Rotary Youth Exchange 2013/14: Wishes for half-year-exchangies

This post is especially for all the young people who are doing the same crazy thing I am doing right now.
I know that some of my friends back home are reading my blog. So I really hope you are going to read this here as well (sorry, I don't want to sound like an old grandma telling her grandchildren stories about the good old times or whatever, all I want to talk about are the mistakes I made and which you can prevent):

A lot of you will be on an airplane soon like I did a few months ago. You will find yourselves on the way into your biggest adventure in about one to three weeks (I don't know when every single one of you is leaving, but I think most of you leave in January). You guys are going on exchange too and it doesn't really matter if you are going for 11 months like me or 6. You will experience so many things that the time doesn't matter. I tell you, you will be like a magnet, trying to absorb everything you can.
All I want to tell you, when you're one of them: I know that you are super excited for your exchange, but don't forget about the important things you already have - your friends and family. I made a mistake when I had only about two weeks left. At that time I thought "I can't wait to leave. Finally out of here! Just a few days left and I can leave all this behind". Appreciate the time you have left with your friends and especially with your family. Appreciate every single and sometimes annoying thing - every conversation, every fight and every hug. You won't have it for half a year and believe me or not, you will miss it. Family is the most important thing we have in life. So enjoy the time you have left with them, okay? At the end you will only regret all of your thoughts like I do now.
And then: Have fun on your exchange! It doesn't matter where you go, it matters THAT you go! Make those six months to the best you've ever had in your life! I wish you all the best and I wish I could skype with every single one of you just to make sure that you are alright and not exploding because of being all excited :)

That may sound arrogant for some people (I don't know what some people understand wrong sometimes) and it also may sound like I know everything (what I really don't, sometimes I can be stupid like a cow), but I just want you to know that you can always contact me and talk to me, when you have problems or when something goes wrong or even when it's something awesome. I love listening to the stories of other exchange students and how they experience all the crazy things happening. So whenever you feel like talking, just message me. Sometimes it's important and helpful and I have certain people too that I call when I feel bad.

I think that's all I wanted to say for now…
HAVE THE BEST SIX MONTHS OF YOUR LIFE!!