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Dear CBU: Letters
from England
Entry #7: Saying Goodbye
Correspondent: Sally Lynch
Senior at CBU
Natural Science Major
English/Psychology Minor
Hometown: Covington, Louisiana
(45 miles north of New Orleans)
Looking back on the last few days at Edge Hill, I am
so glad that I decided not to travel excessively
during December. I was able to spend my last couple
of weeks having fun in Ormskirk with my UK friends,
and that was, in many ways, much more valuable to me
than any trip that I could have squeezed in. It was a
little stressful at times, however; most of the
academic deadlines were within those last two or three
weeks and everyone had plenty of work to keep them
busy.
On the awful day that UK and American students began
parting ways, there were lots of email addresses and
hugs exchanged, and plenty of tears shed...I made a
generous contribution to the latter. I have to be
bluntly honest, Saturday, December 17th, was one of
the worst days of my entire life. Unfortunately, the
rules of Edge Hill require that UK students must
vacate the dorms no later than 24 hours after their
last exam, which meant that I had to say my farewells
to the people I had come to know and love almost two
full days before I myself got on a plane to go home.
Fortunately, one of my friends who lived in the
village invited me to spend Sunday with her, and to
have dinner with she and her boyfriend that evening.
It was such a wonderful day, and one last chance to
get to know a friend whom I would not be able to see
for a while.
By the time I left, I was one of only three students
on campus, and it was a huge relief to finally be away
from the quiet and eerie stillness of the empty dorms.
Monday, December 19th, myself and two other American
students were up at 6:15 AM and dragging our luggage
out to the school van for the drive to the airport.
The flight back to the states was, surprisingly,
pretty empty which gave me the chance to stretch out
across two seats...that is always something to be
grateful for!
I watched the rolling green patches of the English
countryside grow smaller and smaller, until the greens
blended together, and the city of Manchester was just
a speck on the carpet of Great Britain. "Goodbye,
England. Goodbye, Edge Hill." Goodbye, I missed it
already!
During the flight, I read the letters and notes that
several of my friends and I had exchanged. They
brought tears, but I was so happy to have them to read
and re-read whenever I felt lonely for my UK family.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to exchange
all of the information that you possibly can with new
friends...phone numbers, emails, IM names,
whatever...in this technological age, there is no
excuse for not keeping in touch! If there is one wish
that I could make for future CBU students who do chose
to study at Edge Hill, it would be that everyone's
worst day there is the day you have to say goodbye.
Yes, it is terrible, and yes, it hurts, but I would
not trade any moment of my semester in England for
anything. Tears and all, it was everything that I
wanted from an adventure abroad.
Read Sally's Entries!
Entry #1: Hello to all my fellow Buccaneers back at CBU!
Entry #2: Subtle Differences
Entry #3: The A's, B's, and C's of Studying Abroad
Entry #4: Travel Tips
Entry #5: Q and A Session
Entry #6: The Countdown Begins!
Entry #7: Saying Goodbye
Entry #8: Re-Entry: the Ups and Downs
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