Nearing the End

   I end school in three weeks. June 15 and I am out of there for the rest of my life. Only thirteen and a half school days. It's ridiculous to think about it sometimes. At times, I'm really excited and I think, "Oh, my school was never that great." But when closing night for Tournament came and we had our Thespian ceremony and teachers come up to me and congratulate my acceptance to this program because my principal sent out a mass e-mail and I walk from class to class with friends, friends who I have known and loved for the past five years or so (I moved from Canada, remember), it's strange to think I will likely never see them again. I'm almost certain of that. See, the travel bug hit me when I first read about people going to school far away from home. I hadn't even had my own adventures! But then when I did start going places on my own, it was infectious and "there's no place like home" turned to "there's no place like another country where I'll make another home." My plans for my future after Bosnia are still uncertain, but all I know is that this exchange is going to be life-changing. And I am thoroughly excited for that. Sometimes when walking through the halls I remember that after June 15th, I never will go there again. Perhaps for another high school play or such, but still. It's unlikely.
    But perhaps now is the best time to say to all my teachers and all my friends and definitely all my family how insanely grateful I am for their support and encouragement. While we may be planning good byes and dreading the day to do so, we plan our parties before that and stuff we're going to do when I return. And that also excites me.

    But enough of all this tear jerking stuff. I need to start talking about the things future exchange students will want to know. Things other people will want to hear. What will I say to them? As of right now, I'm not sure. All I can say is that, be prepared for your life to change. My life has already changed from a short-term exchange to France and now it will be even more life altering. Even just by reading news articles about Bosnia and watching videos and learning the language (maybe I shouldn't be saying "learning the language" when I've only learned three sentences) I feel my mind expanding. And I get it, whenever I tell people, "Dude I'm in Bosnia next year." they usually come out with, "Oh cool! Wait, is that in Africa?" And I'm not being judgemental because, honestly, I hadn't the slightest clue where Bosnia was eight months ago. But just so you know, it's in Eastern Europe. See? Mind expansion! :P

    Anyway, time for some much needed language practice.

    Until after SAT's and our next conference call (June 3, whoop whoop!),

    -Katie