There and Back Again: An Exchange Student's Tale

Well ladies and gentlemen, this is it. I am officially one week away from being finished with the most nerve-racking, terrifying, vivid, wonderful, beautiful year of my life, and by extension a phase of my life that began two and a half years ago in November 2010 (when I went to Israel on my first exchange trip). I cannot believe I made it through, and I want to share my emotions, thoughts, and advice with whomever may be reading this.

I spent the last five days in Germany's wunderbar capital, Berlin. I saw the sites, I drank the beer, I flirted with girls, I played chess with life-sized pieces. The Brandberg Gate was magnificent, the Wall tragic, and the currywurst amazing. As well as experiencing the city, I participated in a seminar with my exchange organization, and many of my interactions with my friends and fellow students maybe realize how truly happy I have been here, despite all the hardships. I realized how lucky I was to see what I saw and did what I did. I've seen so many cities, skied down the slopes of the Austrian Alps, saw the tragedy of Auschwitz, and made an unbelievably large amount of memories with my friends and host family.

I've never fallen in love with something so fast, after seemingly tolerating it for so long. I truly feel now that Germany is my second home, and I will truly miss it. I will miss it's people, I will miss the food, I will miss the culture. But I think the thing I will miss the most will be me being in it. Just the day-to-day interactions, at school (when I was there), at home, at the REWE. I will miss going to the same trashy clubs on weekends and waking up with the same regrets. I am going to miss everything.

In case you haven't noticed, I've changed. A year ago I would described myself as what I was, a Catholic, American, normal white kid. But now, now, I would say I have no idea who I am; my religion has taken the backseat and I have decided to keep it there for a long while yet, my nationality is more important to me then it ever was but what I define as "patriotism" is beginning to change, my skin color never changed though, but I am anything from normal. I am an individual, one who is built up from these experiences, and they are now what define ME, and will never cease doing so. I am who I am, not what background is, what I was known for, or how I acted in high school. I am a person on the edge of a rapidly changing world, along for the ride.

As my journey nears it's end. I note how curious how it feels like the beginning, not just the beginning of the program, back in D.C. but also in October 2010 when I started my trip to Israel. The more and more I think, the more I realize, this was one big chapter of my life. A beginning and an end, of what I am unsure. But, hey, I am along for the ride.

I laughed, I cried, I loved. I completed a CBYX Exchange Year. I am changed.

“Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

― Mark Twain

"Breathing comes in pairs, except for twice, one begins and one's good bye" - The Fray, "Enough For Now"