Next semester I will be going abroad to Rome, and although I am excited to see and experience a new culture, leaving behind my friends will be extremely difficult. Over the past two years that I have been at school I have made amazing friends and we have become extremely close, making leaving even harder. Some of my friends I will not see for the whole of next year, because by the time I’m back on campus, they’ll be off on their own adventures abroad. As the year comes to an end, I have been thinking more and more about the changes to come. Although I’m excited, I’m also sad and scared for what will happen next and who I will be leaving behind.
I worry about losing touch with my friends as we go our separate ways. I worry that our new experiences will make us drift apart. And I worry that I will be lost without them. But I know that moving on and having new experiences is a part of growing up and I know that I will try to the best of my ability to not make those fears a reality. After processing my fears and trying to figure out how to prevent them from coming true, questions still remain: how do you say good-bye? How do you tell your friends how much they mean to you? How do you say how hard it will be not to see them everyday?
I honestly don’t know how to say goodbyes. I don’t know what I’ll do come last day of finals, but I do know that it won’t be easy. But then again, goodbyes never are. I also have to keep reminding myself that this is not a good-bye, simply a “see you later.” Granted, it will be eight months to a year until I see my friends again, but I know I will keep in touch. And while it may not be the same, and despite whatever comes next, I will always be there for them (and they for me), and I know that we love each other. No matter the distance, my friends and I will stay connected, and before we know it, we’ll be back together again.