How many times have we heard that one? As many times as you told your parents whatever it is that made them believe you were an underachiever. I always thought it was stupid. As a matter of fact, I sort of still do...it's funny because that phrase totally just popped into my head as I was thinking about my blog. It was like, "Start your new post with me!!! Do it!!" Kind of like Donkey saying "Pick me! Pick me!" in Shrek...
But now that I'm an exchange student, that phrase is so darn applicable. I've been to Paris, I live in Berlin, I'm going to go to Barcelona, I'll be in Rome and Venice and Prague by the end of the year, maybe even London...the word literally is my oyster. If you're willing to call me a pearl, that is. I've seen so many things in the past three and a half months, and I'll be seeing so many more. It's blowing my mind how small the world is. My second host family's daughter is in my district, and I met a guy from Hungary who got really excited when he found out that I'm an American with my particular political views. My second host father's cousin or something is the current host father of one of the guys from my district who is living in Sweden. There's a guy in my Rotary club who works at the American Embassy and has met Condoleezza Rice, former President Bush and current President Obama...and there are so many other things that aren't popping into my head immediately. The world is my oyster.
Dreams do come true.
Umm...I live in Berlin. I'm learning the German language in the best way possible. I'm going to go to Barcelona, I've been to Paris, I'll be going to Rome and Venice and Prague. I live in Berlin. I'm an Exchange Student, for Pete's freaking sake. I know a lot of you readers know me (but as I found out by looking at my stats, there are some who I don't know, too) and have for quite a while. Especially my family will realize this, but I've wanted to be an exchange student since I knew what the combination of those two words in that context means. And ever since that vacation with my family eons ago, I've always wanted to come back to Germany. Here I am. In the capital of Germany. I have friends from around the world, I know how to say I Love Ponies in Portuguese. Okay, well...that last one hasn't exactly always been a dream of mine, but who can say that? Other than Portuguese and Brazilian people, I mean...
So yeah, dreams can come true. I happen to be an extremely lucky and extraordinarily blessed person who had one of her biggest dreams come true very early on in life. It gives me the confidence to go out and make all of my other dreams come true, too.
Hard work pays off.
Okay, this is probably one of those things you hate hearing. I know, sitting around and watching movies all day is very fun. (I know this one from experience, you can't argue with it. As if you'd want to...) But at the end of the day, all you did was sit around and watch a bunch of movies. But you gotta put in some effort, too. This one really ties into the last one - you can't make your dreams come true without hard work. And very rarely do dreams come true without you making them. I've been working toward my dream of doing an exchange before I even realized what I was doing. I worked hard in school (I could have worked harder, I'll admit it), I did a lot of extra-curricular activities. I didn't make (too many) stupid mistakes. I did my best to respect authority and obey the rules. And then there was all the effort that went into the application and making a good impression, smiling through headaches and wanting to punch people...
And if you've been reading this at all, you know that this year hasn't been all fun and games so far...and if you haven't been reading this at all....GO DO IT. Because it's awesome. :)
But really. Exchange is fun. But you can only get to the fun stuff after you've gone to school and given yourself a headache trying to understand, after going to Rotary meetings and smiling to all of the people you don't really know, and sitting there and trying not to fall asleep during the presentations that you can't understand no matter how hard you try. The fun comes between the waves of homesickness, the days when you wonder why you ever thought exchange was a good idea. So yeah. Hard work does pay off. It really does. I mean - I understood a German comedian the other day. Because I've been speaking German every freaking day for the past three and a half months. And I've made mistakes every other sentence I've said in German for those past three and a half months. The way I see it is that at least I'm providing comic relief to my host family. I mean, they can't tell me that it's not stressful to host an exchange student. I can bet they've all gotten sick of me at least once. Well, they say laughter is the best medicine....I'm sure as heck making them all laugh at my fumbling attempts to speak German.
You never know what you've got till it's gone.
Two words: SO TRUE. You don't know how wonderful those smothering mom hugs in very public places are until you can't have them. You don't realize how desperately you love the school that you hate because everyone knows everyone else until you go to school and don't know anyone. You can't know how wonderful that rumor everyone just spread about you is until you can't understand what they're saying about you. You can't know how welcome that feeling of oh-my-gosh-the-teacher-just-asked-me-a-question-and-I-don't-know-what-it-was can be until you can't understand anything, literally.
You really hate this term too. But go on exchange and you'll realize why it's said so doggone often.
Friends are forever.
Yes, yes. This is especially for you, Çinar.
Suck it up, Fluffy.
Okay, well, this one isn't really a cliché. But...it had to be mentioned. Immortalized. Written on the stone of the modern age.
This is another one of those ones that you learn to live by if you go on exchange. If you come from my family.
I'm leaving this post on this note as a friendly and loving shout-out (I hate that term) to my wonderful family who I love very much. I hope you guys have a wondertasticfantastamazing Thanksgiving. I can't wait to skype with you guys tomorrow. <3
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