As half of us headed out for Nice, we were so excited to once again escape the cold and the rain from the beginning of the week, as we heard it almost never rained in Nice. By this point in my fall break saga, I feel like you can probably guess what the weather was like when we arrived. Yep, it was pouring. And cold. And we couldn’t find the bus to take us to our Airbnb, forcing us to stand out in the rain for about half an hour or more. But…then we found our cute little place.

Before I even got to Nantes in September, I had been thinking about what I would do during my fall break. My goal was to go to the south of France because I had heard of how beautiful and relaxing it was, but I didn’t know if I would be able to make it happen or if I would have anyone to travel with. Luckily, I found a wonderful group of people who wanted to do the same thing. So, come October 29th, my friends and I headed out for our trip.

My flight leaves in less than 36 hours, and I am unpacked but not fully unprepared.

I have clothes in various piles on my bedroom floor, in my laundry room, and stuffed in my car. I bought those handy-dandy baggage organizers at Target and they remain in their packaging. I have lists upon list, all in various stages of completion, written on yellow legal paper and tucked away in my planner, coat pockets, and purse.

As I am writing this blog, I am less than 24 hours away from flying out of the U.S. to my study abroad location. I’ll be honest, I am feeling a LOT of emotions but mostly an intertwined feeling of enthusiasm and nervousness. Think bittersweet except with anxiety and excitement. Nervcitement? Excitety? It’s difficult to explain.

I don't think I've ever felt more whole than how I do when I'm next to the sea. The cool water wrinkles with every wave as it makes its way to the shoreline and washes pearly bubbles towards my feet eventually bringing the soft salty foam to my toes making them disappear. I stand there at the edge of the sea listening to seagulls circling in the air—people speak French in the distance and the bright reds and oranges burning in the sky melding together like an oil painting as the sun begins to kiss the horizon.

One of the many things I learned being abroad for a semester is that, time is not always a measure of genuine relationships, both to people and to places. You can know someone for years and still feel some level of detachment in your relationship, but certain people and places can feel like home in a matter of a few months. That’s how I felt being in Amsterdam, and I’m sure I don’t stand alone with this feeling. At the risk of sounding cliché, I want to say that studying abroad is a life-changing experience, or at least it was for me.

I’m sitting in my bedroom gazing at my two packed suitcases while they stare back at me. Amazingly, I fit everything I needed for four months into just two suitcases. As a notorious overpacker, I have to admit that I’m impressed with myself. 

Getting home after studying abroad felt like waking up from a four month long dream. It was as if I hadn’t left at all and had just experienced some kind of weird time jump and there I was back at home. Thankfully, I have photos to look back on. 

It’s 10:37 p.m. Jan. 3, and I am currently sitting in my bed staring at my computer screen trying to think about how to express my emotions about leaving for Milan, Italy in 10 days—whilst my two suitcases daunt me lying open on my floor peaking behind my screen. Going away to college in a new state wasn’t all that difficult for me, I was a simple drive home and I already knew and loved my roommate.