the finale.

Last night.

It's funny to think that just four months ago I was sitting in my room in San Diego, surrounded by a sea of clothes as I attempted to pack with shaky hands. Now the environment looks familiar. I packed my two suitcases and mummified two boxes with tape to ship home. The rooms are empty. The goodbyes have begun. The kitchen cupboards are bare.

It's really done and by 3:15 p.m. tomorrow I will be boarding a plane for California. I survived Washington D.C. and I'm amazed at how far I've come.

My last day was spent with my journalism classmates, eating doughnuts, watching Casablanca and sharing good memories. These include: feeling so scared when we got here, laughing about our first days at our internships, jumping in the snow during the blizzard, watching the State of the Union address in a pub, learning about vocation and calling, studying in the Library of Congress, interviewing celebrities and walking to the Lincoln memorial on a windy day.

This has been the ideal study abroad experience for me. So many things confirmed and so much encouragement towards my future. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Tomorrow, I'm saying final goodbyes to roommates and friends here before eating lunch one last time with my professor. And to end with a cliche, the journey ends here but another is beginning.

Thanks for reading my rants, praises and thoughts this semester. The bundled up journalist is shedding her layers for warmer temperatures...