December

After Jon left on December 2nd it was MAJOR crunch time for me.  I had already missed to project deadlines, one by 2 weeks and the other was now a week past due.  Luckily both of my teachers understood that November was crazy and we had family and friends visit there in the mean time so it was hard to meet some of the deadlines.  The deadlines they had given us were not the official deadlines only a suggested time line to follow for the semester with everything being due December 16th for our final show here in Rome.  December went by just as fast as November did because we were all so busy trying to catch up with projects.  It took me about the first week of December to get caught up with the two projects that I been behind on and then had to finish the others I had on the back burner for my other classes.

We also found some time to have fun and take a break from studying in the past 2 week also.  On the 3rd we found out there was a free Santogold concert in Rome very close to our apartment.  Myspace was putting it on and to get in free you had to print off you profile page and show that to them as your ticket.  Non of us had myspace so we all created one right before the show and printed off our new profiles, most of us only having one friend; Tom the default. I gave them mine and he commented about me only having one friend and that he was sure I would make some that night and have 50 by the next morning. I proceeded to go home and delete the account first thing.  It was a cool concert though, a really small building but we were able to get close to the front.  I was the tallest person there by about 4 inches so I had no problem seeing, when I turned around it was like the red sea parting behind me.  There was a pretty distinct past where nobody could see around me. O well; it pays off to be tall sometimes.

Our other study break was for a soccer game.  I didn’t think we were going to be able to but we did make it to a Lazio vs. Inter Milan game.  Lazio is one of the two Rome home soccer teams.  The soccer game was a lot of fun and and a new experience for all of us and cool to see how much they get into soccer like we do football.  The stadium was also the one that was used for the Olympics when they were in Rome, it was way bigger than any of the stadiums I have ever been to.  It was about half full and got loud when something happened, I can only imagine what it would be like during a big rivalry game and a full house.  The game brought us to the week of the 7th and thats when the real buckling down and work started.

The second week of December turned into the week that we all try to avoid when it comes to design; and that is the thought of all nighters.  Sunday I was up till 3:30 am working. Monday up till 3:30 am. Tuesday up till 4:00 am. Wednesday up till 3:30 am. Thursday up till 4:00 am. Friday up till 3:00 am and Saturday ended up being an all nighter and I didn’t to sleep until 2 pm on Sunday.  That whole week I spent 12-16 hours at out dining room table on a very uncomfortable chair working on stuff with breaks to eat and thats about it.  It was a long week to say the least. The only thing that saved me was that I only had class at 3 on Tuesday, 9 on Wednesday and 9 on Friday so I did get to sleep in quite a bit. At one point it was about 6 am here and 11 pm back home when I was video chatting with my family, they said ‘well we are going to bed, talk to you later’ normally I’m the one that says that being 7 hour ahead.  That week I was only 4 hours ahead, I thought about just keeping up that schedule and have an easier time adjusting when I do get back. I did get everything finished up during that 36 hours of no sleeping so it was worth the effort.  I had monday to sleep in go to studio to print out all of my project and then get ready for our show on Tuesday night.  I got it all done with a day to spare.

The final show on the 16th was also a good  showing of all of the hard work we have put in this semester and it was good to see everyones stuff displayed together since I hadn’t see some of the stuff people had done.  We cleaned up the studio that morning and covered our studio tables with black paper to make it look nicer, the show wasn’t until 6 pm so most of us headed home for a nap and then went back later.  My roommate Derek and I had gotten Italian suits the week before so we decided to get all dressed up for the occasion.  I also bought some brown loafers in Florence so for at least one night I could say everything I was wearing was Italian.  We got a bunch of looks on the bus over to studio as well.  The show officially marked the end of the semester and all I had to do now was hang out in Rome a few more days until I head home on the 22nd. 

The day after the show was spent sleeping, I don’t think I woke up until 4 pm that afternoon since we could all finally relax and the exhaustion set in.  The past couple days (the 20th now) I have just been walking around enjoying my last couple days of Rome and we have had the perfect weather to do it. Highs of mid to high 50s and nice sunny weather (compared to snow, ice, cold, blizzards, windchill, not to mention COLD) back home.  Friday the 19th I walked around for about 5 hours just taking pictures of a few things I hadn’t been to yet and made it back to a couple shops I needed to get to before I go, also got the last of my Christmas shopping done which will make packing everything up a little interesting.  It was nice to be able to walk around on a nice day now worrying about getting a project done and just taking my time, I pretty much did a big loop around the city weaving through all of the little Via’s that make up Rome.  Saturday (the 2oth) we seen the first 3 off to the airport at 6:30 am and then Jake and just walked around again checking out different stuff all day.  He needed to hit a few shops and since it was prefect outside I was up for the walk also.  I had started packing stuff up the night before and realized that I was getting close to 50 lbs with just he fun stuff I had accumulated over the past 4 months so I also re-arranged some stuff today to re-distribute the weight. I got rid of quite a bit of my clothes to since our washer is not the greatest and we have had to hang dry our clothes every-time they were kind of worn out so that helped a little. As of now I am at 46 pounds with just a couple things to put in right before I leave so I think I will be in good shape, if all else fails I will just toss a couple more shirts at the airport to make weight.  We seen the 4th roommate off tonight so we are down to two and the apartment is way to quiet thats for sure.  

Jake and I will be leaving at 3:30 am Monday morning when the car we arranged comes to pick us up with the two others that are flying back with us.  Our flight to Amsterdam leaves at 6:10 am and then we have a 4 hour layover before we leave for Memphis and then on to Des Moines.  It will be a long day of traveling but will be worth it to be home, now we just have to hope for good weather all the way and we will be in good shape. I moved some of the pictures in my albums around the other night so they should be all caught up in the next couple days, be sure to check those out.  The next time I talk to you all I will be back home!

I left for Rome 111 Days 10 Hours 30 Min 5 Sec ago, time to come home now.

Later