Living the Last Leg

I finally at the last leg of my adventures in Europe, which means a few things.

1: It means I have left my teaching career behind, which I will get into in a little bit.
2: I am getting closer and closer to law school and spending thousands of dollars of endless hours of sleeping.
3: It means I am a few days from coming home and seeing my family, friends and my godson Ben.

So the last hours in Tallos were incredible and extremely sad. The village sent me off with an extravagant Goulash bash - my fourth since arriving in Slovakia. The food was great as usual and then gifts started pouring in. The vice mayor gave me some parnaphelia from the village and other friends gave me music, liquor and of course lots of hugs. Another gift I received, which I will treasure, is a book with the students photos. The tears even began after dinner with my parents saying they would miss me and that they wanted to apologize for not knowing English. I told them the next day that you don't know to share a common language when you have love.



(Z and I at the Goulash Finale)




Waking up Friday morning was a difficult task knowing I would once again be leaving my home away from home. My father, accompanied by Darina, took me to the train station in Galanta where I met my friend Ridge and his host mother Suza. As the train pulled up tears starting flowing. I said goodbye to my sister first and then to Tomi and my mother and father. Both mom and dad started crying almost instantly and I soon followed suit. And then tears started rolling down Tomi's face so I gave one last hug and promised that I'd be back. I was extremely sad but comforted with the notion that this was love.



(One Final Goodbye)





And then Ridge and I were off for Wien (Vienna) for the night. Wien is a beautiful city on the western edge in Austria. Situated on the Duna (Danube), Wien is the nation's capital and first of the country's rich culture. It has beautiful architecture, thousands of people posing as the nation's beloved son, Mozart, and the feel of Western Europe.


(With a Mozart Protege in Wien)




We arrived at our hostel at 3 p.m. and spent four hours walking throughout the city. This included a stop on the Duna beach for a Becks lime, pictures with Mozart look a likes and the customary stop in the most beautiful church the city has to offer.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time there with the only drawback being that I had to wake up at 7 for my next trip: Instanbul to see my brother, Demirhan.