Isabela Mercer

“I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” ~Markus  Zusak, The Book Thief.

As a foreign exchange student, I have become somewhat familiar with saying goodbye and saying hello, but that doesn’t mean it’s easier for me to do it again now. A quirky fun fact that I have noticed ever since I got here, is that everyone I talked to about my exchange year said they don’t think they could ever do what I’m doing. Some told me they had interest in living abroad but didn’t think they would ever actually do it. From my own experience, I can assure anyone that being away from your family, friends and everything you’ve ever known for ten months is definitely not an easy task. But it is all worthy when you realize how many wonderful people you had the opportunity to meet, all the different customs you got to experience, all the different places you were able to visit. It all comes down to being glad it happened rather than being sad it’s ending.

I came into the newspaper staff in the beginning of the year not knowing if I would even be decent at writing stories. But thankfully, I grew not only as a writer but as a person as well. The Howler staff warmly welcomed me and I consider myself very lucky to have been able to meet all of them. I am extremely proud to be a part of the Howler newspaper.

All I can say is thank you to everyone who was nice to me, because some days that mattered more than anything. Thank you to my host family who welcomed me as one of their own; Thank you to all the people who were brave, or crazy, enough to be friends with a foreign exchange student– I promise that you have a true friend for life in me even if I am thousands of miles away; Thank you teachers for supporting me and sharing some of your knowledge, that has been extremely interesting and quite valuable to me; Lastly, thank you to all the people who I might not have become very close with but who were kind to me and welcomed me. Every smile was very important on a day where I missed home. Keep reading and rock on, people.