Final Countdown

Three months down (January, February, March); one month to go. Check it.

• Go to Croatia.   *Booked.
• Go to Germany.   *In the undetermined, post-study abroad future.
• Go to Ireland.   *Someday.
• Go to any other country I can go to.   *Greece, Spain
• Get a touristy photo of me holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• Eat authentic Italian pasta.
• Drink authentic Italian wine.
• Take a Beatles tour of Liverpool.   *Booked.
• Get a photo of me crossing Abbey Road.   *Too expensive. We had to cut this from the England itinerary.
• Take a Harry Potter tour of England.   *Someday.
• Get a photo of me at Platform 9 3/4.   *Someday.
• Strike up a conversation with a local.
• Try to read an Italian newspaper.
• Spend a day just people watching.
• Follow a road just to see where it goes.
• Visit all of the major Italian cities.   *Not happening. There are more than I thought. But Florence, Rome, Assisi, Venice, Milan, Sienna, and Orvieto are checked off.
• Visit Dante Alighieri's house.   
• Swim in the ocean.   *I failed at this in Greece because the water was so cold. But Croatia is in three weeks, so I still have hope.
• Actually see an ocean.   
• Stay in a hostel.   *Several.
• Attend an Italian youth group with Jess and Katy.
• Go to an Easter service in a church older than the United States.   Crossed off as of TODAY!
• Appreciate the fact that I can be in anything older than the United States.
• Get lost without panicking.
• Do something 100% spur-of-the-moment.
• Grocery shop in an open-air market.
• Make one purely selfish and frivolous purchase.   
• Hang my laundry out to dry over the street.   *Not legal in my neighborhood.
• Watch the local news.
• Learn about international communications (duh).   
• Learn at least enough Italian to get by.   
• Learn about art.   
• Live out of a backpack for a weekend.   *Or for a lot of weekends. 
• Go to a pub.   *Oh boy.
• Take more photos than I know what to do with.   *I took so many I broke my camera and had to get a new one. How's that for crossing that puppy off the list?
• Blog every (?) day.   *Like I said last month, I have failed at this. But at least I keep up with this blog.
• Remember to keep my feet off the frescoes.   *I almost want to do this at this point.

Now that my next checklist post will be the final tally, I can say that I feel good about this list. Sure there are a few things that I've discovered just aren't feasible, but I've done so much that wasn't on this list, that my mind is blown by how insane these past three months have been. And I have almost another full month of it. I feel like I might be the luckiest person in the world right now.

Celebrating Easter today made me realize that there's one thing I never would have put on this list that has made all of the places I've been and experiences I've had so much more amazing than I could have hoped. And it's the simple fact that I really do have an honest-to-goodness family here.

I don't know how many of you in my study abroad family read this blog since you're living it with me, and I don't mean to get all Maria here, but I truly believe experiences are shaped almost entirely by who you share them with. It is a testament to how much I love these guys that I'm having as much fun, seeing as much, learning as much, trying as much, and doing as much as I am in Europe.

On this Resurrection Day, the first real holiday I've ever spent away from my family, it's nice to know that I'm still celebrating with loved ones.

... And that's my cheesy message for this blog. Enough of that. Goodnight, everyone. God bless, and blessed Pasqua to you and whomever you choose to share this day with.