She's Just Leaving

Now that the last day is almost over, it still doesn't feel like the end. Stefano and Bicio have said goodbye and left, Simo's been waylaid by the boss, and Michi is on the phone with his wife. He's already said goodbye.

But it's not really goodbye, because Angelo told us all today that I have a guaranteed job here next summer. It's all'anno prossimo and see you next summer, which is much less final and therefore less painful.

I will be back here.

Still it's strange to think that for the next nine months I won't hear Michi's computer telling him "H'arrivato un email!" I won't work scheduled forty-hour weeks. No one will be teaching me phrases like in culo di ballena (which I am not translating for you guys). Simo and I won't be joking about Mamma Pasqui (then dodging the retaliation). No monthly measuring day courtesy of Stefano. No coffee conversations with Sara, the Other Girl in Hardware, who I didn't realize had a French(?) accent until this week. No VHDL lessons with Giorgio, who just said goodbye. By the time I come back, someone will have painted over the GIULIA TI AMO graffiti on the beach wall. Elena will almost certainly have a new boyfriend. Simone will have probably lost a lot of the conversational English fluency he's picked up from working with me for two months solid. Maybe Peppe will have become famous and left the company to go on tour with his band.

It's Friday. My cheeks are raw from all the European double-cheek-kissing I've been doing today.

All right. I guess it's time for a new adventure.