Leaving on a jetplane... Tomorrow!

So this is the end of my trip.  First of all it could not have been as much fun and full of amazing adventures without my group of friends, but mostly, my roommate Lindsay Alma Meadows.  I feel that I have gained a friend for life in her.  We are so similar that it's almost scary, but not too bad.  And so, this trip couldn't have been as fantastic without her here with me.  I got lucky, we both did, in the roommate match up.  I feel like Julie might feel about me... as if Lindsay were my younger sister and we are almost the same person... crazy!  Sarcastic, kind of mean, and always fun!

As far as the trip goes, there are hardly words to describe it.  Everyone at orientation said that this would be the best trip of my life and they were so right.  An amazing experience that I can certainly never forget.  There were so many things that I experienced and that I learned that I can hardly contain it all or put it in words.  The culture, the history, the lifestyle.  If you can only go to one place in Europe, Prague is a place I would recommend to everyone, even though some asshole stole my bag.  I can't be too mad because I'm sure it was someone who needed the money in it more than I did, but it was an inconvenience to say the least.  But this still doesn't make me feel any different about Prague.  And Munich isn't bad either. 

I think one of the most important things that I will take with me from this trip, if not THE most important, is the necessity of preserving history so that it does not repeat itself.  I truly believe that it is imperative to keep learning about what happened before us so that we can learn from mistakes.  Even if nations around the world do not choose to heed the warnings from history, it is very critical that people take the time to learn anyway.  

For a less intellectual point of view, I loved my trip!  My friends were awesome almost all of the time, except those times that I vented about them.  This last night we went on a dinner cruise with the whole group up and down the river (I can't remember the name of it right now) and it was so cool!  The food was pretty delicious compared to some of the things they have tried to feed us.  We took fantastic friend pictures and just had a generally good time.  It was a little bit bittersweet but to know that we will see each other, some of us in a week, others when school starts... it's no problem!  I love my friends, even if they have annoying qualities that make it hard to be with them sometimes.  I'm so happy that I was able to make this trip!  I'm starting to get teary while I'm writing this so I will have to end it soon.  

One final thing, despite the incredible amount of work that was piled on us in such a short amount of time, I am glad that I was able to study under the professors on this trip.  They seriously need to rethink what they expect from us in a 6 week period.  I didn't have this much work in a normal semester of grad school so I felt bad for the kids who just finished their freshman year at college.  However, we were able to finish even if there are those who didn't do an amazing job, at least we are done.  

And so my friends and my family, my avid readers, I leave you with those final thoughts on my trip and my final blog.  Should you have any questions or if you would like to get a CD with my pictures on it, please let me know!  This is the last time.