Sorry About Living

Sorry for not writing in a while. Been a bit busy lately. Went to Florence and spent a stupid amount of money on presents for myself. Sorry to anyone who expects a gift from Italy, no room in my luggage with all my gifts for myself :). Anyway, I've been doing a lot lately, saw the Vatican museums yesterday and the Colosseum today. Tomorrow I'm going to go to Piazza Navona and buy art. Then after that, I leave Rome. WTF. Where have I even been the last four and a half weeks??? Living in Rome aparently. Who knows, really. I'll be honest, I have mixed feelings about leaving Rome. It's definitely not my favorite city in Italy (thinking Florence might be) but at the same time I teared up on Monday at the thought of leaving and not hsving enough time. I have done a lot in the last week to finish up my experiences and mostly I am exhausted from it. Last Thursday I walked from the Spanish Steps to the Trevi fountain to the Pantheon at dusk in the rain while wearing sandals. One of my happiest memories in Rome, being by myself, soaked and soaking it all in. I've done a lot of walking to cramp everything in. My back hurts, my knees creak, and even my good ankle hurts. Oh God. I'm getting old. How did that happen at the age of 20? There are women with white hair and a cane walking faster than me at the end of the day. Today I woke up at 7, saw the Colosseum, and cane home at 10:30 and slept for two hours. So much for taking advantage of my last few days. I'm going to get to my host family and collapse in a big pile og aching muscles and stiff joints. They thought they were adopting a nice American daughter, not a grandmother with a bad back and a slight limp. I'm nervous about my host family. I'm sure they are nice and friendly and clean and good cooks-- but I'll never know given that my Italisn has not improved in the last four and a half weeks. Everyone in Rome speaks English, leaving me with no way to practice. And with a loose school schedule, I haven'y learned much through school (don't tell my professors I said that!). So communication is gunna be complicated for at least the first little bit. Keep on keepin' on!