Reflections

This post is being written while I sit in the dingy off-white departures terminal of Heathrow airport. It is past 2 AM, ridiculously cold, and all around me I am surrounded by sleeping travelers. The, like me, were most likely forced into spending Christmas Ever at the airport by the fact that the tube doesn’t run tomorrow morning and a minicab all the way out here costs about 70 pounds (!).

I could be sleeping too, but I am startlingly awake, thoughts buzzing.

I am leaving tomorrow.

It didn’t really hit me until just now, sitting alone in a sea of snoring travelers. My incredible journey is basically over. I keep running through my head everything that has happened to me since I first arrived at this airport back in September. The amazing places I’ve been, the people I’ve met (some of whom may be lasting friends), London in all it’s awesome diversity. I arrived one person, and all of these things have pooled to make me someone new. Someone better I like to think; smarter, braver, more interesting. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been thrilling. I can say without reserve that studying abroad is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

Which is why leaving is like coming down from some incredible high. It has been such a tumultuous year overall and such an amazing three months specifically, that it is hard to think what comes next. What will returning home be like? It seems like everything has changed, but practically everything will be just the same as I left it. It is going to be an adjustment, but at the same time I am so excited for whatever comes next. A few terrific weeks back at home, one more semester at Emory and then- who knows?

I would like to come back to London to live for awhile, if the stars align just right. Or maybe to live somewhere else in Europe. In any case I will definitely be doing more traveling. Next on my wish list are Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Istanbul. One of the most important things I have discovered is the immense power I have over my own fate. Whatever the next step may be I am more than ready to meet it head on.