courses. The picture below is of my other girls... Rebekah, Unaiza, Lauren and Caroline (thanks to Unaiza for lending me her dress!)

This is me and my future husband Jeff. Doesn't this look like a high school homecoming picture?? Yep, we're pretty much adorable. He is staying after 7 weeks to travel- I'm so jealous!

After being stuffed from the appetizers, we actually had to start eating. We started with a risotto that had peas in it (the only time I like peas I might add)..it was delicious!

After that we had another type of pasta that I devoured...hence no picture. Below this was my first real meat of Italy...minus salami on pizzas. It was INCREDIBLE.

Me and my MASSIVE food baby...I blame Italy.

But I mean, if they're going to set THAT in front of me....I guess I will choke it down. Best dessert ever. It was similar to a cheesecake with all sorts of fresh fruits on top. Yum!

This is one of my professors, Dominic Standish. He is British (hence why I love him so much), he married an Italian, lives in Italy, and has been teaching with CIMBA for 14 years. He was my professor for my Intercultural Communications class, which Unaiza and I are both in.

You can tell I started getting sad about leaving when I took a picture of a typical CIMBA meal. Everyone complains about the food, but really it wasn't too bad...if you like to overdose on carbs EVERY SINGLE DAY. But hey, its Italian food, you're in Italy...so to everyone complaining- I say get over it! This was actually one of our better meals...pasta with pesto, a roll (always) and their buttered potatoes, which I LOVE.

Wednesday night was another sports bar night, but somehow I didn't take any pictures...finals started Thursday afternoon, so I think people were starting to study already. I had both my finals Friday, so I thought it would be okay to go out one last time :) Thursday night was the faculty dinner, and it was at this beautiful house-turned-restaurant about 15 minutes away overlooking the hills. A lot of people do turn their houses into restaurants on the weekends (its called an agriturismo (sp?)) The views were great!

Front of the agriturismo..I am going to miss all of the landscaping. Regardless if a person has a tiny shack or a big house, everyone takes pride in their yard. This is Emily being silly...

RA group! Ashley, Abbey, Me, Emily, Maroo & Janani

I know I take endless amounts of food pictures, but in Italy I truly fell in love with the food. I had the best meal of Italy at this place...it started with risotto with fungi (which are mushrooms). I picked those out, and the flavor was phenomenal.  

Once again, the pasta after the risotto didn't make it into my camera card. It was so delicious it disappeared rather quickly! Below is a picture of the meats though...YUM. I had a chicken wing, a sausage and two ribs. The white thing is like this cornmeal type of...well I'm not sure. I think its called a panino? hmm....good all the same.

And of course, dessert! This was a strawberry something or other...I did like the dessert at the formal dinner better, but this was a pretty close second!

This is my other professor, Emily Allen. She is actually a professor at Purdue! She taught Italian Journeys here at CIMBA, which was similar to a travel writing class. I really, really enjoyed her in class, and I know I will be stopping by her office to catch up this fall. CIMBA gives you the very unique opportunity to really know your professor- especially as an RA!

Friday was a blur...Emily and Dominic actually allowed me to start each of my finals early to make sure I would catch the train to get to my sister. I started Emily's final at 7:30 am (after going to bed at 3:30...studying and packing-bleck). I got done by 8:45am, then headed to my room to get all my stuff together so I could check out. I checked out, started my Comm final at 9:30, got done at 11:20, then caught my 11:30am taxi to the train station...that's how close I was cutting it! On one hand, it sucked not being able to really say goodbye to anyone on Friday, but at the same time it is kind of good. I honestly think if I would have said goodbye to everyone I would have been a blubbering mess. My best best girl Unaiza waved to me while my taxi was pulling away, and that was enough to make me tear up. She had both my classes with me, so we were together 6+ hours a day every day, then traveled together the last weekend. I will miss her so much!

There are a thousand and one things I could say about this experience...for one, anyone that is debating studying abroad- DO IT. You will absolutely not regret it. For CIMBA specifically, I really enjoyed myself. The campus was great, and I actually liked the small town atmosphere...it made getting away on the weekends even more enjoyable. The other RAs and the staff were great, and the teachers were the best I have had in my college experience hands down. I joked with the office staff that I may look into coming back for the Spring 2013 semester as a "Super RA"...like the head of the RAs basically. I am really, really debating it. Anyways, I am now in Germany, so my next blog will be about my travels here (and do I have stories...) and my first day with my sister and Austin! 

Arrivederci Italy...it really was "La Dolce Vita"