200 Days Down

200 Days Down - or: A Look at the Last Seven Months, the Purpose and the Future

200 Days Down. 100 Days Remaining.

Since my last post at the (almost) halfway mark, a lot has shifted.
I feel listless, depleted, tired and there is a bone-deep weariness that is hard to shake off.

I was always in favour of the full ten months, I can't even count how often I shot my mother down when she suggested I only go for half a year. And now I wish I had listened to her.

Don't get me wrong, I really love it here.
But I have accomplished what I came to do, even if this list was mostly unconscious.

In this list, kind of like a To-Do List, there were questions.

• Can I stand up for myself?
• Can I overcome adversity?
• Can I achieve my grades in a second language?

And a lot more which I don't what to bore you with, but I have answered most of these with a Yes.

I was able to overcome my first hostfamily, I was on top of the class in all of my subjects - I know for a fact that my grade in English was the best, my Spanish score with 101.5% was also the best in both of the classes she taught, I had a high A in Japanese and my Biology grade was only topped by a student in one of his other Bio 12 classes (by one percent?).

I saw that I could make new friends (keeping them is something else, but that's a whole other can of worms that I really don't want to open here).

The only "loose end" I have right now is San Francisco, and if it weren't for that, I would probably be looking into flights back home by now.

I can't, for one because I paid ~$800 just for "entertainment" from mid-April to mid-June (San Francisco + sports classes) plus cancelling the flights my parents booked would be pretty expensive, so I gotta stick it out.

I'm restless, though, because the next project (now that project exchange year is completed successfully in mind) is looming on the horizon, and while I can start on it, it would be way easier if I were back home.

So yeah, the 200 mark is kind of a relief ...

But one thing is for sure:
I will always cherish the memories and experiences gained here and will do my very best to not forget anything.