The middle.

Endings are always strange things. But things actually keep going. Those little endings are really just parts of a great middle. So the end of my study abroad is not really an end, just a bright spot in the middle of things, a bright spot that hopefully will continue to lighten more middle in my life.

We went through four counties in two days at the end of this middle. Which means we spent a lot of hours in our lovely bus. We drove from Vienna into Slovakia and spent a couple of hours wandering around Bratislava, which was not only a needed break from driving, but also an interesting glance at central/Eastern Europe. I was back to being clueless about the language again, but I suppose I had my glory days already. 

A couple more hours in the bus brought us to some caves in the Czech Republic. We got a cool tour of them, wandering into a mountain and getting to take a cool but mildly creepy boat ride through the caves as well. Sadly, that was our only taste of Czech because our bus moved quickly (though actually kind of slowly) into Poland after our expedition.

We arrived in Kraków pretty late at night and then spent the last full day of our program at Auschwitz. I know, we just waited until the end to do all the fun stuff. I'd been to two other concentration camps before, so I knew what kind of feelings and images to expect, but they were still difficult. The holocaust is one of those heavy things that is hard to think about but important as well. Weighty thoughts and feelings are kind of painful and uncomfortable, but so valuable. I tried to stomach those emotions and try to feel it all, but I don't think it's possible to take it all in. The suffering is too big, the story too great, my understanding of the world too small. No matter how many camps I visit, how many history books I read, how many primary sources I review, I will never be able to comprehend the magnitude of this tragedy and the intensity of individual suffering. All I can do is remember and honor those who perished and those who survived and commit myself to opposing evil in any size. 

Our farewell dinner after Auschwitz was appropriately a little more somber than most of the other group meals we've had together, but it was still nice. I am surprised by the many good friendships and associations I have made and feel very blessed to have been surrounded by honest, intelligent, and adventurous traveling companions for the past five weeks. 

A few people flew out Saturday morning but most of us went to visit the Jewish ghetto in Kraków--the weight of the previous day still upon us but more understandable. We saw Schindler's factory and looked at a synagogue and then awkwardly went our separate ways in the city, not knowing exactly if people would look or act differently in America when we run into each other again. A few of my friends and I needed something light-hearted so we watched Frozen, contemplated the sunset from our porch and tried to make sense of the adventures we've had. It was one of those perfect moments. 

Those perfect moments that I realize keep coming. In the middle of it all. I think I've expressed this before, but even though I can't hold onto each perfect moment, I find comfort in knowing those moments will continue to come. At every beginning. At every end. And most of all in the middle.