goodbye boston; my last week (before i forget everything)

I taught my final two classes, which went really well. I really do enjoy teaching, and I’m excited to actually hopefully be doing that for a living in the relatively near future! I miss everyone from CELTA already. We all went out on Friday at like 4:00 in the afternoon and I was intoxicated well before dark. That really doesn’t happen very often. It was such a blast talking to everyone outside of class though - I’m kind of sad we didn’t do it before the last day. I feel like we all bonded a little more. I may have gotten teary eyed a few times saying goodbye to everyone.

Speaking of goodbyes, saying goodbye to my karaoke and darts buddy, Jesse, sucked. We did two nights of karaoke that last week, the first time at our old standby with some other friends, and the other time after my CELTA party at a different place that literally had the best karaoke I have ever attended. The song choices were so fun and different and the people at the bar were super friendly. I spoke German to a girl for a while and talked about Savannah with another couple. I love that everyone asks me about Paula Dean’s - I always tell people not to bother going. It’s definitely not worth the line or the money. One of my favorite moments of the night was when the whole place started dancing to Love Shack :). Gotta love the B-52s!

I was going to spend my last day in Boston with Mary, but I ended up wallowing in my apartment watching True Blood instead. I was feeling pretty depressed about leaving. My roommates + their cats were so fantastic, and I really bonded with them and the place. I knew my way around the city without getting lost, I was a pro at reading on the train, and I'd finally figured out the bus schedule. I even had a local bar where I knew the bouncer, which has literally never happened anywhere else I've lived.

I’d gone out with Mary and Kyle earlier that week for an excellent Middle Eastern dinner, followed by a walk down Newbury Street and an incident involving me eating ice cream like a 6 year old. I made the BIGGEST mess I have ever made in my life eating that cone - ice cream literally was melting all over me, from my hands to my feet. They just laughed at me a lot and let me rinse off in their bathroom. It was really awesome ice cream though - two flavors packed into a waffle cone that had cocoa krispies attached to the top. YUM.

So even though I was lame and wallow-y, Mary and Kyle still gave me a ride to the train station. Mary even distracted me from my woe with a ridiculously circular conversation about feminism and Twilight, which I remain thankful for. I told them both that I owed them at least one fabulous night out in a few years when I actually (hopefully!) have some money. They did so, so, so much for me and I know that Boston wouldn’t have been half as awesome without them there to enjoy it with me.

The train ride home was long (obviously) but made super awesome with the addition of several episodes of True Blood, a book, and some really fantastic company. On the first leg of the trip, I ended up hardcore bonding with Crystal, a teacher from Texas. We talked for ages - I actually moved seats so we wouldn’t have to talk as loudly since it was pretty late and people were trying to sleep :). I managed to do quite a bit of sleeping myself, and Crystal ended up having a layover in DC with me, so we had breakfast at the train station together and talked some more! It was so much fun, and it made time go by SO much faster. I slept a bit more on the second leg, and when I woke up, I started talking to the girl sitting next to me. Arkeisha is a fabulous lady from Georgia, who is going to school in New York, and somehow we got on the subject of her research, which lead to talking about womanism, which I’d never heard of, so of course I had to read the introduction of the book she had about it, and I swear to you, it changed my life! We literally geeked out for hours, talking about feminism, womanism, race, culture... it was so intense! We both just kept looking at each other and laughing, because really, who expects to talk about stuff like that outside of a classroom with a stranger you meet on the train? I cannot believe how much I lucked out with my fellow passengers. They truly made 24 hours on a train a worthwhile experience that I would definitely repeat. But not anytime soon :P.

So now I’m back in Savannah, applying for jobs and catching up with old friends. I’ll be sure to update you again when I hear something from abroad. Right now I’m literally applying all over Europe, from Portugal to Ukraine, so wish me luck!