I think it's finally starting to hit me that I feel completely settled and comfortable in Rome, but buzz about how close we are to finishing the program and talk about life when we get back to the states is now constantly in the air. As nice as home sounds, I also don't think I'm ready to leave because I have fallen so head over heels for Rome. From its winding cobblestone streets and suffocating alleyways to trucks filled with flowers providing locals with their daily greenery, the faces on the streets and the faces on the walls, the best lookout points to gaze over the cupola-filled Renaissance landscape, and the constant reminder of times long passed, I thrive off the energy of this city in every corner of its existence.

The ease of travel has also become a normality to me, as I find myself on a bus traveling somewhere new all the time. In a few hours time I can be in the middle of the country with the safe assurance that another direct train will take me back into the depths of the ancient city center after I'm done exploring another famous site. This weekend my friend and I took a trip to Tivoli where we feasted our eyes upon the most beautiful of hillside villa gardens and incredible fountains everywhere. I think my obsessive love of winding city streets with ground-level boutiques and balconies overflowing with ivy has also stirred up an extra appreciation for gardens, parks, and waterfront. The blossoming wisteria and abundance of fountains everywhere in the springtime is making it hard to want to say goodbye, even to a little town that I've just visited for a day trip. A stop by the ruins in the ancient Hadrian's Villa also mesmerized me in a completely different way, as I felt the need to touch the marble columns and crumbling brick forming the 2nd century A.D. buildings and porticoes to connect with the history of these enormous structures. I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that people could lift these columns and manufacture rounded ceilings and domes by hand so many hundreds and thousands of years ago. It makes me wonder what preservation will become of our current society, and whether or not in one thousand years from now these ancient Roman ruins will also continue to exist as "pristine" as they are now.

While being swamped with the rush of schoolwork that's characteristic of the quarter system and the burning desire to go see and do everything in Rome during the free time that I have has left my legs sore and camera battery in constant use, I feel good in that I'm taking advantage of the resources that I have and seizing the moment to create everlasting memories.