The End

It is time, my friends, to bid you adieu. Thank you for following me on my journey and my adventures.

I am back in a country of English speakers (though not my home country), and that means I am nearing the end. There is nothing too much to report from the UK, other than repeated visits do not diminish my love but in fact ever increase it (including a newfound head-over-heels love for Oxford).

I saw some places for a second time with Mom but we still managed to do things I hadn't done in my first tour of the UK, including a Denmark-redux in the form of Legoland Windsor.

I am currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is my absolute favorite city in the entire world. Last time, I visited it as a tourist and as a place to do and see things. This time, I am enjoying it for itself - taking time to relax from my hectic months of sightseeing and decipher the foreign language that is Scottish (at least twice I have been listening to conversations, trying to figure out what language it was, only to suddenly realize minutes later that it was English). The greatest excitement I had was my first (well, possibly second, if you count the suspicious not-Paul-McCartney-encounter...so, let us say, first confirmed) celebrity sighting. The prospect of a Starbucks was too irresistible for me, but I was rewarded for my addiction, when the British comedian Jimmy Carr sat down at the table right next to mine. Now, if only it had been J.K. Rowling, who is rumored to be writing once more in cafes in Edinburgh - an activity which I can fully understand. Edinburgh is a city of inspiration, beauty, and magic.

One last day here, and then I will return to Brodsworth for two weeks of doing archaeological things, hanging out with old friends, and possibly making even more new friends. And then, after 226 days, the day toward which I am looking forward to and dreading with equal measure - it is goodbye to Europe but hello to home.

So, with that - only one final reflection that this has been the greatest experience(s) of my life. And that even with many of the great European cities at my feet, it is the people, more than the places, that give the greatest joy, for it is the people who make the places.

I have enjoyed writing this blog, so I hope you have enjoyed reading it.
Farewell, my friends!