Homesickness is a funny thing.

Despite trudging through icy wind and rain when I’m more accustomed to snow this time of year, my holiday spirit has arrived in Berlin. We arrived back to our IES building on December 2^nd to find faux pine bushes and sprigs of pinecones and gold ribbons, ceramic reindeer, a wooden yuletide candle fixture and small clay houses with glowing interiors on every surface.

I can now count my days left in Amsterdam on two hands. This is easily the worst part of living abroad: knowing from the beginning that it comes to an end and suddenly having the end thrust upon you. Now comes the question: how do I say goodbye to the people, places and things that changed me so much?

Last week we got to skip grammar lessons for a day and had Chinese class with a Kung Fu instructor! He taught us how to get out of all sorts of holds, how to deflect attacks, and even how to do some taiqi.  We learned that Taiqi and Kung fu are closely related in their movements, and that the coolest form of Kung fu was developed by a Chinese nun.  And yes, he did actually reference Kung Fu Panda.  Then we even got to practice on each other! Here’s how that went down:

If I’ve learned anything from this crazy, beautiful, heartbreaking experience of studying abroad, it’s that I can’t possibly predict who I’ll be because of it. What will I do with my life after graduation? Where will I live? Will I even be in the U.S.?  But last weekend I was reminded that it’s ok to not know the answer to every life question. Life is a wild ride and these twenty-something years are just the starting blocks.