Finally Home

I woke up this morning with the realization that I had to go home today. It was time for me to leave my room which I have called home for the last three weeks. I wasn't getting too emotional until I saw the look on my roommate's face when I started to pack the last of my things. Lulu has been the best roommate ever and I was very sad to have to leave her and go back home. Even though we spent only three weeks together, most of that time was spent together doing our work and messing around in our room.

The Best Roommate Ever

When I was finally done packing my belongings, I said my final goodbyes to Lulu, wished her a safe flight back home to Beijing, and I went outside to get on the shuttle bus. Luckily on my way outside, I ran into Rong one of my classmates. I quickly gave her a goodbye hug and then I made my way over to the shuttle bus. After all of us had our bags placed on the bus, we made our way over to the airport. As we were driving through Chicago, I said my own silent 'see ya later' to the city before we got to the airport.

We were very early when we got to the airport and figured that we had enough time for a sit down breakfast. After our breakfast, we went back to our gates to wait for our plane to start boarding. While we were waiting, one of Vicky's friends from her class was there at the same gate. She was going on the same flight as us to Phoenix because that's where she lived. After we boarded our plane and took off into the air, I immediately fell asleep but I kept on waking up every half hour.

It was in the Phoenix airport when we were getting lunch that I began to process that I wouldn't be able to see my cohort everyday anymore. We all got really close these past few weeks and spent most of our time in Chicago together. During our lunch, we took the advantage of the time that we had and spent most of it laughing and joking with each other. When we boarded our plane for San Francisco the excitement was written clearly on everybody's faces. We were finally going  home.

I didn't sleep at all this time around and the minute our plane touched down in San Francisco, I unbuckled my seat belt wanted to run off. I had to wait for a few minutes unfortunately but it still felt good to be back home. We made our way to baggage claim and that was where we started to see our parents. Seeing how my mother ran up and hugged me the moment she saw me, I think it's safe to say that she missed me and was happy that I made it home safely.

My Cohort

After we all got our bags, it was time to say goodbye and go our separate ways. Nobody cried but I think we all know that it's going to be strange to not be able to see each other everyday like we used to. We've had countless meals together, we've blogged together almost every night since we left, we've stayed up late studying together, and most importantly we've made memories together that we won't forget anytime soon. My experience over the last month wouldn't have been the same without my cohort around me and just want to take the time to thank Alexa, Jimmy, Dani, Vicky, and Alie for making this past month one of the best in my life.