i'm finding it hard to believe I'M IN HEAVEN

So now that it's Sunday and my family's asleep I can tell more about what's been going on here:)

I arrived to the México City airport at 6pm local time with five other girls, but because of the time difference it ws actually 2am, and we'd left home earlier at around 7am so we were all pretty dead! The Mexican AFS took us to a hotel in the centre where we met other exchange students (I wish I could put pictures here!!!..) from Belgium, Thailand, Germany, Italy, Norway, Japan.. nevermind the lack of sleep, we were up for pretty long just chilling with everybody. At that point I was too excited to believe I was actually in México, I acted lice a loco, but it was fun!

The next day the students left in groups to their cities, to Querétaro, Mexico, Veracruz, Tuxla, Tapachula, Lagunas, Oaxaca... ...and of course my bus to Juchitán was the absolute last! Our bus and the other bus to Ixtepec left at 9:30 in the evening. Which could've been fun and exciting but... WE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE HOTEL. So imagine, you are in gorgeus gorgeus Mexico, about to start the adventure of your life, but you have to sit around in a hotell all day watching everybody else leave to their destinations... oh boy oh boy ! At the end there was me, two guys and one girl from Thailand, to Germans, one Italian and one Belgian. So.. we played UNO and hangman and.. well it was pretty boring, but atleast you got to know something about the other cultures... I guess:D no but for me it was fun, I got to know the Belgian boy pretty well, he lives 20min by car from my house. But more of that later:D ANYWAY I went with the bus with one thai boy... gosh no common language... awkwad:D but I survived!

I got to Juchitan and I spent the first days getting to know the family and asking them to shw me around a bit. It was cool, but they were pretty rough. I got pretty homesick and the culture shock I was waved into was pretty big. My family's lovely though, I have two parents who both own a restaurant, meaning they work late until the evening and sleep in the afternoons, and a brother who's supersuper cool and chill, and his ex girlfriend and their baby, aw he's the cutest thing ever!! But as days went by (today it's exactly one week in the family), it got better, now I don't feel that homesick. It comes once in a while but luckily it goes away wuickly and I can enjoy my time here :)

It's been a confusing, lovely, dangerous, wonderful, lifefull week of experiences! My brother Fernando took me to Oaxaca wich is the state capital (I know... Oaxaca, Oaxca) about 5hrs with the bus. Lovely!!! He's taken me around the centre and meet his friends and my mom's shown me the market squares and shops. Luckily this is a pretty small town so I can walk around by myself too, I know how to get to the centre and can get around by myself too. I also went to the Belgian boy's family's party, I loved it, I was forced to dance salsa though I have no skills whatsoever :DDDD but it was fun ! Yesterday I went to see a movie with him and his two host brothers (hihihi) and after that we went to a bar for a while, and then got out with Fernando and his friends. I've been having so much fun and basically everything's an emotional rollercoaster, I can cry about how much I miss home and 10 minutes later I can't wait to experience more. Tomorrow I go to school so I'll meet new people and new friendships and yayyy I'm so excited !! :) also in a couple of minutes I'll be goin to the centre with Fernando :))) ayayayayyy life here is good. I've already experienced so much and been so happy, and it's only been one week!!!! Can't wait for more days like this :)

I hope everything's ok with you guys too ! talk to you later :)

Minea xox

here i am!!

..or actually have been for a while already :P I lovein Juchitan, its a pretty small city in Oaxaca, in the South of Mexico, and my family is really amazing! At home theres my brother and his girlfriend and child and my parents and outside two more brothers and a sister. I start school on Monday, I wish it was earlier since theres not much to do in the afternoons, my parents are sleeping now cause they work all night long and my brothers working, but anyways, things are really really good here !! :)

Just a quick post to say Im alive and here and loving it!

Minea x

LAST CHANCE !!!!!

Hiyaaa ! So since the departure is getting closer everyday, I thought it might be a good idea to start thinking about what clothes I want to take with me - but more importantly, to choose the ones I want to sell tomorrow at the flee market. (I have to be there at SEVEN THIRTY tops, how much torture is that????) I've been tossing clothes all year long into random bins and tomorrow it's time to get rid of them, finally. It's my second time selling clothes, don't know how I always end up throwing so many of them into re-sell, but now it completely emptied my closet... since they said that a good amount of clothes is ~10kg, and you should really only take clothes that you're actually going to use, so why should I leave a bunch of clothes for a year into my closet for nothing? I doubt I'll wear them when I come back if I never do it now. So let's be ecological and put them into use again yay !

