Cake Pops: lists

I love lists. I love them so much, I don't think I could function without them.

I have a lot going on in my life right now with college decisions, and travel plans, and making employment connections. All of this is happening in my American life though, which feels like a weird parallel universe right now. So, so as not to forget all the important emails, dates, and degree options, I've taken to making lists.

Before I came to Hungary I had a list of what I needed to pack, categorized by purpose or season. Then, I took a list with me to the airport lining up gates, documents, and which other students I would meet there. I mean, I live kind of a charmed life, so now I mostly make lists of words (sidenote: which by the way are very long since moving to a Hungarian class)

Now that my departure date is closer (sidenote: literally three months until I'm on US soil. That is so surreal) I have these huge theoretical lists for what I can/have to do this summer, which extracurricular stuff at ISU I can  fit together, and how many/what combinations of teacher certification I can reasonably get in four years. Mom and I even have a spreadsheet. Like, how cool is that that my mother will share a google doc with me to help organize my life and not even bat an eye.

So yeah, I think I might be a little too obsessive or over-exuberant, but I am just so excited about how open the next year is. I can't wait to get back to being over-scheduled and stretched thin trying to stay involved in everything I'm passionate about. It's going to be my next great adventure.

Cake Pop: Class Switching

So, I switched classes at the beginning of this week. Instead of being in an all English Inter-Baccalaureate class all of the time, I split my hours between IB and a normal Hungarian class. Now my schedule is mostly Biology and Chemistry--I higher level in Biology for IB and the Hungarian class I'm in Higher levels in Biology and Chemistry. If these next few months can't make me into a science genius, I don't know what can.

My Hungarian class is my host mom Eva's form class, so they know of me and I know of them and I get to be around Eva. It's so nice. Everyone is so nice. I am so happy.

Of course, it's kind of like being thrown into a lake with minimal knowledge of how swimming works and being told to learn. Going from speaking English all day to depending on Hungarian to make friends was more shocking than it should have been; Monday I kind of froze and couldn't get a sentence out. But today was much better (at least I think so )

Long (okay, two day) story short:

I have never been so thoroughly exhausted in my life,but being exhausted has never been so thoroughly rewarding or enjoyable.

Chicken Soup for the Soul, and the Flu

The best part of exchange is sharing everything you have to give. Sharing a hug when you know your best friends are touch starved from the lack of physical affection in Hungarian culture. Sharing money when it's been a late night and your friend needs a train ticket home because you know it'll come back to you the next time you're short a few hundred forints. Perhaps most of all though, is sharing germs. It's true; what better to give to a loved one than snot, fever, and an incapacitatingly aggravated digestive tract?

Being sick is sucky in it's own right, and I don't want to make it seem like exchange students have the hardest lives in the world and everything is ten times worse for us because we're kind of super privileged, but it is a little worse to be sick when you're not around the people who usually take care of you. It was worse to be sick in the beginning--at least for me--because I wasn't accustomed to anything about my new life. Also I'm fairly sure my illness was mostly, if not entirely, homesickness. All I wanted was a Lord of the Rings marathon, some saltines, and some ginger ale. What I ended up with was TLC, vanilla biscuits, and Neo Citran (sidenote: Neo Citran is a "tea" comprised almost entirely of citrus flavored sugar which "cures" you with a sugar rush). After being sick a couple times here, I still miss ginger ale and puppy snuggles, but I think I'm going to miss my heating pad and fruit tea even more when I go back to the US.

Each time I'm bedridden, the second day is hardest. I have the usual cabin fever and boredom, but even worse is the constant struggle not to Skype my family. Not that Skyping your family is bad! There are just a few things to consider first in a sickly situation. First of all, it's probably like, 2 AM when you're trying to call them, so look at the time difference before you try. Secondly, and this may just be my problem, I usually don't know what to say anymore; it's just a weird thing to try and wrap my mind around, that not everyone I know/love is on the same continent or in the same facets of my life. But! Most of all the reason you should wait to Skype family when you're sick until you're lucid is it can be very hard on everyone. Seeing the people who usually fix you up helpless to do anything is hard, and wanting to mother a sick person and make everything better when you're an ocean away is the worst kind of torture.

So, some words of advice if you're Skyping with a homesick and real-sick child:

• Remember they are vulnerable. I know exchange students often show incredible inner strength striking out on their own, but when you're sick and tired and are freaking out about how you can barely speak your mother tongue anymore, there's certain things you can't deal with.
• Things like family exacerbating your homesickness! No matter what the situation is and no matter how much you want to care for your child, you can not tell them:
• "I wish you were here so I could take care of you!"
• "Just come home so you stop getting sick!"
• "It's so hard for me to see you this way and not be able to do anything about it!"
• Mostly just don't make your child feel bad for leaving you. You agreed to let go of your child the moment you signed the forms and bought their plane ticket. Making them feel guilty for that decision is awful and makes your child feel bad and possibly cry. Then their exchange friends have to put them back together. They have the flu; it will pass. 
• Throw in some orders to take vitamins. Maybe if they hear it enough they'll actually do it.

As you can see, most of my advice follows the same idea. This is only because I've seen it--I am seeing it--ruin exchange years. Guilt is a powerful emotion, one that is already abundant in the exchange community. After all, we've been actively leaving behind mother tongues, family ties, and home cultures for months. The last thing anyone needs in such a emotionally tumultuous situation is the people who originally condoned the situation to express regret and to pressure them into feeling the same. I know it must be hard to see your child in poor health, but bear in mind that your comments carry extra weight for them. What you say will stick with them for weeks, even months, at a time. If you're on the same Skype schedule as me and my family, you have precious few moments to talk. These moments are ones we as exchange students carry with us, a sort of life line, until the next time we talk to you. Don't waste them on worrying, and don't waste them on useless, destructive comments.