Goodnight, Tallinn. It's been a pleasure.

Of course, for my last few weeks in Tallinn, just as I was about to leave, the sun came out and it started to feel summery. Spring was very short and after the thaw and the rain, the heat didn't take long to follow. I went to see a few small sites around Tallinn that I hadn't squeezed in yet, finished exams and made my arrangements to depart.

With business taken care of, I spent a lot of time lounging in the garden at the back of my apartment since it hadn't been warm enough to use it before. I spent a lot of time with friends, including one memorable day at Kadriorg Park when we picnicked in front of swans, and ponds, and sunshine. It was idyllic. Except for my very large departure date looming in front of me.

I tried not to let it get to me. I even had a party at a local pub to commemorate the trip. Inside, though, I was afraid to leave, and afraid of how I would feel when I got home.

On my very last day in this very wonderful city, my friend Kevin and I went to the Old Town city walls where you can sit over a courtyard and drink coffee. It was pouring horribly and I like to think in its way the city was sad to see me go.

That evening, my friend Indrek took me and my one bag of luggage (how?!?) to the bus station for the first leg of my journey. Kevin came with us and they both stood there until the bus left the parking lot. I remember thinking how I would manage without them. I thought about what brought me here in the first place, what I learned and how Canada and I would get along when I got back. I didn't sleep all the way to Riga, from where my flight was to depart. I didn't sleep on the plane to Kiev where I was held up for 14 hours. I didn't sleep there either because I took advantage of the delay to go exploring. I slept all the way to Toronto out of sheer exhaustion and then was awake overnight and all the way back to Halifax. I couldn't believe how fast I was back. How easy it seemed to get from Ukraine all the way to Halifax.

My parents greeted me at the arrivals gate. They were the same, everything was the same. But I was prepared for how I would be different. I was ready for what came next.

I spent only one week in Cape Breton, my home and not my home. I spent a summer and then a year in Fredericton, New Brunswick trying to get my head on straight. And soon, I will be in Vancouver, British Columbia, ready to do it all over again.

Where next? Slovenia? Belgium? California? Banff? Guadalajara?? (Kidding- not Guadalajara, though I hear it's very nice).

Stay tuned....