Here it is. My last post from Italy. It’s bittersweet to think that this is the end, this is my last post and my last weekend in Italy. It’s crazy to think that 12 weeks have already gone by, but it also feels like it’s been forever since I was stateside. And while I’m excited to see my family, I really don’t want to leave Italy. I had a fantastic time abroad, getting to see Rome and other parts of Europe. I visited my dream destination, Amsterdam, and ventured to eastern Europe for the first time!

When you think of Italy and tourism you tend to think of museums, cities, and gelato, right? You wouldn’t be alone, those are definitely the first things that come to mind for me! It turns out though that one of Italy’s most successful tourism planning sectors is the region of SüdTirol in Alto Adige. This area is part of the Alps and in the north of Italy, very close to Austria. And this small region has some of the most successful tourism marketing in Italy, so to SüdTirol we went for a field trip!

Greetings from the Atlanta, Georgia airport! I am currently in route to Santiago! I have successfully made it to Atlanta from Chicago O’Hare. I have never flown by myself before so this was definitely an adventure. Before arriving to the airport, I was extremely anxious because one, I haven’t flown by myself and two, I am going to a foreign country where I really don’t know what to expect and that is honestly a little crazy.

I’m officially one week from leaving for my study abroad adventure in Vienna, Austria. ONE. WEEK. I would say that I’m mentally prepared, but I’m definitely not physically prepared. I picked up some Euros today, so I’ll have some money, but I have not packed the first thing other than that! I’m a last minute packer, so I’ll probably be finishing up my packing at about midnight the night before my flight leaves. But, like I said, I’m mentally ready for this new adventure with new people, a new culture, and new experiences.

Over this past month, I have been doing a lot of travel both with friends and on my own. The majority of the time, everything goes smoothly. Flights are on time, street maps are correct, and everyone gets to where they need to go.

I finally have gotten home as of yesterday Monday May 15th and quite honestly I feel numb. The states are  weird and for sure nothing like the islands. There's busy streets, a lot of people and a bunch of English I'm surprisingly not use to having as background noise. The Spanish translations of everything on the airplanes and airports felt so much more normal then the actual English ones. I haven't left my house since I got home. I mean it's only been two days but still, I've just sat on the couch and watched tv while eating food.

Time for the truth: For the past few months, every other day I would ask myself if I had made a mistake. I traveled for a month before this program, and after this, I’m moving on to do the IES Abroad Summer EU Program before traveling on my own for another six weeks. When I go back to the United States, I will have been abroad for eight months. Eight months is a long time. Regardless of where you are, being abroad means you’re pretty much at a constant state of low-grade discomfort.