Goodbye America

So here it is. It’s time to say Goodbye for good now. Goodbye to a year full of challenges, adventures and inspirations. Goodbye to a country that became my home for a year. Goodbye to the people that accompanied me on this journey; some did it for months, some for a few weeks, others only for a couple of days. But I’ll remember all of them, all of YOU. Because it’s you that made my stay in the United States so special and unforgettable. This includes you as well, dear reader.

Thank you. For laughing like crazy with me; for supporting me when school was smashing me; for all the cups of coffee; for the movie nights (even if one of us tends to fall asleep :P); for our Disney mashups; for letting me be a follower; for funny flights and fun runs; for giving me a place to stay, a possibility to smile, a reason to love; for those crazy adventures, best dances, wonderful visits; for accepting my chaos; for dealing with my tears; for reading my blog posts; for teaching me and for letting me teach; for thinking of me despite of different time zones; for every kind word – and there were so many of them; and for everything else I forgot to list. Thank you America, for falling in love with me and letting me love.

Thank you.

People often ask me if I like the U.S. The answer isn’t that simple. What I discovered throughout that year is that that country is incredibly diverse. It’s impossible to think of the States as a unified nation. There are so many cultures, languages, world views and beliefs spread out over that huge area of land – land varying from oceans to rivers, from mountains to meadows, from forest to rocks, from snow to deserts – that I find it difficult to generalize. Every conversation and every trip revealed a new side of America, a new puzzle to a picture of this mysterious country. What I can say is that I care. I care to get to know more, I care to understand better, I care to comprehend deeper.

My last week was intense. Packing, moving apartments (twice!), fighting a cold (thank you, American A/C) and heart-breaking Goodbyes. All of that on top of my preparations for one last road trip. Still, I enjoyed every second of it. I took a long nice last walk through sunny Normal, drunk my last cup of coffee from my favorite coffee place and took a last picture of my favorite spot. As you know from my stories, Normal is a small college town, with a population of 54,264, consisting almost entirely out of students. It’s not Chicago, it doesn’t have skyscrapers, and it’s surrounded by cornfields. But it’s exactly the kind of town I needed to be happy. And I’ll definitely miss it for a long time.

Ice-cream in Uptown Normal

Meanwhile in Normal

My stay abroad ended in exactly the same spot where it began, surrounded with the same kind people. My host family, especially my wonderful host Mom, were supporting me in a way that I’ll be infinitely grateful for. Brenda, thank you a million times and I can’t wait to see you in Germany!

A last cup of coffee, a last American muffin, a last Goodbye – and I was gone. A couple of flights, many movies and way too many miles later I arrived on German ground and fell in the dearest arms I could ever wish for. And by the time this post goes online that’s probably the place I still can be found, trying to figure out my life anew. Stay with me! It’s not the end yet with aimingsomewhere and her Life In The U.S.

K.

I know I can be a messy person, but I did love my desk in the office… <3
… and at home.
Waiting for my flight in Chicago – working as always xD
My feet are back on German ground.
May I present to you: Bacci. Our star in Italian class.

11 Replies to “Goodbye America”

  1. fantastic submit, very informative. I’m wondering why the other experts of this sector don’t notice this. You must proceed your writing. I am sure, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

  2. celebrity endorsment Precious information. Happy me I uncovered your internet site by accident, and I’m dismayed the key reason why that coincidence couldn’t occured ahead of time! My spouse and i book-marked the idea.

  3. I appreciate you sharing this blog article. Much obliged.

  4. Spectacular beat! I’m going to trainee simultaneously . beli cream mixer indonesiasince you amend your web blog, how to register for just a blog site website? A accounts helped me your appropriate deal. I ended up small bit knowledgeable on this the sent out offered intense crystal clear strategy

  5. Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that
    would be ok. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look
    forward to new posts.

  6. Hello, I want to subscribe for this webpage to take most recent updates, so where can i
    do it please help.

  7. I buy pleasure from, cause I discovered what precisely I had been taking a look intended for aplikasi android prediksi saham indonesia. You may have was over this 4 evening very long hunt! Our god Many thanks dude. Have a great morning. Ok bye

  8. Your post on Goodbye America – aiming somewhere is very good. I hope you can continue posting many lot blog in the future. Long live aimingsomewhere.com

  9. Good one! Interesting article over this website. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before. I couldn’t resist commenting. I’ve spent 3 hours searching for such infos. I will also share it with some friends interested in it. I’ve just bookmarked this website. Now with the search done, I’ll find some model gay cams. Thank you very much!! Greetings from Los Angeles!

  10. I’ve been having issues with my Windows hosting. It has set me back quite a bit while making the next list. This is the current list that I have. I should add another list in less than a week. I’ll let you all know when the next list is ready. Thank you for your patience.

  11. Please let me know if you’re looking for a writer for your blog. You have some really great posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an email if interested. Thanks!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.