Sunday, July 21, 2013

gifts

uuppssiii I havent been written here from 2 months ! wow, time flies and so did my exchange ! can you believe that exactly one year ago i came back ? and exactly year ago, at the same time ( almost midnight) i was chatting/talking with Colombia !? Unbelievable, one year after i am doing the same thing- thinking about Colombia and doing action ! what i have done today? i wrote to the Rotaract in Warsaw ! i am very interested if there is anything to do for me ! i would be extremely happy to be with them, meet new people and talk about Colombia and those beautiful stuff Rotaract in Colombia are doing-all clubs.
Well, its been a one year since i am home and almost 2 years to my trip to Colombia. I cannot believe in time and in my love and passion. guys, how is possible to be one year home and think 24 about exchange ? I cannot be back, i cant adapt once again.
did i tell you last year what was my idea to "remember" forever Colombia? i was about to get a tattoo, which i consider now as a studpid idea. in this post i would like to tell you some ideas about goodbye gifts or something with deeper meaning for you and just for you.

considering a tattoo.. well, that was my first idea- to get a tattoo (of course on invisible part of my body)  and keep all my memories not only in my head but in my body. i dont consider this idea as a stupid one but i am not fan of tattoos. I think that colombian one would be first and last one in my life. and when it will be done my boyfriend will kill me and my mom disinherit me :))) joke.
i dont think i would do one, why? idea sounds cool, even showing friends but my person is the best example of people, who dont need to do/make/paint anything on theirs bodies to remember. I remember every moment, every month. its like obsession, really but it works and on the most frequently questions" how is Colombia" or " how was your exchange" or " is it true about the drugs" I SAY JUST TRUTH " Colombia is passion" and then i tell the stories. its soo cool get a message from your friends with " we missssssing you bitch" or its so cool staring at my colombian map with all signatures. jesus.
coming back to our today topic. i was following our international page on facebook " when you know you're exchange student..." and ive noticed that many of you is getting ready to back home. then what to buy for your friends? what to buy your host family? and what to get for yourself to keep all these memories sticked together? my personal ideas are below.
1. for your friends : if you were in a group of many friends you can make an album with photos, your funny quotes, describing some stories.. OR you can write to letter to each of them. my almost all friends were always together cause its a one small city and bogota-of course capital-huge one and they are still together but its very hard to keep one album for lets say 6 people. thats why i wrote letters to each of them, i remember my goodbye party wasnt so sad. of course i cried next day but i knew that is just for 5 months and of course it happened. i came back to Colombia to seee all of them in Decemeber :)
i guess that this 2 ideas are the most personal and the most memorable.
2. to say thank you and goodbye to your host family is the hardest. i think that there is no gift because its too hard to split. however changing with some personal jewerely or something else is very good idea. its hard to say girl-mom boy-host dad cause its dependent on relationship you've built ( for instance i have better relationship with my host dad than mom but that depends how time you've spent together, in my case my host mom was working out of the city)
try to remember the most funny stuff you've done with the parent or maybe you have some necklace/ring/bracelet etc you can give to the person?
on my last Rotary meeting i wrote a letter to all Rotarians to say huge thank you and to appreciate all they have done for me. by the end, i wrote some words to my dad, who cried after it. and so did I :)
3. what to get/buy for yourself? i made an album with photos of my friends and under it everybody wrote some words and few of them just put the letter to the envelope. you have to idea how awesome is reading it after few months and i am pretty sure its gonna be fun in couple of years.
you may also exchange with necklace/bracelet with your best friend.


but the most important are memories. you will never forget the moments you were happy with those people. and now there is no distance. of course flights are expensive but not that much if you spend 83934 hours before your computer and looking for offers, like i do :))

if there is anybody who would like to contact me and get some knowledge about the exchange- email me ! nskotnicka@wp.pl
i know that now is a special HOT time to leave the home country or come back, thats why as a experienced ex exchange student i can say a lot !

ps. leave your boyfriend/girlfriend/ family/friends in your home city. have an adventure of your life. real friends will stay with you despite of the distance, your family will be always with you so you dont have to worry. you will meet new friends, new people, you will get new experience. if somebody who goes in few days to the Rotary exchange should be happy. I would get everything to come back to this day of 6th august 2011


CU soon !
Natalia

 isla grande- carribean blue

coffee park

sunset in coffee park

amazon river and boats

me-diving :)

me and coral reef

souvenirs from Colombia