"Tour de Fort Wayne" and much more

Hey Everyone! 

So last Wednesday was my college visit to Manchester University! I only have three words to describe it: I LOVE IT. I ended up submitting my application that same day too! {{ Plus I took the French Language Exam online to see how much I know, and I knew probably half of the answers, so I'll definitely retake it after I brush up on the basics }} Fingers crossed I get accepted :)

On Thursday, I basically started packing, but I haven't packed all the way yet, since I don't have a departure date. Here is one of my two suitcases semi-packed: 

Then on Friday, Nicole and I planned a "Tour de Fort Wayne" for Orsi and Estelle (two Inbounds this year)! It was so great to be able to hangout with all of them while showing them my city. We drove around Downtown for a while, then we headed to Jefferson Pointe Outlet Mall to shop, hear live music, and get some dinner. Here are some more pictures:

This is where we ate dinner. 

Nicole and Orsi (from Hungary) 

Estelle (from Switzerland) and I

Estelle and Nicole showing off our menus 

Just waiting on our food! 

Nicole :) haha 

Estelle and I shared these Nachos, so this is the before picture...

... And this is the after picture! 

Here is the restaurant as we were leaving. It was so great to be able to see everyone yesterday. Hope you all have great exchange years, I can't wait to hear all about them! 

Thanks for reading,

Maggie 

Lots of Lasts, Hopeful Firsts, & Unknown Futures

Merhaba! 

Lately, I've just been anxiously awaiting some news regarding my visa and departure date... I am just so ready to start this adventure already. But enough about the depressing stuff, let me update you on all the recent changes that have come up over the past couple days:

This last Friday (( August 22nd )) was my official last day of working at Penn Station! It's kind of bittersweet for me, since I've worked there for almost 2 years now and I've become really close with my coworkers. But at the same time, I can't wait to finally start this upcoming year long adventure that I've waited so long for. {{ If your reading this, I just wanted to give a HUGE thanks to my General Manager Cassie and Franchise Owner Doug for all they've done for me over these last two years. You've both been so helpful, flexible, and supportive when it came to my year abroad. I can't thank you enough! }} 

But once I got out of work, Nicole (outbound to Brazil) and I went to see that new movie "If I Stay". I have to admit, I thought I'd like the movie much more than I actually did. It was just a little too predictable. But I heard the book was good, so maybe I'll have to read it some day! 

Speaking of unknown futures, today I had a meeting with IU, aka Indiana University. It was one of those informational meetings where they go through a slide show and then the audience asks questions afterwards to the presenters. My mom actually went to IU so she was, of course, very excited to be at the meeting hearing about her old school. But I also have another College visit on Wednesday to Manchester University, where my Dad went to College. As of right now, Manchester is my first choice, but who knows what my opinion will be until after I visit it. 

And speaking of lasts, today some of my Family had a "Going away" taco party for me. It was so sad having to say goodbye to all of them, especially since we all won't be together again for another year. Thanks for the awesome party guys, I'll miss you bunches xoxo 

Top row: Jack, Julia, Me, Alice, Samantha, Steven, and George.

Bottom row: Sophie and Eric

Thanks again for reading! 

Sincerely, Maggie  

Photo Timeline

Yesterday, I went to the airport with Sydney and her parents to see her off on her way to Australia! I'm so excited for her, I just can't wait to hear all about her adventure (If you also want to see how she's doing, her blog URL is on the side bar on the right side of my blog). 

Kind of on a random note, but I was going through all the pictures I have on my phone from this last year with all the Inbounds and Outbounds. I started laughing so hard, that I almost cried. So, I thought I'd share a few of them with you! 

This is some of us, plus Madisson (one of last year's Outbounds).

Linda, Sydney, and I at the April Cinference

Zuzia and Bryant took my phone at the April Conference and took selfies :) I miss them so much! 

This is from an impromptu picnic Zuzia, Sophie, Kenzie, and I went on one time.

Haha this is from my 18th birthday, when Sophie and Sydney bought me a piñata and we took it to the park to have a photoshoot with it before we destroyed it. 

This is just ONE of the 1000+ selfies Bruno took on my phone over the year

One of the candid pictures of Sophie and Sydney that was taken at my goodbye party!

Por, Bruno, Sydney, and I went out for breakfast together. Gosh, I miss them a lot.

Taco Bell: Nicole's favorite place

And this brings me up to the present day! Of course, there were so so so many other pictures I could have posted, but you'd be here all night if I did :) 

Sincerely,

Maggie 

So much change so little time

Hey Everyone! 

Recently, I've been experiencing a lot of change in my life and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it all happening at once. So, I decided to write about it, hoping it will help me organize my thoughts. 

The biggest change would have to be that my two best friends in the entire world left/ are leaving within the same week. Bruno went home to Brazil on Tuesday, and Sophie leaves Saturday for her year in Denmark. Last Monday (August 4th), all of us (Sydney, Nicole, Sophie, Bruno, and I) got together at Sydney's pond to have a "Going Home" dinner for Bruno. Here is a picture of us that night: 

Then that next morning, Sophie and I went to the Fort Wayne Airport to say goodbye to Bruno. I'll admit that I did tear up a little bit. Afterwards, Sophie took me to her Grandma's house for some homemade Bulgarian food, which was amazing by the way. But as I was leaving to go home, all my emotions changed. I didn't cry all day or anything, I just became numb. I was trying to block out all the feelings of sadness, and the many urges to cry, by pretending that I didn't miss my best friend. {And this is for you Sydney:} But as one of my favorite authors John Green said in his book "The Fault in our Stars", Pain Demands to be Felt. So as the days went on, I started feeling worse and worse. I'd reached the point of just needing a good cry to release all the bottled up emotion I'd been holding on to. So today, I was driving to Sophie's house so we could carpool together to go volunteering, and as I was driving out to her house in the country, all these sad country songs came on, such as "It won't be like this for long" by Darius Rucker and "Don't forget to remember me" by Carrie Underwood. And with each one I became even more sad than before. Then all the emotion I'd been holding back hit me at once, like a ton of bricks. I started crying so uncontrollably that I had to stop driving and finally face what I'd been holding back all this time. But I'll admit, the worst part about crying for me is that once I start crying, I'll cry about everything sad in my life. So I'd say I probably sat in the middle of that country road for a solid 10 minutes before I was able to pull myself together enough to be able to drive the rest of the way to Sophie's house. But once I got there, Sophie gave me a goodbye present which consisted of some coffee filters (because I have no filter in my personality haha), a "Horton hears a Who" book with a message written inside from Sophie, and some candy. It was a very thoughtful gift that I'll definitely use over this next year. Have an amazing year Soph, I can't wait to hear all about it!

But the more I think about Sophie leaving, the more I realize that this exchange brought us so close as friends before ever leaving for our separate host countries, that it must have so many other great things in store for the both of us over this next year apart. 

On a lighter note, several new exchange students have arrived recently to start their exchanges in Indiana! First is Sydney's exchange student Estelle, who is with a program called CHI from Switzerland, then Sergio, who is with Rotary from Peru, and finally Sophie's exchange student Orsi, who is also with Rotary from Hungary! They all are such nice people, I just know they will have an awesome year on exchange! 

Writing this really helped me start to organize my feelings towards everything changing in my life. I hope this post has shown to you all that foreign exchange is much more than just going to another country for a year. There is a price you pay for leaving your heart in many different places. But in the end, I wouldn't  trade that feeling for anything in the world. Rotary has given me this valueable  gift of knowing and loving people from all over the world, and that can never be repayed. 

Thanks for reading, 

Maggie