Hedvika Mrazkova         ( from the Czech Republic)           July 6, 1997        My name is Heddy Mrazkova and I am an AFS exchange student.   I have been in this country ( USA) for 11 months.   I am proud about it because it’s very special and not everyone can become one.
     Before I came to United States, I was a child with head full of expectations and dreams.  A child so naïve and optimistic.  How little I knew about people!  And now I don’t know.   I think that I lost some of my optimism and for the first time I looked in the eyes of reality.   I can’t say it was easy, because it wasn’t.  I saw a lot of my weaknesses.  I had to give up some of my dreams and sometimes I had to close my eyes for a while, because the reality was too cruel and sad to handle for me.  But I also gain something good.  I saw how strong  I can be when I need it.  I discovered what is important for me.  I got new opinions and I built new dreams.  I am a new person now.
     Tomorrow is my last day in Washington C.H., the little town in which         I spent the year.    I cannot believe that it’s over.  I feel like I am losing the most important things in my life, that means my friends, people I love and people who love me.  I wish I can know a magic.   I would make a land where just the people I love would live but instead of making magic,   I am sitting on my bed and I’m crying because I know that I won’t be able to see some of the people I love again or worse, I won’t see any of them again!
     This year had been an unforgettable experience.  I came to a house full of strangers  and I am leaving the same house but there are no strangers any more.  The people that were strange for me the first days became my mother, father, and my brothers during the year.  But my family are not the only people I’ll miss.  I will miss my friends who were so important for me this year.  People had without knowing me opened their hearts for me and treated me as a daughter or a best friend.  I won’t ever forget them or anything they have done for me.
     I know that this "letter" is kind of sad, and you may think that to be an exchange student is just sad and nothing else but that is not what I wanted to say.  I want to show how much you can miss if you have the chance to become one of us exchange students and you decide to not do it.  You will miss the meeting people from all over the world, getting to know new places, culture, and traditions.  Yes, this is what being an exchange student is all about and it is much more but I can’t describe it on paper.  You have to experience it yourself.
     So even now when I have tears in my eyes, I have to smile once in a while because  I remember something nice or funny that happened to me.              I remember the first weeks when I didn’t understand anybody, the first day at school and my problems with lockers.     I remember how large seemed all the stores to me and I remember and won’t ever forget all the good people I met.  I love them and this love will always stay in my heart. Goodbye, and I love you more than you will ever know!
                                               Heddy Mrazkova   Czech Republic                                                                1996-1997