Goodbye Katie Ward

This week I had to say goodbye to one of my closest exchange friends, Katie Ward. In Rancagua there are two Katie's whom I love very very much and I hated having to say goodbye to one of them so early. All the Rancagua kids are very close, so we kind of made her goodbye a week long thing. On Tuesday night we went over to her house to eat pizza and hang out and then on Wednesday we all took a trip to Santiago together. Before getting on the bus, however, we got into our matching Rancagüino hoodies and had a photo shoot for the last time we would all be together. 

We spent the day roaming around the markets in Santiago, having a nice lunch, and going ice skating. It was a beautiful day and we all took away some great memories!

On Saturday morning we all met at Katie's house to say one final goodbye. I went over there with the expectations of crying and crying but it didn't end up bing that way. Sitting in her house felt so normal, and even right now I still feel like I could take a Santa Teresa micro to her street and eat peanut butter with her while watching movies. Katie and I have very different personalities, but she has been such an important part of my exchange. During the summer when we never seemed to have any plans, we would always find eachother and then figure out ways to have fun. She was the shoulder I cried on when I found out I had to switch schools and has been ther for me this entire year even though she may not have wanted to hahahah. Arizona isn't that far away from California, but I am going to miss our days together in Chile. It's a good thing we have millions of hilarious memories to look back on, and I know we will make some more in the future. 

We call this picture "Katie Gets Thrown off the Island" or "And Then There Were Five." 

I love Katie a lot. I know I will see her again and I know there is Skype and I know I am lucky to love someone enough to miss them like I will miss her, but I will still miss annoying her and our jokes and just everything about our in-person friendship.