Finals are over, and I just completed my last class, not only here in Greece but also as an undergraduate student. A big part of me wants to skip around and whistle, but I have to admit I feel a bit crestfallen that this experience abroad has come to an end so swiftly.
In less than three hours, the Athens Centre will bestow upon us “graduation” certificates; then I’ll join my friends and professors for one last round of Greek salad, red wine and laughs together. I’m dumbfounded that it has reached this point.
Tomorrow I plan to take one last walk around the Plaka, the Agora, National Gardens and the Pangrati neighborhood. Then a few of my friends and I will walk up Philopappos Hill for one last sunset and glimpse of the Acropolis at night.
As inconceivable a fact it is, I depart the Athens airport at 1 p.m. on Saturday, flying first to Munich, Germany before continuing to Newark with a scheduled arrival of 6:30 p.m. It’s so strange to think about returning to the routine I established before I came to Greece in March. Walking back to my apartment after finals yesterday, I bought a gyro (possibly my last authentic one) and while strolling by one of the shops, a woman retailer ushered me inside, speaking Greek. I thought to myself, darn, I feel like I belong, I guess I look like I belong—but in three days, I pick up and leave this “temporary residence” that has really begun to feel like home.
Now awaits the arduous task of packing and finding space for all the souvenirs. It’s not even so much actual souvenirs of which I have an abundance; rather, it’s a collection of rocks and pine cones, ticket stubs and programs, newspapers and chocolate bar wrappers with Greek letters, etc., that are finding their way home with me one way or another.
Once I’m home safe and sound and satiated with peanut butter and cranberry juice, I’ll write a reflective post for all of you faithful readers (and I still owe you a synopsis of my Rome excursion!).