the beginning of the goodbyes...

Tonight was a night of many goodbyes. Which I hate those, really, I do. (Does anybody out there actually like them??)
I've been listening to a lot of Noah and the Whale lately. Which, by the way, if you actually know who that band is, you get major brownie points. I think about 70% of their songs adequately reflect my mood right now. But now I'm just rambling. Let's cut right to the fact at hand.....

I am really going to miss this guy.

And these people, even though I have only known them for 3 days....

...I will remember them for the rest of my life. These people literally spoke about 3, maybe 4 words of English. And yet they accepted me exactly the way I was and showed me more love than I could have ever asked for, even just after they had barely learned my name. We connected instantly and I felt like I had known them for years. There is a different frequency that arises in the presence of the language barrier... and coming to Ukraine has made me more aware of it. There is this ability to sense people, without ever saying a word. Sense the goodness in them. Sense who they are... the love in them, their zest for life, for people. Sense that they love you, too. So many people here have shown me that. 

These people and my host dad just left on a train heading to Sevastopal tonight... and that's just it. I don't know for certain if I will ever see them again. I have hope to come back again sometime in my future but who knows how long that will be?

So we said our goodbyes, (about seventeen times). There were lots of hugs, lots of kisses, and wishes in Russian that I understood completely even though I didn't understand many of the actual words. And I wanted to just ball, but my body kind of hates me and has cursed me with the inability to cry for the past 4 or so months, so, I could only manage a sniffle or two. I think Sasha could tell I wanted to cry though... ha ha--

Tomorrow is our Spectacle, which means saying goodbye to all of the kiddies. I love these kids so much sometimes it feels like my heart is just going to explode, so maybe it's a good thing I have this inability to cry right now. I think I would probably be a mess. But we'll see...

However. In order for this post not to be a total downer, I will add that with many goodbyes come many more hellos... and I am so excited to see my family again. :)

And there are a few goodbyes that I am embracing.
For example. My dear friends the Mosquitos? Thank you for keeping me company at night for the past month or so... it's been a ball. I will gladly be bidding you all farewell on Wednesday, and saying hello to screens on windows. And there will be much rejoicing. :)

Pravda?

Let's just be honest here.

It hit me.

You know those moments right before a huge change where it feels like the whole world just sort of shatters and falls and hits you right smack in the face? And you get this swelling feeling and wonder why you didn't grasp the magnitude of the situation before, because then it may have been easier to cope with this moment, but instead it just piles and piles upon you and you don't know how you even feel because your heart is being pulled in a million different directions and you kind of just want to laugh and cry and scream all at the same time?
(and yes that feeling actually exists, believe it or not)

Just wow.

I am leaving Ukraine in less than a week. Just barely found out that my host dad is leaving on a business trip on Sunday so that's the last time I'll see him... let alone all these incredible girls...
(Brit? What the heck am I going to do when you are not just a metro stop away anymore? Now you're an entire state away??)
...all the adorable kids (who won't remember you a year from now, yet you know you'll remember them for the rest of your life)..
...my dear sweet babushkas....
...native friends...
and the most fantastic host family in all of Ukraine.

What? I really am leaving this place that I have lived for 186 days and learned to call home what??

I am kind of freaking out.

Just a teeny tiny bit.

Left my heart in Scandinavia...

They always say that good things can arise even out of the most terrible of circumstances. 

That is definitely what happened, because after an emergency surgery and lots of anxious prayers and scary foreign hospitals.. three friends were given permission to go have the time of their lives. :)

You see, what happened was this. In Ukraine, you must leave the country after about 70 days or so in order to keep your visa valid. Well, we had a huge Eastern European tour planned, and only a few days before we left on that infamous bus ride,my dear friend Britney was rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery on her appendix. Scary?? I think yes!  Consequently, she had to stay home from our EU tour, as recovery time dipped right smack into the middle of it. 

But the fact still remained that she had to leave the country, and the other fact remained that we are not allowed to leave the country except in groups of three. 

So, Britney, Derrick and I were quickly given permission to go! 

And thus we hopped on the cheapest Wizzair flight, which just happened to be to this amazing place: 

Stockholm, Sweden.

3 friends. 

One weekend.

