all good things must end, BUT I DON'T WANT IT TO!!!! WAAAHHHH

Ellen left me in Galway on Friday morning. I went out Friday night but it wasn't as fun as the previous few nights with my aussie mate. But alas, my journey was coming to an end and I was nearly out of money. On Saturday morning, I left Galway and went to the small town Sixmilebridge. Saturday night, I hung out with Katie, a girl from Wisconsin who is moving to Chicago for grad school (and a big doctor who fan, yes, we bonded).

Katie left on Sunday morning and then Sara and Dusty arrived. We walked about the town a bit, played scrabble in the common room, but overall it was a pretty relaxed last few days abroad. I got incredible sad and nervous about going back home. I kept thinking, 'It can't be over yet' and then secretly planning to run off and meet Ellen in Scotland. But I knew I'd be out of money all too soon and that it'd be better to go home and regroup my life and begin planning my next adventure.

Ellen and I are already in talks of meeting in New Zealand or Asia. It all depends on the money situation. She goes home to Australia sometime this fall and will need to save more money for more adventures and I need to finish my Masters Degree.

Overall, I am very pleased with everything I've accomplished in the last five weeks. Rather than focusing on my sightseeing and pictures taken, I am choosing to cherish all the people that I met and all the fun stories we've exchanged among one another. It was a great experience and I am tearing up just now thinking about it all.

I'm in New York waiting for the flight back to Chicago. I miss my extra large bed and not sharing a room with 8 or 9 strangers (most of which became friends but some were creepy).

I think being extremely tired has kept me from being emotional all day today, including saying goodbye to the two new friends from Buffalo New York who had the same return flight as me. But I now struggle to know what direction I should be taking my life. I want to do some more traveling but I'm at an age where I'm supposed to have a career and gag, marriage and children.

So I haven't cried or anything too dramatic, but I do feel the sad pangs of ending an adventure as grand as mine has been. I will do everything I can to keep making positive and interesting friends around the world and am now really determined to leave Chicago as my home and make it my hometown but take up residence somewhere new.