This is the end, I promise.

So maybe I'm just addicted to blogging, but I didn't think that hating on the entire airport system was an appropriate way to end this little literary project of mine. I just got a phone call from my favorite little Portuguese man at the airport (keep in mind that it is 11:50 pm on Christmas) saying that my bags will be here in the morning!! It's kinda like Santa Claus, only .... not.

Anyway, I thought I'd take a little time to reflect on the abroad experience, once and for all. I'm really enjoying being home (more than I thought I would, actually) but it IS strange. I drove a car yesterday. I got confused trying to find things in my kitchen. I went past my high school and for the first time felt no sort of burning attachment to it. (Yeahhh, I know, I kind of hold onto things for a while. Prepare yourselves.) The little novelties will wear off soon enough, but these past 4 months have changed something in all of us.

Apparently, only 2% of students study abroad. Seems crazy, considering DIS alone had like 500-600 kids in the program. Obviously, I feel that the other 98% are missing out. The experiences we've had can't be put into words. In the opening ceremony in August, an intern suggested that before the semester began, our best stories were something to the effect of "Dude, remember that time you got drunk and fell down?" He assured us that the quality of our stories would increase ... tenfold. Between everyone at DIS, I'm pretty sure we've seen it all. Gypsies trying to sell us their babies, skinny dippers in the fountain by Tivoli, parties consisting solely of deaf people, Romanians offering to share their STDs with us, getting acupunctured by a Danish GPs, european raves in solid white, breaking & entering, 6 year old host brothers giving us the big F.U. .. the list goes on and on.

But beyond producing crazy stories, studying abroad has opened our eyes, made us appreciate life, and helped us to be ourselves. Being given an experience that I knew had a limited time frame definitely encouraged me to make the most of it. I basically doubled the number of close friends I've made in college in one semester, because we were all forced to be less inhibited. The whole "I'm never going to see these people again" mindset really allowed us to open up to each other, and show off how strange we can be. And now, as a result, I BETTER be seeing these people again!

So to everyone, thank you for the laughs, for the embarassing photos. Thank you for cracking up with me during class, and complimenting my doodles of elephants and rocks. Thanks for the hygge nights and the wild nights. Thank you for spotting me the 100 kroner when you knew I needed it. Thanks for being fully engaged in the experience, and for allowing me to be as well. Thanks for the memories! They will last a lifetime... and just in case they don't, God knows I have around 3,000 pictures to refresh them ;)




Hej hej, for real this time, & good luck to future travelers.

I'll be back.


- Caitlin