Parting ways

The program came to it's bittersweet conclusion on the morning of June 2nd. After breakfast, we all packed up our belongings-- my suitcase was undoubtedly heavier with the souvenirs I was bringing home. We had a final critique of all the artwork, both finished and WIP, that we had produced over the course of the program. It was great to see how everyone developed their own style and became more comfortable and familiar with different mediums. The critique concluded the class, and we all found ourselves going our separate ways. A few others in the group, including myself, were all headed to Florence, so we decided to travel there together. We boarded the train once again, but this time headed in the opposite direction, out of Cinque Terre. The journey to Florence went fairly smoothly, although we did almost miss one of our trains. Once in Florence, our group got even smaller, since we were staying in different hostels. Two others and I decided to walk to our hostel from the train station at the center of town. Although it was initially a bit confusing to figure out the directions I had, we made it to the hostel, panting and with our luggage in tow. The hostel was about a 15 minute walk from all the major attractions of the town, making it pretty convenient. We walked around a bit, got a bite to eat for lunch, and then decided to rest back at the hostel. We had planned to meet up with the other two girls from our group later that evening for one last dinner, but unfortunately I got sick and decided it was best to stay in for the rest of the day. I made sure to get plenty of rest so I would feel better in the morning, since that would be the only day I'd have to see the city.

The last sunset at Cinque Terre.

I also said goodbye to this grumpy cat that was always lingering around the front of our hotel.

This was the view from the window of the room in the hostel I stayed while in Florence for a few nights. I booked a single bed in a female room of  four beds, so I got to see a few other people come and go while I spent my time there.