yay for mixed feelings.

today was my very last day of classes in germany. (at least for this stage of my life.) kind of weird to think the year is over. it seems so long and so short at the same time, like i have been here forever, and yet it seems like only a few days ago i first arrived.

class itself was (surprisingly) quite good. for the class we had to write group reports. each group was assigned a specific think tank or similiar organization, and we had to describe the major security challenges and policy recommendations for germany. today we had a sort of simulation, where we had to represent our organization in a policy meeting and apply for a funding grant to carry out our proposals. everyone i talked to was convinced this was a stupid idea, and it would go horribly, and we even had to show up to class early for it...but once we got started, it actually was pretty good. i also found out that one of the people in the class will be studying at penn state next year on an exchange, and he knows someone coming to juniata.

i am actually feeling a lot better about my experiences here than i did a few weeks ago. i think i learned a lot more this year than i thought i did. so i am feeling a lot less unaccomplished than i did. i still need more work on my german, but i will keep working on it, and hopefully, another year or two, and i will feel pretty comfortable with it. all this is making me feel kind of sad about leaving. i kind of really wish i had another semester, because i think i could get much more out of it next time.

i am kind of looking forward to going home, but on many levels, "home" seems so weird to me now. i have gotten pretty used to the way things are here and will have to readjust to all things american. kind of scary to think of having culture shock going back to your native country, especially after only one year. not to mention, i am going to really miss a lot of things and people. what a crazy bittersweet moment moving is...