Lina from Germany arrives in Wisconsin.

Aspect Foundation’s inbox is flooded with notes from students expressing their gratitude for the experience they have had on student exchange. On Thursdays, we post one of these notes, sharing the “warm fuzzies” with all of you!

Today’s Thank You Thursday features Lina from Germany, who thanks everyone for her year abroad in Wisconsin.

This is it. It is really over now. This is when it all comes together and when I say thank you one more time, even though I couldn’t say it enough.

I am so grateful for everything that happened these past 10 months. From cross country meets, football games, briqs runs, winter, basketball games, JG to prom, soccer games, sleepovers, lake days, hikes and more adventures. All of this and this year in general has changed me and had a huge impact on me.

I’ve grown so much as a person, I became way more confident, open-minded, adventoruous, independent and it made me appreciate everything that I have here in Germany and everything that I have in Wausau even more. I can’t express in words how thankful I am for every single person that I met, for everyone that became one of my best friends, for all the smiles, the laughs and all the memories!

A special thank you goes out to my American family, for opening up your home to me and letting me live with you not for only 5 but for 10 months. To my host parents for always driving me everywhere, for giving me the opportunity to experience so many different things, for always being there for me and for being the best American family that I could’ve ended up with. To my host sister, who always went on new adventures with me and to my host brother for all the Starbucks and briqs runs!

Another thank you goes out to my family. To my parents for making all this possible, for letting me stay another 5 months, for always supporting me with every decision that I’ve made, even if they didn’t like it. And to my brother who came and surprised me, who always supported, encouraged, inspired and motivated me! Thanks to all of you! This experience wouldn’t have been the same without any of you.

Everyone should experience something like this at least once in their life because it’s something you will never forget, something that will always be a part of you and something nobody can take away from you because these memories will stay forever.

-Lina from Germany, in Wisconsin

Interested in sharing YOUR corner of the world with an international exchange student? Learn more about becoming a host family at: http://aspectfoundation.org/host-families.