December sixth has come and gone and, as crazy as it feels, our time at Oxford has ended. Crazy because it’s over and crazy because it even happened in the first place. I can’t tell if I will miss it like crazy when I get home or if I won’t–simply for the fact that won’t be able to believe that it all happened. I spend three months running around England, studying with amazing students and tutors, buying hummus wraps and coffee at Pret a Manger. No, that doesn’t happen.
I work for my school’s newspaper, The Bowdoin Orient. Before arriving in Europe, all us editors-at-large (plus the EIC from last year, currently in Sicily) planned to meet up somewhere. We originally wanted to go to Berlin (too many timing conflicts), then Vienna (flights too expensive for most of us), before deciding on Lisbon for Thanksgiving. Our friends had told us it was their favorite trip while abroad last year, and it’s up there for me as well.
The second I got off of the train in Paris I could tell that we weren’t in England anymore. Sure Paris and London are international cities, just like NYC or any other big American city, which means that there are certain universal similarities between them which may not reflect the culture of the country they are in. And I admit that I spent only one full day in Paris, and have seen no more of France than what I saw during that day.
I think that London will be one of the aspects of my study abroad experience that I miss most when I am back in America. There is so much to do all of the time, the public transportation is so reliable and good and fun, and I just always felt safe and free while I was exploring there. So despite all of the amazing places that I visited during my post-study abroad travel week, our one-night layover in London stands out as one of my favorite parts.
As I sit down to write this post, it is December 31, 2014, and I am at my gate at the San Francisco airport waiting to board from San Francisco to Cleveland, Ohio. After spending 5 days in sunny California with my mom, sister, new step-dad, and step-brother, I am bound for home, and then, Dublin, Ireland. I will be leaving my friends, family, home college, and home country, to study at Trinity College Dublin for almost five months. Reflecting on my year in 2014, it was filled with much change.
The holiday season is coming to a close. This means for me that the endless preparation for studying abroad in Paris and questions from relatives on how excited I am to leave are coming an end. I have mixed emotions about leaving the US for France.
Well, technically, my adventure has already begun. I said farewell to home, parents, goats, cats, horses, and dog the day after Christmas in order to spend a week and a half with my family in the Netherlands, where I have not been in almost seven years. Thus, the last couple of days have seen me in the small town of Borculo in the middle of endless Dutch “boerderijen” (farms).
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the historic event, and I was lucky enough be there for the commemorative events. White balloons were placed where the wall used to stand, and on November 9 they were released one by one up into the night sky.
Berlin is easily one of my favorite cities and I think this is a universal feeling as anyone who’s visited has nothing but good things to say.
Some thoughts:
