Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore...

As I, an about-to-be-viaggiatore (traveler), am sitting here in the Cookie Tree Mansion eating lemon poppyseed bread that Lael made and drinking tea with Molly (always a pot of Earl Grey mixed with a touch of Lapsang Souchong) on this notte d'inverno (winter's night), it is slowly beginning to dawn on me that I will actually be in Italy in less than a month.  Of course, I have known that I would be going to Italy since last December, but the happenings of this past week or so have led me to realize what this actually means:

1. Final goodbyes.  I have already said some of them, and, even worse, I haven't said others (Kimi and Katie and Lael, this means you--I miss you already!)
2. My apartment in shambles.  Packing up everything is unpleasant enough to begin with, but when you are the only one packing it is even more tragic.
3. Cleaning out the refrigerator.  Anyone up for dinner?  No?
4. Language placement tests.  According to the Università di Bologna, or at least the Brown satellite office, the best way to test someone's Italian ability is by having them respond to the following prompt in three paragraphs: "Write about a historical event of the past century."  A little too specific, in my opinion.  Couldn't they have been a bit more general?
5. I will be completely on my own next semester.  I am looking forward to the prospect of not knowing anyone and living in an apartment in the middle of the city, but these things are also slightly terrifying.  Good thing I'll have a mandatory friend to help me out.
6. I have a mandatory friend.  Apparently Brown assigns each of us a student from the Università di Bologna. and they are required to hang out with us for at least 20 hours during the first four weeks.  So it looks like Matteo Magnico and I are going to be besties!

All in all, I am very excited to be going.  I am also, of course, going to miss all my people here very much.  That's why I have decided to attempt a blog to keep track of my antics abroad.  Now you all have the option to read about my life, and I would encourage all of you to comment and to keep me updated about your own lives, be they here at Wash U or elsewhere abroad.

I would also like to take a moment to give a special shout-out to Abby Eskenazi for inspiring me.  As you can see, I am copying you in nearly every way.

So with that, I'm off to go enjoy my last six days (!) in Saint Louis until next August!


(PS--Bring it on, Genna!)