Goodbye (Part 2: Austin and the US of A)

Things I will miss about Austin: the view for downtown from the 71 to I-35 flyover; the skyline at night; driving up Congress towards the capitol; Guero's tomatillo salsa; El Meson's potato tacos; Mi Madre's potato and cheese tacos with sea salt; El Azteca's limonada; apparently, tex-mex in general; driving downtown at night; Barton Springs free swim; Kerbey Queso; hoo-haaing on Sixth; Amy's ice cream; spending the afternoon wandering in and out of the stores on Westgate; knowing practically every street in Austin like the back of my hand; Zilker park; wandering around the new park on Riverside near where the Palmer Auditorium turtle used to be; night kayaking; the crepe myrtles along the side of my parent's house; the creek that runs through my parent's backyard; the pond my dad built when I was a kid; lemonade powder, oreos and West Wing marathon's at Alice's parent's house; the wood floors my grandmother had installed in the front half of my parent's house; the twinkle lights around the trees outside of Guero's; wandering the drag at all hours; eating vegan desserts at the Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe at 2 AM; the veggie fajita's at Matt's El Rancho; HEB; walking the trails around the lake in flip flops and watching all the cute UT boys running shirtless; Book People; counting kayakers on the lake when stuck in traffic on the Lamar bridge; driving down Pleasant Valley with the windows down listening to 94.7 or 93.3; sneaking into Circle C park in the middle of the night to have a nostalgia trip about soccer games and Spring Cup and playing Where Is She Now?; Alamo Drafthouse; Taranjo Jarritos you can only get in Austin; watching fireflies in my parent's backyard.

Some of these things will never change, thank goodness, and some of them will. Luckily, I've just written it down so now I'll never forget. Of course, I'm sure I haven't listed the vast majority of things I love and will miss about Austin while I'm gone, but that's only to be expected. Most of what I love about Austin isn't something I can put into words, because it's the memories I have that make it what it is.

Tomorrow I fly out around noon. For the first time in my life I'll be hopping across the pond and then all the way across Europe to, literally, the other side of the frickin' world. I absolutely can't wait.

I'll try my best to keep in touch with everyone and update this regularly, but it'll probably be a while before I'm settled enough to write anything down. I'll post pictures ASAP. Obvs!

I love you all and hope to see you when I get back for Christmas.

Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers!