Today was my last day in Rome… I’m still unsure how I feel about this, in all honesty. In some ways I’m more than ready to be home. For example, if I could skip the 10 hour flight back to America, I would! However, I’ve grown to love it here. It’s taken a full three months to fully appreciate all I’ve got in this beautiful city, but Rome is amazing and I’m very sad to be leaving it behind for a long while. I experienced such a broad range of emotions today, and though I can’t fully process them all myself, I’m happy that today worked out the way that it did, it was nearly perfect.
This morning was my final day of classes! Hallelujah, praise the Lord! All we had to finish was our presentations for the group blog projects we’ve been working on all semester. Once those were out of the way, we were nearly home-free.. all that was left was a brief discussion about airport things, how our trip home would look, and the do’s and dont’s of flying back to America. Then, as that was completed, we finally had free time to do as we pleased! I spent a good hour on campus after that to eat lunch (the remainder of food items I had in my possession), then Bryanna and I were out the door to visit the single place I could not leave Rome without seeing today.. I knew even before going I would’ve regretted not seeing it as soon as I left, and after actually being there, I was 100% correct.. today, I went to a cat sanctuary!
Yes, that’s right – cat sanctuary – as in an area of Rome completely sectioned off and designated for the sole purpose of housing and taking care of the thousands and thousands of stray cats in the city. The location of this sanctuary is in the center of the city in a small area of ancient ruins; the cats run this tiny “town”! As we stood outside the gates looking down at the various cats but not being able to reach them I kept thinking “how can I get my hands on these cats?” And then we saw it.. the shelter part of the sanctuary that is open to the public – perfect! We walked right down and there they were.. probably close to 40 feline friends just hanging out, sleeping, and eating up all the attention they were getting from strangers coming to see them! Most of them have had some type of bodily damage or disability, and there is a room in the shelter distinctly for the disabled cats that need some special care. This shelter/sanctuary is used to sterilize, medicate, and feed the cats of Rome in order to prevent further stray population growth. The people working were so kind and so loving and I enjoyed spending time there just because of the people I got to interact with. (I did really love the cats though of course!) One man, who was working, in particular, picked up a cat, called by name, kissed it, then played with it and rubbed its belly for a good few minutes, and my heart melted! So special! I fell in love quickly with two special cats in particular – one always had its tongue sticking out and its eyes closed (hilarious), and the other didn’t have ears and had some extreme facial damage but was so sweet and adorable no matter how bizarre looking it was! I spent a solid 1 1/2 hours there and I loved every second of it!
After visiting the cats we began our journey back to campus. We stopped in at a few tourist-y shops to look for last minute things, then waited at the bus stop for 20 minutes for our bus to come. Because today is a Christmas holiday (Italians decorate today and the Pope places the wreath at the Spanish steps) pubic transportation was weird. We were tired of waiting, so we jumped on an “H” bus to termini (directly after saying “Who even takes the “H” bus?! No one, because it’s weird!” Hmm… irony…) We arrived at termini, Bryanna found some shopping items that she liked, and then we were back on campus before we knew it! The 82 bus booked it through all the stops no one was at and the driver didn’t even flinch as he passed by! We got back in record time – 8ish minutes!
The early evening was filled with final packing and preparation for the flight home tomorrow. We all had our rooms checked, then we went to San Marino for our last community dinner together. I had a delicious pizza, and some great conversations with those around me. We all shared who our prayer partner from the beginning of the semester was and we had an “award ceremony” for our small things collection (I won the smallest small thing award). Then after a record breaking short dinner, we all went our separate ways to enjoy our last night in the city in our own different ways. I decided with Bryanna and Brooke to go into the center for one last sentimental moment – gelato at the Pantheon.
We went to Giolitti’s (my favorite gelato place!) and I got my last gelato to match the first I had here – caramel e more (caramel and blackberry)! Then we walked to the Pantheon like we always did to sit and enjoy the massive monument and our yummy gelato! Words cannot describe how greatly I love that place.. it was very empty tonight and I was able to sit on the steps of the fountain and just enjoy my time there. We ran into most of the rest of our group and hung out with them a bit, then they all left. Jeffrey came waltzing by a few minutes later, so he came and sat with us for another 30 minutes. At that point, our estimated arrival time back on campus was just before curfew, so we headed to the bus stop.
Again, at the same stop as earlier in the day, we waited forever for a bus to come and the one we needed never came, so we jumped on another “H” to termini then took a 90 back to campus. However, while waiting at the bus stop, a van pulled up to the curb, some people (who we later discovered were with a “Red Cross” type organization) jumped out and delivered hot food to the homeless people sleeping nearby. My heart aches for the people I see struggling on the street and for the fact that the language barrier prevents me from doing much to help them, but I’m so happy that there are people out there that are trying to make the city a better place for all people.
When we arrived back on campus, everyone was already back. I’ve spent most of my night socializing with friends and preparing for my trip home. I spent some time in the kitchen around PB&J sandwiches and hot tea with Bryanna and Quentin and I greatly appreciated that time with them.
It doesn’t feel real that in a little over 24 hours I will be home in Indiana… In less than 12 hours I’ll be on a plane to America… where has the semester gone? I’m very ready to be home, but because Rome is now like a home of sorts that I’m not exactly ready to leave yet. There are so many more things I could say about my excitements and fears about leaving tomorrow, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s post. Tomorrow morning begins the longest traveling day of my life!
Xoxo,
Breanna
My tongue protruding cat friend of the day!
The poor sweet kitty with no ears.. By far the nicest cat in the whole place!
Melissa and I were raincoat matching buddies all semester!
Bryanna and I all dressed up after dinner out at San Marino
PB&J night with Quentin!
Europe Fall 2014 - exploration, education, adventure. 