First a bit about the last few months, just to have it written down. Easter was nice, I got to see snow again. I basically just hung out with my host family for 5 days though, except for one adventurous climb up a snowy mountain, which I'd rather not go into... But other than that, it was a pretty uneventful week.
After Easter I had 3 weeks of peace, which were probably the best three weeks I have spent in Arendal. I saw my friends all the time. We went to town or the cafe on the weekends, or we'd hang out at each other's houses. I saw my friends so much, and I made so many new friends, though I barely had school because of exams. Two of my really good friends had their birthdays, and the last days before Eurotour I saw almost all my friends here. I love them so much I didn't even want to go on Eurotour if I had to sacrifice two weeks in Arendal seeing them.
That changed pretty fast once Eurotour started. I'm not going to write down everything that happened, but I will say it was the best two weeks of my life with all my favorite people in the world. I honestly believe the exchange students in Norway this year are the best in the world. We're one big family, pretty much everyone is friends with everyone. Everyone is so different and unique from each other, and come from such different places, but we all get along great. We don't fight, sometimes we click off (but we have to, 30 people won't all want to do the same thing when you have freetime in a historical European city), but at the end of the day we're one big family. Saying goodbye the last day at the airport was the hardest day of my exchange by far. Once we left, we knew it would never be the same again. We would never all be together again. Most of us would never see each other again. It's impractical to think we will. Even in Norway we live hours apart, and once we leave, the distance multiplies tenfold. The thing about this year, is that it brings you so close to people, especially exchange students because in the beginning they're the only ones you can count on, but from the beginning there's an expiration date. It all ends, and once it's over, you'll never have it again.
The day I got back from Eurotour, everything about my exchange changed. I had some problems with my host family and I basically had to decide to either except the fact I would be uprooted and moved back to the countryside where getting around is very difficult for my last three weeks, or go home earlier than planned. I decided to go home early, which is why I'm writing this on June 8th, not June 28th like I should have been. I don't regret deciding to go early, it was what turned out to be best for me. It's only three weeks, I'm not an early return. I just saved myself a lot of stress for a lot of reason. But making the decision was not easy, and that it one of the many reasons the day Eurotour ended was the worst day of my exchange. It was also my birthday, but I don't like to talk about that.
The weeks since I made the decision have not been easy. I've basically been mourning the loss of my exchange. I was sad that I lost the last few weeks I thought I would have with my friends. When it came time to actually say goodbye to the ones I managed to see in the last few days, none of us knew what to say, we thought we had more time to figure it out. I think that is the only bad apart about choosing to go early. Though part of me is happy that I'm cutting the rope early. I'm not sure if a drawn out goodbye is better either. In the end it would always have been hard.
When my mom was here I showed her around Arendal for a few days, and then we took a trip around Norway to the three biggest cities in the South: Stavanger, Bergen, and Oslo. It was nice seeing it all, even though I was having a difficult time during the trip, because I was still trying to deal with all that had happened in Arendal while trying to accept I was going home in two weeks. But I got to see a lot of my exchange student friends again on the trip and say goodbye again. This time around it was easier. It was interesting to see everyone after Eurotour, because we had all changed in those few weeks. Everyone had trouble coming back to Norway, either because of host family problems, or dealing with leaving, or something back home, or something else. I feel like because we had to accept the end we all became a lot older. The end sure did look a lot closer from the other side of Eurotour. All the big stuff is done.
I came back to Arendal on Tuesday, I leave tomorrow, Saturday. That was not nearly enough time to do the things I needed to do, but I tried my best to make it work. I haven't gotten to say goodbye to everybody, I had to cancel a lot of plans by going early, and I am leaving my fair share of loose ends, but in the end none of that is important. It's about the big picture. And I just had an amazing year. I met amazing people from all over the world, and I had so many amazing experiences. Coming here was the best decision I ever made.
But it's difficult to except that it's over, that starting tomorrow, I am not an exchange student anymore. I will not live in Norway anymore. All of this will be in the past, and I just hope I never forget the people I've met or the places I've been. Because they changed my life.
But before I get home I need everyone to know that I'm still having a difficult time. I'm still dealing with the end of my exchange because it came faster than I expected. And unlike what I thought would happen, when I get on the plane tomorrow, I don't think I'll feel like it's my time to go. I'm not ready to go home, but I'm doing it anyway. So it's going to be a bit difficult for me once I get back to accept I get back. But in the end I'll be fine. It'll just take some time. I just need everyone to understand that I had a tough last month, and I need time to get over it and appreciate how amazing the other 9 and a half were.
But for now, I have to head over to my friends house to have my second mini-last-minute-goodbye party. And then I have to get home and sleep because I leave at 4 AM tomorrow.
But since this doesn't have the happiest of endings, I'm going to promise to write in here one last time, when everything is settled, and I'm home again.
Ha det bra for now.
