Day of Goodbyes

It's really weird to say goodbye to the way you've lived for seven weeks and the people that you've come to love over the past seven weeks to go back to normal.

Last night, we went to a alumnus' house to watch the Closing Ceremonies. Then, we went to the ONS Party so we could have one last soiree with all of our ONS buds. I'll really miss them.

Today, throughout the course of the day, I've been saying goodbye to all of the Australians. That was really hard. I mean, the first chance I can, realistically, I'm headed down under. And, I have about 10 couches to sleep on once I get there.

And, my final goodbye of the day is to you people. Over the past two months, you've kept up with all of the insanity of these games, this job, and this city. I hope along the way you could learn some stuff and laugh a lot, and feel like you too were in Beijing for the games.

A couple of thank yous:

• Fountain County Neighbor. I know that a lot of you wouldn't have even known about the blog without reading it in the Neighbor every week. I can't thank them enough for publishing it in its enitrety.
• Journal & Courier. Even though I wrote a couple of times on the J&C blog, but they were awesome for publshing what we all wrote.
• YOU! Mom and Dad have been telling me how many people are reading this and, to be honest, I'm blown away. Thank you so much for all of your comments and e-mails. Thanks for being interested. Your reading eyes were the motivation to keep blogging and keep being as detailed as possible.

My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be back tomorrow night, back to the American life I'm used to. But, there is no doubt, that I will never EVER forget the life that I had and that I have truly grown from my Beijing Adventure.

Bye.

Oh, and PS, I found my camera.