By Anna-Rose Zayan

There is a certain bittersweet feeling in being on the plane home after this semester.

Leaving home at the start of the semester is difficult and scary because you are going somewhere completely unknown, with cultures clashing left and right, but going back home after that semester is even harder. I can’t wait to get home, see my family and my friends, have a nice summer after finals and get back to “normal” life. I am also really sad to leave Temple behind, the American university system which I’ve learned to love and the routine I’ve gotten used to over the last few months.

My finals consisted of papers to submit rather than exams to sit, and I lived on Richie’s coffee and the Charles library light for those two weeks. They were a great way for me to wrap up the academic year, because I really enjoyed working on the literature papers and art projects I was assigned as finals. My experience at Temple was great partially thanks to how enjoyable the classes I took were—both due to the professors and the groups I was in.

My last few weeks in the USA were made up of last minute trips and sudden urges to try the fast food chains we don’t have in Europe, while slowly realising I was coming closer to my last night with my roommate and final classes—the time to say goodbye to everyone.

We organised, with some of the international and exchange students, a dinner where all of us brought some food from our home country. When we had tried everything, we wondered why we hadn’t thought of this earlier; it was really successful! I tried some great food I had never heard about and had an amazing time with everyone.

On the plane back home (and I feel really sorry for the man sat next to me, my mixed feelings about going home make me really fiddly and a terrible seat neighbour), it is really tough to realise this semester is coming to an end. I am so grateful for everyone I had the chance of meeting and all the experiences I lived while in Temple. I have made friends I know I will keep for life and memories I will cherish forever. Watching all the Temple graduates walking during the last few days, taking photographs all over campus, made me come to terms with the fact I was near the end. Going through my photos, I find it unbelievable that I managed to do and see so much in such a short amount of time; Miami, Los Angeles, New York, so many art projects and books read from a whole new side of the world’s point of view… I already know all my memories of this time will have a nostalgic filter when I think back on them.

I am going back with a suitcase and heart full of new things that I can’t wait to share with everyone at home. I am so excited to see all my home friends again, and cannot wait to meet up with people I met at Temple when we are travelling to each other’s home countries. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to travel to America and live there for the last five months, and am even more grateful for all the people who made it what it was!