compressed

I can't make time go any slower now than I could make it go faster back in December. I have a little over a month left in my exchange and I have to say, I don't know if I'm ready to go home. Of course, I wasn't sure I was ready to go on exchange either and that seemed to work out just dandy. Now I get it. It takes a turning point; mine was my month-long travel experience of Germany and England. Those were times that I got so close to my friends, both exchange students and the German kids in my class. I was naive to think that I wouldn't get to this point where I was hesitant about going back to real life. My time is limited, yet here I am trying to enjoy the things that I should have appreciated 7 months ago. Then again, I think I might have needed the lack of time to fully appreciate it all. I am human, after all; we need to be without something or else we tend to take it for granted. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to go home. I can't wait to hug my parents and to talk to my friends face to face. I'm excited to see my house and my pets, who've probably forgotten who I am at this point. This is all exciting, but I'm nervous, too. I've been living a different for the past 10 months. That's a lot of time to not be a direct part of someone's life, especially if my parents decide they like having the house to themselves more than me being in it, which would be sad... I haven't picked up a school book in about a year and- this coming from a girl who likes school and is used to doing well- I am terrified of being so lost in my lessons. I have so much to do next year: school, work, driver's training, college applications, sleep, etc... This is all starting to whirl through my brain as I enter the final chapter of my exchange, not to mention all of the plans I still have in Germany. A day in Dachau with the Rotex, my last family change, a trip to Prague, changing schools from the Realschule to Gymnasium for June, Pfingsten holiday (2 weeks off school), Farewell weekend, and my flight home on July 3rd. It's unbelievable. My time is compressed into 39 days and I'm trying to stretch myself to be able to do as much as possible. This exchange has impressed me and I've impressed myself. I've gotten to the point where I feel like I'm where I should be- with my fellow exchange students, just carrying on. This exchange has transformed me from a dreamer to a do-er.--sjinternational