Three weeks from now

Today has been excessively hot, which led to me being exceedingly lazy. I feel like this is a natural occurrence. But more to the point--on the verge of ending my day and doing my good-night facebook check and a twitter update (yes, I know it's lame), I got to reading some of my previous tweets. I wouldn't have guessed it but those one to three sentence postings really sum up my time here. I came across one specifically from April 22 that reads,

Trying to plan my life for the next three-ish months. It'll be unforgettable :)

Now, when I wrote that, I was talking about all the travels I thought I'd be embarking on. Despite the fact that those adventures do play a huge part in why I've had such a great experience here, they're definitely not the largest share in the blame. Most of that blame belongs to the great people that I've met here. You can travel all you want to by yourself, but to be able to share those experiences (in- and outside of traveling) with others, that makes them amazing. Anyways, these last couple weeks have been spent in anticipation and dread. Each time I see people I've met since I've been here in Germany and we talk, it's always about the same topic--3 weeks from now...

"When are you leaving, again?" I ask.
"Oh, um August 16. But I'm doing some traveling for the last weeks."
The date is July 8 and Marie Schuster and I are eating lunch at a little cafe we experienced for the first time only last week. A cute waiter that, although we can speak German, wanted to practice his English with us and a great chicken salad with honey mustard dressing brought us back for a second round only a week later.
"When do you leave?" she asks.
"July 31. My dad comes, like the 22nd, I think." July 31. Three whole weeks. This tradition, or what seemed to be one in the making, was only going to occur for three weeks. Three great lunches with one of the great people I've met here, just the two of us. "I can't believe that's only three weeks away--crazy."
She nods in agreement, both of us silent for a minute. I take a sip of my drink, ruminating. It took so long for all of the exchange students to really click. It wasn't till June that we all started to bond and be more than just people that hang out because it's convenient. Friendships started forming. But June leaves only two months--eight weeks--fifty-six days.
"Are you excited for your dad to come?"
I nod and smile. "Yeah, I am. He deserves this vacation and I miss him so much. I want everyone to meet him and him to meet everyone when he's here." (Now, just to be clear--my dad is amazing and I totally did say this.)
Marie laughs, "Das stimmt."
"Three weeks, wow. It's so confusing. I'm so ready to go home, but I'm so sad to leave."
She nods and agrees, "I'm gonna miss everyone."
"Me too." The waiter comes out, smiling crookedly with our plates of some of the best salad in a little cafe in Hombruch. Marie and I continue our conversation as it flows past the subject of three weeks from now and we fill our bellies.

Each exchange student here is excited to go but sad to leave. There have been so many great memories that have been made and some friendships formed that, I hope, extend past our time here. On April 22, I was still struggling here, wondering if I would even make friendships that would last outside of study abroad, ones that mattered. But now, with three weeks left to go, I can truly say that these last three months have been unforgettable. I don't know what more these last weeks hold for me, but I expect only  the best. And although leaving will be hard, I'm so glad I even came in the first place.

P.S. I would like to add that it is thunder storming right now! Any of you who know me, know that this is my absolute favorite weather of all-time. Definitely comparable to Iowa, too=so happy!