The Last Days

As you go through study abroad, your feelings will vary radically from hour to hour. Mornings will be depressed and boring. Nights will be lively and fun. You’ll hate where you are sometimes and revel in the greatness of it all at others. Just like the first semester of freshman year, you’ll have to adjust to a whole new world. You’ll make the best friends you’ll ever have, and you’ll need to Skype people from home just to keep your sanity.

That analogy really is accurate, though. When I first came to university, I needed my lifeline from back home. But now, six semesters in, those new strange friends I made in the first semester are exactly the lifeline I use to keep my sanity in Germany. And the place I’d never adjust to became my home. I’m sure that if I were here another semester (or five!), I’d come to feel about Mannheim exactly as I do about my college back home.

If I got to stay back there, maybe I’d spend more time relaxing on the Neckar, or I’d get another chance with that lovely girl who just couldn’t make up her mind. Maybe I’d find out about more “regular” spots for my friends and I to spend our time in. I’d see more sunsets, eat more Turkish food, drink more 1€ liter beers, and find more time for the people I cared about.

While this might seem like a list of regrets, I like to think of it as a list of hopes, and fond memories. They’re the kinds of things I know I will try to do when I go traveling again.