Erica's last week

Erica was my other half this summer. As I said before, we spent every waking second together. And.....her last week in Vienna, I got to live with her! She lived next to my house and once the family returned, I got to live with her (before moving in again with the family). I keep thinking how I found 3 lifelong friends in Salzburg (if not more) and now Erica in Vienna (along with others, too). I hope I haven't used all my luck in the friend department because I'm afraid my Fulbright experience won't be able to live up to my Salzburg/Vienna experiences....at this point, though, I've learned there's just no way to compare experiences so no wasting time over that.

 Anyway - Erica's last week was fun but sad. My consolation is that I'll see her soon since she's studying in Italy. She's from Wisconsin and I got to Skype with her parents a lot (since I was always over at her house and she Skyped with them often). I feel like I know her family so well now. I love her parents! I can't wait to visit her someday in the US (even though neither of us really know when we'll be back) and I am 100% sure that she will visit me/my family in Oklahoma.....someday.

I learned a lot from Erica. Some people say "he/she made me a better person". That very well may be true for Erica's and my relationship but Erica definitely made me a better employee. That girl is the most professional, honest and loyal individual an employer could ask for. Just from being in her presence at work, I benefited so much. She is really inspiring; I can't wait to see what she ends up doing for a career.

One special note on our friendship:

The week after Bratislava, due to the events that occurred while I was away, was one of the most difficult weeks of my life. I was so, so stressed - there is no way I can even fully convey how terrible that week was. One day that week, I was so stressed that I didn't even take a lunch break. Eva and Eva went to lunch without me and I hadn't seen Erica yet that day. Eva saw Erica and said, "Hey Erica, how are you?" and Erica said, "That depends - how is Jennifer doing today?".  As soon as I started to feel better, there was a noticeable difference in her mood, too. She is such a good, good friend.

I have so many memories with her over the short course of the summer. I don't even want to imagine what the summer would have been like without her! One of my favorite memories was her saying, "I have a confession....I just bought the entire season of The Bachelorette...do you want to watch it with me?" I had never watched The Bachelorette (but I have watched one season of The Bachelor!), but the funny thing about being in Europe is that you do American things just to feel American (like paying 5 euro for a box of Pop Tarts when, at home, you can get them for half that much). In the week and a half that followed, we watched 1 episode of The Bachelorette every night - something we probably never would have done at home, but we loved it nonetheless!  I feel like I'll probably watch it every season now and think of her. :)

These pictures are from one of her last nights in Vienna when we met Eva at a really fun Vietnamese restaurant. You can tell how cold it is now in Vienna! Erica bought that coat here at Zara....I love it!