May 2024

When we first arrived to Italy, everything we did was a first: first coffee, first stroll, first friends, first “italian” words, first sleep, first classes. We were all like different flower seeds planted into the ground and as time moved on, we bloomed and blossomed. And as our time started to countdown and we were already halfway into May, our remaining came down to a basket of “lasts”: last spaghetteria, Bar103, Ugo Gelateria, Ghost Chilli, Bistrot Del Teatro, and Rome. 

On the last Monday, as a school we headed down to Rome for the last time for our “Arrivederci Roma” to visit our favorite places one last time and toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain as a memorable way to to close out a chapter of our life and that maybe in a few years we will find ourselves back in Italy. 

And for the last time, as I stepped out of the palazzo, and down the stairs and through the big green door, I remember this will be the last time I will, as a SYA student, be in that palazzo. I look back and remember all the classes and discussions, community meetings, laughs, and the times where I would gaze at the frescoes in the salone. 

Our time has finally come to an end. Since Spring is a season of rebirth and renewal, and like the flowers on the terrace of my host family’s house that finally started to bloom in mid-April, it’s time for the beginning of a new class – the blooming of a new class. And just like at the end of a life cycle of a flower, it was time for seed dispersal. It was time for each of us to return back to our respective homes, and a new class to bloom. The school stands empty awaiting for next years students to fill the same spaces we once occupied and bloom in such beautiful ways, and make long-lasting memories we now carry with us back home.