Temporary goodbyes

Today saw my last day of lectures before our four-week long Easter break. I am so, so ready to go home! I'll have to spend the month revising, because exams start two weeks after we return to Keele in May, but I still can't wait. I am ready to have more than a two day break from filthy kitchens, busy days of either constant company or unadulterated lonely existence in my room without any real in-between, fantastic lectures interspersed with awful ones, and the noise of nights out, whether I'm participating in them or not. I love it here, but I miss home, and everything that means. I am ready to go back to baths, bookcases, fireplaces, sofas, dining chairs instead of benches, televisions, and the companionship of my mother.
What I am not ready for but have had to face today is the temporary goodbyes that come with extended holidays. Today I said goodbye to my Thursday regulars: Ian, Danielle and Amanda, with whom I have spent almost every Thursday lunch time of this semester, and with whom I only have two weeks of time left before they go back to America for good. They are all off travelling this Easter, so will undoubtedly return as slightly different people, meaning that I just said a very real goodbye (for good) to my friends as they are now. I am currently struggling with two warring sides of myself: one is angry that I broke my rule of not befriending people that will have to leave before I am ready to say goodbye, and one is sad but accepting that good friendships and happy days are worth a little heartbreak.
I also just said my temporary goodbye to Becky, which made me a little sad. I'll see her after Easter as well, and will probably meet up with her in the summer, but she is studying abroad for semester one next year and so I'm going to have to learn how to get through bad literature seminars without her for a few months.
Apologies for being sentimental, and overly easily attached.

After all the goodbyes and talk of leaving today, I can't help thinking about how interconnected time and relationships are. Timing, length of time, whichever is relevant. What would happen if some friendships were given more time to develop? How would it develop? Would it end or flourish, or maybe even turn into something more?
Some of my friendships, e.g Cheryl and I, have endured and indeed flourished over the years, but others that began around the same time have crashed and burned and been lost completely. Others were cut short, others were obviously given too much time. But it is impossible, I think, to tell what would happen for each relationship. I expected to stay friends with a lot of people from high school, but I've now lost touch with the majority of them. At the same time, some have unexpectedly endured. What would my friendship with each of the Americans be like if we had another semester or year together? Sometimes there just isn't a fair amount of time given to us with the people that matter.  We'd all be very different people if certain relationships were given more or less time to fulfill their potential. I wonder if what makes me sad about the Americans going so soon is actually all the lost potential.

Anywho, time to stop drizzling and start getting excited to go home! I'm so genuinely desperate to go that I'm not even daunted by the fact that I have to pack up my entire uni life and move out tomorrow! (33 week contracts, man -.-).
Plus it's only 8 days until I go to Cornwall with gorgeous George and wonderful mum <3 Oh to be by the sea!
I have rough plans to meet up with friends, and I cannot contain my excitement to finally be reunited with Cheryl after god knows how long!

See you soon, friends, we shan't be having any goodbyes here.