Kearney Tate in Thailand: Sand

The past two months have literally flown by. I feel as though every time I look at the calendar a tiny grain of sand settles in the bottom of my stomach. Realizing the small amount of time I have left as an inbound exchange student scares me.
Yesterday I dropped one of my closest friends off at the airport. Jon has become an older brother to me this year and there is no doubt that it was difficult to say goodbye. Yet, it wasn’t until after he stepped off the top of the escalator, backpack on, passport in hand, turned away and disappeared out of sight that it all began to hit me.
Alex turns to me, “Did Jon just leave?” she asks in voice that almost pleads me to tell her it’s not true.
I don’t even have the energy to nod, the grains of sand in my stomach have turned into one solid rock in the pit of my stomach. We wrap into a tight hug as the tears rain down from my face. He is the first of my close friends to leave and the realization that slowly my family of exchange students is separating hits me like a frying pan to the forehead. Soon enough we will all be back in our home countries, far apart from one another, far away from Thailand. Soon enough we will all go back to those old lives that we lived before we knew each other. The same houses, the same towns… but it will never be truly the same. Nothing will ever be truly the same.

All I can say is thank you. Thank you to every single exchange student in District 3350 for being a friend to me. You have all influenced me in ways that maybe even you do not know. I truly value every single second of time that I spend with you. Though our time as inbounds in Thailand may be nearing a close, lets not call this goodbye, let’s call it see you later… because one day, I’ll

visit you. In Europe, in Asia, North and South America. See you in Australia too. ♫