It was kinda therapeutical to go through old clothes and all the memories that come with them (and to remember how much bigger I actually was before...), so I thought I'd share some here. I recommend everyone who wants to go to exchange to do the same, just go through everything and REALLY think: Am I going to use this? (Plus it's a good way to get some extra money that will surely be needed !) So, here goes, some clothes that I'll be selling tomorrow, if interested=)

two dresses I've never worn. the purple one is from France, I loved it, but

then I never got the chance to use it there, and never have afterwards.

Right one is from here, H&M I think.

this used to be my favorite skirt. notice the sexy red stitch in the front

from trying to make it a bit more fitting ;)))))))

I bought this dress from Italy in the summer of 2009 in a rush, and it was really easy to use in India because it was light and.. windy, I guess :D but

here I've never really used it.

I bought this from France while I was interrailing in the summer of '10,

and I loved it and still do, but it's a bit tricky to use and doesn't really

look that good on me&&my bodytype. :(

this used to be my sister's, but she gave it to me. It's cute, but I think

someone else will like it a bit more than I do now :)

I lovelove this shirt, it's so perky and adorable, but again, I just don't use it anymore. I wish I did, but you know, styles change while people change!

and THIS is what my closet looked afterwards! Even with the phases of not buying clothes or whatever, it has never been this empty. NEVER. Wowwies.

// ok this sale was a huge flop :DD I only made about 25 euros if I take away the table's price from the full price :DDDD so much for making more money ajajajaja

FAMILIAFAMILIAFAMILIAFAMILIAFAMILIA

YESSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was with my boyfriend when I got a call from my mom, I thought it was just the normal "where are you will you eat at home" but instead she said I GOT MY HOST FAMILY INFORMATION !!!!!!!!!!! I ran to the nearest computer and THERE IT WAS !!!!!

I'm so excited my hands just shake and I can't believe I am one step closer to México !! My family lives in Oaxaca which is a state in South-West México which means it's HOT and HUMID and hghsgghgs !!!! It's close to historical mountains and the Pacific Ocean :)) COULD THIS BE ANY MORE PERFECT HONESTLY

It's a state full of history and native mexicans (?? :D) andadnnaddd adhhfhdszjffhff I just can't believe this is true I've been singing dancing and JUMPING UP AND DOWN ALL DAY 'cause... wowokwoeiewo !!!!!! I got my host mom's e-mail so I'll send her something in Spanish tomorrow yippeeeeeeee ayayayayayy !! I looked at pictures of the city I'm going to which is called Juchitán de Zaragoza and it looks SO GORGEOUS filled with festivals and street markets and I looked up my home street and it's next to a lake and JDSAJFDHSAHJH honestly !! This is one of the first big steps that brings me so much closer to México... 38 DAYS TO GO !!!

I have a mom, a dad, about the same age as my own parents, and THREE OLDER BROTHERS and a sister who's 2 years older than me AND A DOG !!! I've wanted a god all my life :D:ddd and how ironic, I'm the youngest here and will be the youngest there too ! But now I can't sit still I'm just sjfkasjsfjsaj all the time and I CAN'T WAIT ANYMORE !!!!!!!!!!! I feel so awesome♥

But the best part is:

LOOK AT THE TEMPERATURE AND EVERYTHINGGGGGGGGG HAHGDGAGGDDDD I can't wait, I can't sit still anymore. México, HERE I COME, wait for 38 days and here I come !!!!!

This was kinda messy, but who cares !! :):)) I love it soso much ! JSJADHDJHDHDHD

xx Minea

tell me that you'll open your eyes

i'm thinking about going next year to exchange somewhere, but I'm afraid of losing the life I have now... what should I do?

This question wasn't really directed to me, but it got me thinking (and I know there are many people thinking about the same things, so I wanted to write about it..). Plus it's something that's been a lot on my mind as the weeks pass by.

It's a fact that, atleast to me, these are the important years. In these years we experience, we feel everything 'till the last drop, we figure out what we like to do, who we want to keep close, and most importantly who we are. Things can change so much in just one day, what about an entire year? The thought can be really frightening, but in reality, when you look at your life as a whole, one year won't make it crash. Leaving friends &family behind is hard, but you've just got to keep your head high and try to find new friends from the new country, get introduced to new habits and customs and learn new ways to see the world. You get whole new eyes to view the world with, so odds are YOU will change the most in that year. And when you go back, of course it's a new situation (i.e. when I come back, my sister's moved away, it's just me and my folks at home then --), but the fear comes when it comes. New relationships are formed everyday, and it doesn't make the old ones any less important. My tip would be that when leaving, try to make the most of the relationships you have there. The ones you leave behind have probably been there for a long long time already, but you only get one shot, one year to spend it with the new people in THEIR important years.

