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\u201cI want a bit part in your life,\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n 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\u2019m 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\u2019t 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\u2019m an out-of-state student, Ann Arbor feels like home.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA walk-on would be fine.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n It isn\u2019t home because of the routines I find myself falling into. It isn\u2019t home because I walk a familiar route to class every day. It isn\u2019t home because I know the surrounding areas and street names and have memorized my Ann Arbor zip code. It isn\u2019t home because I\u2019ve spent the majority of my past few years here. It\u2019s home because of the community I\u2019ve created and the amazing friends who surround me.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just want a bit part in your life, rehearsing all the time.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n 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\u2019ve 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\u2019t help but reflect on how grateful I am for my community of friends here \u2013 for this small community that knows me better in many ways than anyone else does. I\u2019m 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.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just want a bit part in your life.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n My room is finally packed up, and I\u2019m writing this before I get a good night\u2019s sleep in anticipation of my long drive home tomorrow. While I\u2019ll 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.<\/span><\/p>\n