Exchangement @exchangement - Tumblr Blog

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utilitarianwhimsy

In Arabian Nights, page 27

wordsnquotes

If you’re brave enough to say ‘goodbye’ life will reward you with a new ‘hello.’

Paulo Coelho (via wordsnquotes)

AMERICA!

So after a 1 hour flight, a 3 hour stopover, a 12 hour flight, a 5 hour stopover, and a 6 hour flight (and a 43 hour long day) I’m here in America. Orientation was fun, the flights were semi fun, and being with my host family is amazing although I’ve only been here 15 hours.

So many things are so similar but slightly different to New Zealand, like there are flags everywhere, the accent just gets me every time and gives me a massive shock every time someone says something really differently to what I’m used to, even the toilets and fridges, and driving on the opposite side of the road to what I’ve learned is so strange. Not to mention all the conversions, miles and Fahrenheit, which I have to change back to what I’m used to and its just weird.

Went and bought sushi when I got here, then came home and chilled, unpacked and talked, then went on a mish to wendys with my host brother and their old exchange student who is visiting at the moment, the burger was so good but also so bad for me, but hey, thats life

#afsusa #afsnz #afs #student exchange #america #exchangement #exchange student #exchange trip #overseas experience

livingyourdreamabroad

The thing is - I won’t come back. The person you will welcome home in a year will not be the person you said goodbye to. It was a goodbye forever.”

an exchange student (via rreisende)

5 days!

Shit, 5 days, 2 hours, 31 minutes until the day I get out of here. Today was my last day of school, and I’m definitely sad - I’ve had some great times there these past 4 years and I’m going to miss not only my friends, but my teachers and the school itself too. (weirdly, I think I’ll miss calculus the most of all?)

My friends had a faux graduation for me in the school hall today - I had balloons thrown down on me, everyone made a speech, I cried, they did an interpretive dance, we ate brownies and they signed my shirt. At the end, we took a photo HSM style, but not sure how well it worked

It still doesn’t feel real - I’m feeling kinda numb about it, and theres some people that I wish I said goodbye to but I simply didn’t see them today, and I probably never will again.

Yesterday I also got my American cash dollars from the bank and they feel so weird? like delicate compared to NZ notes? Plus sorted out my visa card for spending money over there too.

Aside from school, I’ve done a trial run of packing my suitcase (was 21 kg), had a final doctors checkup so I can get into sports teams, bought my host family presents (ive spent SO MUCH money), and I have one last injection on Monday (hepatitis A, cant wait). my family went out for dinner tonight, and my friends and I are going away for this weekend, then I go like 2 days later.

LIFE IS SCARY and my mood is like the end of HSM3 - when Chad goes and shoots basketball hoops bc he doesn’t want to leave the school and go to uni where him and troy will be different and things. thats me. I’m Chad in this moment

the-virginia-diaries-blog

Once upon a time, there was a girl who flew.

This is a quote (slightly adapted - the original quote is boy who flew) from one of my favourite people - Chris Colfer. It makes more sense in context: throughout the book, you have excerpts of this little kid trying to write a story, and it starts out as this little kid who wants to fly, but doesn’t know how. And the kid tries to figure out how to fly, until he realises it’s not about wanting it - you have to be an active agent in your own life and do it: do it and trust that it’ll work out.

I’ve spent my whole life looking at things that I want to do, but giving myself a thousand reasons why for me, that’s not possible - why I can’t do it.

This year, that changes.

This year, I fly.

(via the-virginia-diaries)

I just dropped $50 on lollies for my host family i cant believe it

theres a hole in my heart now ive spent so much money

#afsnz2015 #afsusa #afs-usa #kiwiana #exchange student #exchange trip #student exchange

samsgermanexchange

Ugh

Stop asking me when I’m leaving Stop asking me if I’ll get credit for school Stop asking me if I’m nervous or excited Stop asking me if I’ll be homesick Stop telling me I’m brave Stop asking where in my host country I’m going… You don’t know of my obscure town Stop telling me things people do in my host country Stop telling me about your trip there that one time Stop assuming I’m not doing any work there Stop assuming I’ll be a tourist Stop asking why I’m doing this Stop assuming I’ll go to an English-speaking school Stop assuming my parents are rich Stop assuming I’m not getting my own paperwork in order Stop asking what will happen when I get back Stop trying to tell me what I should bring, do, or send home Stop assuming my host family are creepy Stop thinking my parents are insane for letting this happen Stop saying you can’t wait to see me at Christmas… I’m not allowed to come back for some sort of holiday? Stop asking if my family will come visit Stop asking if I speak the language

taiwandering-around-blog

Thank you for saying it

#basically chill everyone

10 days!!

did a trial run of packing my suitcase just now, all my clothes fit really easily and i still have about 5 kg to spare, which I will (inevitably) fill up, plus all my carry on luggage. Pretty happy about that, it makes it a lot easier when I’ll be packing for real.

One thing to say, its actually starting to feel real. I first applied for my AFS exchange around 2 years ago, but there were no spots to the USA left for the 2014-15 year, so I waited until January 2014 until I could apply for the 2015-16 outbound, and since then I feel like Ive been waiting forever. School is staring to wind down, I only have one assessment left that I’m going to be doing, and once thats done, I have university entrance

This is my last weekend in Rangiora, and I’m finishing with a wonderful weekend - watching my friends play rugby today, going to Tims house for pizza with the entire iwi, then shopping tomorrow with my mum, for some merino gloves and such, plus presents for my host family, then my final AFS chapter meeting!

I finish school on thursday, go to Hanmer springs on friday, get back sunday night and get ready to pack my life into the suitcase by wednesday, when I finally leave. It’s kinda coming too fast and i sort of have too much to do before then, but I think I’m ready.

