I've been thinking about this quote a lot recently. Well if I'm being 100% honest I've really only been thinking about it today as I packed up my quotebook to go home.
It is my last night in Kato. I'm spending it packing, saying my goodbyes, and writing for all you lovely people.
It hit me this week. I have a year-and-a-half left at MSU, though these past 3 years have seemed to drag forever they have gone in a blink of an eye. I can only imagine what Spain will be like.
Though I know that this isn't really Spain-related I feel that the end of the year is coming to a close and it's time to write my reflection here. Even though travelling is important, what truly enriches your life is the places you stay and call home.
For me, Kato is home. It took awhile, but it's home.
The past three years have been some of the best and worst of my life. I've experienced many negative things and many positive things.
I've lost my sense of self and I've found it again.
I've lost friends, and made new ones.
I've found passion, I've faced apathy, and I have been blessed in so many ways.
Every closed door has led to a window, and every open window I have willingly embraced.
Over the past three years I have found a new hobby, swing dance, which brings joy to my life every Monday at 9:30 p.m. I have found some of the best friends a girl could ever hope for. We always laugh and we can sit and talk for hours about nothing in particular or the deepest subjects we have ever faced. And I feel I have found myself, though I know that I'll be learning even more in the next two months.
Tonight I feel both centered and off-kilter. I have one foot in my current past, one foot in the future and my thoughts in the present. Basically, my mind is running rings around itself. Which is why this is printing at midnight after I was up until 2 a.m. studying last night for History.
The best part of travelling is the people that you meet along the way and I have been blessed with some of the best luck here at Mankato. Even if in some people think Mankato isn't an adventure it has been life-changing anyway.
I have met people who have a passion for life and what they do. I have made new friends, I have rediscovered old friends, and I have changed for the better under the eyes and influence of these people who have entered my life in the past three years. I have been truly blessed and I am looking forward to meeting all kinds of new people in my next adventure.
But this week it has truly hit me that I will not see some of these people who have blessed my life ever again which makes me sad. I'm never one for drawn-out and emotional goodbyes but I almost broke down a couple of times this week.
Right now, at this point in my life, it's never goodbye it's see you later.
My daily conversations center around
See you soon.
Dinner at 5?
Cute shirt!
Want to go to the mall?
Pictures? I'm in!
Margaritas? SOLD!
or call you in a few minutes.
Small phrases, text messages, or 2 minute phone conversations with those I see every day.
I will not have that luxury in the next two months. I won't be able to walk across campus, or my house, see someone, say "Hi" and give them a big hug. And sometimes I think I take that luxury
for granted.
The hardest part of this trip will be not being able to sit down to lunch with my girls, go dance at swing club for two hours, call my parents or friends on the phone just because I can, or enjoy a friendly conversation while sitting next to the fountain or in the library on campus.
In a week I'm going to be thrown in to a country that I have only read about in books. I will be speaking a language that I have only heard in classes. I know only one other person and even she is a stranger. And that is a scary and thrilling thought all at the same time.
Time is scarce, or charged by the minute, and it will fly in an eye-blink.
I don't know if I can do this,
but I know that it will be worth it in the end.
Time to embark on my next big adventure.
Until next time,
Avery
