Today, I am flying back to visit my family after nearly 2.5 years. It's been a long time indeed, but, my heart is heavy because flying home for a month means being away from my partner for a month, which is hard since I will barely make it back in time to say goodbye to him before he flies away for his new job. I really hope he can visit my country soon and we are planning to do that next year and I am so excited to show him around :) Today when he came to drop me off at the airport, letting go of him was so hard and then I realized that this is probably relatively the easiest airport goodbye we are gonna have in the years to come since luckily I will be seeing him again at the end of this month. Goodbyes are hard but it's the hope of getting to hold him again that makes the separation feel a tad bit more bearable. As I sit in the lounge I am also reminded of how much time has actually flown by since I first came here. I don't feel as scared or lost and it feels like after all, this city has become a familiar place and familiar places bring comfort. I am actually looking forward to being here again, very very very soon. <3