6 days. 12 hours. 31 minutes until my flight takes off across the big pond back to the land of free water, country music, and ranch dressing (among other things). INSANE.
I’m having a terrible time wrapping my head around this fact. It’s that hell week. When you have to pack up everything you own, while studying for finals, saying goodbye to friends, and maintaining sanity. Finals week in the spring is horrific situation endured by college kids across the world but this week in a different country is a sick joke.
Trying to plan out this beautiful master piece of scheduling, making sure you fit in everything before you leave until god knows when is hard (drastic understatement) So what’s on the list? What do I have to do before I depart back to the DC life?
I can hardly think of a thing. My initial reaction to this realization was confused/horrified.. but giving it a second thought, not having anything left you absolutely have to do before you leave? That’s definitely an ideal situation. I know what I have done in Europe is just the tip of the ice burg but I think I completed the things I was really set off to do coming to Europe.
Finals are typical finals like the US. They are all over a week and each class has a final. They are kind of crazy about cheating here. You have to put your cell phone in a box when you walk into the exam, you can only have clear water bottles (incase you write something on them), and all of the classes you have to sit with a chair between each person. Insane. They go to great lengths to keep cheating from happening.
I am done on Thursday and head home on Sunday. We have our CIEE farewell dinner on Friday night, a huge meal that will be provided by CIEE. I think some students are more ready to go than others, but I think the overall consensus is sadness. I think most everyone had an amazing time and are upset to see the experience end. A lot of people are also staying after to go back packing, meeting parents to travel, and continuing studies in other countries.
Am I ready to go?
Yes and no. I think I’m ready to leave because the plan it to leave but if the plan was to stay then I would also be perfectly content with staying. If someone, offered me a trip to India for the summer, I would say yes in heart beat.