But I also want to say that try to experience as much here as you can. Don't leave anything hanging or that you'd have to say "what if" when you leave. I know a girl who didn't want to start anything serious with her crush because she was leaving to Japan in March... well, you can imagine what happened. That really scared the shit out of me. Anything can happen. ANYTHING. I'd hate to think that this last year here would be spent on worrying and being cautious and avoiding the pain of leaving. Come on, to me, it would seem like another year gone. So that's why I say that don't think about the pain before it's really there. I got together with my boyfriend in March, just 5 months before I leave, but I wouldn't have wanted this time here to go any other way. I know it's going to hurt to leave him, my family, my best friends, absolutely every important person of my current life behind, but I'm ready. It's going to be worth it. So who ever you are reading this post, just 1) don't be afraid, 2) make the most out of all the years of your life, 3) live your life when you have it. Tomorrow is a mistery, yesterday is history. So all you can do is carpe the heck out of this diem.

I wanted to share some of my favorite moments of this year here. I'm going to miss these moments, but most of all, I'm incredibly happy that I got to experience them.

interrail summer 2010

me, my sister & my cousin in Rome fall 2010

me & my team member of Protu 2010

my friend's party in May

graduation party in June

casual hanging with honeybunnies from school

the open doors of my high school in January

me with my sisters in Hong Kong in February

the cruise of a lifetime in January

... don't have words for this

I'm superhappy that whatever happens, happens. And atleast I have my memories and know that there will be many more to come. The great friends last a lifetime, and that's why leaving is not that hard. Plus, there's always the coming back home :) so just be brave and yourself and things will trun out for the best. love you x

xox Minea

!!!!!!

I mentioned I'm trying to grow my sidecut, right? Well, my friends gave me the best idea ever - if I just toss my hair to the other side of my head and cut my bangs a bit differently, ta-dah, it becomes invisible !!! (or it shows a little bit and of course it seems like I have a lot less hair on the other side but whatever, almost :D) I'm just so happy that I look.. more normal now, it makes me so much less afraid of not fitting in when I finally get to México. This doesn't change who I am, so frankly I'm happy to do anything that makes me more comftrable and relaxed and focused on other things. :)

7 weeks & 1 day. I don't believe that 7 weeks ago it was May, and suddenly that's all the time I have left ! I just gotta try to make this the best summer ever, so I can leave with a whole bunch of memories and happiness ! :) México, you better be ready 'cause here I come !!!!

decisions, decisions

ksdjsfhhashkjgh 9 WEEKS LEFT. So, I had to make a few decisions.

1) My labret fell of in Belgium, and first I was pretty bummed out since I knew I couldn't find a new one before the trip ended, but eventually I started thinking that I honestly look a lot better without it :D and I guess it was just something I needed at the time I took it, now it just didn't felt like a part of me anymore, so actually I was pretty relieved.



2) I stopped shortening my sidecut and I'm gonna let it grow. The odds are that it won't grow back much during summertime (even though the sun and vitamin D are supposed to encrease hair growth), but if the hair on my head is just short, rather than really really short, I think it'll... well... help me blend in more. So we'll see what it looks like at the end of the summer. This is one decision I wish I would've made a lot earlier.

I kinda doubt it will grow back that much.......

So I made these decisions concerning my looks just so it would be easier to fit in. Growing up here I'm used to having more freedom to do stuff, change my looks, wear any type of clothes etc., but I know México is a more conservative country, and I'm a bit afraid that if I end up in an area in a small town or somewhere where people just aren't used to people who look like me, well... I just feel more comftrable going there and looking more natural. I'm not saying that I couldn't fit in as I am, but since I don't know that much about Mexican attitudes or culture ways, I think just looking more natural and "normal" makes me more confident about myself. I don't really mind, I already gave up vegetarianism for this, and after that, no sacrifice feels too much for me.

I just want this year to go as good and easy as possible. So I'm willing to do whatever it takes now so I'll be good and prepared. :) what are you guys up to?

Minea xx