Before I left on my exchange previous exchange students, and people who where involved in the program kept telling me how much this single year would change me. They mentioned how I would discover myself, become more independent and most of all how much I would mature. I remember my Grandpa saying to me “every one year of exchange, is like maturing five years in one”. So by his count, I guess I am almost twenty-two years old (if you are reading this Kendra, we are basically the same age now). I was forewarned that when I returned my family may struggle to understand me, and I would most likely return to the loosing a majority of my friends. I understood I would change, but I didn't understand that my reasoning for going on exchange would change with that. Pre exchange I was not actually fully aware of why I had this strange desire to leave my entire life behind and start new. I didn't know myself as well as I really thought I did.
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