Wednesday, October 23, 2002, 01:04 p.m.

IN MOURNING FOR BRAD MICHAEL WHIPPLE.

I just opened my email account some thirty minutes ago and I received a terrible news from one of my dearest friends, Elisa, from Costa Rica.
Apparently, Michael, or to us known as MICHELE, had been in Costa Rica for the past few months and had spent some time with Elisa and her friends. Yesterday morning however, Michele died. In a car accident.

I'm terrible shocked and devastated by the news.
Michele was a classmate for a trimester (from January to March) and he was among the first people I've known when I first came to Siena. I remembered our first meeting. It was the first day of the new term in Unistrasi, and we had to do the placement test. We waited outside together and happened to talk to each other. It was surprising how friendly we could get on that first day, considering that we've just met. I thought that must be because he was a very outgoing person.
We made a film together, we went out together, we had lunch together and we hung out together (how I miss those days in Piazza Del Campo, doing homeworks with him and Federico). In class, he was very outspoken and very brave... he liked to challenged opinions and he was someone with great ideals.
We had our disagreements, but I never thought of him as a bad person. We were not exactly close friends, but I could call him someone special because he gave certain memories that I could not forget from my days in Italy.

When the course ended in March, and everyone was leaving Siena in early April, he often talked about wanting to work in Costa Rica because he had made tight friendship with the Costa Ricans. Then he also suggested to our group that we should go to Costa Rica and celebrate New Year 2003 there. I thought that wasn't such a bad idea. When we said goodbye, we were saying (albeit perhaps jokingly), "See you in Costa Rica for the New Year's!"
I guess now that party is going to miss its pioneer.

In her email, Elisa told us to accept this news with tranquility. She also said that a person like Michele would never die because he would always leave something special in our hearts. I agree with her. He had left something special for me, in my memories. I cried when I read the news, and I am crying right now as I am writing this. But I'm letting him go with my prayers and hopes that he receives peace in the other world.

Michele, c'eri tu nella storia della mia vita.
Ti ricodero' sempre come un amico.
Il tuo spirito, e la storia di tutti noi, resteranno sempre nel libro della mia vita.
Spero che un giorno ci possiamo incontrare. E in quel giorno, spero che noi due saremo diventati migliori persone.
Un caldo abbraccio finale per te, Michele.
Da tua amica, Amanda..... per sempre.

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