By Grace Clarke (Psychology, University of Maryland, United States)

As I come to the end of my time in Maryland, I can safely say that I can look back on my year with such fond memories and with a huge smile. Despite the natural ups and downs of the year, I am extremely sad to be saying goodbye to my friends and the place that I have been fortunate enough to call home for the past 9 months.

 My dorm is starting to resemble a prison cell, just like it did when I first arrived, and before my roommate and I added our own special touches to it. I am currently in the process of figuring out which of my large piles of clothes I will need for the summer, and which I will be sending home.

Tomorrow I will say my first goodbye to one of my friends, and I am dreading it. However, when you make such wonderful friendships, you can take comfort in the fact that it is not really a ‘goodbye’, but a ‘see you later’. As one of my American friends said, “Studying abroad is a way to guarantee heartbreak”.

I’m not going to be predictable by going on about how my time abroad has changed me etc etc. However, one thing that I definitely know is that I will pursue my passion to travel, and make the most of every day.

I will keep this post short, as I could honestly go on and on about how much I have loved my year abroad, and how much I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I’d like to finish with a well-known quote, as it sums up perfectly my feelings about leaving:

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”