Abroad with Megan

        My life since coming home from my study abroad has been nothing like I had expected. For starters, I was very nervous about coming home and seeing my friends and family. Before the Pacific Program, I had never been away from home this long. I thought my friends might have forgotten about me or that the dynamic in my friend group would feel different. I even thought that going to my own home would be different. Regardless, the desire to come home and be with loved ones trumped any nervous feelings I was feeling.         The trek home was long, tiresome, and emotionally draining. On the bus ride to the Fiji airport, music was blasting, and we were all loudly singing together. I couldn’t imagine not being with these people every day from here on out. These people in a sense had become my family over the course of the program, and we all have grown and experienced so much together. It wasn’t until we reached the airport that the reality of our final departures was settling in.

            I will never forget the people I met during my time in Fiji. They were some of the kindest, and warm-hearted people I have had the pleasure of meeting. During the Sevu Sevu ceremony, Tae and I played with a few of the children from the village. It started out with a game of peek-a-boo and making silly faces. Then more and more children joined and before we knew it there was about twenty of them wanting to join in all of the fun. We ended the night with a game of duck duck goose, and the children told us how excited they were to see us at school the next day. We left that night with such an adrenaline rush from all the fun we had.             Early the next morning we arrived at the school, and I was more than eager to see all of the children. Before that would happen, we were tasked with painting the roofs of the school. This put me slightly on edge because I have a horrible fear of heights. I remember shaking as I wearily climbed up the ladder on to the creaky roof.