Honestly...

I don't really have the time or the energy for a real post, but I'm having an overwhelming urge to get feelings out anywhere.

We've just stayed up all night actually being productive (for a change) and now the exam is a lifted weight. It's also a crushing reality. In less than 24 hours, we'll be on a plane headed back. And my heart is absolutely breaking.

Even when this trip has been bad, it's still been good. I'll miss everything; from my new best friends to the metro in the depths of hell. Even the broken air conditioner that kept us up all night our first night here, the messed up train ticket that broke my bank, the websites in Italian/French/German/Dutch that I couldn't read, the huge luggage that's only gotten heavier, the gypsies, the winding streets of Venice, the obnoxious street vendors, and the lack of clean clothes.

Because all of that cannot compare to canyoning in the Swiss Alps, sitting on the Grand Canal in Venice drinking wine, going clubbing, tanning on the Mediterranean, eating way too much pizza, getting no sleep and not caring about it at all, adapting, seeing the Eiffel Tower, wandering the streets until sunrise, laughing so hard twice in one day that I nearly fell over, getting pictures by the Colosseum, running into the middle of traffic accidentally, and the innumerable priceless moments with invaluable people.

I've come to the preliminary conclusion that perhaps we aren't all born where we belong.

Over the next few weeks I'm sure I'll spend a lot of time contemplating and reflecting on this whole experience, and I'll just continue to learn more. I certainly hope so. In many ways I'm glad that I still have a blog post or two to hammer out before our entire trip is documented. It'll be nice looking so closely back once we're home.

Home. I'm not sure I know the meaning of it anymore. I'm on the brink of some real, lasting change, and I'm so ready to jump in head first. It hasn't and won't happen overnight, and continuing my trend will take consistent effort and hard work, but I'm just ready. My core has been changed, my world turned upside-down. I hope to flip it back into something new and better, and I've never been more optimistic.

So keep looking for posts even after we're home, because every day will be documented, mark my words :).

Ciao!