End of the trip.. and back home..

So I guess it's time for the summary post..

My last 2 days in Rome were lovely. My last day in Italy was a holiday- Immaculate conception day.. (only in Italy..), and not expecting to meet any more people to hang out with, I was delightfully surprised to meet 2 canadian girls who were just in Israel on Birthright and loved it so much that they are coming back for more. We had a great talk about Israel, being Jewish and so much more. As it turns out, the travelling hostel community is pretting small. After talking for a while we realized we have a mutual friend (I met him in Florence and Michelle met him somewhere else.. I forget where..). We made plans to get together in Israel, and I think it's such a fine ending to the trip, meeting people that can tie over the trip to coming back home..

My flight home was wonderful, and everything went well leaving the city, so I won't go into that.. I guess now my next few days and weeks will be telling the stories, and that means I have to think about how to sum it all up myself, before I tell it someone else. I can honestly say that I tasted Europe- Italy the most. I tasted it, smelled it and enjoyed it with every sense. Florence, Tuscany, Napoli and Positano were absolutely my favorite parts of this trip. One of the funniest moments was when I went to the cheese guy (don't know the technical term..), asked for Buffalo mozarella in my lame english. The following day I came back and didn't even have to ask, he already knew what I wanted and we smiled at each other.. I realized that the Italians are very similar to Israelis, and in that sense I felt very close and comfortable with them. So many great moments to tell, and I hope to tell them in person rather than here. Italy was as apiritual a place for me as anything else, and I know I will return..

I'm so glad I took the time, made this a priority in my life and went. The purpose of this trip wasn't to "find myself", sort out my life or anything like that, but to explore these places, see new things and meet new people, see how I do with one bag and no privacy for 8 weeks, I must say I did very well. People are asking me what now-- not sure. I'm still taking my time, bcause now I'm building a new life and there's no need to rush. I'm happy to be back with my family and friends, and I'm very excited to see what this next stage in my life brings- new people, new realizations and hopefully only good things.

every person I have met throughout this trip has been precious to me, whether I met them for one night or for several days. they all made this trip what it turned out to be- fantastic!! I'm sure there's more to say, much more. Right now I'm content.. eating popcorn with my parents, watching "Under the Tuscan Sun" (how fitting..), and in the next few days I get to see all my friends- the ones who helped send me off and wait for me to return from all my little adventures. They are the real true friends that are always there, which is why I'm glad to be home. There's so much, and so many, to come back to..

Thank you all for joining me on this ride, reading up on my stories and sharing your thoughts. Don't know if anything will come out of writing this blog one day (maybe collecting it all and making something of it..), I'm so glad I made it a priority to write something every few days because I now have it forever.. I promise to put pictures up in the coming days and then you can see the pictures that match my stories, and how the pictures tell their own stories as well..

So this has been me- Tasting Europe.. and I did..