Erasmus Party

If there's one thing I can say about international students, it's that we fall in love with each other real fast. I'm not exactly sure which student was responsible for organizing the affair, but last night all the Erasmus students gathered together for a goodbye party. At first, I wasn't really looking forward to it. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the location, maybe it was the fact that I'm not great friends with some of the international kids, maybe because I thought no one would show up. But I talked to about 20 people over the course of the day yesterday, and everyone said they were going, so I figured I would too. Attendance took a little while to pick up, but eventually, almost every foreign kid in Galway was there. Turns out that I am actually the first student PERIOD to be going home, so there was an unspoken "say goodbye to Katie" agenda. It was completely endearing. I know I've mentioned that I'll miss these people, but last night while I was watching everyone hugging and the girls crying and groups toasting to how we've changed each other's lives, I was struck with this sudden emotion of pre emptive nostalgia. Not only will I never be able to do this with these people ever again, but I'll never really be able to do it again at all. I'm leaving college, and for someone who loves being a student, this is really unsettling. But! I know that I'm moving on to "bigger and better things," haha, and I have to trust that with that will come people like these. Maybe I'll keep up with these people; there have already been talks about a reunion, and some of the Europeans are already planning trips over to see us, like Ruben and Stephan.

After the party last night, I walked home with Darin, my across-the-hall neighbor. We chatted for a while, and that chat ended up with us sitting on the floor in the hallway between our doors at 6 am, talking about memories and life and school and how he had changed this whole experience for me, and how we were going to miss each other. For as long as I live, I will never ever forget that conversation. Along with the foreigners planning trips, I've also made rough plans to go up to UW-Platteville and see all these guys again (if you remember, there are 8 Platteville men that I'm friends with). But who knows if they'll carry through. It's a possibility that we're just saying it to make each other feel better, when it's really like signing yearbooks "Keep in touch!" or saying "We should hang out sometime" to people you secretly know you'll never contact again. But the friends I've made here- Darin, Mike, all three Nicks, Carolin, Stephan, Stephanie, Ruben, Anso, Garrett, Derek, Charlie, James, Fabien, Trevor, Brett, Brandon... I've fallen in love with them, and for the girl who doesn't easily give her heart away to strangers, I don't know how I'll ever repay them for that gift.