Last day at the clinic and last day with my group of exchange students. It´s like waking up from some bizarre dream. Was it just moments ago that I was taxing down the runway? How can it be that I have done so much, yet feel as if my vacation has just begun?  Last night was our farewell party. We gathered at the sauna once again and cooked sausages on the sauna rocks, lol.  Strange yes, but it´s finland.  Took lots of crazy photos, played drunken ping pong at the fornix, coaxed med students out of large cages, and a 3 km walk home listening to the boys sing finnish children´s songs in the rain.  Good times.  It was loud, chaotic, crowded, but fun.  Had to say good bye to the Matej last night too, my ping pong & volleyball partner, whose rather off color sense of humor always made us laugh (after a few groans)- no more nude saunas and lewd eyebrow wiggling with him gone, lol.  He is headed back to the Czech republic today on his uncle´s plane, and will be missed.
As for me, I feel like i have truly settled into a comfortable routine here at the clinic, only to find myself leaving.  I have enjoyed the company and the experiences.  20 min from now I will go through my last rounds on the kidney ward before I head out.  I think i have actually learned quite a bit from the transplants, surgeries, surgical rounds, internal medicine rounds, visits to hemo and peritoneal dialysis, and just sitting around the clinic chatting with the staff. I hate good byes, and i have so many of them to make.  Afternoon will be more walking around the centre and this evening one last club outing with the group. Usual menu of dancing, drinking, joking, laughing, and photos before we say good bye for good, or until next time...
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