“as you waste your breath complaining about life, someone out there is breathing their last.”
If you ask any exchange student what exchange was like they will not hesitate to tell you that it was the best time of their lives. We get this weird disease that I like to call, Exchangeitis, when we are addressing the life we lived as an exchange student. For those of you who are unaware the suffix -itis is used to indicate swelling… So Exchangeitis is the swelling of exchange. For some reason us exchange students suffering from Exchangeitis, happen to just forget all about the hardships of exchange, and we can only recall the incredible times we have had. Like the time I got to ride an elephant, or when I spent five days on the beach with my best friend, or when I made life long friendships with people from all over the world.
For those of you reading this you are probably wondering where I am going with this and I am also sure most you know that only a few days ago it was easter. For me its a time to be with your family, to stuff your face with chocolate, to take a break from a busy week at work/school week, to relax and forget about all of your stresses. For others it is a religious weekend, and for those who do not celebrate easter it is just a nice three day weekend. As an exchange student in a buddhist country I did not celebrate easter this year. Holidays in general are just a good way to relax, and be happy with your families. Unfortunately this year Easter Sunday brought pain to some of those closet to me.
To be honest I wish I could get some Exchangeitis right now, but unfortunately I am in a period of grieving and understanding. Two things happened on Easter this year, two tragedies. First off on your Sunday night, and my Monday morning I was woken with an abundance of text messages from one of those closet to me. My boyfriend of two years, Jacob, had texted me in a time of need. On the evening of easter, Jacobs house caught fire and burnt to the ground. Luckily no one was home (other then the cat), but unluckily they were left with nothing. They are saying it took twenty minutes from the time the house caught flame, to the time the house was burnt to the ground. Most of the things in the house were just material items, but some things they lost will be nearly impossible to replace. Like awards they had won, souvenirs, photos, and most of all some of their most valuable memories. It is unfortunate, and I would give almost anything to be by the sides of Jacob and the rest of the family. Unfortunately being 11,587kms away there are only a few things I can do to show my support. It is one of those times, that you wish you could teleport home in order to give everyone huge hug and remind them of how grateful I am to have them in my life. It is an unfortunate event, that will take some time to come to terms with and be okay with. I am sorry for the Silvernagles loss, and I wish I could be there physically to show my support.
The second thing that happened may be a little bit more difficult for me to understand, and to come to terms with. For those of you living in the Calgary area, I am sure by now you have heard about the tragic accident near spruce meadows that took a teen mothers life. And if you have not here is a news Article on it (I would explain myself but I am in a cafe and would prefer if people didn't witness me crying) on easter Sunday Airdrie was faced with tragedy as we lost one of our. Some people lost a sister, some lost a daughter, some lost a friend, some lost a little light at school, some lost the love of their life and one in particular lost their mother. Rachelle Goudy was seventeen years old, and only four months ago had given birth to a beautiful baby. Rachelle and I were not particularly close, but the passing of a young person is never easy on anyone. Although we were not close I still have multiple memories of Rachelle. We often ran into each other when changing classes, going out for lunch and leaving school for the day. She was always right by my locker chatting with friends. Rachelle was that girl in Bert Church that everyone knew. She was loud, she had a smile that stretched on for miles and she could make absolutely anyone laugh until they peed their pants. You could just be walking down the hall at school and you could feel her presence. She was full of joy. It did not matter who you were, Rachelle Goudy would have easily been one of your best friends, it did not matter if other people thought you were cool, or lame, or popular and it didn't matter who you spent your weekends with or what you spent them doing, you could have been struggling with a mental disability, or struggling with sexuality, Rachelle would have been friendly to you. You could have never spoken to her, and she would have had your back. She had a heart five times the size of anyone else at BCHS, and i think it has made loosing her extremely difficult on all of us. Even those like me who were never all that close her. My heart goes out to the Goudy family and all of those closet to Rachelle.
Exchangeitis is one of those unavoidable things. We get it because when we come home, we don't remember what the hard times felt like, instead we remember how incredible it felt to grow from them. But today i am not a sufferer of exchangeitis, instead I sit in this cafe and I remind myself that being hurt, angry, scared and sad are all natural feelings. Grieving is natural, wether it be the lose of material items, memories, or losing one of those who is closest to us. I sit here and I attempt to understand why the world turns in such tragic ways. I am trying to come to terms with the fact that being an exchange student has put me 11,587kms away from those suffering from this great loss, and the small text messages and the quick facetime are some of the only things i can do to show my support. I hope for all of you exchange students reading this you remember that exchange is hard, and that is what makes it so beautiful. Remember to take everything with a grain of salt, but also remember that being hurt and down is okay, because those are the moments you will grow the most from. For all you none exchange students reading this I hope that tonight you hug those closest to you and remind them how much they mean to you.
