Kaitlin, Sam and I went to Malta as our last hoorah in Europe before we leave Bolzano for good. It’s such a weird feeling to be leaving a place we’ve called home for the past 6 months. You prepare yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and in all other ways for your excursion out here- to a place you don’t know. You count down the days until you say goodbye to your family and friends at home, knowing that you’ll see them again. You come out to a strange place as an outsider and you find ways to adapt. I knew my being out here was not permanent. I even moved my return date closer by two weeks, but when it comes down to the time that we’ve accomplished what we’ve gone out here for, it’s a weird feeling to know that the next thing to do is go home.
Last week before Malta, a bunch of the erasmus kids went out to eat and to a couple bars afterward. It was already a different feeling not seeing the UK students since their program ended earlier (they don’t have finals, but had projects instead since all of them are design students). Being together, I looked around and realized that this is our future. If we continue to put ourselves out of our comfort zone and go to new, strange places, I believe that an understanding will come of each other. We learn about people from far away places that we’ve only dreamed of going to. Our eyes are opened to new cultures, languages, foods, traditions, opinions, greatness (or lack thereof… haha)… I could talk about this for hours, but I digress [=
Malta was a really chill place to go. It is such a small island and you go everywhere by bus. A lot of UK people go there for vacation, especially in the winters to get away from snow and all that sort. On the ferry to one of the smaller islands, we met a British couple visiting Malta for the second time after 20 years. Really friendly people intrigued as to what we were doing in Malta (basically the people vacationing there were all old couples… haha) And then we met a Scottish/Irish couple on one of the islands waiting for the bus. They are such a sweet couple- my role models right now. They’ve been traveling ever since they’ve been together (45 years). It’s such an awesome feat to be married so long nowadays. They were telling us about their children and grandchildren and how much they enjoy life. Then while we were waiting for another bus, I was singing “Hey Jude” the Korean baby’s version (if you haven’t seen it on youtube, go watch it now!) haha I was totally making a fool out of myself, but I never care. An Irish man was next to us and started laughing at me wanting me to keep singing the Korean baby’s version (yeah.. right..) Small chit chat here and there- we ended up going to the same site. I learned the best time to go to Ireland and Scotland is in August/September. Through this experience, I also learned that you meet the coolest, nicest people when you’re traveling. [=
Spent the night at Treviso airport in Venice when we flew back from Malta. It was seriously one of the coldest nights… We went from mid 50sF in Malta to about 30sF in Treviso. Neither of us brought enough layers to get through Italy, but we made due… haha… Each of us bought books in Malta to pass the time (nerds, yes… but books are cool so deal with it). I had my ipod, but unfortunately, I think it’s dying on me /= We made it through the night sleeping on the floor and then bought our bus tickets to Venice. I had a nice 2 hours in Venice lol [= Bought a kick-butt Venetian mask, walked to the Rialto and headed back to Bolzano.
Today is Sam’s last day in Bolzano. Then Bronwhyn is going to the UK on Monday. Next is Walter, then Steve. Finally me and Kaitlin. I’ve started to pack my stuff… Just need to do some laundry this weekend and then I’ll be heading home soon.
Kinda weird? Yes.
But I’m excited [=
