**I wrote this in the airport awhile ago, and never posted it due to lack of wifi**
My last two days here have been incredibly emotional. Saying goodbye to my host family in Galápagos was so difficult. My host parents, Pablo and Julissa, were not back from Guayaquil when I left, so my host grandma, Yolanda, tried about 100 different ways and tactics for me to get off the plane when we landed in Guayaquil so I could run off and say goodbye, but they wouldn't let me. I had the best host family on the island hands down. It breaks my heart to have left without giving them a proper goodbye, as well as meeting my new sister, Abby! We have the same birthday!
My host uncle didn't know I was leaving Galapagos yesterday, and he crushed my dreams when he said he had been planning on taking me scuba diving at night this weekend. Because it rained so hard this past week, the water was brown. That in addition to me flying within 24 hours made it impossible to go. He's a lobster fisherman, and it totally would have been off the books, and so cool to go catch the lobsters! My host sister cried, and told me I need to come back in exactly one year. My family served me a delicious special lunch of lobster. So yummy! I hope to come back with my family one day soon. I would love to sail around the islands with them and show them all the places I have come to know and love. I was an emotional wreck at the airport (as were most people) and felt sad, truly sad, for the first time in a very long time.
Last night was weird. There were just the weirdest vibes going on. Not everyone in our program likes each other, and there was a definite separation when we got to the hotel in Quito. I'm on good terms with everyone, but there are definitely people I prefer to hang out with. We ate dinner, and then had our last bonding moment! My friend Ellen taught us how to do this thing called a carwash, which I will explain in person to anyone who is curious. It was very intimate and very cathartic. I took a 2 hour nap, and then went back downstairs to wish the first wave of people leaving goodbye at 2:45 am. My really good friend Bryce was in that group, and it was really sad to see him and everyone else get on the bus to the airport. The hotel felt like limbo or purgatory. It was a neutral space where no one had any deep connections, and we were all just coming, waiting, reflecting, and leaving. I will probably write more about the whole purgatory parallel later one day. Fascinating!
On a happier note, I got to go visit my host family in Quito today! This was the first time I was properly (kind of) able to speak Spanish to them, and they were really excited! I had no idea my host mom was so sassy! I got to have lunch with them, and my host mom gave me a necklace and something wrapped up for my mom. I can't wait to see what it is! She also has a sister who lives in Ronkonkoma, which is about an hour away from me. She is going to visit her in either August or September, and I am definitely planning on making the trip out to see her.
We're about to board, so I'm going to go say my last goodbyes to my friends here. I still can't believe I am about to leave. I'm sad to go, but I do think I'm ready to go home. I have to take the GRE on Thursday (haven't started studying, lol), go back up to Siena on Sunday for a class and research, and start my MCAT prep. I am excited to not be sweating 24/7, to not eat rice, and to see my family and friends. I know the reverse culture shock will be weird, but I think after all I've been through this school year, I can handle anything that life throws at me.
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