Word of the Day: coeval I can't believe people are saying 'See you in Rome.' The next time I'll see some of these people it'll be in Rome. I don't know if I'm making myself excited because I think about it all the time or if I'm really getting excited. Of course, either way I'm excited. And I'm all done with finals for this semester. I know I aced my timeline for Western Civ and only got one wrong on the fill in the blank part. I don't know about the first two essays, though, because those weren't so good. My last essay, though, I wrote almost two pages front and back in the blue book in half an hour, and I worked Eleni into every paragraph of the paper. So not only do I get extra points for being there and watching the movie in the first place, I get extra points on the final because I incorporated it into my essay. I'm so proud of myself just for that. There's just so little time. I don't know how to feel right now. I suppose this must be how all of us feel. We're having to pack up all our things and move out of our rooms just as if we were packing in May for summer. But it's cold outside and windy, it's winter, and we're packing because we're not coming back to school until August. August. Now that I look at it, that's nearly a year away. My God, what am I going to do without my table in Braniff, without the tower bells, without walking up The Hill, without all the comforts and discomforts of UD? I won't know how to act when I return, I don't think. I'll be displaced in time, thinking I've come back to the spring semester when instead I'll be taking Junior Poet and Medieval Lit. But maybe I won't. Maybe I'm underestimating my Rome semester in that capacity. Maybe I'll love Rome so much that the time will fly by as it has this semester. My joys and woes of Dallas will be replaced by my joys and woes of Rome. But will I want to see Dallas while I'm in Rome? Will I be excited to see it again? Maybe not since there's nearly four months between the time I return from Rome and the time school begins again. I'm going to miss it here. No matter how nice Rome is, there are always things here I'll miss, just like when I'm back here I'll be missing things from when I was in Rome. There's just no escaping this, it seems. And then there are my friends. Travis is coming home for Christmas, thank goodness. I'll see all my friends a few times before we all start going our own ways again. I love these people, but I never see them, I never spend time with them. But does presence really make a difference? Could I love someone less if I don't see them often? I'll find out, though I believe I'm quite strong in that area. How I will long for my Aaron on cold Roman winter nights. What will be waiting for me when I get back in May concerning 'us'? What will he feel? My friends, my dearest and closest friends, are drifting away from me, it seems, but that doesn't change my love for them. I want them to know that, though. I want them all to know that no matter how far away I am or how long it's been, I think of them and wish them well and love them so much. There are so many questions that can't possibly be answered in a single final examination. ________________________ The beautiful Trevi Fountain. If you throw a coin over your left shoulder, you'll find the love of your life. If you just throw a coin in, you'll return to Rome.