I have aged a few years with the stress level I just experienced, but I made it on this early flight back home! Please Sofia Airport, don’t just open two check in desks for 3 fully booked flights…

It’s been a weird week, with reunions but of course also a lot of goodbyes. On Wednesday Rūta, Ivanna and I started with packing our backs and suitcases, and cleaning our flat. Our work was officially finished, with some minor adjustments on the games, but today was our final day in Targovishte. People had left during the week, so there were less and less of us every day. Besides cleaning and packing, there was also some time for some shopping, I can’t leave Targovishte empty handed of course. But I also went into mom hairstylist mode and helped Ivanna with fixing her hair colour. Monika came up to our flat in the evening for a little inspection, and to say goodbye of course. We would all meet in Sofia the next day, but Monika couldn’t make it unfortunately. Pepa arranged for bus tickets for us, and on Thursday morning, the three of us said goodbye to our flat and made our way to the bus station where we met up with Luīze and Laura. We had to wait a little, but we knew the bus was on its way when the guys from Veliki Preslav texted us. Which was one of the first reunions, but not really though, since we had seen them just last weekend. It was still nice to travel again with them, to have the crew back together.

It took us around 5 hours to arrive in Sofia, where we met the people who went to Petrich, and that meant our small e flat family was reunited. Kate came running to us, needing to hugs so badly, we all missed each other since they had left. It was a short ride to the hotel, and they allowed us to choose our own roommates. E flat was back together! When we were refreshed from the journey, the 5 of us wanted to spend as much time together as possible before some of us would leave, so we walked to the mall that was next to the hotel. We had a late lunch, because we desperately needed food, even though dinner would be served in a few hours. It was so good to catch up and see each other again, we had so much to talk about. But we also needed to do some serious administrative work for Pepa, which took place in the house where the long term volunteers are staying. It was right in between the mall and the hotel, all super close to each other. When everyone had signed the papers, it was time for dinner. The hotel had arranged dinner for us, and we had the change to catch up with everybody. Some people I hadn’t seen since we left Sofia after that first week, so there were a lot of stories to tell. Pepa said a few words to close the project, and handed us our youth passes, which is like a certificate of participation, and two letters. One we wrote ourselves at the end of that first week, to our future selves, and one she wrote to us, a thank you to each of us. And then it was over. People had made plans for their days off in the next week, some are in Istanbul, others in North Macedonia and then of course some would go home already. We gathered around the piano in the hall, for some music and fun, but then it was time to say our goodbyes. Or in most cases, see you later. It is so special to meet strangers and become so close in such a short timeframe, be from all over the world with such different cultures, but somehow it works. The five of our family met in one of our rooms for some more quality time, but then as well it was time for teary hugs. Rūta and Ivanna would leave early in the morning for Skopje, and Andrey would leave for Prague, leaving Kate and me behind in Sofia. Not liking this at all, we basically just hugged each other and didn’t say that much, there was no need.

Feeling sad the next morning, Kate and I had breakfast with the few people who were still here. Everyone had their own plans basically, but thankfully Kate and I would spend the day together, for she would leave early on Saturday morning, and I would on Sunday. We had asked Pepa if we could stay the night at the volunteers house, to save some money. There was only one girl living there at the moment, so this was no problem. We dropped our stuff at the house, and together with Tristan and Elli, we took the tram to the city center. Kate and I had the plan to get tattoos, we had talked about this basically from the start of the project already. During our trainings, there was one assignment were we had to make sentences out of random words and phrases. Most of us drastically messed up, but there were some creative solutions. One that stayed with the whole group, was the one about the Breeze, The Trees and the Honey Bees. The sentence said they are all volunteers, and thus in a way represented us. We actually needed one more person for the bees, but they either went on one of those cool trips, or didn’t convince each other to get it tattooed. The breeze and trees it was. We found a tattoo parlour, but the artist didn’t have time at the moment we walked in, but if we could come back in a few hours, we would be able to get them. So Kate and I went on a walk through the city, to collect the monument stamps in her little book, and I wanted to send my final postcards to some people at home. I started this in Munich, and from every city I have visited these past weeks, besides some ones here in Bulgaria, I have send them. They would arrive either super late, in a random order, or all at the same time, so let’s see when they arrive this time.

After our little chores, we decided to go back to the house for a nap and some food, and around 17:00 we made it back to the center to get some ink. Both in the same placement, Kate got the breeze, which jokingly reminded us of the Last Airbender, and I got an Oak and Redwood tree. It was done super fast, and since we were quite hungry, after some souvenir shopping, we walked to Happy, the typical Bulgarian fastfood chain, but with pretty good food! We toasted on seeing each other again and on the amazing memories we made together. We chilled back at the house, and after another short night, it was time to say see you later to Kate. Why are they never easy, they always suck, it’s not fair.

I felt like I needed some me time before catching my flight the next day, so I booked a hotel for the night. I made my way there around 10:00, even though I could not check in until 14:00, I could leave my luggage in their storage room. When I arrived, they were so kind and let me check in at 11:00. To kill the time, I walked around the neighbourhood, had some breakfast and bought the last of my souvenirs. Praying it would fit in my backpack, and that it wouldn’t be too heavy (I had 5 kilos to spare this morning). So you guys better like your presents! Since I had done everything I wanted to, and was way too tired, after I checked in, I just went straight to bed. Maybe not the best idea in the long run, but it was what I needed at the moment. When I was getting hungry, I walked to the grocery store to get some snacks for later and had a quick dinner. Back at the hotel I packed my back, and I don’t know how, but it actually all fits! My alarm was set for 04:10, but of course I wasn’t able to fall asleep until 02:00, so I woke up this morning super tired. Which obviously didn’t help with those stress levels at the airport. But the taxi drove me Balkan style and I arrived there quickly.

And that brings us here, whilst I have my second breakfast, waiting for elevensies, on the plane that brings me back to Schiphol, where my mom and Ko will pick me up and take me home. I can’t wait to see what and when my next adventure will be. Until we meet again!