JUNE/JULY

So, it's been more than a month now. I think being back home is be a positive thing after all, you just have to make the best out of every situation.
I'm so happy I still talk to the people I was really close to back in Germany :)
For example, my host parents. OMG I skype with them almost every single day! isn't that great? I swear I could've never asked for better host parents than mine. They are SO amazing! Actually my relationship with them is even better than the one I have with my real parents. Being back home was hard at the beginning, because I really didn't have anyone like my host parents. It's weird not having my host parents around, they were always home, my host mom only worked on thursdays and my host dad didn't work at all. My real parents work, both of them, so I just get to see them 2 hours a day and they can't really spend some time me. I don't want to either haha.
I'm glad I still talk to all of my friends (the ones I met in Berlin).

My friends back home are okay, like I said, I'm the weird one now. It's just funny to see how much I changed this year. My friends here love me, they are really nice and everything but I don't think we have the same interests, but we're working on it ;).

What everyone asks me almost every single time they see me is :
MARIA HOW WAS GERMANY? WHEN DID YOU COME BACK?
which is actually kind of annoying, but at least they show some interest right?

They ask me what do I miss the most from Germany too. SO HERE IT IS!
What I miss the most from Germany is being able to move around the city without driving a car.
I live in Puebla, Mexico it is a city with more than 4 million people on it. So you really need a car, unless you want to get kidnapped. BIKES AND BUSSES ARE REALLY DANGEROUS IN MEXICO! don't take a bus EVER.

I think of Berlin pretty much every single day, I know it is going to take me a while to stop comparing cities or countries. My exchange year in Germany definately changed my LIFE. RYE 2009-2010 DAS BESTE JAHR MEINES LEBENS <33

being home :caitlin

so i have been home since june 22nd. its a few hours short of 2 weeks now. being home is A LOT harder then i thought it would be. I had one day off before starting back to work and i have just been really really busy with life. I enjoy being home but I miss all of the freedom and independence i had in Germany. Sometimes i feel like i got younger again! nonetheless i love being home. Today since one of our best friends ben is flying home and probably already home I have been thinking about how close i really was to all of the others. Its so strange when you want to make a joke that only exchange students would understand and you just can't because no one around u understands it anymore! One of the good things about working though is a lot of germans come into my job. I get to speak a few minutes of german every week just to not forget everything. its really cool talking to the germans too because a lot of them think i am german which is an amazing feeling. but yea, all in all its ok being back. This year is germany really opened my eyes to all the opportunities life offers and as my friend ben said, god definitely helped us through it and saved us in all the times we were stupid. I am seriously considering studying in Berlin now for college because it was just a city that i fell in love with from the first time i ever saw it. well i am gonna try to sleep so i can work my 7th day in a row!

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE DISTRICT 1940 2010-11