#Exchangement #exchange trip #student exchange #afsnz2015 #afs #afsusa #afs-usa #packing #chicago here i come

6.50PM: *writes a text about how apathetic I am*

6.54PM: Holy shit I'm so scared I don't wanna do this please I never wanted this!

6.56PM: Can't wait to be in Chile.

6.58PM: No stop I never said that. Stop! I don't wanna leave!

7.00PM: I want and I will.

#me atm

19 days

While I was here on tumblr the other day, I found a pretty swagulous quote which I really like because it just really seems to apply

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place … Like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”

I have what seems like hardly any time to go, and I’m a little nervous about leaving. I also have worries that I wont fit in with my friends the way that I do at the moment when I get back, and even though that wont necessarily be a bad thing, it’s still something I’m worried about. It wont be an issue in the future, but it is now. I won’t realise that I’m changing, but I’ll get back and everything will seem different to what I’m used to

I’m also not really worried about being in America, but I am about how I’m missing out on all the things that will be going on here while I’m away. My friend tim has a holiday in picton planned for the next holidays, graduation is a thing, and so is the year 13 school day. It doesn’t seem like a lot when I actively write it down, so hopefully I can stop worrying quite so much? idek

I got kicked out of statistics yesterday for playing a dumb internet game on my computer when I was supposed to be graphing stuff. I wasn’t distracting anyone, I was only disrupting my own learning. I mean, I get why it happened, the rules are made for everyone, but school just seems so pointless. Design is a bust (I cant finish a 13 credit external in 2 weeks) I had my last calculus test today (I failed, I’m sure) and every other class I’m doing a very minor amount of work in because I cant get the motivation to do any decent amount of work. I just want school to be over and to not have to deal with it any more. It’s such a bad outlook to have, i know haha but life will go on

I’m also at the point where I’m not really sure what to talk to my host family about. I have questions, but theyre all really general questions which would be hard to answer over email or ones that may be better to wait until I get there to ask.

This is such a rambley post and I realise I’m just whining all the time, but I promise my life isn’t all like this! I’m just feeling like getting this all out bc my friends are all a little tired of hearing about my exchange :P ;)

#afsnz2015 #afsusa #afs-usa #exchange student #exchange trip #pre-departure #nz #exchangement #mine

onlinecounsellingcollege

You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place … Like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.

Azar Nafisi (via onlinecounsellingcollege)

22 days

Today was my first day at school this term and i felt kinda empty. Design no longer has that certain something that gets me excited when i see something pretty and I no longer want to copy it and make it my own. Calculus is a struggle bc I haven’t studied at all over the holidays. History I have a new teacher and I already miss my old one cause she was my fave. Media studies has never been great either. Today was just overall a letdown. School just doesnt feel welcoming at the moment.

3 weeks of school left, and next week is what my school calls “Wacky Week,” where all the year 13′s (seniors) dress up according to a theme each day. Sorted out most of my costumes today and spent $80. ewww. Not even fully sorted either, but I’m excited. My last day of school was going to be my schools big choir competition of the year, but I decided that cause I’m super selfish, that I might just eave the day before - I want my last day to be “my last day” and not the choir competition where the focus will be all on that and not me and if that was my last day I wouldn’t see my classmates and I wouldn’t have a final cake day in calculus.

My friends are also the greatest. They’ve planned a trip to Hanmer Springs for the weekend before I leave, so we can have one final weekend together, I’ll make pancakes one final time, life will be incredible. We will do dumb touristy stuff, swim and play minigolf. #lifeplans

On the bright side, I finally finished work and I miss it already. The free sushi, the people, the free sushi. Its going to be hard to replace that with something else in my afternoons, bc it was such a huge part of my life. It’s what paid off the $13,899 of my exchange trip, it paid for my ball dress, it paid for everything I did. It really is the end of an era tbh

#mine #exchangement #exchange trip #exchange student #student exchange #afsnz2015

wanderschaft-memorie

What do you do when your heart is on the other side of the world? Somewhere you have been, somewhere someone you love is, somewhere you’ve lived, or somewhere you are going. Or maybe somewhere you’ve never even seen. You can get on an airplane and make your body go somewhere, but your heart won’t always follow.

maplesyrupwaffle-blog

Exchange in a nutshell.

23 days

School starts again tomorrow - I’m not keen on going at all and i kinda think its pointless.. Admittedly, I haven’t passed any of my classes this year, but I’ve passed the year overall. I have 83 credits out of the required 80, and its so easy to get into University in New Zealand, I’ll be like “I was an exchange student” and they’ll let me in like straight away. Like I don’t know where I want to go to uni or even what to study, but I’ll work that out I’m sure. I also have a calculus test I was supposed to be studying for over the holidays, and a history internal that i was supposed to be writing, and a whole heap of media studies work that I was going to catch up on. Instead, I worked and slept and got my visa and talked to my host family. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again, but the class side of thing isn’t looking too flash. Also my teachers won’t understand my lack of motivation because they havent all year. UGH

ALSO! Tomorrow is my last day of work, and pretty excited, but also worried. Ive had my job to be something to count on that was always the same and i knew what I was doing and it was easy and methodical. It was there for such a long time, when my entire life outside of it was a mess, and suddenly that security and sureness will be gone, and will be replaced with an empty space that I have to fill.

About my exchange - excited and scared. Looking forward to being in America so so so much, but im a little worried about leaving my life here. 3 weeks to go!

tristdobz-deactivated20181216

Exchange Student Instagram Exchange!

Yooo, spread this around! We should all follow each other on Instagram, cause ya know exchange students gotta stick together cause we’re fucking awesome!

Reblog with your home country, host country, and your Instagram account!

USA(MN) to Thailand tristand96