A couple weeks before I left, my boyfriend sent me a long text at 2am. It said pretty much everything I knew but he had never told me. He was going to miss me, but was excited for and supportive of me. He knew how much this semester would mean to me. He would FaceTime me as much as possible. The next day, he told me “I’m a pretty lucky guy to have you around,” A couple days later, he decided he was going to visit me during my semester in France. I’m trying to keep this as un-mushy as possible, but he’s a pretty cool guy.

Two nights before I left, I had gotten home from a four-day music festival in Chicago. As soon as I got home, my boyfriend wanted to facetime me. Then my best friend texted me telling me she needed me to call her. When I mentioned this to my mom the next morning, she said “What’s she going to do for the next five months when she can’t call you?” I assured my mom that she could still call me in Europe. Such distance did not stop us from being ever-available for each other last summer, so why would it now?

The day before I left, I picked my dad up from work. It was my last night home, and he, having studied abroad in college also, shared my excitement for the months to come. He got into the car and immediately explained to me my best options if I missed my flight or if it got delayed. That’s when I realized that this would be the longest I have ever been away from my family. I think that should have scared me a little, but my dad’s excitement told me “hey I know you’ll have a great time and I have confidence in you.”

The day I left, the aforementioned best friend came over to say goodbye and was so excited for me to leave. But what really brought me joy was how jazzed she was to tell my mom about her plans for the upcoming semester to run her first half-marathon. My mom assured her that she would go watch and cheer her on. So that’s how I knew that my best friend had become like a sister to me and that my parents were going to be there for her in my absence.

The airport from which I left gave me the goodbye that struck me the most. My mom drove me to the airport. For background, over the past months through my planning, she always expressed how careful I had to be as I would be traveling by myself for a couple weeks. She was my constant reminder that I needed to keep my safety in mind when traveling. Despite this, when she started crying and hugged me goodbye, she said “I’m going to miss you.” There was no more ‘be safe’s’ left to say. She knew I knew that and like my dad, she has confidence in me. She was going to simply miss my relationship being near.

Hey dad, I am ever grateful your confidence.

Hey boyfriend, I’m a pretty lucky girl too.

Hey best friend, I might be across an ocean, but I’m still here for you.

Hey mom, I’m going to miss you too.

And I am so thankful for all of you and so many more of the amazing people who are supporting and excited for me. And I want to thank each and every one of you for the special goodbye I got to have with you over the last couple weeks. I’ll see you all in five months!