I've always wanted to go abroad. To pick up everything and travel. To experience new adventures with new people. To live and breath another country. Now that it's less than a month away till I leave America and head to Europe, it seems surreal.
I always thought I was good at saying goodbye. Even if I did hate them, I considered myself to be someone who makes it a point to keep in touch. I always knew that goodbyes weren't really something that needed to be said, but rather just a necessary action to get some sort of closure with the people that matter to you.
However, now that I know I won't be seeing so many people that mean so much to me for a long period of time, the goodbyes feel a little different.
Syracuse University has been my home for the past 2 and 1/2 years and leaving campus, knowing that I won't be back there until I'm a senior is a strange feeling in itself. Anyone that's gone abroad can attest to the bittersweet feeling of saying bye to a place that you love so much. A place like Syracuse. However, knowing that you're going to be embarking on some amazing adventures only makes that goodbye a little bit easier.
Goodbyes are weird. They're sad but at the same time they force us to show the people we care about what they mean to us. They strangely encourage us to be uncomfortable but in the best way possible. No one actually likes goodbyes, but if you just make it quick and painless, they're not that bad.
I'm sad to be leaving a place I know so well, to be saying bye to the people that I'm so used to seeing constantly and consistently, and to watch time at 'Cuse move so quickly without me. All that being said, I'm ready to move to a city that's full of endless amounts of possibilities. A city where English isn't their first language. A city that's going to force me to experience new things, to adapt, and to learn.
It's pretty crazy to think that this is my life. That I've been given the opportunity to live in another country, to live their lifestyle, to learn their traditions. How cool is it that I'm going to be in Europe, with the ability to travel to all different places that I never even thought I would get to go to. Everyone that I know and that has gone abroad has told me that they're different because of it. Different in a good way. That their abroad experience was something they wish they could relive again and again and they're better because of it. I'm ready for that.
Four months of experiencing different places, I can't really complain. I guess this is goodbye for now. So 'Cuse don't miss me too much. Next stop, Madrid, Spain.
