Personally, I and a group of Romanians left Apgar on the night of October 1st to head straight to San Francisco.

Packing Suitcases.

Everything turned out to be really complicated here. Not only did I buy another small suitcase, but I still couldn't fit all my stuff into my luggage. I was already panicking, not knowing what to do, until I heard about vacuum bags. These bags just saved my life and my money. This is your tip #19: Order them on Amazon, grab a vacuum cleaner, put your things inside, and suck out the air. Voila! How it was:

How it became:

Not a bad little thing, right? The clothes will obviously get a bit wrinkled, but what can you do? It's better than throwing things away or sending them by mail.

Departure.

The last day, of course, turned out to be the saddest. We had finally closed the restaurant for the season the day before, and before leaving, we cleaned up the dorm one last time. And of course, it had to rain right then. So, the mood was already low, and then there was a downpour. I remember walking around with my sentimentality, saying goodbye to all the places that were memorable to me. Especially the lake, where I spent so much time. Here you start to realize that upon returning home, many little things around you will trigger a small (not sure if it's small) nostalgia. And now it's terribly scary to think that all these people won't be around for at least a year. Or maybe never again.

At the same time, you look at the empty kitchen after closing. So familiar and dear. The kitchen where you know every corner. You remember which door needs to be slammed harder because it has a bad lock, or where the best place is to grab a snack without getting caught by the bosses.

With every place around and every person, we already have our own shared stories that we want to tell non-stop after arriving back home. There are really a lot of stories. And each of them now occupies an important part of my soul. I'll tell you more. A colossal part of my heart now consists of those very people. And it's comforting that, regardless of distances, this piece of my heart will warm my soul. With all those same memories and crazy stories.

All day we were cleaning the dorm together, throwing out old junk, and watching it turn back into a soulless two-story building, where there is no longer the life that had been there since the end of May. At that moment, I wanted the bus to arrive faster and take us to the airport, but when it happened, it was again terribly sad. And now I am writing this and realizing that I miss those places very much. I wish summer would come faster.

I am incredibly grateful to this place. I went through the most here, and sometimes it was very tough, but I endured. I still believe that I grew morally during these 4 months of staying in Apgar, which is very important for me personally. All this experience of work, language, communication, etc. After all, all this will be useful in life. All this is an integral part of growing up.