The Departure from a Wonderful Life-A letter from the airport

I thought today would be the worst day of my life. Even that it was the end of it. I thought that I would be lost in a world that had been turned upside down by an amazing year, in a beautiful country, with a lot of crazy people. But that didn’t happen.
Walking into that airplane today was hard. Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I was crying so hard I couldn’t see…
Watching all of the people I grew to love waiting behind the gate from the airplane window was torture, because the only place I wanted to be was there on the other side with them, living another normal day in MOC.
Now, I’m waiting in the Pampulha airport. When I stepped out of the plane, I remembered me and my Finnish friend walking out onto that same runway a year ago, not knowing what to expect, and now, we both go alone, back to the lives we had left in our own countries, neither one knowing what to expect all over again. And I’m in the airport alone, but I don’t feel alone at all.
This is not as bad as I thought it would be (don’t get me wrong, it is bad), but I was afraid that when I left, everything would be over. But, in the 2 hours that I have been away from my little Brazilian hometown, I’ve found that it’s not like that at all. I know that things will never be the same as they were when we go back to MOC, some people will have moved, changed, some I will have lost contact with, but one thing that will never change is the love that I have created…in my own heart and in the hearts of others. I am certain that will never ever change.
And so I’m happy, in a bittersweet way.

I had a great year. Better then that…. It was the best year of my life. A year that I will never ever forget. I made my mark on MOC, and it was worth it. So worth it.
And now I smile, with tears in my eyes.

What an epic year. I can’t even say how much I will miss it...how much I will miss them. How important this year was to me. How it killed me to see them on the other side of those airport bars, knowing that moment was the end of something amazing, and knowing that I wont see them every day to laugh at the simple things.
I had something really special this year. And I'm so grateful to have been put in MOC city…

I like to think that everything in our lives happens for a reason. That I came to Brazil because of some kind of destiny, although I don’t know what destiny that is yet. I like to think that every person you meet has something to teach you, something to share. That every person helps you along the winding, long and ruff road we call life (sometimes even as ruff as Brazilian roads). You just have to be willing to take the lessons, and use them. And sometimes things get really hard, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to, sometimes things end, sometimes people are separated, but everything is an experience, and everything makes you grow.
Brazil taught me so many things, like how to accept people for who they are and love them regardless (and sometimes because) of their flaws, and how to love with all my heart and not be afraid to show it…
I think I can say, that the last time I was in this airport, I was inexperienced. I can say that since then I have grown, and I can say that even after paying that excess-baggage today (yeah, I know it was actually Dawidson, but still) I am richer. Richer in the way that is important, richer in soul and in heart. Richer in love. And I feel so loved. In this one little year, I created and was given so much, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have Keli and Dawidson and Henrique and Magi and Tiina and the girls from class…Rafa, and everyone else that unconditionally gave me their love.
Now I will be far away from this life. Each person I met will have lives that the other may not understand, but friendship will connect us over long distances and time. And we will be together again.
I will wait anxiously for that.