Winter break is coming to an end and it feels kind of bittersweet because you are going back to see all of your college friends, but at the same time you are leaving your home friends and family once more. (That is if you live far away from where you go to school lol).

That got me thinking a lot, especially after this break since I saw my friends a lot during this month. Sometimes three or four times a week and it was fantastic! It didn't matter that I don't really live back home and that I only go for a month or two every five months. It felt like almost nothing had changed even though I have been studying abroad for four years and a half.

Going back in time four year and a half years ago when I started my sophomore year of high school in PA, I missed my Bogota friends like crazy, not to mention my family, too obviously. Every time I left Bogota, it felt like I kept leaving a part of me there too, but luckily I learned so much from my experience that I didn't really feel the emptiness or sadness. After 3 years of high school in the US I had two families: my Colombian family (actual blood family and friends) and my Westtown family (high school teachers, friends and host families). For the past year and a half I have been missing both of my families a lot, but it feel uplifting and wonderful to know that I am still a part of their lives, and they are still a part of mine.

It was hard to understand and come to peace with this fact since I was venturing into yet another new environment that I was going to be facing alone. But I thought that perhaps it was going to be different and college would make us drift apart. I am glad I was wrong! Yes, the communication is not as frequent as before, but everybody’s lives are changing, and there are a lot of responsibilities and important things to do. Friends remain in our hearts forever so there is nothing to fear. I was and am grateful that I have wonderful friends in two different countries, two different hemispheres, that see in me a good friend, a friend worth keeping for the long run and that I can count on.

Anyway, with this I wanted to thank all of my friends, especially the ones I don't get to see enough or as often as I would like to. And I also wanted to tell everybody to always keep your long distance friends or home friends close to your heart because they are worth keeping. They are the people you will want to see when you go home or to their home city. They are the people you trust and who trust you. They have seen the worst and the best of you and they love you.

I know that keeping in touch is hard but making a little effort can go a long way!

PS: shout out to my Westtown friends y a mis amigos de natacion del Club Los Buhos en Bogota :) :) :) Los quiero!