The Beginning of the End...

Hey all,
My mind has been tormented for the last few days with the conflicting and contradictory feelings of excitement to go home but regret for leaving. I officially completed my IB last Thursday though I still have my 7th, unofficial subject (music) left tomorrow morning. So tomorrow afternoon, I will be completely finished with the menace which has haunted me for the last two years.... the evil of exam based education.
Tradition for students finishing the IB with a music exam dictates that after one's final exam, the student is to exit the exam hall, jump up and down happily, float dreamily over to the music department where one is to interpretive dance to the the strains of Stravinsky's piece "Rite of Spring" before racing each other down to the outdoor (very cold!) pool to launch our tired, exam-exhausted bodies into the freezing waters. All in celebration.
So... think of me, Stravinsky, and the outdoor pool tomorrow afternoon!
And then, just to make the day that much cooler, Dad comes at 4pm. He's already in the UK right now... in Bath. Knowing he's so close makes me so excited!
AC always has been so much about high high's and low low's. And now is no exception. I'm getting pretty sick of living with some people and even more sick of the tiny little dorms we've been crammed into. But at the same time, I'm leaving a life behind. After Saturday I'll no longer find myself smiling in the rare sunshine as I walk down Main Drive peering into open dayroom windows for familiar faces. No longer will I wait hungrily in a queue outside a Hogwarts style dining hall for my plate of "something on a bed of rice". No more will I gaze out across the silvery Bristol Channel at the coast of England far away. There will be no more philosophical debates with dear friends at 3am while sitting on dirty couches sipping our 7th cups of tea. And no more will I walk the halls of the castle... not just any castle... but my Castle by the Sea.
On Saturday night, I will drive away from this amazing place... my eyes red and my hands shaking... my arms sore from tight hugs and my voice hoarse from a constant repetition of "never let go!"...
But it's not an end persay. It's a beginning. One thing I've learned more than anything else while surviving the experience which is a UWC, is that this world is smaller than any of us could ever believe. We came here as different countries, different attitudes, exciting new foods and accents... But now we leave as people. Human beings drawn closer by the bonds of friendship and love than any of us could ever have believed possible.
And because of these unbreakable ties, I know that it's not the end. I will see these people again. They will come to visit me in my home in the Land of Enchantment, I will go to see them in their lives around the world. I will going to university with or very near to many of them. And of course, Facebook is just a computer click away.
Two years was perfect. Any shorter and I'd hate to leave, but any longer and I'm not sure many would have survived. I've come, I've learned to love far deeper than ever before, and now I leave with a great respect for every single person I've lived with here. I will see them again. No doubt about it.
And as for Atlantic College...? 2018... my 10 year reunion. Where will everyone be?
I hope to see many of you soon after my return to American soil.
Much love and respect... always,
Malia