Saying Goodbye

Today has been bittersweet.

Today was my last official day at UPenn. I woke up at 4 AM in order to say bye to friends. I missed saying bye to some of them, though, because they had flights as early as 2 AM. Our ILC group did not have to leave the dorms until 11 AM, so while we waited for the 11th hour to strike we spent our time outside. Hannah and I sat in the Quad and said goodbye to everyone as they left. Each hour a new group of people left. I did not fully perceived that I might never see some of these people ever again. It is a small world, so I am sure I will be reunited with some, but not all. Once I began to realize that this may be the last time I see some of my new friends, that is when I became really sad.

At 11 AM, I said goodbye to all of my friends who had not left yet, I said goodbye to Haile and the other RC's, and then I was off. Mr. Hillyer, Hannah, Kai, Mike, Jun, and I took the shuttle to the airport and waited until our flight at 3:40 PM. We flew for a few hours and transferred at the Phoenix, Arizona airport. We flew for an hour and a half and finally landed at the San Francisco airport at 9:15 PM. My family was waiting for me at the gate and were very happy to see me. Not seeing me for a month was hard on them. I got my bags from baggage claim, said goodbye to my ILC friends, and drove home.

I cannot believe that I am finally back home. It feels unusual to see my neighborhood streets and not the streets of the UPenn campus. The weather is colder and there is no humidity here. I feel unusual, out of place, and jet lagged; but I am happy to be with my family again.

As I have repeated numerous times this week, I am going to miss everything so much. The people I have met, the class I attended, the campus I lived on, and my experience overall. I miss it all already, but I am so happy that it happened.