Ciao!

So I made it back to the US! It was a bit of a rocky start though. Since we had to get a taxi at 4:30am to catch our 7:00am flights, my roommates and I just decided to stay up all night instead of go to bed at say 9:00pm. Who would want to spend their last night in Italy sleeping?? We ended up calling a cab a little before 4:30, but didn't get one until 25 minutes later since their service wasn't very good. Once we got to the airport, Alessia and Amy went to one airline, and I went to another. We figured once we went through luggage check-in and security, we would say goodbye at the terminals. However, the lines to check in luggage were unbelievably long and were not moving. Somehow, I ended up being the last person in line, and by the time I finally got through, I had 15 minutes before my plane took off...and I hadn't been through security yet! Long story short, I ended up running in the airport a little ways carrying my shoes instead of wearing them. Don't worry, I ended up making the flight, but I never got my tearful goodbye with Alessia and Amy!! I think I was most mad about that.
My connecting flights were not as eventful. It was cold and rainy in Germany where my connecting flights were, so I was happy not to stay too long there! I ended up getting to O'Hare around 2pm local time...which was strange because I left Europe at 11:00am, but had a 9 hour flight! I felt pretty good when I came back energy-wise, probably because I was excited to finally see my family again :) But for some reason at 9pm, all of my jet lag hit me at once, and I felt EXHAUSTED. I had a nice catch-up session on sleep...since I slept until 2pm this afternoon (and had to be dragged out of bed!). 
I'm very happy to be home and to be with my family and friends again, but I'm still feeling sad to have left Italy and the people I met there :( I'm just happy for Facebook, Skype, and texting to keep in contact with everyone! 
This will be my last blog post, so I just wanted to thank you all for reading this and sharing my amazing month with me. I'm going to end it with a list of what all I will miss (and not miss) about being in Italy:

Things I won't miss:
- walking at "vacation pace" when I have somewhere to be
- peanut butter that costs 7 US dollars for a teeny jar
- geckos in the apartment
- not being able to understand people when they talk to me in a different language

Things I will miss:
- the friends I've made and all of our inside jokes :)
- passing the Duomo every day
- gelato/real Italian pasta
- the accordion guy who plays outside our apartment at sunset
- haggling prices at the outdoor markets 
- red orange juice
- being able to walk everywhere
- seeing famous artworks/cities on free afternoons and weekends
- being in Italy in general!! <3

Ciao everyone!