I Hate Goodbyes.

Me and my host mom and
me and Sr. Marie Therese

I left St. Lucia a little under a week ago and am now back in Wisconsin and freezing my butt off.

I am so happy to be home and with my friends and family for the holidays but leaving the Caribbean was more difficult than I ever imagined. I am so grateful and blessed to have had the opportunity to experience St. Lucia and to learn about the island, the people, and myself during my time there.

I was planning on writing this post last week, but my internet went out. If I'm being honest I was avoiding thinking about how little time I had left on the island and with all of the lovely friends I had made.

Saying goodbye to the teachers.
I cried a lot that day.

Last Wednesday was the last day of term at Monchy and my last full day on the island. During assembly the principal called me up so that I could say thank you and goodbye to everyone. Unfortunately, as soon as I got through my initial sentence my emotions took over. I think I said something like "I just wanted to thank you all so much, I've felt so welcom-" and then my voice broke, the tears came, and I was speechless.

I truly felt so welcomed and at home in St. Lucia and at Monchy Primary especially. I made so many memories that I will cherish and continue to draw happiness from for my whole life.

I could probably type another couple paragraphs about how wonderful my time there was, but I'm going to trust that if you're reading this you've been keeping up with the rest of the blog, and I hope that everything else I've written will speak to how much I loved being in St. Lucia. I cannot wait to go back. Anyone wanna be my travel buddy?