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Well, here I am.
My last night in Freiburg was definitely a rough one. I got dinner with my two favorite roommates at my favorite restaurant, Kartoffelhaus, and I got my favorite meal. Things were going great until about halfway through the meal, as I was cutting into my steak, it finally hit me: you are going home tomorrow, you will not be here tomorrrow. I almost dropped my silverware.
After dinner I went out with those roommates as well as my tandem partner to a bar called Maria, where Heather, my roommate from Indiana, presented me with a little bag. I opened it up to find a card with the nicest messages written on it from her and Eugenia (my other roommate). I couldn't help it; every tear I'd been holding back for the past few hours let loose and I was a mess. But she'd also included some pictures with the card of all my roommates and our apartment, and that made me so happy. That was the nicest thing they could have done for me. Saying goodbye is never easy for me, and my goodbyes that night were some of the hardest I've ever had to say.
The next day, after riding on the Strassenbahn for the last time, then a train, and then finally a plane, I made it home. I ended up sitting next to a nice girl who was also returning from a term abroad, and it was really nice to be able to talk to someone about that who knew exactly what I was going through.
When the plane landed in Detroit, I almost couldn't believe it. Looking out the window to see somewhere that wasn't Germany made my heart break. But when I saw my parents and my brother coming in to help me with my suitcases, somehow it got easier.
The past few days I've been catching up with old friends, but also just hanging out at home. The weirdest part for me is that I got settled back in so quickly that it almost feels like I was never in Germany for four months of my life. But there are some things that are still strange to me after a few days of being home -- for example, the doorknobs are lower. I know that sounds silly, but it's all been a part of my adjusting to being back home.
I really hope that I'll be able to return to Germany someday, somehow. I miss it so much already. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! - Jessica Trumbull, IES Abroad
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