It Shall Come To Pass.

And so that's it. Two years in Swaziland, I blinked, and it's over. I spent the last two days in airports and planes, flying from Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi and back to America. It's crazy to think about the day that I first got the letter from UWC, asking me to apply, all the way until now, as I've technically become an "alumni," but it really doesn't feel like that. I feel like in the middle of January, I'm going to get on a plane and fly back to Swaziland for another year. Logically, I know I'm not, but that doesn't change the feeling.

Despite my tears and frustrations at being scattered from my best friends and adoptive family, it's strange that life goes on. I got back to the States last night, and I have a job interview in approximately an hour (kind of panicked at what I'm supposed to wear, looking at my haphazard suitcase in front of me), an appointment with the Indian visa people in a week to process my visa for March, a whole lot of other things to do for Semester at Sea, and a rather neglected life and family here in Illinois that I have one month to catch up with before leaving again.

It's strange. There's really no other word for it. During exams, we would joke that no matter how much or how little you study, the exams will simply come to pass. Time keeps going, and no matter what we do, it's going to pas us by, whether we like it or not. When I think about the fact that three days ago I woke up next to my best friend in Swaziland, and now I'm looking out the window at America, my head kind of spins. It all seems so big, somehow overwhelming to even think about the distance between myself and so many of the people I love so dearly. And then there's always that realization that no matter where I go, there will always be someone I love who is on the other side of the world.

And that, as they say, is the price we pay for the life we live.

Epilogue to Swaziland and Prequel to Semester at Sea

Hello! I feel like I've completely abandoned this blog, but someone just told me that their husband found it and was reading and laughing at the stories, and so I'm feeling inspired to start writing again.

I finish my time here in Swaziland in just over two weeks, which, after two years here, is a crazy notion indeed. For those two weeks, I'm busy writing my final exams, and so there won't be much posting in that time. But, once I return to Chicago in December, I'll try to fill in some of the better stories that have happened here in the kingdom over the past few months.

And soon enough, the next adventure is going to start! The guy who has paid for my time here in Swaziland (Shelby Davis, super cool dude, spends all his money on international education scholarships), has given me a full scholarship to participate in the Semester at Sea program. So, I get to live on what is essentially a converted cruise ship and sail around the world for four months, starting in the beginning of January. So, I assure you, the adventures are not over, and this blog was merely in hibernation, not entirely dead.

In the meantime, I'll just tell you that there is a eight inch long spider (maybe twenty centimeters) chilling in the bathroom, and we're all admittedly a little bit scared of it. Admittedly, I'm also going to miss the fact that all the insects here in Swaziland are humorously big.

Until December, when you can expect a few more Swaziland stories and some preparation tales for Semester at Sea!