Spring Flowers and Thirty Days

We've reached a milestone, people!  In thirty days, we're going to hop on a couple planes and return home; it's one short month away!  Although I'm looking forward to coming home, I know that I'm going to miss this place dearly.  Thinking back to September and my first few days here, I had no idea that I'd feel as comfortable and as happy as I do now.  It makes me think about the ex-pat lifestyle and the idea of normalcy.  What was normal for me one year ago doesn't feel normal now.  In thirty one days, what will be my new normal?  Humans are so adaptable and resilient, and I know that although the transition may be rough, life will feel normal again soon enough.  

Anyway, once we realized that we had around fifty days left, we started to take more time to enjoy ourselves here, and not focus solely on returning home and finding jobs for next school year.

This long-awaited spring in Austria has been beautiful.  It seems like a new flower comes into bloom every week, and new birds sing us awake every morning.

Here's to enjoying the season, and Happy National Poetry Month!

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Excerpt from "A Prayer in Spring," Robert Frost