Okay so I know I'm not exactly a world class writer. I'm not planning on doing any journalism or anything like that for a reason of course. So I'm sorry if I lose anyones interest while reading this.

But first off I want to say that this past Wednesday was a sad day. Mama/Emma left and went back to Vermont. She was one of the exchangers and I love her and already miss her super dooper much. It's hard. I think it's hard now just having to say bye to one exchanger. Who knows how I will handle saying bye to all the others, let alone a whole country.
Before Mama left, she was really sad, of course. To make her feel better, some of the other exchangers brought up the idea to tell her all the things she has to look forward to. I sat and listened to her tell me how she was excited to go back and drive, see her friends and family, eat taco bell, play soccer, and be home. It made her feel better, so I'm more than happy that it did. But after listening to all of it, I realized how much I missed home.
I've been putting myself in her place for a few days so I could understand her. But spending too much time in her place made me extremely homesick. I keep thinking I've hit rock bottom to this homesickness I was warned I would have. But it just keeps popping up and worse than before. I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to it really.

School here is okay. It's boring, go figure, but it's school. Laura and I go to a lot of the classes in English. But we don't feel so pressured to show up for Croatian classes. And having conversations with our classmates can be difficult. Everyone speaks in Croatian so joining other people's conversations is almost impossible, so Laura and I just hang on to each other for the most part. Sometimes we're able to talk to kids in our class, but most of them just like to keep to each other.

I think if I didn't have Laura, I would be drowning at school. It would be terrible and gruesome to have to do it all alone. I'm so thankful I have her because when I talk about any issues I'm having, she understands.It's such a relief when I have her around. I love her to death!

I'm grateful that I have any of the other exchangers as well. They were my first friends here and my main friends here. If I didn't have any of them, then I would not be enjoying my time here. They make the experiance for me.
I have a few Croatian friends too. But they study A LOT and ALL THE TIME.

So there was no real point I guess to this blog. Just an update I suppose on my life in Croatia.
I'm missing Mama dearest ever so much and wish she didn't leave me behind. But I'll deal, I suppose.

Oh and also trying to scholarships while in another country on a year abroad is probably one of the hardest things ever. So is looking at dorms and doing placement tests and all the college jazz.

Oh, and I've gotten more comments about looking like Ke$ha. Not sure if I'm feeling insulted or complimented.
I'd appreciate Britney comments a whole lot more, but I guess Ke$ha works for now.

First off
Britney's new song...AMAZINGGG!
everyone should go on youtube and check out her song "Hold it Against me"
she's soo amazing! i love her and everything that she is. her new album comes out in march i believe
you bet your darn tootin i'll be there buying her new CD the second it comes out

Anyways
Two words

LES ALPS!

 Mama and I

 Dani and I

 Dani and I

 Dorothy, Dani, and I

 I recommend never chewing huge liquid advil pills

 Dani, Mama, and I

Me and Dani going skiing!

I put up a lot of pictures because there are so many good ones and everyone has wonderful memories that just make me smile

if there's one thing everyone should plan to do in their life to complete it, I would without a doubt or hesitation say it's see the Alps. There's nothing like it. At all. Ever. Just looking outside of my appartment building to be smacked right in the face with the Alps surronding me, it's breathless.

I went with 3 other exchangers and 6 croatian friends of the other exchange girls.We left New Years Day and spent 16 hours on the bus with the added smoke breaks, instead of bathroom breaks. It was a long bus ride and it was cramped, but it was worth every second.

I did in fact ski in the Alps. I cannot say I was good. But I tried my best. I SKIED THE ALPS MAN!!
I can't get over it. I want to go back soo badly!

I partied it up with people from all over the world. It was amazing. I was with Australians, Croatians, French, British, and of the course Americans. Everyone spoke English and everyone knew how to have fun.

I loved being soo independent. Yes, I know being abroad is already independent enough. But we had to cook our own food, buy our own food, wake up on our own, get some sleep (kind of). We were adults. We were on our own. I loved it!

Oh and I got to speak French. Lots of it. It felt good to be the one everyone else needed to translate for them. Here I need someone else to help me. I got to be on the other end for once.

Honestly, there are days, weeks, or even moments that everyone packs away in their brain to remember for the rest of their life. I want to stuff that whole week into a box and never let it go. I became closer with my exchanger friends. I laughed. I cried. I went crazy (as always). And I laughed some more. 

The whole week was filled with nonstop laughter and I know I'm going to miss everyone more than anything when I leave. The idea of leaving all of them now makes me want to cry. This is what this year is about. Making friends. Having experiances that I will never forget. Having memories that make it impossible to let go. Laughing until I cry.

I also switch families the day after I got back. 

It was sad to pack up my room. I'm going to miss my family so much. They were the bomb. Dani moved into my old family. And she came over while I was still packing up and thats when it hit me how weird and sucky it is that I have to leave them. She was in the living room bonding and I was trying to make everything i have fit into the 5 bags I had...impossible, I had to use a garbage bag as well.

If it were the end of my exchange, I'm sure I would have cried. But it's not. And I can still go see them whenever I want.

My new family is still awesome though. I got little Emma's/Mae's/Mama's family. I have a big room with a cool bed. I love it. And they feed me delicious food. It's not bad. I have to walk like 10-15 minutes to get to a tram though. Only downside. But I still would rather have this over Dani's old family who hated her far to much and lived in the middle of no where.

I'm happy. Ja sam sretna.

I'm healthy (with a cough). I'm comfortable. And my croatian is picking up. I've moved up from understanding 1 word per sentence to understanding maybe every other word in sentences. I eavesdrop a lot because people underestimate my knowledge of the language. 

I LOVE CROATIA! I love this year. I love everything.

I love my friends here. This is all I ever wanted out of this year and for a second, I doubted that I would ever reach this point of happiness this year.

 These are my best friends, my memories, my family. This is what people live for.

p.s.
i got my lovely mother's "who" nose blinged out
oh and the french lady asked me what to call the stud in english. I told her to call it bling.