What a crazy/ridiculous/amazing/super fast 4 months this has been! It still hasn't completely hit me that I'm really leaving to go home in 6 hours. I've met so many amazing people here, and I get to go home with new friends not only from all over the United States but also the world. The people I've spent the last 4 months with have really made the experience everything that it was, and I'm not sure how I'm going to function at home without a lot of them. Fate stepped in when I had to live with Casey for my first week, and "The Tribe" was created. I refused to say goodbye to anyone, goodbye is permanent and I AM going to see them all again!
When I first got here I never could have predicted how amazing this semester was going to be or all the amazing adventures I was going to experience. In the past 4 months, I've been to 7 countries and seen parts of the world I didn't even know existed, but the one thing it's made me realize more than anything is there's no place like home. The world is a huge place and I intend on seeing as much of it as I possibly can, but talking to people here about American culture and seeing their culture and experiencing the differences and similarities between the two worlds has made me so proud to be an American, and I truly mean that. I had a very long conversation with an Austrian woman at a wine tasting we all went to last night, and she had everything negative in the world to say about American politics, but when it came down to it, she admitted she had applied for an American green card 10 times and has been denied every time. People here still see America as the land of opportunity, and I never believed it before but the American dream is very much still alive. It's amazing the perspective you get when you just take a couple steps back and look at everything from the outside. This has been such an eye opening experience for me and I'm so grateful for every second I had here, the good and the bad.
It's so weird that this is all over, but I'm taking so much more home with me than just a few suitcases. I have new amazing friends, new experiences, new perspectives, and I can really speak French now! I've dreamed of studying abroad since the first time my parents took me to Europe, and I've finally accomplished my dream, but there are so many other places I have to see now. If I didn't have the travel bug before, I definitely do now. But as as of right now, the only place I want to go is home.
So I guess "Mary's adventures in far far away land" have finally come to an end, and it's very bittersweet to say, but...
pour maitenant, mes adventures sont finis.
