It was great! I liked it a lot!

It's been a little over two months since I got back from my exchange year - a year which now seems so blurry and as if it only happened in my head or my dreams.

"How was it? How was your year in Germany?" People ask me this as if it were so simple to answer. I usually just give the most generic answer out there; "It was great! I liked it a lot!" But the reality is that my time in Germany was really more than just great. It was a year in which I experienced so much, grew so much, matured so much, learned so much, felt so much. The past year was not just an "exchange" year. In the past year, I built a life. I gained a family (multiple families actually). I gained so many great friends. I gained a home.

My last two host families (missing my older host sister) and my parents.

The year definitely had its many downs but the ups were so rewarding that it literally makes the downs so worth it that I would go through it a million times if it leads me to the things it led me. At first, it was tough. At first, it felt as if I was alone. "Yhan allein in Deutschland." But as time went by, I became part of a community; I became part of a family. A family that truly made it so easy for me to feel included, to feel as if I actually belong to the family. A family that made it extremely hard to say goodbye. For that and everything that they did for me, I will always be grateful. To the Fidlers, the Hübenthals, the Schultes, and Calli's family, I thank you for making me feel at home and for making my exchange year an amazing and memorable year. You really are extraordinary, humble, helpful, caring, and extremely kind people. I feel extremely lucky to have gained such tremendous people as a family. I miss you and I cannot wait to see you guys again!

I hung out with so many different people, and so many different groups of friends until slowly, I found my real friends. A group of friends that ventured with me for a weekend to Bavaria to take me to see Schloss Neuschwanstein and Munich. Friends with whom I got lost in the forest. Friends whom I constantly annoyed. Friends who unknowingly would cheer me up with the crazy and stupid things they said or did. Friends who tried to roll their R's and couldn't but looked super funny trying to. Friends who were (and still are) real enough to piss me off, and about whom I care enough to try and work it out. Friends who taught me what a Geocache was and took me Geocaching for the first time. Friends with whom I got completely drunk and walked for hours in the rain trying to find a train station. Friends whom I plan on visiting wherever they are in the world and who I hope come visit me. Friends that I didn't want to leave. Friends that I miss a great deal. Friends that I will never forget.

Some of my awesome friends!

There's something about having multiple homes that is comforting. However, at the same time it makes it so difficult because you are constantly missing home. Prior to my year in Germany, I had two homes: Fajardo, Puerto Rico and Orlando, Florida. Despite the fact that I only lived in Hemer/Ihmert for less than a year, I came to think of it as my home as well. I didn't just stay there, I lived there. The neighbors knew my name and even sometimes received a package to my name because no one was home. I would walk around town and recognize the people. I would go into the supermarket and run into someone I know. I would stop and say hello or sometimes I would simply try to avoid them because of that one thing that happened and that everyone was talking about for a while after it happened and now it's just a bit awkward so it's simply better to lay low for a while. I know the fastest route to get someplace. I know the shortcuts. I know the times things are opened (which in Germany aren't that extensive lol). I know the best Döner places in town. I know when they are closed and the owners and cooks know me so well that I don't even have to tell them my order. I know the bus routes and the time they come. I know how to find your way even when the Deutsche Bahn breaks down and I get stuck in a city near my town or when a friend parks in a parking garage that closes (yeah that's a thing in Germany) and we get stuck once again in a city near our town. Sauerland was not only the region I spent my exchange year in, Sauerland became my home. Mein Herz schlägt für das Sauerland.

Hemer (lower right) and Ihmert (rest of the pictures).

An exchange year is a tough and extremely difficult endeavor. Not only do you venture to a strange land, alone, homesick, and are forced to build a new life, but you are also forced to leave that new life you build. However, if you do it right, you'll have such great memories and experiences that impacted you so greatly that you think about the year all the time, dream about going back, and in most cases you actually do go back.

Deutschland, ich werde dich bald wieder besuchen. Ich verspreche, dass ich wieder dahin werde, um alles noch mal zu sehen und mehr zu erleben. Danke, dass du so nett zu mir warst. Danke, dass ich dich Heim nennen darf. Danke Deutschland!

For all these reasons, when people ask me how my year in Germany was, I answer with a huge smile, that probably makes me look like an idiot, "It was great! I liked it a lot!"