People & Places

Hello, all.

It's been a while, I know. I haven't even posted my update from Spain which was at least a month ago. At least I was able to upload a video!
Speaking of which, in case you guys didn't see it yet, I made a video from our huge mulch-distrcit conference in Paris, which was last weekend. If you'd like to check it out, here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNC9-PRCL1Y

I have a lot going on in my head right now, so I'm going to split it up into sections.

Milestones

I'm at the point in my exchange where I'm really starting to think about change. I have 66 days left in this beautiful country and in this extravagant new life. I'm not even sure if I can still call it a new life, because all of this is my life now. Every time I Skype with my family and see things like my cats, my kitchen, things that used to be my every-day activities, it feels weird. They're not habits for me anymore. My everyday life is 100% different now. I'm not really sure where home is anymore.

But that's the reality we have to face with exchange; the inevitability of change. Changing families, changing languages, friends, habits, schools, style, personality...the list goes on. Some people ignore the thought of going home until the last minute, some people can't stop thinking about it until the day comes.
For me, it's half & half. I have completely understood the fact that I will leave all this one day. All this work I've done here to be happy, make friends, learn new things and a new language, it has to end one day, and that's okay. I don't believe in getting too caught up in things like this. And it might sound a little depressing, but it's not. I'm not mourning over the fact that I will leave all this soon, but rather accepting it.
The acceptance of inevitability will get you much further than mourning the truth.

So I will spend these next two months, 66 days, 10 weeks, how ever you want to measure it, profiting from every single experience I have here. Weather it's having picnics in the park with my friends, drinking my morning coffee and chatting with my host parents, laughing at dinner conversations, or having good discussions with my favourite teachers here. Every moment counts, every moment will soon be a memory.

Realisations

I've met loads of new people lately. Changing families always introduces new people and experiences. In my last family, there is another American girl who goes to the University in town, Université Catholique de l'Ouest (CATO for short). Her name is Maddy and she's a student from Notre Dame, spending her second semester of her junior year here in Angers.
CATO has a massive American exchange program. The four main schools that exchange with CATO are Notre Dame, University of Oregon, Kentucky State, and University of Kansas. I even met some kids from Portland State last semester.
Because my host mum works at the university, this family always hosts Americans with the Notre Dame program, and because both of my host siblings were Rotary exchange students, they also host the Rotary kids.
I have really enjoyed living with another American girl and meeting all her friends. Of course, meeting exchange students is quite the norm for Rotary kids, as we are always very close with each other. But meeting people who are in college is a different experience. I love talking to them about their majors, interesting classes they've taken, traveling, and the college experience in a whole. Not that I don't love my Rotary kids, but college exchange students have a whole new perspective. Because they're all so serious in their studies and majors, they each have new idea to offer me.
For example, I was talking to a girl the other day who is very passionate about history. She's taken loads of interesting classes and always has her nose in a book.
I talked to another girl who is a theatre minor and a total Shakespeare nerd like me. She's also Italian and spent a high school exchange in Switzerland where she spoke Italian. Now she's in France perfecting her French.
In fact, this girl;s name is Catherine, and she has a blog, as well. She's doing 80 interviews with her last 80 days here, and it is extremely enjoyable to read.
Here's the link:
http://csulli01.wordpress.com/

Reading her blog reenforced my one philosophy in life: if everyone in the world was an exchange student, we would have a lot less problems.

This is something I talk about a lot, and the more I travel and meet more people, the more I am convinced that it's true (I'm not sure if I've already explained my theory on this topic, but I'm going to reiterate it). If you read Catherine's blog, you will see many quotes about how if people just sat down and got to know each other and enjoyed life and it's beauty, the world would be a much more peaceful place. All exchange students have the same idea of  learning cultures and turning new friends into family. We don't want to just learn the culture, we want to live it. We all want to make the world a little less black and white. That's why we stress that if everyone stops and enjoys everything life has to offer, we would all be much happier living on the same planet.
The idea is if everyone took the time to travel and learn other people's cultures, struggles, and ways of life, we would all have a mutual understanding of one another. For example, an upper-class American politician is not going to have any sympathy for someone who lives in the slums of a third-world country if he's never walked a mile in his shoes. How can we truly search for the solution to problems if we don't understand the predicament in the first place? This is the importance of travel.
I know so many people who have never left the U.S. and have no desire to. That's not to say that you should feel bad that you don't want to go on a mission trip or join the Peace Corps. That also doesn't mean you're selfish because you can't afford to go to places like this. But the simple lack of curiosity for this massive land mass we call Earth baffles me. There's no spark of discovery, no passion to see new things.

So...what can you do?

Talk to exchange students. Whether it's someone who was an exchange student, someone currently in your country, or someone who's about to leave, ask them questions. Ask them about their thoughts, feelings, fears, accomplishments, good times, bad times, and even worse times. You learn the most on exchange when you're at your lowest and get back up again...so ask them about these times! If you yourself can't get out in the world to do these things, talk to people who do. Who knows? Maybe they'll inspire you to go to it yourself..... ;)

Bliss

This is one of my favourite words. I feel like it captures a whole new type of happiness. When you experience bliss, you're at the maximum level of content. It's not the feeling of endorphins overwhelming your brain or wanting to scream from the rooftops. It's more of an adrenaline rush of tranquility. You're at a peak of happiness where there's not much more you can do but to sit back and enjoy every second of it.

I feel as if this feeling comes from accomplishments and rewards. I feel as if I've accomplished a lot lately, as I've been making a lot of realisations about myself as a person. I've definitely had some hard times to work through lately. I've had some epiphanies, some good, some awful. I've realsied what time I have left here, as I mentioned before. I've realsied what the next few months of my life are going to consist of. But all of these things are worth it when I look at how far I've come.
I've developed so many traits and skills over the past few months. I've learned how to control certain things and how to let go of others. I feel like my head is a huge book that just keeps getting longer and longer. I feel as if I can't ever let myself stop exploring. It's an amazing feeling when you learn what you're capable of.

Where am I going with this?

After all this, I feel as if it's going to pay off very very soon. In 11 days from today, in fact. Because in 11 days, my family will arrive here. My mum, dad, sister, and grandmother are coming to stay with me for about 12 days. I cannot wait for them to meet the person I've become. They get to see my life here and everything I've come to know so well.
And the one person whom I look up to more than anyone will see me in this new life. This person, who has done and seen more than I can ever imagine. This person who's head is not just a book, but a series of novels. This person, you may ask, is my grandmother, Elaine Snowden, and she is the coolest person in the world.
Being the youngest in my family, I always feel like I'm the last to do anything. I don't understand anything yet because everyone else has been there, done that. This exchange is the one thing that makes me who I am and makes me unique from the people who know me the best. All of my family is incredibly proud of me for doing this, and I feel like I'll make them even more proud when they meet the person I've become.

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Aaaaaaaand scene.
That's what's been on my mind. In case that was too much for anyone to read, here's all that I've talked about in a nutshell:
I changed host families, my real family is coming in a week and a half, I went to Paris last weekend and met ALL the Rotary kids in Paris (about 502 people), and I've been doing rather well lately.
I don't even think I'm sad to come home anymore. I've had a killer time here and still have cool stuff left to do. I will most likely feel differently when I actually get home, but for now, I'm doing alright.

I hope this wasn't too overwhelming to read, but this is what happens when I don't write for a long time. Lesson learned, I suppose.

Thank you to all who are still tuned into my life here and a special thanks to all of my friends who have kept in contact with me. I don't think you guys realise how nice it is to hear from you every once in a while.


More to come soon. LOTS of traveling and good times ahead.
A bientot!

~Effy