Well, here it is already...19 months and 46 blog posts later, I only have one more week of work left. I have to be honest that before I came here, I had no idea what to expect or what I was getting myself into. I sort of felt like I was stepping off into the abyss for a lot of reasons, but how quickly all of those reservations turned into nonsense. I met some great friends who immediately welcomed me and made the transition unbelievably easy. It's because of them that I know leaving will be much harder than it was coming here.
On the other hand, all of you at home were great at keeping in touch by sending emails or even one-liners on facebook just to say hi, which made being half a world away seem like I was as close as I always was. As hard as it is to leave here, I of course am extremely excited to come HOME and see all of you again. I learned a lot about myself while I was over here and being away made me appreciate things I often took for granted before. It made me appreciate the people in my life more than I ever did and because of that I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and watching my brother's family grow up.
I hope you've enjoyed following along and I just want to say thank you to everyone for keeping in touch while I was over here. I'm not going to mention names, but you know who you are. A huge thank you goes to my family so I am going to call them out. To my parents, you've been nothing but supportive from the time I told you I applied for this position, which has meant a lot to me. And of course, for coming over for 2 great weeks of vacation. Kyle and Brad, thank you guys for the comic relief you provided on the phone and through emails and Kyle for sending so many pictures when I couldn't be there to see the faces full of spaghetti or the dress-up parties.
I know I'm starting to ramble, but I guess to sum it all up, these past 19 months have absolutely flown by so quickly I am sort of in shock it's all over. I've had such a great experience, both personally and professionally, that I have no regrets whatsoever for taking this chance. It was indeed one heck of a ride.
I am going to take one last trip before I come back. I am going to Jordan for about 10 days and then will return to Denver mid-May. I wanted to do something completely different for my last trip and heard a few people talk about Jordan and what a great experience they had, so thought why not. I'm pretty sure it meets all the criteria of some place completely different alright! I'll post a blog about that when I get back.
Here are a few things I'm going to miss and a few things I'm looking forward to:
Going to miss:
1) Biergartens - absolutely no better way to spend a summer day
2) Lederhosen, dirndls and beer festivals
3) Laid-back and carefree lifestyle
4) Sundays - everything is closed here
5) Butterbreze - big pretzels with butter spread in the middle (breakfast)
6) Schweinebraten (pork roast), obatzda (pretzel dip), and definitely Augustiner beer
7) Skiing in the Alps and the apres ski parties - great atmosphere after a day of skiing
8) Not taking my shoes off going through security at the airport
9) Easy last-minute travel by air or train
10) Being around so much history
Can't wait for:
1) Going to college football and baseball games
2) KC BBQ
3) Mexican food (yes, this includes Chipotle)
4) Going to the grocery store and stocking up - no more trips with only 4 tiny bags
5) One-stop shopping and not having to sack my own groceries or bring my own bags
6) Being in a society that knows how to form a line
7) Getting unlimited, free water at restaurants
8) Having a house, a yard, and car again
9) Fishing and spending the summer in the Rockies
10) November elections (bye bye Libs!)
