6/28/06 Going home…

    This is it. I ‘m just about to go home and I have no idea what to think about it. I’m sad and happy at the same time. Florida has become my second home and I’m going to miss everything here so much! I can’t believe it’s over now.  I had amazing time here and I can’t even say how happy I am that I got to do this. I feel like I was really lucky because I had the best families ever possible. I hope they enjoyed this year as much as I did. I say way too little thank you and it’s only worse because they have done so much for me, but I really appreciate it all. Thank you for taking me into your families and making my exchange year so great.

   I’m also happy that I got to go to South Broward high. It’s so different from my old school. In Finland my school has only about 170 students all together and basically everybody knows everybody and all of them are just about 100% Finnish. South Broward was something huge (even though I’ve heard that it’s relatively small over here), and the people were really different.  They come from all over the world and they have all different backgrounds. I loved my school even though the beginning wasn’t that easy. I was totally lost every time I left a class room and most of the time inside classrooms. I understood some of the talk around me but I was really shy to talk in English. Something must have changed, because in the end of the year I actually heard that someone thought I was an American J Just a little bit over a month ago I was still hoping that school year would finally end, that there would be no more tests, cafeteria food, studying or nasty bathrooms. But when it really came, I realized that it was definitely the saddest beginning of a summer break I’ve ever had. I had to say goodbye to some of my best friends in 5 minutes, because they had to get in to bus, and then they were going to travel pretty much the rest of the time that I was still going to be here. But I know that I’m coming back some time, so this is not the end. However, I’m really grateful for all of my friends because they were helping me when I didn’t understand anything, and then they just made the whole year much more fun. And the exchange students from district 6990… “I’m going to miss you guys so much! Don’t forget me.”  We had awesome trips and it was nice knowing people who had just as much trouble with language and culture and everything… J

   I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore, because there are so many things in Florida that I wouldn’t want to leave behind me. And then in the other hand I’m truly happy to go home and see my family and friends again, see how much have I really changed this year and how much Finland and all the people have changed while I wasn’t there. Now I have to say goodbye to all the people that were important to me in Florida and honestly it’s making me crazy, but soon I’ll get to see people that I’ve known all my life, after being a whole year apart! Finland is still my home but it’s not the only one anymore.

   Now I’ve totally lost my point, if I ever had one J but I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who made this happen (especially Rotarians), and tell that my exchange year was AWESOME!

 Henna