Exchange is wonderful.
Exchange is
terrifying:
Exchange is
rewarding.
Exchange is
tough.
Exchange is
life-changing.
The
adjectives used to describe exchange
have no limits. Not even will the adjectives fully describe it. Because on top
of that there are all these personal experiences that form your own way of
looking at it that are just as hard to describe. There is no correct definition
of exchange. For every single
exchange student the answer will be something different. That is the gifted
part. Therefore, claiming exchange as
a state of mind is definitely something every other exchange student would
prove to agree with because of all these emotions connected to only one single
word.
Theoretically,
we all know what exchange is; you go
to a foreign country for about a year and live in host families. Mentally, not
even as an exchange student myself I can tell you if I understand what has been
going on in my head for almost 11 months now. Especially if you have never gone
on an exchange, don't even try to claim that you understand a single little bit
of it. Because you don't, and never will, unless you experience it yourself on
a personal level. There are all these people back home trying to understand, understand what I have been
going through this year. But there is no understanding,
there is experiencing.
Now as my
exchange year has come to an end, my days mostly consist of me repeating my
whole year over and over again in my head. The highlights are definitely the
ones that pop up the most, but not always the only ones I want to remember. I
have had bad times here. I have had very bad times, but it is these moments
that I also want to remember as the times I grew as an individual. I have been
without my parents for 11 months. That is a long time away from the people you
keep the closest to your heart in the whole wide world, who also, luckily, tend
to make your school lunch and do your laundry. Without my parents and other
people to show me the way, I have not only learned how to wake up by myself or
wash my own clothes, but I have learned how to be my own path maker, my own
guide. I think I will see this even more clearly and rewarding as my whole
exchange year has time to digest as this chapter ends and another one begins.
As all
these memories from the past 11 months flashes before my eyes I have no other
response than tears. Tears of joy. Even though not every tear through the year
has been a happy one, it sure has been turned into one big now in the end.
Still keeping my year's motto strong with stating that "Every experience
is a good one." It surely has been. With what went wrong I learned from
and moved on.
On day 326
my adventure officially ended. However, even though this is all over I will
always keep the memories with me. I will forever be grateful for the memories I
have created during my year here in Minnesota. It will always have a special
place in my heart. I have been so lucky with ending up in a great city like
Edina, with four families, going to a highly-skilled school with endless
opportunities for activities and of course for making a lot of friends from
even all around the world.
I've said
goodbye to many people. It's weird how that is. I leave my best friends here to
go back to my best friends in Norway. I leave my family to go back to my family
in Norway. I leave my home to go back to my home in Norway. Strange, isn't it?
All I know
is that these past 11 months has been a rollercoaster of a lifetime and I
wouldn't change it for the world. I don't regret a single second of my time in
Minnesota and neither do I regret the decision of doing an exchange year. I
have created so many memories I could not have experienced any other way any
other place. Especially am I grateful for Rotary Youth Exchange who made it
possible for me to do this. Rotary is the best.
I want to
wrap up this post and this year by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone who
wanted to get to know me. Thank you to everyone who created amazing memories
with me. Thank you to all my outstanding host families. Thank you Edina. Thank
you for everything, Minnesota.
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
