OMG it's the end!

Today officially marks 10 days of Astha being home from Milan. Home is India for me, and I live in a small town so it was another big transition. When you are an international student, most of your journeys are alone but you meet people at the destination. That sounds a little dramatic. All I am saying is that I was bumped because a lot of my friends had the same flights flying back or while coming to Italy,  while I was flying across the opposite side of the globe. 

Last week in Milan was so sad, because I was trying to soak everything in, giving exams, and making hard decisions. I am an overthinker whose strongest attribute is confusion. I couldn't decide if I wanted to stay longer and travel Europe, or go home, or wait to hear back from my internship interview and fly to the US. I impulsively made the decision 3 days before leaving when I was freaking out one night and booked my flight. I traveled to Europe with all my friends, and the idea of doing it alone now didn't seem fun. Plus it was a lot of planning with baggage, and no housing. I need a tourist visa to visit any European country, so it seemed like a precious opportunity. I envy those people who could just book a flight and fly. For someone like me, I always had to make sure I’m traveling within Schengen countries and say no to some cool locations. My semester had such pressure on me to do and see everything was because I didn’t know when I would go back to that corner of the world again. 

Now I am home, in my own comfort trying to digest everything that happened this past 4 months. It seems like a fever dream to me. When you are there, there are so many other people with you, that you don’t realize how amazing everything you are doing is. You have to keep reminding yourself to embrace it while blending in. It is so much easier to blend in than embrace and live it up like a main character. But now when I look back, I’m happy to have traveled to so many countries and to have experienced all the things I didn’t know I would like. For example, a casino or grocery shopping for pasta. I have things on my bucket list that I wanted to do but I ended up doing things that were completely out of pocket but had a great time! 

It is important to reflect but not regret, be content with what you were able to achieve while being abroad, and have fun while you are there! I love changes, and I see my life as a rollercoaster. This time I was able to bring back fridge magnets and a lot of stories, next time I hope I bring something expensive gifts for my family :p

P.S. Plus of flying home was the jet lag doesn’t hit as much