the Passport Manuscript: Keep Calm and Never Leave Europe

Monday marks the start of midterms week on the Temple Roma campus. People are stressing out, staying in to study, and generally panicking about actually having to be studious. I have two midterms; my life is so hard... yeah, not so much.

So much studying, so little time!!

But honestly, I’m panicking about midterms. Midterms. Mid – term. It’s the middle of our term. This horrifies me; we’re literally half way through our semester abroad. Half of our time has passed and we only have two full months left. I’m not sure you understand the panic that strikes my soul when I think about having to leave Italy and go back to Philadelphia. I quite love and miss things from home: pad thai, my family, the 4^th of July, pad thai, my dogs, internet access that actually works, pad thai… but there is nothing like living abroad. One does not simply return home. This place is like wonderland- once you're down the rabbit hole, you don't just walk back out.
Midterms week is a slap of reality that I need to make the most of the very short time I have left in Europe- grazie, I get it, now slow the fuck down.

I can't leave.

Meanwhile, daily life in Roma continues to be a trip! We’ve been enjoying our classes (...) and the weather warming up a bit. My lack of posts is in part due to the loss of my iPhone 5, after Taco Tuesday on February 12^th. RIP, baby. I got into a taxi with it, and got out without it. I went into a deep depression as a result of not having any form of mobile communication, iPod, or camera capabilities. I fully admit to being dependent on Apple Products. Luckily, insurance had my back and exactly one week later I was good to go with a brand new iPhone (special thanks for Katie for taking care of everything in the States, I love you)! The universe is back in order.

What would I do without selfies?

Recently, we’ve been trying to venture away from our usual pub and get out into the city a bit more. In the past two weeks I’ve been to Mood, Club Manhattan, and even the countryside of Viterbo. Rural Italy is simply beautiful. I babysat a little Italian girl and helped improve her English skills last weekend! The family has an adorable dog named Skippy (Skee-pay) that makes me miss my little boy more than anything. Fortunately, Dan has been sending me snapshots of Ozzie being perfect back home to help with the pain of separation.

Last Thursday, we celebrated Brandon’s 21^st birthday by getting on the guest list at Club Manhattan! This place was killer and proved to be one of our favorite clubs so far. Homemade cake and bottle service for the Big B’s special night were some of the highlights.

Ain't nobody fresher than my clique.

Saturday marked State Patty’s Day back home for Penn State University. I don’t even go to PSU (…thankfully), but I’ve LOVED this Irish pseudo-holiday since freshman year. Temple Roma has a pretty big supply of PSU students (and general SPD supporters) so we decided to do a State Patty’s Day 2013: Roma Edition. We bought mini kegs, snacks, and a full breakfast spread to ring in the dayloading holiday. Casey, Brandon, and I woke up at 8am, started cooking by 9am, and did our first shots by 9:30am. Good friends and general shenanigans made it a successful day!

A few highlights include:

- BREAKFEST!

- Fifty-two cup pong: Brian and Joe snagged the victory after it came down to just one cup.

- My star moment came when I decided to call the game like an umpire. SAFE.

- Passed out and completely knackered by 4pm, like any good daylong.

Sweet dreams, Brandon and Casey.

Pretty much everyone is flying away next week for spring break but I’ll be staying back in Rome! I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to do some more exploring, sketching, and eating. The next three weeks are going to be absolutely killer! Spring break, Ireland with Casey, and then a visit from my best girl, Olivia are all in store. Life is sweet, but going by much too fast!

On a side note, if you’re hankering for some more study abroad insight, Arielle has arrived in Australia and is blogging her heart out on http://akabroadabroad.wordpress.com/! International skype sessions with a 9-hour time difference have ensued and that’s pretty cool! As two best friends separated by way too much ocean, we’ll be documenting our long distance love via my “VAS HAPPENIN’ Photos” page.

Keep an eye out for our tank tops highlighting some of the bomb locations we’re fortunate enough to visit! We’ve recently realized it might be a good thing we’re studying abroad without each other: Italy and Oz would probably drown in alcohol (or shame) if we were together.

Here’s the latest visual round up of my too short time in the eternal city: