HOME

Well… I’m home again. It’s one of the weirdest feelings ever. After being gone for like 11 months and than seeing your friends and family again is just so weird. First of all, my last days in Idaho were way fun but sad! My last week in America was so busy!! A lot of people wanted to see me at least one more time before I left so I did so much stuff. Sunday was the last day of church so I had to say goodbye to a lot of people there (almost the whole community). Sunday night I packed all my suitcases and thank goodness everything fitted in all of my suitcases. Monday was my last day; it was one of the weirdest days I’ve ever had because everything was so unreal I didn’t have the feeling that I was leaving on Tuesday. Anyways on Monday I had a little lunch with some friends and later that day I went longboarding with one of my other friends. At night I said goodbye to some more people. It was so unreal and I didn’t cry because I still didn’t believe I was leaving. Later that night I cleaned out the rest of my room and packed the rest of my stuff. My plane was leaving at 06:00 AM so we had to leave at like 4:00 AM to the airport. That night I probably only had 2 hours of sleep. I just couldn’t sleep at all! At 3:15 I woke up and got everything ready, I felt so weird. At 4:15 we left. Those hours were like the weirdest hours of my life because it’s the last time you drive that road and see all these people. Maybe you see them again, maybe you don’t. You realize that this life, you lived for a year will never be the same again. You can come visit, but it will never be the same as how it was during your exchange year.

At the airport, were of course, more exchange students that were leaving. I checked my suitcases in and talked for a little with my family. After a while it was really time to say ‘goodbye’. My mom had sent me a bunch of orange t-shirts for the whole family here. So they were all wearing orange which looked so fun ha! So we took one final picture before I left to go through security. That last moment when you see them is just so weird. I said bye to everybody and left to go through the security. Once again I was all alone, on the airport leaving a country you called ‘home’ for a year, waiting for my flight to Denver. The whole plane was just filled with crying exchange students ha. After I landed in Denver I had to wait for 2,5 hours for my flight to Chicago. There was one other Exchange student I met on the airport that was from the Netherlands and had the same flights as I did. In the plane from Denver to Chicago I was seated next to some fun Americans so that took my mind a little off! In Chicago I had to wait 4 hours for my final flight to Amsterdam. Oh my, it took forever! An hour before take off there came more and more people into the gate and they all spoke DUTCH. I was so happy to hear my own language again haha. I could understand them and they could understand me! I didn’t speak Dutch once the whole exchange year, except with my parents and friends of course. And when I spoke my own language in public in Idaho or wherever I just felt awkward haha. Anyways, once in the plane we were on our way to the runway, but when we were about ready to take off there were mechanical problems, so we went back to the gate and they fixed it. So our plane was delayed for 1,5 hours. Once in the air, we had a flight of 8 hours. And I just couldn’t wait to just be there. I slept for a little bit in the plane but not really long. It was just horrible waiting, trying to sleep, watching movies. I was so happy when were finally landing!! We flew over Amsterdam and it was just soooo good to see Dutch ground and all the green and BIKES ha! Once out of the plane on my way to the baggage claim I felt so short again because there were tall people everywhere!!! In Idaho I was always the tallest. Now my length was normal haha! I got my suitcases and went through a small ‘security’ thing. I had two big heavy suitcases, so one of the security guys asked me in dutch: “where have you been?” So I said “America” and he asked me what I did there, so I wanted to start talking dutch but I was so nervous that just talked back to him in English haha. He answered me back in English and asked me if I could even speak Dutch. Oh my! How embarrassing I was just so nervous and didn’t know what to say because I knew I would see my family in about 20 seconds. Once I came through the big ‘arrival’ doors I saw my mom, dad and my little sister. They had taken one of my best friends with them and I had no idea she would be there too! So that was such a fun surprise!! We ate a sandwich on the airport and went home! Seeing my own house and neighborhood again was so weird too. I wasn’t home for like half an hour and my grandparents came to see me haha! People just came visiting the whole day! That night the rest of all my friends came! It was just sooo fun and so good to see them and than I realized how much I actually missed everybody!!! When I was finally in my bed at like 12:30 AM dutch time, I was so tired!

This past year has brought me a lot, and it was just so fun meeting new people everyday. It was definitely not the end I just love traveling and I really want to do another exchange. Not for a year but just for a couple weeks and find out how other countries are like! Thanks to everybody who followed my blog the past months!!!