In which part of your foot do you live?
You know Michigan is shaped like a mitten glove. So people who live there to tell in where they live, they point the place on their hands. Well, one day, a couple when I told them I was Italian one of them pulled up his leg and pointed at a random place ask me: " Don't you do like this to show people where you live?" They started laughing and when I told them that nobody does, at first they were kind of shocked, then they laughed even harder!
Living with a shaman...
My first host family was a single man, 70 years old. He lives in a castle with 10 levels. He considered his-self a shaman and he is a master of qi-qonk. He is the most weird person i have ever met.
I feel in love with my host brother!
When I went to the USA in August last year I had, like every other exchange-student-to-be, no thoughts except having a typical ”American year”. High school, new friends, get to experience the American culture and just have fun for a year. I had no idea that I was going to meet a wonderful guy, no less fall in love.
You know how people say that ”love happens when you least expect it?” Well, I guess I can say that I see what they mean
I met him the same day I arrived in Detroit. August 24 2010. I didn’t think anything special, I was just happy that I finally was there and got to meet my host family! He introduced himself as Patrick. Of course, I had already heard about him in my host moms e-mails. ”How fun with a host brother my age” I thought before I left. Little did I know…
After a couple of days of getting to know each other as”host siblings” I started to realize something else. Was he flirting with me? And, did I flirt back? You got it right.
Eight days after my arrival to Detroit my family had planned a trip to Los Angeles, California. The excitement was high and a vacation to the beach was well needed for the family. I was just happy to be going to California!
So after another day of what I presumed was flirting from his side we suddenly walked on the beach during the Californian sunset. I won’t deny it; I liked him more than just as my host brother. I tried to get rid of the thoughts. He was my host brother, we were supposed to be living under the same roof the following 10 months.
During our walk, all of a sudden, we kissed. Yes, romantic and unreal. Even though, the thoughts were still there. He was my host brother. What would my host mom say?
When she saw us coming back from our walk she looked at us and smiled. She said:”Don’t pretend like nothing’s happened, tell me!” Time to be yelled at and this was doomed to failure, I thought.
But she was very positive to it all, but also realistic. ”Even if this is something that’s plain fun for a year, or if it is something serious, I’m glad for you as long as you enjoy each other’s company. But I want you both to know that Emma has gone home next May, and you both will get hurt if this develops.”
And so it goes. Sure there where thoughts like “it’s going to be tough if we break up and still have to live together” in our heads, but we choose to take a day at a time and see where it took us. But, it wasn’t always easy dating your host brother.
As you can guess my organization didn’t allow relationships between “host siblings”. (I think this is a very stupid rule by the way. Who decides who to fall in love with?!) This meant that we couldn’t be “us” everywhere. Not in school, and not in places where people from school hung out. My representative in the USA told me if we didn’t end our relationship, I was getting replaced or sent home.
But somebody also said “love conquers all”. We had to deal with it and stay low. Only our closest friends knew about it (my family in Germany as well), and it remained the same throughout the year. Yes, it was sad not to be able to be boyfriend and girlfriend on “homecoming” and “prom”. But being together was everything for us.
The last day of school, on Patrick’s “graduation”, we ignored all rules and what people said. I was going home soon, and the chance of getting sent home three weeks before my departure seemed absent. In front of everybody he knew on “graduation”, he kissed me. We didn’t care if anybody saw us. So what? We finally got to be the couple we had been for the last ten months. The reactions from our friends were the greatest. They all were so surprised!
Unfortunately, the day we both feared arrived. I had to go home. What would happen to us? Ten months together, would they all go to waste? The mood at home was not the best. I was of course sad and worried, and even if we both decided we wouldn’t break up when I went home, I had a hard time enjoying the rest of the time.
I sat by the kitchen table a day, when I hear Patrick and my host mom whispering. “Show her” I heard, and startled. He pulled a paper out of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of me. A airline ticket. To Germany! He was flying home with me to stay with my family for ten days! “This is also proof that Germany is not that far away, and if we really want this to work, it will!” he said.
As I said before, was finding a guy on the other side of the Atlantic sea my last expectation. Life is unpredictable! My host mom always said “you sure got more than you bargained for when you signed up for the exchange year.” And, indeed, I did!
We had ten wonderful days together in Germany, and saying goodbye to him at the airport was one of the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was hard not to cry, and it was hard to tell yourself that we are going to see each other soon, but we had to.
Right now, I’m in Germany, I have my ticket and in 69 days I’ll be on the plane back to Detroit to visit my beloved boyfriend. My own American! Some days is harder then the others. Some days it feels like October won’t come. But every day I get to see him on Skype and hear his voice. Every day is one day closer to the departure.
