As I leave a place I have called home for the past four months, I can't help but feel that I am leaving a part of myself behind. I came here months ago knowing no one and basically felt like I could start over, no one knew who I was. The newness creates a shell of a person that existed before until you start to open up and realize that no matter where you travel, you will find yourself and adjust because you can never truly lose the essence of your personality.

Traveling allows the opportunity to explore aspects of other cultures, living in different places and who you are as a person. As one travels, it becomes harder to call one place home. People might ask what are you doing when you get home? A once simple question that I now have to answer, "which home?" The heartbreaking reality is that the farther you spread yourself and allow yourself to fall in love with more places, the harder it is to leave behind another part of your life. The sentimentality of a place is a fragile memory and reminder of what used to be and what you have since left behind. In my final moments of living here, I know that even if I come back to visit it will not be the same as it is now, and the friendships I have made will weaken with time and distance. though the memories I have now are good ones, they will soon be mixed with feelings of what could have been and loss over what was inevitable through leaving.

I have hope that the friendships I have made and the wonderful people I have met here will remember me and talk about the good old days, but once I'm gone I know that life will carry on just the same. People will move, life will take over and change everything until the memory that I have is not reality but what once was. I hope that I can stay in contact with people that matter to me most and that some goodbyes are not forever and that some day soon we will reunite. But until then I will embrace the sadness I feel and take a breath losening my grip to let go. I know that this is just another step in my life and I will always have the memories and lessons I learend, and the beautiful people I have encountered with me forever.