Goodbye to you / Goodbye to everything I thought I knew

So here we are. Two years later.

In a way, I thought this day would never come, that I would never cross the finish line, never be on the other side looking back.

Now here it is, I hold my RPCV title like a badge of honor and yet...I feel like I'm mourning. This is it, isn't it? It's the end of an era, the chapter of this book is done, and I know it had to end sometime but that still doesn't make it easy.

I'm not the same girl I was when I arrived in Mozambique two years ago. How could I be? I've experienced so much, learned so much, changed so much,struggled so much, loved so much.

I fly out tomorrow ("Leaving on a jet plane...") and I can't even believe it.  I don't know if I'm ready. It's terrifying, it's overwhelming, it's just a whole mixed bag of emotions. I know that my family and friends are excited to see me. I know that I have so much waiting for me in the U.S. I know that the next phase of my life will be another exciting adventure. (By the way, you can follow my readjustment blog: USAmbique.) I know, I know.
I'm not ready to leave but I know I can't stay.

There are things I won't miss about Mozambique but above all, there are things I will miss because the memories and relationships I've created here are worth a million times the heat, the ATM lines, the public transportation system, the faulty electricity, and all the other mundane frustrations of life in a third world country.

I love you, Mozambique. Thank you for an amazing Peace Corps experience. I hope you bring to other currently serving and future PCV's as much happiness as you've brought me. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have had the opportunities and experiences I've had. And who knows? Maybe the road will one day lead me back here.

Remember me like I'll always remember you. 

Vivienne