days < 10 -- farewelling

piece of advice for future exchange students #6:

say goodbye to people you know whenever you see them. because you never know when you might be leaving, and you will not be coming home for a year.

note: for those of you who may have missed it, I now have a new countdown timer (note that this one counts down to when I will be in Switzerland, not when I will depart the US).

this past weekend, I said goodbye to a group of my friends. It was fun, and encouraging, and delicious (nutella for the win :P) and for the first half of the party I just enjoyed seeing everyone and talking and laughing.

and then about halfway through, I realized that this was possibly the last time I'd be seeing most of them... at least for a year.

that after I left, life would continue. 

that when I come back, people would be different. 

that they would have seen things and made memories and grown up a little bit more. 

and I knew all that, in the back of my mind, but somehow the party triggered my realization of it. 

which made saying goodbye harder.

but you know what?

when I finally leave, life will continue.

after I come back, I will be different.

I will have seen things and made memories and grown up a little bit more.

and that is the reason that I am leaving, and that is the reason I am saying goodbye, and I knew all that in the back of my mind but somehow the goodbyes triggered my realization of it.

which made saying goodbye--easier. for some reason.

things that have happened in the past 10 days:

• the advantage of having a party is that you get to see all your friends. so I saw my friends and said goodbye and it was bittersweet.
• and yet good.
• I'm packed! (well, mostly.) hooray!
• in the past couple weeks, I've gotten to know this amazing girl named Sarah who's also an outbound to Switzerland. our conversations make me more excited to go :)
• I'm really too tired to list anything else. 
• goodnight.