“Change is the only constant in life” -Unknown
It comes to the day that I’m packing up my bags and saying goodbye to the people I call my friends. The people who I have been living with in a foreign country for the last four months…
Unreal!
There have been so many ups and downs, so many different countries, so many challenges with the unfamiliar that I’ve had to face and of course, so many fun days…
I feel a mix of emotions- excited to go back home and see my family and friends, but also a melancholy feeling in your chest that you get when you leave somewhere you’ve been for a long time. When you leave the familiar, and your home.
Italy did become a home to me. The people I were surrounded myself with made me feel at home, and the streets of Reggio Emilia started to become familiar.
How I acted in public changed, how I ordered cappucinos in the morning changed- “Io prendo un cappucino per favore.” How I was traveling to a new country every weekend like it’s normal, saying “oh, where are you going this weekend?” “oh yeah, you know, Morocco!” won’t be normal anymore.
How I was traveling to a new country every weekend like it’s normal, saying “oh, where are you going this weekend?” “oh yeah, you know, Morocco!” won’t be normal anymore.
Eating pasta every day, to the point where I couldn’t even remember what a vegetable taste like anymore (haha), and walking ten blocks to the best gelato of my lifeee won’t be how I live, maybe ever again. And that’s weird.
Honestly though, I have been craving home so much during this trip. So it feels bittersweet that the day comes that I have to leave Italy.
I am predicting that I will feel reverse culture shock when I get home. When I arrived to Italy I went through a lot of homesickness and it wasn’t what I thought would happen. So, I think that I will miss Italy and go through the hurdles of being in a completely new (yet familiar) environment again.
I’m so excited to share my stories with my friends. I plan on showing them all my photos and giving them the gifts that I’ve gotten them!
The worst goodbye: saying bye to my study abroad friends.
I plan on staying in touch through social media, texts and FaceTime’s.
It was hard to say bye to my friends, but I am lucky that three of my friends ended up living in WA,- YAY!
I hope to visit my friends from other cities- I made a close friend from Boston, so I might have to go visit her!
This experience was amazing and I’m truly a new person after. I will truly forever love you and thank you for the many gifts you gave to me and it was a coo’ time– Reggio Emilia, Italy. <3
(The last two photos are of my apartment)