Well, I just finished my last month in Strasbourg and it was definitely the most difficult by far but for the best reasons possible! I came to realize that I really love the friends that I made while in Europe and that I did NOT want to leave them but that I was also oh so ready to see my friends and family from back home.
All in all, it was a wonderful month. I got to go to Rome for Easter and visit one of my best friends from high school, which was sort of a surreal experience. We also went to Naples and Pompeii, which are both must sees. Italy is so rich in history and culture, full of life and incredible pizza and pasta. A couple weeks later my parents came to visit for a week and we went to Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Zurich, and then made our way back to Strasbourg. My favorite place that I visited with them was, by far, Austria! It was breathtaking and I was able to share it with two people that I love very much!
Then of course, I had to finish up school. Finals in Strasbourg are so different from A&M and much more spread out, which was nice. It was so odd realizing at each one that it might be the last time that I would see many of the friends I had made for a very long time, but I suppose we all have to say goodbye sometime, and I will be forever grateful for the time and memories shared with those friends even if we only had four months together! Man oh man will I miss Strasbourg. It was by far the most beautiful place that I have ever lived, and the last couple of weeks there were full of taking in lots of little things about the city like the beautiful cathedral(especially at night), walks alongside the lovely waterways, enjoying the warmer weather and the things that come with that, and countless other characteristics unique to the place I had the blessing of calling home for 4 months.
As I was leaving, I also couldn’t help but realize how much more comfortable Strasbourg and Europe felt from when I first I arrived sixteen weeks earlier. It just felt right and things that seemed so foreign before felt like the norm. Hearing French day in and day out became less intimidating and much more familiar. Public transportation now has a special place in my heart. Traveling alone no longer strikes fear within me. Approaching strangers and getting to know them was just part of life and actually became sort of fun. I think that I slowly learned how to be myself in each and every situation and along with that came actually learning who I am. I was challenged. I grew. And I can promise anyone else that decides to step out of their comfort zone and study abroad that you will grow too. It’s inevitable. And it can be a really good thing. Sort of scary at times and you may not recognize yourself at certain points, but that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes you may surprise yourself! You also have the chance to watch other people grow! I think this was actually my favorite part about the whole experience. It is a special thing to be able to enter into this craziness with people you’ve never met and see how they will change throughout this time as well. You get to watch them gain confidence, stretch themselves, open their minds up to new ideas and ways of thinking, make hard decisions, and find out more about who they are and that’s good, good stuff. It was a sweet time and this trip and those people will always remain near to my heart.
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Ok, that’s all for now, but I will be sure to post one more time in a couple of weeks and let you know how acclimating back into Texas life is going!
Sam 🙂