See ya, Strasbourg

            It’s weird to find myself writing a “goodbye” blog. While some days it seems like I’ve been forever, other days I feel like I was just arriving.  I realize saying this is probably the oldest cliché one hears when talking about time, but it’s certainly a cliché for a reason. It strange to think that, in a week from now (God willing everything goes to plan) I will probably be in my parent’s car, thousands of miles from where I am now. I will be in a different country, where almost no one speaks French, where food and road signs and culture is totally different. It’s my native culture, but I realize it will be slightly alien to me for a slight while.

While I find myself incredibly exciting to go home, I’ve come to realize that I’m not quite ready to leave. Well, I’m ready to leave Strasbourg. But I’m not ready to leave Europe. Who knows when I’ll be back again? And when I am, will I get the chance to do and see as much as I right now? I would assume not.  And there are things about this place that I don’t want to forget here, but easily could. What if I forget how good spekuloos tastes? What if I forget exactly how beautiful the Christmas markets are? And then there are the little things I’m sure I’ll forget—for instance, the names of tram stops. I use them all the time and they’re a necessary part of my life, so the idea that in a year I’ll probably have forgotten what they’re called is strange to me. Memory is a funny thing, and soon enough, that’s all that this will be.

                I think that this, more than anything is why I’m not ready to leave. I’m not ready for this to become just a memory that slowly fades away over time. I want to somehow stay here, yet be at home as well. And  yet obviously that can’t happen. And yes, I can hope to come back, but it won’t be this experience again. For better and for worse, I did enjoy this experience. And the bad parts of it helped me grow as a person just as much as the good parts did.

                But even though I am saying goodbye to everything I’ve known for the past 3 months,  I have the internal growth from this experience that will help me go forth into the next stage of my life, whatever that may be. I've seen things I've always dreamed of seeing, I've made positive growth as a person, and I've made new friends. So with the knowledge of what this trip has given me, leaving doesn’t seem so hard anymore.