Around the World : Official Goodbye to Lecce

Ciao!!!!
I am officially back to writing my blog and I have a lot of pictures and stories to share with everyone. First I want to talk about my last night in Lecce. It was absolutely amazing! The whole group went to dinner together, including the teachers and program directors. Everyone dressed for the occasion and the bus dropped us off in the middle of an olive tree garden. We walked two miles on a path with olive trees surrounding us. While walking I reflected on my time in Lecce and realized how much I learned about myself and how much Italian I learned. It was a great experience and I am happy that I decided to go. I also made some amazing new friends and became closer with people I already knew. Of course I took pictures while walking through the garden. We watched the sun start to set and when we got to the restaurant we picked figs off a fig tree for aperitivs. I got really into picking figs, and ended up stepping in many figs. Before dinner, I had to wash my hands and shoes because they were so sticky from the figs. But, it was totally worth it because the figs were delicious. Also before dinner the winners of the photo contest were announced and other photos were acknowledged (I had four photos acknowledged) and the winner for speaking the most Italian during Lecce was chosen (they were given a cash prize and a book). Then dinner was served. I know you missed my posts about food but they are back!
For dinner there was many appetizers that were shared between the whole table like eggplant, bread, mussels with rice, zucchini salad, cheese, lentil salad (and more). Then we were served two separate pasta dishes. The first dish was linguine with a white cream sauce, parmesan cheese and lemon zest and the second dish was linguine with black olives. I personally loved the black olive pasta dish, the pasta was so olivey that the pasta looked black. We were also served raw cucumbers, celery and carrots after the pasta dishes (if you weren't full already) and then there was dessert. I was not a fan of the dessert but there was an orange lemon bar, something resembling a chocolate brownie and a creamy white chocolate pudding. I think at that point during the meal I was too full to function. Once the lovely meal was finished everyone stood up and talked about how full they were, and we headed home on our last pullman (bus) ride together. We all said goodbye to the teachers, pullman, program director and staff and walked to the centro one last time. Some people got drinks, others got gelato, and a few even got crepes but I just wanted to walk and slowly digest my food. Once my food was digested I walked home with one of my friends and went to bed early. I have a busy travel day ahead of me and I want to be well rested. There is more blog posts to come! But this is my official farewell post to Lecce. The south of Italy will be missed.
Con tanto amore,
Samantha