Sitting in Rome at the moment, I am but one week from the end of my European vacation.  I attempted to load multiple pictures to give a taste of the adventure--and it really has been a tasting adventure.  As I look through my photos I find a majority of them are of me eating something.  Yes, yes, I saw the Colosseum, but the Gelato and Espresso were incredible! 

The sweet and short is that the itinerary went/is going like this:

Zurich (Switzerland)
Steinen (Germany)
Freiburg (Where I studied in Germany)
Paris
Stuttgart (where I worked in Germany)
Basel (Switzerland)
Venice
Bergamo (also Italy)
Florence
Siena
Rome
Naples

Captions and more tales to come once stateside starting July 30; right now I've got to go make dinner with Italians!  Bon appetit!

My Chinese Experience Comes to an End

It's done. I sit with passport stamped and boarding pass in hand. After calling the country home for two tumultuous years, I now bid adieu and (after a much-anticipated jaunt around Europe) mentally prepare for the next phase.

As the last day always is, it was filled with many farewells. Then last night five former students brought me to the train station, as is custom to see a friend off. Then I slept for a mere 3 hours, poured sweat getting between the train station and airport, will stay awake for the next 20 hours to total 24, and only now at 10 am can I have my first cup of coffee. Despite this, I'm still focusing on the trauer of leaving China and the freuden of returning to Europe.

再见中国;非常感谢你让我适应和我老家很不同的一个地方，于是帮我发展自己。我从来不会忘记我在这里的经验。谢谢你中国。再见。

Later Days,
李睿