Anyway, I have just about 4 weeks left in Switzerland, which I can hardly believe. My flight takes off on July 17th, although it was originally scheduled for July 5th (I wanted to stay longer). There seems to be so much to do in these last weeks, and I have to think about gifts, souvenirs, last trips, and final goodbyes.
This is a sunset that I managed to photograph from my balcony one evening. I think it's a fitting depiction of the coming end to my year.
This might sound a little nerdy, but I think time is like an exponential curve. The closer time comes to a particular date, it stretches and passes by either lightning fast or super slow (depending on whether the impending date is positive or negative, of course).
School is beginning to come to a close, so I'm taking some of my last tests in my classes. I'm actually getting average grades on most things now, which I am pretty proud of. I also have a really sweet German teacher who gave me a 5.5 on an essay we did in class (the best possible grade is a 6). Thankfully she didn't grade me on my grammar and use of language, but she did grade on content and how this particular essay was supposed to be structured. Taking into consideration that I had gotten a better grade than most of the kids in my class, I decided not to tell them.
Yeah, my German is not perfect. People still have the enjoyment of being able to laugh at my mistakes. I do, however, plan to use German for the rest of my life though, so I have time to perfect it.
I guess one of the biggest questions that I'm asked now is if I'm excited to go back home. To answer truthfully, I am dreading leaving Switzerland more than I am looking forward to going back to the US. That is not to say that I don't want to go back at all; I still have a family, friends, tons of books, and a cat waiting for me at home. However, I've made a life for myself here, and I know that I probably won't be able to come back to it.
That is probably the biggest difference between leaving home and going back. When I stepped on the plane last year, I knew that I was coming back home, so it wasn't that hard to say goodbye, but I don't really know when I will come back to Switzerland again.
My friends from my theater group at school after one of our last performances.
Now comes the planning for last-minute trips and heartfelt goodbyes. Now comes the preparations for next year. It's so weird to hear my classmates speak about next year and the class trip they're going on next spring because I know I won't be there. My class is losing me, and another boy who is also spending a year in the US (maybe we'll bump into each other!), and they will be getting a new student next year. My plans for next year unfortunately include mostly school and little travelling, but hopefully after that it will become a little more exciting again.
If you want to learn how to savor time, become an exchange student because that is what I am doing now.
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