My semester abroad technically ended last Friday. The last week was filled with exams, papers (believe it or not, finals week does happen abroad), packing (and repacking because you realized all of your luggages are overweight), last-minute bucket list items, “lasts”, and goodbyes.
Goodbyes are always hard, but I was lucky that the easier ones came first. I said goodbye to my professors, most of whom I’ve grown incredibly close to (spending hours in a charter bus to Western Denmark tends to have a bonding effect on people it seems). I said goodbye to my classmates, whom I’ve shared the real struggle of finding the motivation to study on study abroad with. I said goodbyes, albeit unspoken, to my favorite cafes, restaurants, bars, and clubs, favorite baristas, waiters, and DJs–all of whom have had an impact on my semester abroad larger than one would think. People started to leave one by one during the last week; but caught up in the chaos of the last week, there are handfuls of people that I didn’t get to say bye to. Still, I was lucky that all of my closest friends didn’t leave until Sunday. We spent our last weekend together in Copenhagen eating at our favorite restaurants, having gløgg (traditional Danish Christmas wine) by the harbor, streaming irrelevant movies on Netflix, laughing, crying, and going through the full spectrum of human emotion.
Sunday morning rolled around, and we all headed to the airport. My semester was over, but my adventure was not. I was traveling for the next 10 days through Berlin, Prague, and Budapest with my friends Ally and Tracie. I had always wanted to travel after my program ended because #YOSAO (you only study abroad once), and halfway through the semester we all still hadn’t booked a ticket back to the States so we went ahead and planned our final adventure. This was one of the most memorable weeks of the semester, filled with history, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and dozens of Christmas markets. Europe is incredible during the holidays.
And this morning I flew from Budapest to Copenhagen since I had left my luggage with my visiting family and my return flight was out of CPH. When my plane landed in CPH airport and my Danish SIM card data loaded (shoutout to Telenor DK), I felt incredibly happy, the best homecoming feeling. With all the weekend trips this semester, I knew the airport like the back of my hand. I had my transportation pass ready, and I got on the metro, a route that I’ve taken a million times this semester.
I spent my afternoon in my favorite cafe/resturant, Paludan BogCafe. I ordered a salmon sandwich with avocado and a large coffee like I had done one time too many this semester. I took out my laptop and began to look through my iPhoto library. And then I began this post. And this was the first time that I actually reflected: my next time at the airport would be my last, for a while; I’m going back to the USA with no return ticket back to Copenhagen; I’m leaving the city and the country that I have become so comfortable in; and wait, all of this is happening tomorrow? Once again, hit with the full spectrum of human emotion.
Later, I made my way on the train to Hareskov, a town right outside Copenhagen where my visiting family lives. Tusind tak (a thousand thanks) to them for being the best people ever and taking me in on my last night, making me an early Danish Christmas dinner, showering me with hospitality, sharing their stories and adventures with me, and every in between. I am so so so grateful.
“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way every again.”
This has long been one of my favorite quotes. I found it applicable when I moved away from the Bay Area to go to college in DC; when I left Beijing at the end of my internship; when I said goodbye to New York City after the best summer of my life. But now it seems like all of those goodbyes pale in comparison to the one I’m about to say tomorrow.
This semester has undoubtedly been the biggest adventure of my life. I’ve laughed, cried, and grown (as a person and in weight, perhaps. #Foreign50 > #Freshman15.) I’ve traveled through Madrid, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Dublin, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Berlin, Prague, and Budapest. I’ve lived for four months in Copenhagen.
I said YES to life.
