15 more days

I have 15 more days to leave America behind me. Imagine 15 more days (out of 292) that's the amount of time I go somewhere for vacation. Only one more week of High school :(.. This is not fair how are you gonna say goodbye to your love ones for forever? I mean I am gonna come visit but still I won't ever have the same relationships to my friends and host family. I am afraid they are gonna forget about me and I was just another exchange student. I don't like to say good bye I don't like to think about not going back to school on Monday.

Now when I go back people to Germany people are gonna ask me: "How was it?", "Do you like the US?", "Are Americans really that fat?".. I see it coming first of all it was a was the best year I ever had and yes I love the US. I am not telling any of my family members and friends that I am not excited to go back home because they would be very disappointed. Is not that I don't like them it's just you get more independent and you get connected to another community. 

Me and my host parents when we were in Las Vegas

Adjusting to life after studying abroad:

http://www.studyabroad.com/articles/adjusting-to-life-after-studying-abroad.aspx

Excited for prom

In Germany we don't have dances like Homecoming, Sadie's or Prom, 
I think dressing up and going out with your friends is a nice thing to do. 
Once in a while everyone should feel pretty wearing a nice dress, getting their hair and nails done and putting on some make up. Also it is a nice alternative to studying all day. In my opinion it's nice that the boy pays for the ticket and dinner so his date can feel "special". 
In Germany when we get our graduation certificate everyone has to dress up because the principal hands it to you. That is the only occasion we are supposed to do so. 
I am going to prom this Saturday and I'm really excited because for me that's is a lifetime experience. It took me a while to decide on my dress but now that I made my decision I'm good to go. My hair and make up appointment is Saturday at 1 pm hopefully that's enough time. I  still have to get my flats and earrings and I don't feel like dealing with that. My prom group consist of about 20 people and we are going to take pictures at the MSU garden I think and then our party bus is taking us to dinner. The only thing I'm not excited about is the dance because I totally hate dancing. 
I heard about prom in movies like "She's all that" and other high school movies. That show's that prom is an american thing and not an European. 

The girls in my prom group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prom

Booked my flight back home

                                                         6 more weeks and I have to go back home. Who would have thought I would be sad about that? Overall I think I had so many good experiences and I grew as a person. Also I made a lot of friends and not seeing them everyday in school is going to be so weird. I have to get used to Germany again but I really don’t want to.
                                                      My feelings about this exchange went up and down the entire time. My first month was really exciting because everything was new to me, but then my mood went down because I started missing my family. I didn’t have a lot of friends and I felt lonely. After several months I made some friends and now I have so many good memories with them which I won’t ever forget in my entire life. I’m not saying I am not excited to see my german friends and family after 10 months but now I feel like I’m being pulled to both directions.                                                                                                                    
                                                          I know that this is an experience I will only have one time in my life and it won’t ever repeat and thats what I am so sad about.   


My friend Anna and me


exchange student talking about his american experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ZM5bp6OBo

                                                                                                   



What does it mean to be independent?

I’m going to tell you a little about myself. Both of my parents are hardworking people, so they always come home late. That means when I was 10 years old and went to 5th grade I already had to do a lot at myself. My school was about 50 minutes away, my sport was 40 minutes away and my weekly piano lessons were 30 minutes away. I got a key for the house and a yearly bus ticket. Even when I was little I was very busy and it was hard to manage everything. I am happy my parents made me do this because that's how I got more independent.
In the US no one has to do anything like that, they are dependent on their parents. 16 year old teenagers even get treated like a “baby”, even me and I hate it. I have to ask if I’m allowed to go somewhere beforehand, so someone can pick me up. It feels like a play date back when I was in kindergarten... They took my independence from me!
My organization said you are going to go back to your home country and be an adult. But how am I supposed to mature to an adult if I don't get treated like one?
I'm realizing that everything they told me beforehand is wrong, but also right somehow. I would have never made friends if I wouldn't have overcome my weaker self and talk to people even if I don't know how to have a conservation in that strange new language. I found out I can survive by myself away from home with no one I really know around me.
Maybe realizing that I can be on my own means I am now really an independent person?

Bus in Hamburg. http://english.hamburg.de/contentblob/3639180/data/bild-public-transport.jpg

There are so many things changing in my life right now. Being an exchange student is harder than I expected. I live in a house with people I never met in my entire life before. My best friends aren't here to hang out with me every weekend. School is confusing and till now this isn't the best year of my entire life as people in Germany promised it to me. But I learned to appreciate things. Back in Germany I never realize how blessed I am having such a wonderful family. People that love me and would do any possible thing to make me happy and successful in life. I hated it that I had to eat dinner and breakfast every single day with my parents, now there isn't anything I miss more. I don't actually want to be here anymore, but I still am. Why am I still here then? Because I know after I was dealing with such problems in the age of 16 I can reach whatever goal I set to myself in life. I thought I would come here to study and improve my English skills, but I realize there are greater things I have to deal with than my language skills.