A Bittersweet Goodbye

On Saturday afternoon, I had to say goodbye to 75 of my closest friends. Needless to say, they were all tearful goodbyes. I’ve never met so many genuine, inspiring, amazing people in my entire life, and yet I had the opportunity to live, travel, and study with them for three whole months. Words will never be enough to sum up how amazing my semester at CIMBA was. I recently stumbled upon this quote, which pretty much defines my thoughts as I was saying my goodbyes to everyone:

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

As I sit in my home in Naples, Florida, I can’t believe that just yesterday I was back in Italy. As happy as I am to be home with my family and to be surrounded with all of the wondrous Christmas decorations, I will miss my other CIMBA family tremendously. Every single person I met at CIMBA had an impact on my life this semester. They were exactly the kind of people I’ve been wanting to surround myself with; caring, authentic, supportive, and each individually unique in their own way. I believe that’s what made us so close, the fact that each one of us brought something special to the CIMBA family.

It’s almost as if all of the time spent hanging out with my fellow classmates outweighs all of the traveling I did. Obviously, I had a blast traveling all over Europe and discovering new cities and cultures, but the thing which truly made my study abroad experience the time of my life were the people I was surrounded by. It is incredible what three months spent living in close quarters with a large group of people can do to build friendships. They brought out the best in me and I never hesitated to be myself around them, all of my quirks included. I can honestly say I will NEVER forget these past three months and the friends I made at CIMBA. To sign off as a CIMBA Ambassador, I leave you all with one more quote:

“Side by side or miles apart, friends are forever close to your heart.”