It’s been exactly eight days since I have been back home in the US, specifically my hometown of Latrobe PA. In between the constant unpacking, reunions, and being able to eat all the fast food I have missed , I’ve found myself reflecting back on my past five months abroad.
Througout the month of May, one by one all my roommates and friedns I have met began to leave. I ended up being the very last person to leave our dorm OAK03. When I learned I wuld be the last one to leave I was scared. No part of me wanted to be alone in the place that used to be filled with all my best friends and the memories we had made over the last five months. I even looked to see if I could change my flight to an earlier date, but that ended up being an extra $500, so I stuck it out and I’m glad I did.
Being the last person there allowed me to leave on my own terms. By the time I departed, I had no regrets and no lingering feeling that I should have stayed longer. I knew I had made the most of my time in Belfast and taken full advantage of every opportunity that came my way. I was leaving with no loose ends.
Those final days alone turned out to be exactly what I needed. For one last time, I ran through my routine that became my new normal. In a sort of way I was saying goodbye not only to Belfast but to the last five months of my life. Even if I do return one day, it will never be the same as it was. Those people, the place I lived, the classes I took, will forever be stuck in those five months and can never be recreated. It was temporary, and because of that, unforgettable.
My journey home was an easy one. I flew from Belfast City Airport to London Heathrow and from there directly to Pittsburgh. To my surprise, I was upgraded to business class on my flight from London to Pittsburgh. I had never flown business, so it was a super cool experience. In a way, it felt like good karma and a proper send-off. At the airport, my dad was waiting for me with my favorite Chipotle order in hand, and for about eight hours, I was happy to be home.
One of the strangest parts of coming back has been realizing that while my life abroad felt completely transformative, life here continued on exactly as it always had. The same roads lead to the same places. The same conversations are happening, and the same routines continue uninterrupted. For five months, Belfast became my entire world, yet when I returned home, it felt as though no time had passed at all. At first, that feeling was unsettling. I expected home to feel different after being gone for so long, but instead it was me who had changed. My world became so much bigger in such a short time, and coming home initially felt like I was taking a step backward. No one at home knew I travelled to fourteen different countries or had the best time of my life in Belfast nor did anyone care to hear about it. Over time, though, I realized that doesn’t matter. The experiences I had abroad didn’t disappear the moment I landed in Pittsburgh, even if no one else knows about them I do and that’s all that counts.
When I left for Belfast in January, I hoped to have an adventure, make new friends, and see new places. I accomplished all of those things and more. I genuinely did not expect to like Belfast as much as I did and truly just how much this experience would change me. The version of myself that boarded a plane to Belfast five months ago is not the same person who came home, and for that I am forever grateful. I grew and changed for the better.
And while I am incredibly grateful to be back in Latrobe, a small part of me will always miss that version of life. The late-night conversations in OAK03, spontaneous trips across Europe, familiar walks through Belfast, and the friendships that made those experiences unforgettable are now memories rather than daily realities.
That’s the difficult part about studying abroad. Eventually, it ends. But maybe that’s also what makes it so meaningful.
As Harry Styles once said, “not everything has to last forever in order for it to be special”
That’s all for now
Abby