Right now I am sitting in my bed, its midnight and I will be leaving to fly back to Austria tomorrow. I was just counting the hours I have left in my favorite country, my home... there are only 18 hours left. It feels so unreal, because it feels like I have lived here forever. And I feel like I am just as much a part of Canada as I am a part of Austria. And it's so incredibly hard to leave.
Today I was trying to fit all my tons of stuff I have bought over the year in my big suitcase. It took me hours and hours and now I couldn't fit a single thing in there if I wanted to. In 12 months you buy a lot of souvenirs, clothes and its harder than you think to fit everything in one suitcase.
This morning I was very lucky to see one of my host families once again before my departure. We met up for breakfast and had a wonderful morning together. Seeing the sun rise above Canada once again was so nice. After the breakfast we baked cookies together and then, once again it was time for me to say goodbye.
The rest of the whole day was just full of packing and getting everything ready. At night, when I was sitting in my room staring at all those full suitcases, I thought it can't end like this, right?
So I met with one of my good Canadian friends, who was on exchange in my hometown Vienna while I lived in Canada. She literally saved my last night. I am also so glad I got to see one of my favorite Rotarians, Jeannie again. We just talked and enjoyed our last hours together in Niagara. It was one of the best and one of the worst nights at the same time.
This past week has probably been the hardest week I've ever experienced, full with goodbyes or should I say see you soons?
The hard part of saying goodbye to everyone is, that it is so uncertain when I will see all the people again, who have become so important to me over the year. Will it be in a few moths, a year, many years or maybe never? I can't stand the thought that I may have seen some of them for the last time in my life. But I am always hopeful that I will, one day, see them again.
Right now it's hard for me to write everything down that happened on this exchange, things that made me happy, everything I cherished and loved. Because it would take me hours and a whole book to write about everything positive of my exchange. For many people, an exchange student is a person going away for a year in their life, but for us students, this was a whole life in a year. A life that changed us forever and a life that will never, ever be forgotten. Looking at everything from a whole new perspective and feeling like a new person all in once, feeling still like the same person but feeling completely different at the same time.
I cry, because I know that this year, this wonderful experience is over, but I smile because I know it changed me to a better person and I have all these memories, moments that are more worth to me than any money in the world.
So now it's official and it's so unbelievable. My exchange is over and I am going home. But honestly, will I ever stop being an exchange student? Will this adventure ever end?
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| A throwback to the best weekend of my life with my favorite people |
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