Saying Goodbye

I have two suitcases packed to bursting with stuff upstairs. Aside from running away, this could only suggest one thing - that I am home for good from my year abroad.

And what an unbelievable year it's been. I can't leave this year behind me saying I've learnt nothing from it. It has been shaping and educational and all the things all your predecessors tell you it'll be. It has been amazingly fun, different and filled with amazing new people.

It has also been tough.

The location doesn't particularly matter - any year in the life in any place will never flow by effortlessly, and sure enough mine didn't. I hit language barrier troubles, had difficulties adapting to the culture (even though on the grand scheme of things it really wasn't so different), making friends, keeping friends, fitting in and sometimes even buying cereal.

But nonetheless the mix of family, friends from home and friends I'd been making throughout the year and my boyfriend far away in Sweden kept me afloat and I made it out the other side, content and already nostalgic.

From the day you leave school, saying goodbye seems to crop up on your agenda more often than you'd care for, but you start to get used to it. 

I left Parma behind knowing that the English friends I'd made I'd see all too soon on our own turf and that it's not really a final farewell to those from further afield.

I left Italy behind knowing that I'd come back (at least to Rome as there's a coin in the Trevi fountain with my name on it), that I'd seen a lot and travelled happily around soaking in the sights for the best part of a year.

Goodbye to Parma, the Conservatorio and the streets I walked every day

Goodbye to travelling

Goodbye to amazing friends

Goodbye to my room and its dusty floor

Goodbye to Italy, 'a dopo'!

I'm back (for now)

I last wrote a blog over three weeks ago. Perhaps the longest time I've gone without (I think). It's been half-related to how busy I've been and half to the laziness which inevitably follows.

So I'll catch you up with what I've been doing.

Since the last time I wrote I have:

Performed in four concerts

Taken three exams (all in Italian)

Said 'addio' to half of my teachers

Taken daytrips to Cinque Terre (twice), Bologna and Milan

Spent many evenings drinking Aperitivi with friends

Celebrated two Birthdays

Had a picnic by the river

Had my Mum and her Fiancé come to stay

Returned to England for just a weekend to play flute in my friend's wedding

Said goodbye to some very important friends here who are leaving soon

And although the ever-nearing prospect of leaving Parma forever and returning back to England is in some ways exciting, this place continues to grow on me and only too soon I'll be on the train to the airport and saying goodbye to it all.

Our Concert in Auditorium Paganini (an old Sugar Factory)

Jess and I ended up stranded in this town (Pontremoli) on the way to Cinque Terre

Getting lost in Pontremoli

Michelle enjoying the crashing waves

Huge waves!

A very musical daytrip to Milan with a fellow erasmus student from the Conservatorio

So much talent outside Castello Sforzesco

Jess' Birthday - count those candles!

Rosie's discovery of the beautiful riverbanks in Parma

My Mum and her fiancé in Parco Ducale

I have one of these shots for every season

Parma's specialities

The Flute Choir (the original Flute Salad) for Louise's wedding

Tying the knot

The bride!