A lot of growing up (it is hard to plan a trip without your parents and get there from a country in which you don't speak the language! Get from home to the vokzal, to the right mashrutka, to the right airport, to the right terminal, to the new country, to the right bus, to the right city, to the right metro, to the right stop, to the right hotel. 

But did we do it?
Absolutely.

sorry it's so blurry... we accomplished as much of this stuff as we could!

falafel=pure joyousness

Can't go on a vacation without the ice cream!

Heaven.

I love it here!

And all because of a spiky appendix. ;)

And Part 3... finally!

(wow, this is taking a lot longer than expected! If you're still reading this, props to you :)

Day 6: Free day in Prague
My favorite part of this day was the Lennon wall. I took probably a million pictures. This is a wall that people would come and paint on lyrics from John Lennon and the Beatles during Soviet times, and I didn't even know it existed until we stumbled upon it! I found out that the soviets would come and paint over the lyrics, but by the next day there would be more artwork, inspring lyrics, and other quotes all over it, and so eventually they just gave up. People have been adding to the wall ever since, and it is constantly changing. (is that not the most awesome thing you've ever heard?! I thought it was pretty cool)

And our exploring continued...

Up and down endless quaint little streets such as this

 hiking for the views..

 lunch for only 50 crowns

We walked literally ALL DAY, and couldn't have done so without a few rests in-between!

Once again Prague is BEAUTIFUL at night

....well into the night. It was our last night in Prague, and we wanted to spend as much time there as we could. We wound up on Charle's Bridge, and knew it was time to head back. It was sad to think our trip had come to an end, but we were grateful for the experiences we had been able to have.

Goodbye, my lovely Prague.. hopefully I will see you again!

And that, my friends, is the conclusion of our adventures in Eastern Europe, in the longest chain of blog-posts I have ever done! WHEW. Congratulations on getting this far!

Eastern Europe left a great impression on me, and I left a part of myself in each of the places we visited. Maybe someday I'll go back, but for now...I am grateful to be exactly where I am!

Easter European Tour, Part 2

When I left off, we were just boarding the tour bus from Vienna to head to Prague. Yes, we did in fact visit 3 countries in one day... Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic...just wow. It was an exhausting day, but totally worth it! After arriving to the hotel in Prague, Anna and I completely collapsed in our hotel room.
Day 4 arrived. I woke up early, had breakfast, and headed out to this optional tour to the Sychovy Castle. It was . . alright, but I'll be honest, I felt pretty ripped off. It ended up costing about 50 bucks for us to go, and we couldn't even understand the tour guide, as she was of course speaking Russian. So it was basically us looking at old things in this drafty castle, being shuffled around by a lady who reminded me exactly of a female version of Mr. Filch.

Sychovy Castle

Back to Prague for us, where we spent the day with an ENGLISH tour guide! It was so great. Here are some of the places we visited with him:

"The smallest street" in Prague.. has it's own red/green light, you have to push a button and wait for the green man to appear so as not to run into anyone coming from the other direction.. pretty great.

The Venice of Prague! Beautiful!

These people enjoying their lunch don't know that underneath their feet
is the very place where the bodies inflicted with the Plague
during the Dark Ages were piled...

Charles Bridge! Definitely one of my favorite places in Prague.

The Astronomical Clock! The people of Prague are so proud of their lovely clock.
 Legend has it that the king had the clock-designer's eyes gorged out after he created it,
 so there would never be another clock like it in the world....

After exploring with our tour guide, it was time for the dinner cruise! I was pretty dang excited. A dinner cruise along the Vltava River in Prague? What? So surreal! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the cruise:

After the cruise a few of us did a little more exploring.... Prague is beautiful at night.

Old Town Square

Day 5: Day trip to Dresden, Germany

This city was basically completely destroyed during WWII, and has since been rebuilt from the ruins. We didn't have a tour guide, and so we spent the day exploring wherever we felt like, and of course the occasional Gelato... (sarcastic emphasis on occasional...I definitely have a chronic addiction)

Holding Rodya up in front of an old church that I think survived

At the "Zwinger"

It was cool to think we were just "spending a day" in Germany, as if it is just the most common and natural thing for us to do. I loved Germany, and I am excited to go back in June!