Day XX: Last day abroad

Hello everyone!!
     I must say this has been quite the trip. Right now I am at the airport waiting for my flight to leave. I want to thank you all for reading and supporting me and my friends on our journeys and I hope you had as much fun reading this blog as I did writing it!

     This trip was incredible, there won't be anything that will top it for a long while. I learned so much and formed lasting friendships in a short 3 weeks. Iceland is now a part of my soul and I will definitely make my way back here one day, I know the same can be said for Becca and Scott. These last couple days I have been focusing on staying in the moment just to make sure that I didn't get swept away by preparing to go back home. I only started packing at 4am last night, so I think I was successful. Leaving is very bittersweet. I have fallen in love with this isolated little country and I am sad to go, but at the same time I really miss being at home and I am also excited about this summer with our sheep at school.

      I spent my last week in Hestur with them because all the sheep had lambed out in Vatn and there was really no use for me to be there for another week. Hestur is down to 5 remaining ewes but they aren't due until June 12, so right now its spring cleaning in the barn. Becca is excited about this because that means she can get her hands on a power washer, help us all. So as you can tell there hasn't been much to write about. Becca and I are now super into knitting an Icelandic sweater. We both bought all the wool and have started knitting the bottom rib, we both have about an inch in length and I'm super proud of Becca for taking on this monumental task with her limited knitting experience, I believe she will do fine.

     I learned so much here that I'm sure I've forgotten most of it, that is until I need to use it, like for lambing next year. I now have so many plans and ideas for our own sheep that I hope to be able to work on this summer. I have also learned limits and how hard it is to put your heart and soul into an animal and have that ripped away when they inevitably pass, whether at birth, or old age. It never gets easier but I can only get stronger emotionally because of it. On a lighter note, we learned that a sheep nose is able to face-swap on SnapChat, hilarity ensues. That was very important for us because on hard days, the little things really pull us through and something as simple and silly as a face-swap with a sheep nose really helped us move on.

Tiny the lamb was one of our favorites

     I would have never traded this experience for the world and I am so thankful that I was able to go. I also would not have picked anybody else to go with, everyone worked so hard and I feel the trip could not have gone better.

Lots of love!!
For the last time
Anastasia