a love letter

Hey loves,

This is a love letter. Yup, somehow, I fell in love. Bet you didn’t see that coming, yeah cuz neither did I. People (to my freaking annoyance and dismay) have always told me it would happen when I least expected it and with who I least expected. Well, the joke is on me I guess because it definitely happened with the place I least expected it to. Columbia, SC you’ve stolen my heart. I really thought I’d be writing this post in a year and a half when I graduate, but I just realized Columbia is never going to be the same as how I left it today. Not to say it won’t still be a place full of fun, craziness, and never-ending friendships, but it will never be the city I have known it to be. Today, I left to study abroad and I just realized as I sit on American Airlines flight 2044 that I will never again see or experience the Columbia that I moved to, the Columbia that changed me, the Columbia that grew me into an adult. When I come back, a huge majority

of the people I love, the people that make this city what it is, will be gone.

Their apartments will be empty. The dressing rooms will feel different. The Thursday nights will be (just a little bit) quieter. Wheat St. will never be what it was. Like I said before, I know I will still love Columbia for the times and memories I’ve had and will continue to have, despite the absences, but I don’t know how it is going to feel when I return. And we all know how much I cannot stand the unknown. Is it going to feel empty, like something’s missing? Or will it just feel like a new chapter? I’m scared it’s going to be so different I’m not going to recognize it. I wish I could rewind and keep replaying this past semester over and over again until I’m ready to move on. Or fast forward just to make sure everything turns out okay. But, I’ve always sucked at letting go unless time forces me to, so it’s probably for the best that neither one of those is an option. I just want to say thank you for the smiles, the laughs, the knowledge, country music, creativity, tears, humid nights, crisp mornings, fires, friends, and love. Columbia, SC I love you and I stand by my Instagram post that if I could squeeze and hug a whole city I would do it to you.

Love,

Chloe Noel