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Exactly on year ago, I stepped out onto the streets of Vienna for the first time. It was the beginning of my “Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity” that didn’t seem like it would ever end.

Well, it did end. Do I wish I was in lovely Vienna right now, rather than Omaha? Of course! I miss it every single day. Even though I came to a cold, gray Vienna, it was still my home for four months, and I loved it, whether or not I saw the sun every day.

This was the Vienna that I arrived to. But by May, this is what Vienna looked like:

By the time I left Vienna, I had become a regular with my friends at Pizza Grill, Rossinis, Vapiano, and Tunnel. We rode on the U-Bahn like we’d been living there for years. We’d sit in a cafe sipping coffee for a couple of hours like the Viennese.

Almost every weekend we would pack our backpacks and head to the train station to visit another city or two. I have so many great memories from these trips-both good and bad-that I’ll remember forever. I had countless cappuccinos and desserts. I went to so many museums and saw hundreds of famous works.

I miss my Vienna lifestyle a lot. But I also had a lot of great things happen since being back in the US. Now my “Once-in-a-Lifetime” Opportunity is over. I’ll never get to live in Vienna under the same circumstances again. But I feel like I did the semester right, with almost no regrets.

I know I’ll be back for you someday, Wien.