Bucket Full of Q-Marks

That's all, folks. I am sitting here in my apartment one last time updating my blog. Can you believe it's been almost 4 months since I arrived in Prague. This is officially the longest I have ever been away from home. I have to turn in my apartment keys by 9am tomorrow. I will be headed to the Prague airport to stay at a hotel before my 8:45 am flight on Sunday morning. I leave Prague for London Heathrow (3 hour layover), London for Dallas-Fort Worth (really, my first taste of America is Tex-ASS?), then finally home to New Orleans by 11pm Central Standard Time. It will be an exhausting 24-hour day of travel, but being home will certainly be worth it. Let's just hope the baggage fees are TOO much (sorry, Dad).


Yesterday was our last day of classes, and finals are officially over. Academically, this was NOTHING compared to Georgetown, but my grades don't even transfer anyways. We also had a graduation ceremony this morning, which was a complete joke. The CIEE program was really not very good at all, and I have heard that it has been drastically changed this semester compared to previous, most for the worst. Despite all my complaints about the program I am studying with, the experience could not have been more amazing.


While not a day went by that I didn't think about being at Georgetown or my friends and family back in the US, I know that I would have regretted forever not studying abroad here in Europe. Prague, for all its difficulties and quirks, was a great jumping off point to see Europe, and boy did I see Europe. 22 Countries in 186 days..that's more than half of 2010 spent outside of America. I may have spent all of my savings, but I will probably never get the chance to live and travel like this ever again.


Tonight will be our last goodbyes in Praha. It's really a strange situation with 17 other Georgetown students on my program. While I will be so hard to say "see ya later" to many of my friends from around the country, I will have comfort of my Hoyas crew back in DC when we are forced back into reality in January. It really is impossible to be thrown into a group of 80 Americans in a foreign country with no friends and to not come away with some lasting friendships. It feels a little bit like the end of high school - and what I imagine will be the end of college in just 3 semesters (YIKES!!!). Knowing that you can keep in touch but not knowing when you will next see people.


Prague is nothing like I imagined, and it is really is very "Eastern" compared to a lot of Europe. Convenience and language are not the easiest thing in the Czech Republic, but I really will appreciate the comforts of home in America. I can't wait to eat my way through every delicious restaurant New Orleans, Washington, and New York City have to offer in the next 3 weeks. I will be back in Washington in just 11 short days and in NYC just a week after. THEN SCHOOL BEGINS AGAIN.


I've posted some pictures of my new friends here, from our many days and nights in Prague. It was such a treat to meet so many other college students from the United States, and an even bigger experience meeting them in Europe!


Credits to Mary for the title of the blogpost, always ready to throw up her Q-Mark (?). It is really a strange feeling leaving this place that has become home for these past few months. A true mixed bag of emotions leaving it all behind and returning to reality.


I hope you enjoyed reading my blog thus far. I will update a few more times back in the states. It was certainly difficult to muster up the energy to write and post pictures so often, but what a neat memory I will have in reading through this.


So it's just one last night here in Prague. We're going out to dinner and then to our favorite pub to say our goodbyes. SEE YOU ON THE FLIPSIDE AMERICA!!