The Last Two Weeks in Freiburg

It is undeniable that after nearly two months abroad in Europe, it has become difficult to conceive of leaving again for a completely different style of life back home in Kentucky, as eager as I was to get back to it. Especially in my case, since I was going to leave for Colombia a few days after arriving back in the States to see family. In view of this, my main concern was to both permit myself to do the things which I refused to do earlier out of my own fears or manufactured excuses, and to make the last two weeks memorable. On top of this, finals for the program were hanging over my head, but they ultimately became less and less of a priority as I felt increasingly confident that I would be fine.

So in these last two weeks, I pushed myself to be more social and hang out more with my friends, rather than focus on my own things, in order to both reinforce our friendship and ensure that they would last after the program. Let me tell you y’all, there are some folks in your programs who you might not connect with as much after the program, but there are some friends in your programs who just as well could become friends for life. Hold on to them as tightly as you can, because finding those people that you completely click with is very difficult—whether they be a best friend, a prospective partner, etc.

For those of you who were in my position, you need to make sure that you make time to do this. I unfortunately was somewhat foolish and left packing and and cleaning out my dorm somewhat to the last minute, which meant that I was unable to fully partake in the last get-together that those of us in the program were holding as a send-off for each other, and even worse, the stress and short-time frames made me lash out a bit against my friends. Don’t do that, don’t be me everyone.

Besides, we have all been sent abroad, not only for the academics, which are important, but to experience the world abroad. The last two weeks of your trip abroad are for us to experience a completely different world than what we are used to. It’s important to not lose sight of that.