Sorry for the lack of posts this month! It has been crazy... I can hardly believe that it is the end of June already. I swear that each month goes by faster and faster. June has been full of exams (I think I passed everything too, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow!), parties, goodbyes, friends, and family. 
        I'm realizing more and more every day how lucky I am to have such a wonderful group of host families, friends, and Rotary club. Sometimes of I feel like my leaving isn't even that big of a deal, because I will be back so often! I could never let these people go... they are my second family, not just my exchange friends, but my real friends, and I will be eternally grateful to Rotary. 
I had two wonderful surprises this week. Tuesday night I did my Rotary presentation (every exchange students does one- they're about your home country, and then the exchange). At the end of mine, my counselor introduced a Rotary member from the district who had come to see my presentation, and give me the "Outstanding Exchange Student Award"!!! I didn't even know that this award existed until that night. It's something that a couple of exchange students (nominated by the clubs) from every district receive for integration, success in school, progression, energy, etc. I felt so honored!
The second surprise came the night after, on my way to what I thought was a movie night with a couple of my friends from school. I arrived at the house, and 26 kids from my class and my school jumped out behind my friend's house shouting "surprise!!!". It was possibly the best party of my life... I feel so lucky to have such incredible friends :)

           I can not believe that I am writing on a page that says "June 2012". I never thought that this month would come. In August I would try to imagine my final month, expecting that despite the homesickness that I was feeling in that moment that come June I would be sad to leave. Oh, I had not realized how real that sadness could be. 
          This time last year I was talking with exchange students in my U.S. district, asking them how they felt about leaving. I did not talk to one student whose reply was not "happy to return, sad to leave", and now I am finding myself in that exact position. While the thought of walking through the gate at the airport with my family and friends waiting there warms my heart like nothing else, the thought of leaving everyone who I love so dearly here breaks my heart in two. These people are not just my exchange friends, or my host family. They are my family and friends too. 
          
           And about the daily goings on...
          While I still technically have two exams left, there are just Spanish (and only 25% of my exam grade) and audio/visual class, which is just a group, 10 minute presentation on our project.  
Overall my exams have gone well (but we'll see how chemistry ACTUALLY went when I get my report card next week!). It feels ridiculous to be done with school. I can't believe that next year I won't be doing "sixième année" (senior year) at Collège Cardinal Mercier. It's too bad, because I've spent all year trying to figure out how to do school in Belgium, and now that I understand I'm leaving! Unfortunately a lot of things are like that with exchanges, but it's also the reason that one learns so much. If we thought we had more time, we wouldn't try to learn as much in one year.  
      With less than three weeks left, I am both looking forward to events that are soon to come (Rotary presentation, concert, parties) and wishing that theses dates won't arrive, because each time one does, that's one less day that I have left in Belgium. At the same time, I find myself daydreaming about things that I will do this summer in the U.S., about my family and my friends. 
A year really is perfect <3