It all must come to an end (sort of!)

MAXXI museum by Zaha Hadid

Villa Deste

Stairwell in the Vatican Museum

The trip that I have been looking forward to for almost an entire year is coming to an end... and fast!  Our last few days in Rome were eventful, filled with more dinners and goodbyes.  It's hard to believe that our semester is done and looking back on all the cities we explored and the architecture we saw is a little overwhelming, but in a very good way!

The last few days when we were in Rome we saw the MAXXI museum by Zaha Hadid, visited Tivoli to see Villa Deste and explored more of Rome on our own.  I finally went to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel and was blown away.  How could you not be?  The gardens at Villa Deste were incredible!  There were so many fountains, one always in eyes sight... however, we were rained out there.  It was pouring like crazy, but it didn't change how beautiful the gardens were the least bit.  The MAXXI museum was really great to see as well.  Zaha's work is definitely unique and the exhibits inside the museum were really great. 

Laura and I had to say goodbye to our classmates after dinner and it was really great to get to know all of them.  It's funny, because in the beginning you had the graduate students and the undergraduate students.. by the end, we were all friends and no longer were divided into the two separate groups.  We spent another day in Rome with Meaghan and her friend Sarah, then took off to Valencia.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon and have been blessed with great weather.  Perfect for carrying my body weight in luggage. :)