July 14th, 2001

Today is "MY USA- anniversary". Actually... there are two anniversaries. 8 years ago, on July 14th in 2001, I started my foreign exchange year AND on that same day I met one of my closest friends: Jeanny.

Jeanny wrote me a text message this morning, reminding me of this special day, and I have to admit I seriously almost forgot that it was today. Oh well, I am glad she reminded me... (I can't believe I forgot it, I am so good about dates and stuff - weird!)

I remember that day like it was yesterday. We had to get up early to make it to the aiport in Hannover on time. I sat in my parent's kitchen, having breakfast (I was extremely calm given the fact that I would go abroad for a year!) and both of my parents were crying. I knew my Mom was gonna cry, but seeing my Dad really broke my heart. But I was too excited about everything to actually really let it get to me. My brother, he was 12 back then, could care less- well, at least that's what ot looked like. I know he missed me. My parents gave me a card and pictures of the whole family, which was neat but I didn't really appreciate it until I was in the States.

On the way to the airport my Mom held my hand the whole time. It was raining pretty hard and I remember having the feeling that everyone was crying, except for me. This may sound horrible, but think about it: I had a big adventure ahead of me. I was so looking forward to experiencing it all. I wasn't sad I had to leave. I wanted to leave, I wanted to go and see the world. Is that bad?

The whole airport thing got on my nerves. It seemed to take forever until I could finally board the plane. Saying goodbye to my family was okay. It wasn't as hard for me, I guess partially due to the fact that I couldn't quite grasp what it means to be away for that long. (I mean, in the end my time abroad wasn't all that long at all. Time flew by and if it would have been up to me, I would have stayed forever...)But anyway, I finally made it to the States. We landed in Boston (I think, now that I try to remember everything I am not so sure if it really was Boston. But I am pretty sure) and shuttle busses picked up all of the exchange students. They brought us to Norwich University, which is where we had our Orientation Camp for 2 weeks.

I met Jeanny right before we got on the busses. I liked her, she didn't like me. Lol. Well, I thought she was arrogant but turns out she is not. We started talking on our way to camp and we pretty much became siamese twins. Lol. Camp was a lot of fun, especially because of her.

Two weeks later, on Jeanny's birthday, we had to say goodbye. She went to Oklahoma, and I flew to Ohio. It was so hard to say goodbye to her. I cried!! I couldn't stop crying.

I am so glad we kept in touch. Even though we don't live that close, we still manage to see each other every now and then. I think our closeness clearly derives from this shared experience of being aborad. She didn't have it quite as good as I did. She changed her host family. But we both love the States and cherish our memories together.

I am celebrating this special day all by myself. But that's okay. When I told Matthias about today (we just spoke on the phone) he couldn't care less. Oh well... I guess he can't really understand this whole thing. Of course, he can't.