Fare-Thee-Wells

One thing that I still haven't gotten used to here in Aberdeen, or in my transient student life in general, is saying goodbyes to friends.  This year there has, as usual, been some of that. 

First of all, last spring, Kristianna moved to Paris.  It was good in that it meant RitaBekah could move into the flat with Paige, and that we now have a place to visit in Paris (more on that later).  It was sad, though, because Kristianna is one of my friends who has been here the longest now.  It still feels weird for me to think of her not here in Aberdeen.  She came back to visit a few times, and the last time she moved completely to Paris (I got a lot of her shirts and stationary goodies and other random stuff).  We had a big Khyber Pass curry party to help her get rid of her stuff, and to send her off in tasty style. 

The reason Kristianna finally moved all her stuff to Paris was not just because she'd been living there for many months already, but was also because Paige was in the final stages of the Epic Stirling Move.  And RitaBekah was about to start her temporary US exile, in order to get funding and a visa to come back.  So that meant the great Orchard Place party flat is no more.  Well, it's still there-- it's just not 'ours' anymore.  Sad.

As for Paige, and the Epic Stirling Move, there'll be a post on that soon.  It actually started well before going to Stirling-- we moved her out of her flat and into Alisa's townhouse for two weeks before we moved her to Alva.  Whew.  What an adventure!  We did have to celebrate one last time in Zeste... hence the photos above.  =)

Finally, a family that had been good friends to me moved back to the States as well.  They graduated and headed home, and I was happy for them.  Sad for me, but still.  Jeremy had been in my office, and Betsy had been a friend in book club.  They have two cute kids who I had been able to see grow up a wee bit, and I miss them lots.  All four of them-- not just the kids.  =)  I went over for a big open house send-off for them, and it was so nice.  I hadn't gotten to see too much of them in the past months, with everything else going on in all of our lives, but it was nice to get to help send them off in style.  They had inherited the townhouse from other friends I had known-- from Lee and Jen to Dave and Dacia to Dave and Angela to Jeremy and Betsy-- and they passed it on to Alisa.  Keeping it all in the family, so to speak.  Although I miss them here in Aberdeen (in the office and in book club, largely), I am glad to be able to keep up with them on Facebook and know they are doing well. 

Ah, the student life.  It's got it's ups and downs, and this moving on is one of the downs.  But having known these friends?  Definitely one of the perks of my life.  =D