We don’t know what will happen in the future, we don’t know what will happen with us. At the moment, we’re in love, and that’s all that matters. On August 29 we will have been dating for a year and the thought of that he’s my boyfriend makes me flip!
Love conquers all, and if you want something much enough there is always a way of making it work! The Atlantic ocean is just a sea. Not more than that. Nothing will keep us from being together.
You know how people say that ”love happens when you least expect it?” Well, I guess I can say that I see what they mean
I met him the same day I arrived in Detroit. August 24 2010. I didn’t think anything special, I was just happy that I finally was there and got to meet my host family! He introduced himself as Patrick. Of course, I had already heard about him in my host moms e-mails. ”How fun with a host brother my age” I thought before I left. Little did I know…
After a couple of days of getting to know each other as”host siblings” I started to realize something else. Was he flirting with me? And, did I flirt back? You got it right.
Eight days after my arrival to Detroit my family had planned a trip to Los Angeles, California. The excitement was high and a vacation to the beach was well needed for the family. I was just happy to be going to California!
So after another day of what I presumed was flirting from his side we suddenly walked on the beach during the Californian sunset. I won’t deny it; I liked him more than just as my host brother. I tried to get rid of the thoughts. He was my host brother, we were supposed to be living under the same roof the following 10 months.
During our walk, all of a sudden, we kissed. Yes, romantic and unreal. Even though, the thoughts were still there. He was my host brother. What would my host mom say?
When she saw us coming back from our walk she looked at us and smiled. She said:”Don’t pretend like nothing’s happened, tell me!” Time to be yelled at and this was doomed to failure, I thought.
But she was very positive to it all, but also realistic. ”Even if this is something that’s plain fun for a year, or if it is something serious, I’m glad for you as long as you enjoy each other’s company. But I want you both to know that Emma has gone home next May, and you both will get hurt if this develops.”
And so it goes. Sure there where thoughts like “it’s going to be tough if we break up and still have to live together” in our heads, but we choose to take a day at a time and see where it took us. But, it wasn’t always easy dating your host brother.
As you can guess my organization didn’t allow relationships between “host siblings”. (I think this is a very stupid rule by the way. Who decides who to fall in love with?!) This meant that we couldn’t be “us” everywhere. Not in school, and not in places where people from school hung out. My representative in the USA told me if we didn’t end our relationship, I was getting replaced or sent home.
But somebody also said “love conquers all”. We had to deal with it and stay low. Only our closest friends knew about it (my family in Germany as well), and it remained the same throughout the year. Yes, it was sad not to be able to be boyfriend and girlfriend on “homecoming” and “prom”. But being together was everything for us.
The last day of school, on Patrick’s “graduation”, we ignored all rules and what people said. I was going home soon, and the chance of getting sent home three weeks before my departure seemed absent. In front of everybody he knew on “graduation”, he kissed me. We didn’t care if anybody saw us. So what? We finally got to be the couple we had been for the last ten months. The reactions from our friends were the greatest. They all were so surprised!
Unfortunately, the day we both feared arrived. I had to go home. What would happen to us? Ten months together, would they all go to waste? The mood at home was not the best. I was of course sad and worried, and even if we both decided we wouldn’t break up when I went home, I had a hard time enjoying the rest of the time.
I sat by the kitchen table a day, when I hear Patrick and my host mom whispering. “Show her” I heard, and startled. He pulled a paper out of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of me. A airline ticket. To Germany! He was flying home with me to stay with my family for ten days! “This is also proof that Germany is not that far away, and if we really want this to work, it will!” he said.
As I said before, was finding a guy on the other side of the Atlantic sea my last expectation. Life is unpredictable! My host mom always said “you sure got more than you bargained for when you signed up for the exchange year.” And, indeed, I did!
We had ten wonderful days together in Germany, and saying goodbye to him at the airport was one of the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was hard not to cry, and it was hard to tell yourself that we are going to see each other soon, but we had to.
Right now, I’m in Germany, I have my ticket and in 69 days I’ll be on the plane back to Detroit to visit my beloved boyfriend. My own American! Some days is harder then the others. Some days it feels like October won’t come. But every day I get to see him on Skype and hear his voice. Every day is one day closer to the departure.
We don’t know what will happen in the future, we don’t know what will happen with us. At the moment, we’re in love, and that’s all that matters. On August 29 we will have been dating for a year and the thought of that he’s my boyfriend makes me flip!
Love conquers all, and if you want something much enough there is always a way of making it work! The Atlantic ocean is just a sea. Not more than that. Nothing will keep us from being together.