one year at home

yes, i am going to talk about my exchange year again. only a little though. today [june 30, i am late with this post] it has been exactly one year since i returned home. actually... i never blogged about my last few weeks over there [i kept a blog for my family and friends in estonian] well, they were quite emotional, still fun. we wouldn´t even get along with earth [my thai brother] during the last week anymore.. it was weird.

sometime after our graduation party our family took us to the niagra falls. we went there two times, first, the evening we got there because they wanted to show us how it looks like at night time. and then the next morning. that is why there are two different bunches of pictures [most of them are taken by my brother alex]

it was an awesome road trip, oh yeah! [these pictures are olddd, i still had bangs]

day one.

day two.

we took a trip down to the spot where one of the waterfalls actually falls. that is what is up with the yellow costumes. it was pretty sweet.

dad had been there before, so he stayed up and took pictures of the four of us wandering around down there.

notice those two little fellas right in the middle of the fall. those are my brothers.

after. i was very protective about my hair... it just does the worst tricks ever when it comes to water. it curls up like hell. what you see in this picture is nothing, it is still wet.. but once it starts to dry it brings out massive curls. they are not even waves, curls. to think of it now, i should have dove into those falls.. when else was i going to ever go to niagara falls again..? my hair should not have mattered to me that much. oh welllllllllllll.

and then we went over to the canadian side of the niagara falls. earth could not come because for some reason they would not let people from thailand [and some more] over. him and mom went to a boat trip though.

[i just randomly remembered that dad did not and probably still doesn´t own a cell phone. an interesting fact. he was/is fine with it though]

canadaaaa!

during the last week in the united states we went over to mackinaw island which is up north in the state of michigan [google if interested] we spent our  first night at aunt kathy´s cabin that was about an hour away from the island [south of it, still in the main land, so we drove there the next morning] oh, johanna from sweden was with us [you have heard of her, check back to my swedish trip, oh yeah!] we went canoeing on the lake that the cabin was by, played some boardgames and baked cookies.

for some reason i do not have many pictures of that trip. i remember i was in a cranky mood [to be really honest, i wanted to spend the last few days in port huron.. so i was feeling a little down.. hehe] to look back at it now, i am glad everything went like it did.

we went to send earth [bro] and moo [the other thai dude] home on 28th of june, sometime early in the morning. it was the most emotional day in my life so far. i cried a little on the way to the airport. at the airport i already dropped some bigger tears. oh my, i just could not imagine that i was not going to see those two never ever again... well, moo had some trouble with his suitcases and the carry-on baggage, so that cheered me up a little. once it was time to give the last hugs i just burst into tears. earth and i hugged each other for about half a minute. i let go first and felt that he was still hugging me. it broke my heart. seeing them going towards the check-in gate hurt a lot. i cried and cried... all the way home, half asleep, i cried. others had calmed down already and were trying to cheer me up. at the same time they would let me be. throughout the whole day i was feeling weird. the house was quiet.

next day was my turn. as we were driving out of the town, all i could think of was that this is the last time for me to be here.. it was a terrible feeling. looking out the window, i quietly cried little tears. we got to the airport - my biggest fear, hahaha. it was fun having johanna and korey there with us. we took pictures and laughed. i was feeling better. when mom said that it is time my heart skipped a beat. i hugged everyone. they hugged me. and of course i started crying again. people that saw me that day saw me at my worst. going through that check-in gate was like... it sucked. especially since it took some time because of the long line and my family was watching me go. right before i was about to go through that gate my mom ran towards me crying just to hug me for the last time. now that broke my heart even more than it already was. later i heard from johanna that the workers had thought that i was going to go to troops or something like that. well just so you know, i am emotional like that. i passed the gate. i looked back and waved until i got around the corner. that walk from there to the airline gate was it. i was done.

i actually mailed my first letter in the usa that morning. it was for the grandparents.

yes, it has been a year. it was quite a challenge for me to get used to it here again. especially since i dropped behind one class. it depresses me when i now think back of it all.. my mind was so messed up. my family over here had to put up with me being all changed. they actually didn´t know what to do. neither did i. i missed everyone. i can´t say that i don´t anymore, i do, oh so much. i will go back. i promise.

[such a cheesy end, i know]