When I sat down to write this blog, my last one of the semester, I looked around my room in my host mother’s house: drawers empty, desk clean and uncluttered, my huge, packed suitcase to my right and my plane outfit on the chair to my left. It’s surreal that my semester, my abroad experience, will be over at 11:45 tomorrow morning at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
I’ve had a long time to prepare for this – four months to be exact – so I shouldn’t be that sad. The phrase “smile because it happened” comes to mind when I consider my experience in Dijon and with the amazing friends and memories I’ve made this semester. As cheesy as it is, our semester in Dijon ended on a high note (the same way, I expect, many other Wake students’ study abroad experiences ended) because when you’re abroad, thanks to the considerable easiness of “final exams,” the end of the semester doesn’t feel like a relief. I have very few regrets about my experience abroad but, tonight, my sadness comes from knowing that my “study abroad experience,” a quintessential and classically collegiate opportunity, is over.
Our group in Strasbourg, France, on our last group excursion.
I couldn’t be more excited to see my parents, siblings and best friends again. I can’t wait to celebrate Christmas, my favorite holiday, with my loved ones and be able to give them the trinkets and souvenirs I bought during my travels. I’m incredibly impatient to be back on campus and experience the physical changes I’ve missed while in France. But it’s only now starting to sink in that my Wake Forest study abroad experience, something I have wanted to do since my freshman year of high school, is finished and will not happen again.
Dijon 2013’s lasting Parisian legacy: our own lock on the Pont d’Amour in Paris.
As a sophomore, I will return to Wake with, perhaps, more peace of mind than my older counterparts. I have two and a half semesters left on campus and don’t have to worry about graduating anytime soon. I’ve gained so much perspective this semester but I’m glad I still feel excited about things like date functions, Mag Room reunion dinners with the girls from my freshman hall and, generally, re-immersing myself in life on campus.
Our last full weekend in Europe, in front of the Louvre in Paris.
I don’t know when I will be returning to Europe, let alone to Dijon, France; I don’t know if I will stay in touch with my host mother forever; I don’t even know if I will be able to go abroad next fall, like I had previously hoped. I’m certain, though, that I’ll always remember the semester I decided, at the very last minute, to go to France for four months (and how, though incredibly different in every way than a semester at Wake, I’ll hold it as close to my heart as I do all my time spent on Reynolda campus).
For now – but not forever – au revoir, Dijon. Tu me manques déjà !