5 months

 Hello All!

5 months ago today, I left my home, my country. The United States of America. I leapt into a world completely unknown to start a new life in one year. I've never regretted that choice. It's been the hardest experience of my life and there have been times when I was ready to break, but in the end, I'm still living a dream.

Sometimes it just seems like time is stopped. Right now it feels like that. Because with every second that passes, I am nearing the end of this journey. The day that I will have to return to Madrid, fly to Switzerland, fly to New York, and drive home. And I don't want it to be over. But at the same time I've been here a long time. I've had moments when I felt like my family and friends were thousands of miles away and nobody cared about me here. Like I was all alone. That's not an unusual feeling when you move to a new country, alone, without even a language. You can barely talk. Think about how hard that would be. You're forced to wake up everyday with a smile on your face, ready to not understand but continue trying trying trying. That's what makes exchange students so special. I really think anyone who decides to do this is an incredibly brave person.

It's not something for everybody. Not everyone has that spark of adventurousness within them that would even make them want to travel to a new country, much less on their own and for a year. But I really think more people need to think about going on exchange. It changes your perception of everything. Your world is forever changed- it's not just Ohio, US where you have a home but also Spain. Take my school for example. There's probably 1200 students or so (I'm estimating). I am the only student that has gone on exchange this year. And from what teachers told me, nobody has gone on exchange for quite a few years now. Why is that? I'm sure I'm not the only kid that wants a more worldly perspective, to travel, to make friends from other countries, to learn a new language. Something is scaring kids away. I think it's the prospect of leaving home for such a long time, and leaving family and friends. But there's two things I'd like to say to that. It's such a short amount of time in the whole span of your life, and your family and friends will still be there, waiting for you when you return! Yes, you will definitely miss them, I certainly do, but they're not going anywhere! You're just going on a little trip that will change your life, and when you get back, think about all you'll have to tell them about! And also, if 10 months seems to long for you, go for a semester, go for a trimester, go for the summer program! It doesn't have to be a whole year if you don't want it to be.
What I want to say is:

Go on exchange. You're only young once. You can only travel like this without restrictions of family, job, etc. when you're young. So do it. Experience the World.

Maybe that would have been better to write at the end of the experience, but honestly I'm just feeling pretty passionate about it now... so there it is!

I'll write an update soon about what I've been up to here in Huelva... but for now I'll end this post.

Thanks for reading guys,
Besos, Lani.