Bittersweet Farewell

So here it is. My time in Salzburg has come to an end and I never thought it would be this hard to leave. Saturday was spent soaking in every last minute that I possibly could. Matthew, Aimee and I went into town to finish all of the shopping we needed. We then headed back to the dorms to get ready for the dinner we were having a Stuart and Lisa's house. The group all headed to their house at 5 and we ate another amazing meal. We had turkey schnitzel with mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was great! After dinner we handed out our Secret Santa gifts which was funny to see what people thought to give. We went in a chain so everyone could see what everyone got. Megan B had my name and got me a stocking with candy. It was a classic secret santa gift. Some people got personal with their gifts which was so funny. It showed how close we have come over the four months. I had Chris Pignato for my Secret Santa and I gave him a snowglobe of Salzburg. Might be cheesy but I thought it was nice! haha! Then we ate dessert and while we were eating it Kate and Megan B played a slideshow that they made. It was really great but incredibly long. It was a 45 minute slideshow. It was a nice thing though. It might sound bad but the only time I felt emotional was when the picture of Katie, Laurann and me at Thanksgiving came up. Of course the other pictures were great but I miss having them here! After the slideshow we left and headed back to the dorms to get ready to go out. Mostly everyone was in the mood to go out since it was our last night all together. Everyone but 5 of us went to Soda Club for their two-for-one cocktails. It was so much fun! We were all sitting around and talking which was so great! It was funny because we all talked about our first impressions of everyone from those incredibly awkward orientation meetings we had to go to. It was so funny to hear what people thought! And it was fun because it just shows how close we have come to be able to admit those kind of things and to realize they were incredibly false. It was so great. At about 11pm people wanted to head back to the dorms but Aimee, Kevin and I were still in the mood to go out. Kevin knew of this place outside of town that had dancing so we went with him. It was so much fun! We haven't really had the opportunities to dance much and it was so great to just let loose! They played classic german music and music we knew so it was a good mix. We stayed at Steinlechner for awhile and then headed to Watzmann. It was a lot of fun too and a little better since there were more people our age. We stayed there until 4am! I can't even remember the last time I stayed up that late but it was such a great night!

I slept in Sunday morning since I obviously didn't get much sleep. I got up around 11am because I had to start packing everything. So sad! We had to pack our bedding and dishes to give to Lisa at 1pm. It was kind of a hassle because the bins they gave us weren't big enough. Everything was fine though. I got my suitcase all packed and cleaned my side of the room. It was kind of a lot of work and super depressing! Then for dinner since we didn't have any dishes Aimee, Sean, Kevin and I went to get our last kebab from Haci's. It was so yummy and so wierd to think I won't be back there. We went back to the dorm then because the first group of people left tonight. Megan and Megan came up to my room and I said goodbye to them. Then Kolby came to say goodbye and it was all so sad! I know we will see each other next semester but it just means that this amazing experience is over. After that calmed down I went over to Dan and Sean's room to try to get my mind off how sad I was. We went to Jeremy's floor to watch a movie and it was the dumbest movie ever. It was called Battle Royale and it was terrible. After I had more people to say goodbye to which as harder than the first people. I said goodbye to Matthew, Chris P and Chris S and there definitely were some tears. It is hard when everyone leaves at different times. I wish we all just left at once and it was over quickly but no. It is drawn out just to torture us! Now I am going to get ready for bed and who knows how much sleep I will get. I have been dreading tomorrow for four months and now it is here. It is hard to believe this is over but it is definitely bittersweet. I am so excited to go to Germany and even more excited to be going home in a week. I guess all good things must come to an end sometime.