Nine months later....

So..I guess this is it guys...my final post from Israel.
WHAT?
I leave Israel on June 4th, 2013 at 1:00 AM. I'll arrive in JFK at 5:40 AM of the same day. I have to go through customs and recheck my bags for an 8:30 AM flight back to Chicago. And finally, at 10:19 AM, I'll be home. It sounds so simple that way.
But its so much more than that. I'm closing the door on this chapter of my life. Next is Thailand and then Tulane and who knows what else? But I've had those ups and downs this year, sometimes I just wanted to go home. But I stuck around. I think that makes me a stronger person, right?
I'll probably have more closing remarks when I actually get home. I'll give those and details on my Thailand trip in a week or two.
I just really can't believe it.
I keep having these flashes of memories from my first few weeks in Israel. Sitting in the Michala (where we took classes in Bat Yam) on our first few days, getting talked at while we sat there sweating. I didn't really know anyone. I know I've come so far from there, its insane.
Here are some things I can do now:
1. Take the public bus
2. Make pasta
3. Make an Israeli breakfast
4. Ask how much something costs in Hebrew
5. Get myself from one part of the country to another by myself via train or really long bus ride.
6. Navigate through a country where I REALLY don't speak the language and still be confident to get to my destination.
7. Go to the clinic and get days off without really being sick
8. Go grocery shopping
9. How to hitchhike
But that's only a few.
For now, I'm kind of sick of goodbye blogging.
So...
as always,
Julia Rose