S2 Scribble #9: Bit Part

“I want a bit part in your life,”

Tonight is my last night in Ann Arbor for the 2022-2023 school year, and I spent it packing my things with the company of one of my best friends. While I’m excited and thrilled to be spending next semester studying abroad in Berlin, goodbyes are hard. When I first got to Ann Arbor in fall 2020, I didn’t know anyone here. Regardless, the hopefulness and possibility of being in a new city excited me. Two and a half years later, even though I’m an out-of-state student, Ann Arbor feels like home.

“A walk-on would be fine.”

It isn’t home because of the routines I find myself falling into. It isn’t home because I walk a familiar route to class every day. It isn’t home because I know the surrounding areas and street names and have memorized my Ann Arbor zip code. It isn’t home because I’ve spent the majority of my past few years here. It’s home because of the community I’ve created and the amazing friends who surround me.

“I just want a bit part in your life, rehearsing all the time.”

I’ll see most of them once I return to Ann Arbor for the 2023-2024 school year, but for my friends graduating this year, goodbyes have been even harder. I’ve wanted to go to Berlin for years, and the fact that my friends support me in this journey means the world to me. Now that the time has come for me to say goodbye, I can’t help but reflect on how grateful I am for my community of friends here – for this small community that knows me better in many ways than anyone else does. I’m so lucky to have so many wonderful, positive people in my life and to be so close with them that they make me feel at home.

“I just want a bit part in your life.”

My room is finally packed up, and I’m writing this before I get a good night’s sleep in anticipation of my long drive home tomorrow. While I’ll miss my home in Ann Arbor, I look forward to creating a new one in Berlin. While of course I plan on hearing about everything I miss within my Ann Arbor community and updating them about my adventures in Berlin, I look forward to us being able to share everything in person come Fall 2023.

“Little more than a cameo, nothing traumatic when I go.”

Listen to Bit Part by The Lemonheads here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca6N9FN-rbQ