(fine)

i'm really dragging this out, aren't i? it's now wednesday morning, earlier than i care to admit, i fly out of bologna in 24 hours, i have made little to no progress on my packing, and i just woke up from a dream about being stranded on this subway platform in the dark waiting for a train that wasn't supposed to stop, even. i was in berlin when it was divided sitting around with a bunch of kids all night at one of these ghost stations but no one seemed to mind that we were there.

lately we've all been watching the euro cup, they have a big screen set up in piazza and last night italy beat france when it was storming, pouring with so much lightening but everyone was still crammed into the piazza screaming and cheering and honking horns in the rain. i love the italian team mostly for their dramatic antics. i also love that babies in strollers out way past any decent american bedtime are already craning their necks to see the game. i rode my bike home in the storm as fast as possible and gave everyone soaking wet hugs in front of my house as they ran to catch the night train to lecce.

i said goodbye to monica last night and she kept saying that she couldn't really process all of us leaving, that she was still expecting to pass us on the street next week like always. we made plans for when each of us comes back 10 or 20 years from now and are walking through the piazza and see monica in bici, come una bandita, and it's nice thinking that really in my lifetime nothing here will change. my magnolia tree finally bloomed, mostly last night.

i'm wrapping this up, now, 6:43 am on thursday with my last cup of coffee in italy on the stove. i've been killing myself since i got back from my trip with not being ready to leave, even after nine months. it doesn't really seem possible that this year is over. i'm always too attached for transitions. i stole my favorite coffee mug from elvira and buried it in a suitcase, if that makes it any clearer. i should probably start dragging everything down to the train station. goodbye, blog.

j