Finally, the journey is complete. It's been an amazing experience. I've grown in ways I never could expect and saw more of London and of the world than I ever could imagine.

This blog has also been an amazing experience in itself. I wrote at least one post with pictures every single day, sometimes more. I've edited over 900 pictures for this blog (and taken literally thousands more). This blog transformed from a mere record of my journey into something more; it's an artifact of my life in London and definitively one my proudest works to date.

With that, I want to thank some people. First, my parents and Grinnell College, for making all of this possible. Next, the rest of my amazing family for their love and support and constant praise. Next, Emily, for making the homesickness a little easier to bear and giving me so much to look forward to when I return home. I'd also like to thank all of my amazing friends on the program, back home in Grinnell, and fellow abroadlings for making this semester great and forming such incredible memories. A huge thank you goes out to Donna Vinter, Caroline Hart, and Professors Prevost, Nuttall, Guenther, Delminico, & Layton-Jones; you all helped make the program so incredibly enriching and life-changing with both your teaching and your conversations. I also owe a major thank you to the Grinnell AV Department in conjunction with the Off-Campus Study Office for providing me with an amazing DSLR camera to document the journey. Finally, my warmest thanks to all of you readers; I've had over 5000 page views from dozens of countries around the world and your comments and praise helped keep me motivated to keep writing and adventuring.

This may be the last Grinnell-In-London blog, but I hope to make sure that it isn't the last blog. Updates will be less frequent, but I plan on sharing bits from my life here. You'll see my photography, my art, my writing, food creations, etc. I hope you've enjoyed the London blog and will occasionally pop over to see what's new at The Life and Times of Eric Mistry. Thanks again for being amazing, dear readers.

With all of that out of the way, I just wanted to reflect on the journey, first with some statistics, then with some final musings.

The Numbers (And More Subjective Things…)

• Plays: 17 Full Productions (Including 5 Shakespearean Plays)
• Countries: 4 (UK, Belgium, Italy, Spain)
• Cities: 15 (London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Salisbury, Bruges, Brussels, Venice, Florence, Rome, Sorrento, Termini, Bari, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Edinburgh)
• Blog Posts: 149
• Reader Views Before This Post: 5128
• Edited Pictures: 930 (Note: EDITED, I took thousands more.)
• Favorite Pub: Exmouth Arms
• Favorite Fish and Chips: Poppies
• Favorite Local Brew: Camden Ink (Delicious stout with chocolate overtones.)
• Favorite Purchase: Tied between my leather briefcase or vintage leather bomber jacket.
• Favorite British Word: Cheers!
• Favorite Memory: TOO MANY TO CHOOSE!!!

This has been the trip of a lifetime. I've seen an insane amount of sites and sights, walked miles and miles around Europe, and made some amazing friendships along the way. It wasn't always easy, but keeping a good attitude helped make everything easier. I've learned a lot about myself as a person, but also learned some important skills that I will definitely be using for the rest of my life, namely learning to cook for 4+ people and how to take good photographs.

I've made some small collages below that capture a few of my favorite snapshots from the trip.

So thank you for sticking with me, dear reader. It's been an amazing journey, and I was glad to bring you along.

Now, it's time to go home.

Much love,

Eric

Posted with Blogsy

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