It's Actually Over (sorta) WARNING: CONTAINS SENTIMENT

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It’s the end. And I am not ready.





I’m currently on my second flight of the day, on my way back to Canada for the summer.



It’s been a while, and I have some time to kill. So here is what I’ve been up to for the past four months.



Wow. It’s really been a while.



I’ve done and seen so much, it’s unbelievable.



Highlights (some of which get their own posts): I saw Josh (face to face, not via internet), Saw Auntie Di and co, Mum came to visit with Ellie. It was awesome.



I also did exams. Less awesome.



I would like to focus, if I could, on a much more recent event. Namely the reason I am so fully unprepared to return.



On the Monday before I was due to leave, my friends threw me a surprise birthday party. Surprising not just because they kept it a secret (no mean feat in our group), but also because it was a month early. It was also surprising in other ways, ones I don’t think were intentional. In my group of friends, because we are all broke uni kids, we have an established routine for birthdays; we all pitch in for a card for everyone to sign, a bottle of liquor, and maybe a hat or something. Then we all drink said liquor and hang out. Maybe, if it’s not too close to an event or exam, we’ll go out to a bar. That’s it. It’s simple, it’s lovely. My birthday? Not so much.



My friends decorated the common room. They put up flags and blew up balloons and there was a Swiss thing that resembled a firecracker but just poofed out little toys. My future flatmate remembered that I had told her I liked a type of cupcake that she backed back in October and so she baked THREE DOZEN of them for my birthday. My friend drew me card, with me as Bat woman (which, if you know me at all, is a dream and a half) on it. I got these ridiculous light up wheels that I could stick to my shoes, like removable Heelys, that I had seen in a store two months ago and wanted to buy but couldn’t due to needing money. We all had fake moustaches that we all had to wear. There was so much obvious care and kindness put into my birthday for no particular reason. I nearly cried. It was, by far, one of the most unexpected and kindest things anyone has ever done for me.



I don’t know how I’m going to survive the summer without the immediate support of the people I’ve come to rely on and love. And it really sucks because all of them are going on a summer trip together and get to hang out and do junk while I’m stranded on the other side of the ocean. I miss them now, and I haven’t even been gone that long.





I want to go back so badly. I’m not ready for this wonderful adventure to stop. But I suppose that’s the sign of all good adventures, and the way to know that I have made a good choice with my educational endeavours. I am proud of myself. I am grateful to my friends. I am so in love with the world in which I live, and for that I cannot thank everyone I know enough.

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Photos

THEY MADE ME FOOD
The fastest way to buy my love is to feed me.