Athens, I love you

I love the people, the places, the community, but I hate the goodbyes. This time tomorrow I will be in my bed in Atlanta mulling over what I need to get at High Country or REI on Tuesday, hopefully mentally gloating over how well I did on my French exam (while most likely, I will be wishing I had studied more). This time tomorrow I will hopefully have stopped crying over the fact that I won't see my best friends for about two months and other friends for about three months. I have written them each letters in my head about how much each of them means to me, only to start writing them out and feeling like the lamest person ever, knowing I could never give them such an emotional letter that can be read and reread making me sound sappier with every rendition.
For the next two months I am going to miss the dryer shaking against my bedroom wall, the air-conditioning that goes from 50 degrees to 90 depending on its mood. I might even miss the perpetual mess in the kitchen, the mess that I've given up on after trying to clean it and coming home an hour later with it worse than before. I'll miss my roommates, I'll miss the neighbors, both the immediate and those in the whole of Pineview. I'll miss the bad drivers, the awful parking jobs, the buzz of the Loop right outside my window. I'll miss trying to study until friends call me up and ask me to slack off, I always say yes.
I'll miss my comfort zone, I'll miss the familiar. The good news is this, I will be back. 
Where I am going this summer is not familiar.  Moshi and Kisumu are NOT Athens. The people I am going to meet are not "my" people, no Hailey, Jess or Jessie. They are strange, foreign, new, different, scary but they are my chance to reach out, to burst my own bubble, to test my boundaries, to rely completely on God and to let myself go and let Him do. This is the chance of a lifetime and I would not change it for absolutely anything.

So goodbye Athens, I love you and the treasures you hold. Keep them safe until I return and think of me halfway around the world, as I surely will think of you.