Home.
An 11-hour flight to Dallas, 2 days in Ft. Worth over Christmas after a cancelled flight, and a short trip back to Minneapolis brought me home. Aaron picked me up, turning out to be one of the most surreal & movie-like experiences of my life. I’ve been home for a few weeks, regrouping and settling back in.
I hate it. I am bored out of my mind because I sleep all day, sit at home, work out, watch a movie, and go to bed. There’s no excitement. Even going to a couple of parties has proved to be somewhat of a bust. I’m used to being constantly stimulated by new experiences, languages, people, and places. There’s nothing new about Minneapolis. No one has changed and the city looks exactly the same.
I’ve realized that people here create drama to do something with their lives. There’s nothing else around to take up time, so people stir up fights and rivalries, dumb jealousies. The people I met while studying abroad didn’t really care about things, so there was always just a general camaraderie. We laughed it off when someone kissed someone’s crush or someone had too much fun at a POW. Here, people are just itching for things to talk about, so they turn to the subject of other people.
It’s led to somewhat over a depression. I have no idea what to do. I’m trying to get a job, but I don’t think that can even stimulate me enough. Talking to a friend who’s staying in Stuttgart, Germany until September made me green with envy. I know I’ve got at least one friend from Paris that’s feeling the same way while he’s home, so it’s nice to not be alone in my thoughts all the time.
I just want to go back to the constant enrichment, new acquaintances, and new stories to share with others. Paris, tu me manques.
The End.
These past 3 months have been indescribable. I’m sorry to everyone who asks how my semester was and receives a response of “Great!” I can’t explain how being here has affected me. I’ve learned so much about myself and about other people, about relationships. I’ve grown more confident, more sure of myself and my actions. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, but also discovered that it’s the best way to learn about life. I’ve learned about all kinds of cultures and how they interact. I’ve learned how the world operates and how I operate best. I’ll be going forward with a new lease on life, ready to make my impact and let others make their impact on me.
I don’t think my friends here realize how much they affected me. I made a new best friend, new good friends, new acquaintances. I will never forget these people. I’ll be telling stories about them for ages. I’ll constantly be comparing all the new people I meet to them. They’ve taught me so much about myself, about other opinions, about life.
I’ll remember this time in little clips: a friend running through the forest on campus, a snowball fight during a pub crawl in Budapest, catching the 5:30am metro and staying up to see the sun rise, watching someone drink all my Belgian beer, sleeping in a London airport, an unexpected chat about life while on the RER, laughing so hard in Berlin that I had to sit down in the club.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so genuinely so often. There were so few sad moments during my stay here. I can count on 3 fingers the number of times I cried. It was like living in a fantasy, a second reality. I’m not ready to return to my real life, where I’ve got to be responsible and act like an adult. This has been too good to be true.
Don’t let me wake up.
My Last Day
Unfortunately, I’m spending it sitting in my hostel on the internet all day. One, I’m sick and want to get as better as possible before an 11 hour flight that would feel like hell if I couldn’t pop my ears. Two, I’m terrified of leaving my hostel by myself since it’s in a sketch area and my friend got robbed just outside last week. And all my friends have flown home today. Three, I have no money to go get food even though I’m starving and I’m too scared to go find an ATM closeby due to the reason above.
There’s so much I wanted to do but didn’t get a chance, and so many gifts for friends I couldn’t buy due to my depressing financial situation. I’ll just have to come back soon, which I really do plan on doing.
I’ll miss you, Paris. So much. You’ve changed my life, much for the better.
Carpe Noctem Hostel in Budapest
I didn’t even think to come here to Budapest when planning my travels around Europe, but this is quickly becoming one of my favorite trips. There are only 22 beds in this hostel and everyone is incredibly fun. It’s a big family that immediately accepts you. They go out every night and I’ve had the best time the 2 nights I’ve gone out so far. I don’t think anything back home can be compared to this.
I feel like I can’t fill out any of those 2009 surveys because all I can remember is the last 3 months abroad!
Home For Christmas
Surprise! Due to the awesomeness of Student Universe, it only cost me $140 to change my flight to December 24th. I won’t be able to go with my family to Orlando, but I’ll be able to spend the evening with my mom’s side of the family!!!! Then maybe I’ll get to spend some more time with my grandparents on actual Christmas Day. I think I’m going to cry, I’m just so happy to be able to be with family for the holiday. Thank you, Mom, for making me check to see how much it would cost to change my flight.
I seriously have tears in my eyes. This made me realize how much I really miss home.
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
— Dr. Seuss
Can’t believe I’m leaving (sort of)
I’m packing up my entire room today to move out tomorrow. I’ll be around for 15 more days, but for 3 I’ll be in Budapest and then it’s 10 days in Paris after that. My last 7 days will be completely without my friends here. I’m going to miss everyone so much. They’ve impacted my life more than I could have thought. The soonest I’ll get to see any of them is in 3 months when I go to Texas for SXSW. I’ve made so many more good friends here than back home so it will be hard to adjust back to US life without them around. Thank goodness Skype was invented.
HEC, the human snake
My school made this video for Campus Battles & I love it! I couldn’t be in it since I had class all day but my best friend Emily plays Michelle Obama! hahaha
