96 sati više..ali sretna mi je to ja imam nesto to čini me tužna otići.
96 more hours... but I’m happy that I have something that makes me sad to leave. 4 days and I’m leaving for home. I can’t exactly describe what I feel like, but for the most part, I’m not overly excited...(sorry mom and dad). Throughout this year, I’ve encountered several challenging experiences which forced me to become very independent and advocate for myself; things that were indescribably difficult, things that were incredibly emotionally challenging. Don’t be tricked into thinking that all the picture perfect descriptions I’ve managed to create with this blog are solely representative of the things I’ve encountered in Croatia. Rather, they were my most favourite experiences, my warmest memories, and things I crafted all in one place to serve as a reminder of all the positive parts of being an exchange student. So many exchange students never mention or confront the homesickness they experience, the conflicts they experience with host families or even just simple frustrating cultural differences. This is why I want to acknowledge that yes, this is an amazing opportunity and a great experience, but is the furthest thing from a year long “vacation”. You will experience bad things on your exchange, your life in your home country might change dramatically while you’re away, and you’ll be forced to adapt and accept new changes. Life goes on no matter where you are. Not every day will be a good day, despite the misconceptions of exchange that so many people seem believe. That said, for the most part, I wouldn’t change the life that I had this year because of the personal growth I experienced with every situation. I learned how to support myself emotionally, and how to provide support to others. I learned how to better deal with stress, to focus on being optimistic, and to problem solve quickly. I became easily adaptable and flexible, especially living with different families. Most of all, I learned to think from a different perspective, to evaluate situations through a different looking glass. Along with developing the ability to understand the Eastern European mentality, I’m incredibly happy about having learned such a rich language. Learning a Slavic language had never even crossed my mind; in all honesty, at the beginning of the year I doubted myself, and didn’t even know if I would be able to advance with Croatian. Now, here I am 10 months later, conversational and totally amazed by the wonderful skill of being able to communicate in such a foreign and harsh Slavic tongue. I made Croatian friends, who appreciate me for the person I have become, and bonded really well with my Croatian families. Leaving a life that I spent the entire year working so hard on creating is tough, especially when I’m not sure about where I’ll fit into the picture back at home. I’m thrilled about catching up with family and friends, but devastated about leaving my families, and friends I’ve connected with in Europe. Taking this gap year was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made, and I’d encourage everyone to go on some sort of an exchange as well. It was an amazing year of development, of growth, and total transformation.