As study abroad with CIEE comes to an end, I can’t help but quantify all of the experiences that this opportunity has helped me to cross off of my bucket list. I spent Valentine’s Day under the Eiffel Tower at night with the twinkling lights in Paris, ate a waffle in Brussels, danced around La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, made a wish at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, listened to the Beatles at the John Lennon Wall in Prague, relaxed in the hot baths in Budapest, climbed a mountain in Salzburg, went to numerous Berlin Biergartens at sunset, felt the sun and sand on my skin at the beach of the Canary Islands, watched the tulips blow in the wind in Amsterdam and so much more.

To put it into numbers, this is what I’ve been able to do while spending time in Europe: 20 cities, 18 credit hours, one apartment, one homestay, one college dorm and countless friends made and things learned.

Because this program allows students to move around easily, saying goodbye became second nature. However, leaving my final location in Berlin, Germany, was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Not only had I fallen in love with the city and gotten used to my class schedule, but I had spent every day with people that I know will be difficult to connect with once we get back to the states.

Specifically, the three best friends that I made while abroad are Sophie from California, Molly from Seattle and Nick from New Jersey. Sophie taught me to always be easygoing and laughable, Molly taught me to be both strong and vulnerable when pushed out of my comfort zone and Nick showed me what it is to be selfless. It tore me up leaving these people. Even though we have only known each other for 18 weeks, we have gone through so much together that it feels like we’ve been together for a lifetime. However, I am pretty confident in our abilities to plan out trips to see each other as we are pros at planning now.

My time abroad may have been temporary, but the person that I’ve become since traveling is here to stay.