24 hours to go. (I wanna be sedated)

So, 24 hours from writing this I will be 'leaving on a jet plane', in the immortal and too-often-quoted words of John Denver. Quite frankly, I can't say that I'm excited. Both David and Dan left early this morning, leaving just Haggai and I, along with a few of the kids from my program, as my close friends in Budapest. Everyone's been trickling out for what seems like weeks.
So, in the interest of a slight pick-me-up for me, and a nice round recap, here is a list of things that I will and will not miss about Budapest, Hungary.

First, lets go with the things I will not miss:
- The language. It's impossible, and although my Hungarian has improved over the course of my time here, I still cannot come even close to carrying on a decent conversation about much other than my desire for pastries. ("Hello. I want a chocolate. Thank you.")
- The dog feces (or maybe human feces?) on my street. We have a lot of homeless people who sleep on our street. This has never been scary, but does make me wonder about the fecal matter on the ground. Either way, our street is a little grubby.
- Rude waiters. Come on guys, give me my change without complaining no matter how large the bill I handed you is, and stop being so grumpy.
- Having to do the money conversion in my head.

Things that I will miss:
- First and foremost, my friends. I've made some of the best friends in the world. I'll miss you guys.
- Living in a city. Northfield, you just don't quite cut it.
- Angry people. I know this may go in direct contradiction to my rude waiters comment above, but I don't always like saying hi on the street.
- Cheap, delicious wine. Being able to legally buy it.
- Andrassy ut (a main street) at Christmas time. It's lit up and absolutely beautiful.
- The currency. American money is ugly.
- My apartment. Its beautiful. I love it. It will be quite awhile before I can afford another apartment with hardwood floors and super high ceilings located in the dead center of a major city. Relatedly, I will miss our heater, which looks like a chimney that doesn't reach all the way up and just sort of radiates heat from the corner of the living room. We like to all huddle around it.
- Potkulcs. I've mentioned it a million times. I love it.
- Learning a ton without living in the libe - one of the main things I've learned here is that life doesn't have to be as hard as Carleton makes it, and that you can learn just as much (if not more!), even in academic subjects, without working constantly and stressing out about it all the time.
- Meeting Hungarians. As grouchy as they look on the exterior, I've never failed to have a completely engaging and enjoyable conversation once you get them started.

And, finally, the things that I am looking forward to in America are:
- Seeing my family at Christmas and my friends both at home and at school.
- The English language: Easily ordering food. Having people behind counters speak English. Taking classes with native English speakers. Eavesdropping. Knowing that someone is saying goodbye on their cell phone just doesn't cut it.
- Getting tap water without getting a weird look.

Those of you at home, I'm looking forward to seeing you. I'm thrilled to be home for Christmas; to see my family and friends and those that matter and to sit around a fire with a bunch of native English speakers who I love. As hard as it is to leave, I'm glad that's what I'm coming home to.