dear Roma,
thank you for hosting me for three and a half months while I studied abroad. I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived, but I am leaving with all my expectations blown away by my time here. thank you for letting me learn from you, for letting me explore your holy monuments and historical sites. thank you for making me feel uncomfortable: every challenge I overcame taught me something about myself. thank you for becoming comfortable to me: I will miss my familiar streets. I enjoyed your cuisine immensely, and thank you for helping me add on a carbohydrate layer that will keep me warm this winter. thank you for being a port to the other fantastic places I got to visit this semester.
I love how busy this city is. you are an international city with complicated feelings about globalizing. I love that your citizens are so friendly and so funny. I love that they entertained my efforts at Italian. I love your traditional piatti of carbonara, gricia, amatriciana, arrabbiatta, bruschetta, and carciofi giudia. your gelato has made it difficult for me to love ice cream the same way. I love your steadfast commitment to tradition. I love all the beautiful art that you have produced and patronized over the centuries, and I love that it is (mostly) available to the public (looking at you, French embassy). I love your piazzas and your markets and your churches. I love your weird quirks even when they make my life harder.
at the start of my time here, I tossed two coins into the Fontana di Trevi, one for love and two for a return to Roma, which means it has to come true because I can't bear the thought that I'll never see you again. promise you'll get your stuff together economically so I can come back home here. because surprisingly, inadvertently, somehow, you became a new home, and it would be too sad to not return.
thanks so much for the adventures and the memories of a lifetime. I'll be back Roma!
love,
Madi
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