I'm a good 6 days and counting away from leaving the island, and I can honestly say that I have accomplished everything that I wanted that was possible. I'm very glad that I have so few regrets; there are some people here who had to study the whole time, and I was smart (lucky?) enough to have classes that didn't require much work, so I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted. And I did, I've hiked Grand Bassin, le piton des neiges (2x), La roche ecrite (3x), trois bassins (will be 2x after tomorrow), cascade Niagara (2x), Le Col de Tahibit, Le Trou de Fer from Hell-Bourg, and I have walked across the island as well. I've hitch-hiked around it, and I have seen a volcanic eruption by day and night from both sides possible. I have learned my limit with alcohol, and stayed clear of pot. I have learned that people won't grow up if they don't have to, and the results are devastating, as well as the fact that against all odds, there are always good people wherever you go. I've learned that Nature is the same wherever you are, and that an oak tree is just as amazing and delicate as an orchid. I have lost and regained my faith and myself, anew, blazing and more beautiful after their resurrection. I have followed the journals of a great american poet from when he was my age to when he died, and although I know that I will never be totally like him, as I sometimes wished, he has left an imprint on my life that will never fade. I have pushed myself to my limit, and the ground crumbled from beneath me. It was then that I knew the full extent of my own strength, the power of music, and the Love of God.
It is a glorious and curious thing to end this trip the same way it started: watching the moonrise from my balcony, only now, I am not swimming in the pieces that were me, broken apart by the spade that dug me up and planted me in a foreign garden, but I am me, stronger, quieter and older.
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