It's always hard to say goodbye. When I was growing up, I was always between Cairo and New York and spent the majority of my youth saying goodbye to loved ones on a constant basis. It was exhausting and painful. I've hated airports since. While most people see them as a portal for adventure and excitement, I see them as hell's gates. The only thing I've ever sought in life was to have ONE life and ONE home. All this traveling may sound exotic to some, but being torn away from loved ones is really not much fun. My grandmother hated airplanes because they took her children away to foreign lands and life was never the same for her once they all left.

I hate goodbyes. They leave a bad ache in my heart. Some of us went out to dinner tonight, the last night we were all going to be together as a group. In the morning Jerry leaves for Malaga, Kristen for Denia, and countless other people for different parts of the world. It was a very bittersweet dinner. While we were laughing and joked around all night, we knew that this was going to be the last time we would all be doing this. We tried to extend the fun for as long as we could, but you know how it goes...time always flies when you're having fun.

It was hard saying goodbye. Although we tried really hard to avoid crying, tears were shed.

Ours is a strange kind of bond. For the past four weeks we are the only people we really lived with, breathed with, broke our bread with. We were each other's support system. We never thought we'd ever become so close coming from such different backgrounds and having such different life histories. We would never have crossed each other's radars if we had met in a bar or at a party. We probably would never even have been at the same party. But thrust us together into CELTA and we become family.

I will miss everyone I have met for the past four weeks, but there are a few people in particular who I hate not to have by my side anymore. I know that we will most certainly keep in touch, but the next couple of weeks without them is going to be hard.