Today was a wonderful day, but also a really difficult day for me. I went to school in the morning to see my friends, return my books, and hand in my locker key. My last school day is Wednesday but I had to return everything today. Then I went home where a group of friends (exchange and dutch) came over to hang out, relax, gossip, etc. At the end of the day I had to say goodbye early to one of my closest friends here. I tear up just thinking about it. She’s going on a trip tomorrow and won’t be able to go with me to the airport to say goodbye. We hugged for a really long time without letting go. She is also an exchange student, so we promised each other we’d meet in the middle of our countries. Or maybe I’d go to her. She’s been with me in Lelystad the whole year. We were even volunteers at the same grade school. She became such a good, genuine friend of mine and I can’t believe I’ve already said goodbye to her. I know we will see each other again but it is still so hard. I know the few tears shed today are just a small preview of what’s to come this Thursday. Of course I am excited to see home again but I am so, so sad about exchange ending. Anytime I come back will be as a visitor: a tourist. My language skills will fade. It’ll never be the same. Of course change is good, I’m excited for college and the years ahead. But today was a very hard day. I think the first of a few hard days.
One Week Home
Last night marked my first week home after my year abroad. Coming home was a unique experience. I procrastinated leaving and cried when the plane lifted off in Schipol. I cried again when the plane landed in Rochester, but from happiness. Seeing the Rochester skyline pop up just made me so happy. I cried from sadness to be leaving home, and from happiness to be coming back to it. I won't lie, the first couple days back felt weird. Everything felt so separate from my exchange year and that was difficult to get my head around. My body was running on autopilot. Just muscle memory. Despite using English quite frequently abroad, it was still a shock to my system having everything being in English. Speaking it didn't feel that weird (though I did accidentally slip into Dutch once or twice), but only hearing, seeing, and reading English was strange. It almost felt like my year abroad didn't happen at all. I spent a lot of time with my family this week, which was really im...
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