sadly it's over
Well folks, it's over. I can't even believe it myself. My entire year in Germany has come to an end and before I know it I'll be on US Soil again. I have mixed feelings about it all, but think and hope that things will get back to "normal." I'm almost certain they will. At least when I was back home in May things seemed pretty okay and I'm not too worried about "fitting" back into my JMU-life again... I'm more worried about losing contact with my friends from Germany. I hope it won't happen, but I think it'll definitely be a challenge.
The last few weeks have been quite strange and tiresome emotionally... about three weeks ago I didn't want to leave at all, then I slowly realized all my good friends (mostly the Germans and a couple exchange students) all left to go home and then I realized that the things have changed and we all have to move on...including me. I have to go back to the States as well sometime. The last two weeks were pretty shitty - at least the weekend after my best friend left... that sucked and I felt so miserable that I wanted to be back in the States instead of sitting in Lueneburg bored silly. I slept every day as long as I possibly could - that meant that I slept until 1pm and went to bed around 11pm... meaning my days were quite short. Luckily, I got out of that slump and met up with a few last friends still in town and played frisbee and then was convinced by a german friend (Anne) to go to the tournament on the beach in Warnemuende for my last weekend. I wound up going and it was a blast - lots of fun, camping, frisbee, being on the beach in the sun, and with people I really like.
Yesterday was a bit strange as it was my last real day in Lueneburg - I enjoyed the evening as I met up with two friends and a friend cooked my last dinner in Lueneburg for me and then we played "Mensch, ärgere dich nicht!" and then called it a night and I had to say goodbye for the last time...I can't even count all the goodbyes I had to say - it was definitely something I didn't want to do, but I think I was one of the luckier people... as I know I'll be back to Germany quite soon to visit all my friends I have made over the last year...not to mention Jasmin, my best friend from Germany (unfortunately to have met her at the very end of my year)...
Today I parted from In der Techt where I lived for just over 12 months... I parted from 4 more friends as well as Frau Wölper and parted by train from Lueneburg. Emotions were a bit weird after parting because I'll never have the same experiences again as I did this year and it felt so weird to be leaving my home for the last year...not being able to just hop on the bike and ride to the university or to visit a friend or to Kur Park will be missed. I'll miss a lot of things about my year abroad - at least I can say that it happened - one thing I can check off on my list of things to do... become fluent in German and study abroad (both accomplished and to my satisfaction).
In other news - I'm going to be back in Virginia at home on Monday, August 8th and am looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing my family, my friends, my Skippy, and getting back into the swing of things at JMU and one of the things I'm looking forward to most is WORKING AGAIN and making money!!! I can't wait... I'll be moving into an apartment off campus and that's exciting enough in itself and I can't wait to live with my best friends from last year - I'm psyched about it all:) And I'm looking forward to a real summer (at least the end of it). The weather here in Germany has been everything but summer... it's always cold and rainy and cloudy, so I'm looking forward to some real summer heat!!!
Anyway, that's it for my update... das reicht für die nächste 5 Wochen, würde ich sagen.
Until JMU :)
The last few weeks have been quite strange and tiresome emotionally... about three weeks ago I didn't want to leave at all, then I slowly realized all my good friends (mostly the Germans and a couple exchange students) all left to go home and then I realized that the things have changed and we all have to move on...including me. I have to go back to the States as well sometime. The last two weeks were pretty shitty - at least the weekend after my best friend left... that sucked and I felt so miserable that I wanted to be back in the States instead of sitting in Lueneburg bored silly. I slept every day as long as I possibly could - that meant that I slept until 1pm and went to bed around 11pm... meaning my days were quite short. Luckily, I got out of that slump and met up with a few last friends still in town and played frisbee and then was convinced by a german friend (Anne) to go to the tournament on the beach in Warnemuende for my last weekend. I wound up going and it was a blast - lots of fun, camping, frisbee, being on the beach in the sun, and with people I really like.
Yesterday was a bit strange as it was my last real day in Lueneburg - I enjoyed the evening as I met up with two friends and a friend cooked my last dinner in Lueneburg for me and then we played "Mensch, ärgere dich nicht!" and then called it a night and I had to say goodbye for the last time...I can't even count all the goodbyes I had to say - it was definitely something I didn't want to do, but I think I was one of the luckier people... as I know I'll be back to Germany quite soon to visit all my friends I have made over the last year...not to mention Jasmin, my best friend from Germany (unfortunately to have met her at the very end of my year)...
Today I parted from In der Techt where I lived for just over 12 months... I parted from 4 more friends as well as Frau Wölper and parted by train from Lueneburg. Emotions were a bit weird after parting because I'll never have the same experiences again as I did this year and it felt so weird to be leaving my home for the last year...not being able to just hop on the bike and ride to the university or to visit a friend or to Kur Park will be missed. I'll miss a lot of things about my year abroad - at least I can say that it happened - one thing I can check off on my list of things to do... become fluent in German and study abroad (both accomplished and to my satisfaction).
In other news - I'm going to be back in Virginia at home on Monday, August 8th and am looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing my family, my friends, my Skippy, and getting back into the swing of things at JMU and one of the things I'm looking forward to most is WORKING AGAIN and making money!!! I can't wait... I'll be moving into an apartment off campus and that's exciting enough in itself and I can't wait to live with my best friends from last year - I'm psyched about it all:) And I'm looking forward to a real summer (at least the end of it). The weather here in Germany has been everything but summer... it's always cold and rainy and cloudy, so I'm looking forward to some real summer heat!!!
Anyway, that's it for my update... das reicht für die nächste 5 Wochen, würde ich sagen.
Until JMU :)