Well the last week and a half has been tough in a lot of ways. The vast majority of our group is returning to the US, some for good, other just for Christmas.
I have certainly had lots of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm really and truly happy for those returning to the US. They are so genuinely excited to see their families/have the comforts of home it's hard not to feel a little thrilled, just by osmosis. On the other, I'm bummed I wont be packing up and going home too.
Don't get me wrong, I love my host family here and I am happy (most days) that I will be spending another semester in the DR. Honestly it took me the better part of the last four months to get relatively comfortable with the language, the transportation system, the culture. I feel like I'll better be able to enjoy myself in the next 5 months because I wont be constantly adjusting and readjusting to life here.
That being said- it's Christmas! It was tough for many people to spend Thanksgiving away from home for the first time (something that doesn't bother me having done it twice already), but Christmas will be new. Sigh. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Back to the goodbyes though... I helped a friend pack up last night. She actually only lives about 30 minutes from me in the US, so we'll almost certainly be seeing each other again, but not so for the rest of us. Our group this semester consisted of people from Washington to New York to Florida. We were all thrown together four months ago, friends by necessity, and now over half that group is leaving. I really miss/am going to miss most of those people. I did move to the DR to meet new people and experience something different, and I guess this is just another step in that process- saying goodbye.
So with that- goodbye and good luck to everyone returning to the States! ¡Ojala que tengan un navidad fantastico y que vayan bien! ¡Cuidate!
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