What were you grateful for this week?
Friends and family. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
Moving out. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. 
Tried to make sure house was extra clean before I left. 

Tell us about your week! 
I learned about handling myself in awkward situations this week. My host mom wasn’t the one who told me I needed to move out but we both knew she initiated the move (and that we both had been struggling by living together). I made sure to still spend time with the family, still help out with what needed to be done and offer to make her cups of tea and other things like that in order to show that I did care still. It didn’t feel as though she was always super receptive to this but if she was, I think it could be helpful in continuing a relationship after this. I wish I would have had a chance to actually say goodbye. It was really difficult not getting the chance to say goodbye to [my host family’s son]. I hope I have the chance to before I leave.

This has been difficult but I’ve gained a new understanding of the love that surrounds me every moment. As I speak with friends and family, I feel so much love and support. Even when I don’t, I somehow know that I’m loved beyond measure. The best part of it is that it’s not that I’m being loved anymore than I have been in the past, I’m just understanding it on a new level. Gradually over the course of our lives, we understand love more and more and start to have a good comprehension of what it is to love and be loved. This is constantly changing my perspective of life and why we are all here. What I’ve been reminded of every day that I’ve been here is that love is always what matters most in the end.