Last thoughts in Luxembourg.

I wasn't sure I was going to write a "last thoughts" post but now I'm glad that I am. I just finished my exams and have packed, weighed, unpacked, and repacked my suitcase a number of times. My roommate has moved out already - her journey starts at midnight - and we'll be off tomorrow morning. Normally I would be happy to have some quiet time alone in our apartment, but now that she's gone it's awfully sad.

This week I started working on "lasts." I went on a last run by the Alzette River. I've started going through the kitchen, making sure to use or throw away the perishables and make sure everything's clean. I think I need a level of closure before heading home. Having spent the past few days doing a lot of lasts and reading what my classmates have written on how they feel on leaving has, unsurprisingly, brought out my sentimental side. 

It's a strange yet regular thing to leave somewhere that you never will return to. I have to imagine that I'm leaving Luxembourg forever (unless I have future offspring that go to Miami and participate in MUDEC). I'm sure I'll come back to Europe, but Luxembourg probably isn't in the cards. It's very odd, because I have definitely created a life here. During the semester, our time here felt long, but looking back it all feels like one short trip. I can't believe how much has happened; how much I've seen, how much I've learned, the new friends I've made. Every day that I'm here, I've thanked God for how lucky I am, but I don't know that it's ever sunk in quite so heavily as now that I've been able to catch my breath.

I think I owe a lot to Alex. I never would've come up with the idea to study abroad on my own. In the past, it would've been too daunting for me. All of the travel weekends? I never would've made it to those places without him. Alex is not only great at logistics, but is patient with it. I think one of the best things is that he pushes me to become good at handling those things as well. I think that 95% of our success this semester is thanks to him.

Over the past few days, since we've been here and not traveling, I've found my mind wandering to the notion of returning to Europe. Sometimes I find myself daydreaming about London, and though I still believe that it's really hard to compare places and trips, I think that the United Kingdom is somewhere that I would definitely return to and could even picture myself living (though I know that's really unlikely, but I'm prepared :). France, of course is a favorite too, and I'm aching to see more of it. Now, traveling is a part of me. I am a person who travels. And I think that's a great thing that never will change.

I never thought that I'd grow so attached to Luxembourg that it would hurt to leave, but now I'm proving myself wrong. Yesterday I spent the day with my roommate doing lots of "last day stuff." We went all around to every place that our host mom brought us to on our first weekend here and it was odd to think that this was the last time my eyeballs would ever see some of these things. I started being extra conscientious about picture taking... wanted to document EVERYTHING.

I wanted to share some of those last photos and last moments. I think I'll be soaking in the details and benefits from the last 4 months for weeks to come, so for now all I can do is document them and save them for later :)