Packing to leave already

Wow.

I'm done school, and tomorrow night I leave Sweden only to return for a short 4 days in between my trip to Spain & Portugal and my 3 day rendezvous in Paris. 

Being sick, and to a great extent bedridden, for the past 5 days doesn't help time pass any slower as these last few days are in large a cold medicine and fever induced blur. 

I really can't get over how fast this has all gone by. It feels like I just packed to come, and here I am trying to pack away half my stuff to leave. While I'm so, so excited to see all the people I love and have missed I'm also saddened to say goodbye to this short chapter in my life. I've had no "near religious experiences" as my one cross-cultural rhetoric class described many sojourners as having abroad; I return with no wild party stories or tales of outlandish adventures, no masterpieces painted and no deep secrets discovered about myself. However, in my short term abroad I have gained a new aspect on things, had the opportunity to realize how easy it is to adjust to a new surrounding, discovered how flexible life truly is and had a chance to relax and to reflect. I feel like I am returning home a few years older in wisdom, and with a greater understanding of who I am and what is important to me. While I didn't find the answers to life, I got a taste of what it is that I want out of mine, as well as why people spend their lives searching for such purpose. 

It's really a different experience living day to day in a new culture, soaking it up through osmosis rather than through active exploration as one normally explores a new culture or country. Its like doing daily things that you also do at home such as cooking, cleaning, homework and going to class force you to adjust and experience the culture as a part of your life rather than something you are simply touring. Its like it makes it more difficult to pick out what's so different about it while your there, living and operating there, and that you will only be able to recount the exoticness and differences once you return home and look back on the experience.

Sorry, I'm just in a very thoughtful mood, as coming to the end of this trip I feel that I need to reflect a little. 

I'm really, reallly excited for my next 3 weeks of touring around Spain and Europe! To see and taste the culture, wander new cities, feel the warmth of the sun and to be in familiar, loving arms. 

But now, after a quick venting as I am feeling a tad out of sorts packing to leave, I must actually start packing to leave. 

xo