Time has been a strange concept here. I've been here for four months - went by so fast, but also feels like I have been here for years. Memories made feel like they happened ages ago, but are remembered like it was yesterday. They told us at the beginning to do as much traveling in the beginning because time runs out fast. I sat there thinking we have four months that is so much time! I now sit on the couch with our lists of things we didn't get to wishing we had longer.
London, you were not what I expected in the slightest, but so much better. The minute I arrived, the anxieties about living in a massive city disappeared. A quiet city. A safe city. A diverse city. A freaking beautiful city - like have you seen the streets at Christmas?! You would never catch me taking the train and heading somewhere in the middle of Chicago on my own. Will I miss being shoved against strangers on the tube when there is clearly no more room for more people but more jump on anyway? Not one bit. But I appreciate the closeness to other countries - arriving in a new country in 2 hours is way more exiting than driving 5 hours and being in the same state. I wish I had more time to explore more of the UK and Europe - guess I'll just have to come back then.
It's crazy how close you can get to people in such a short period of time. By the end of week one we had laughed and cried together. Right away it was as if we had been friends for years which doesn't happen to everyone. All hell broke loose, unavoidably - for everyone at different times and in different ways, but we made it to the end and no one got run over by a taxi. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that after Sunday, I will probably never see you again. Everyone leaving, going back to their life before, almost as if none of this happened and we never met. Even to those who I only met a few times, only got to see every few weeks and barely talked to, and those I saw next to in class for 15 weeks, it feels like a weird goodbye. Yes there is social media and we say we will stay in touch, but that just feels like existing in the distance. While it would be nice to have come here with a big group from belmont to be able to go back with now great friends, I'm glad it was just two of us. I got the chance to meet people from all around the US and get out of the Belmont bubble for a while which is something a lot of people on this trip didn't get to experience as much. So whether we lived together, or only spoke a few times - I will miss you. And I hope do stay in touch in some way - even if that is just me being annoying and commenting on all of your Instagram stories(:
People say study abroad changes you. I'm not sure that I feel "changed", but it definitely has challenged me in many ways, given me opportunities of a lifetime, and brought great people into my life and I will never forget that.
London, I love you and I love what you have given me. If I could bring my friends and family here I would live here forever. But for now, thank you - I'll be back.
Cheers x
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