Directly from joyous Ok guys I'm going home on Tuesday and all I can say is that going home is the worst thing ever. I hate this. I am so scared and sad to leave all my friends here, my life here, and just everything. I didn't realize, like truly realize until the very end of this exchange what an incredible experience this has been.......... HHHMMMMMM what a generic phrase you all think to yourselves, but seriously incredible is the best term to describe this year. The bad, the good, the hard, the easy, the laughable, the cryable, the frustrations, the exhilerance...... it all was mushed into one big pot of emotions making this year simply incredible. I have dealt with and (ahhhh can't think of the english word) and overcome things that I couldn't have even imagined I would be confronted with. I just can't believe it's over. GOing home is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I can't say goodbye to this life that I have formed here. It seems like just now I am truly comforatable with what I have created here. It's bittersweet. You want to leave, but you don't. You're excited, but you're not. You're ecstatic, but you're being ripped apart inside. Never in my whole life have so many different feelings gone tumbling around inside. Right now I am in the process of packing up my room. I'm not just packing up my room, but I'm packing up this unique life that I am never going to return to ever again. Ugh, in english terms..... this sucks. On a better note I want to thank everyone who made this possible for me (this sounds like a corny acceptance speech). But seriously, thanks Miami Rotary, thanks Belgian Rotary, thanks to my families (in Miami and in Belgium) and just to everyone. For those of you who have a couple months left.... I know you know this, but just enjoy every second because it is just done before you can realize what you are truly doing. FOr those leaving soon to start an exchange............ it's hard, but the hard makes it better in the end. So don't expect to be happy every second, because you won't. You will cry, you will probably want to come home at some point, and yes, you will be unhappy. But the good times and the culture and things I can't even begin to explain that you get out of this are so worth every tear and every moment of homesickness and heartache. So make the best out of every situation you are put in because the worst ones in the end will turn out to be the best ones. Oh you are all so lucky to be just starting out. Go and have fun and learn. Learn about the country you are in, learn about the United States, learn about yourself, learn about others. Just learn. You will learn more this year than you ever could in school. Good luck Ok, I can't write anymore because it's late and I have to pack. I can't beleive it's over. This really really really really really really sucks. I'm looking forward to speaking to some exchange students when I get back because people who haven't done this just don't understand. This takes a lot out of you. I don't know if I've changed. I don't know what has changed at home................. HHMMMMMMM I have a little present for Pierre from his parents in Belgium. I'll be sure to get that to him. Ok, I'll write more when I get home and I can think straight. So till next time, this is Joy signing out from Belgium. THank you so much and BYE