Life Like an Exchange Student

We just had an exchange student from Brazil move into our house. It's been cool for my dad, especially, because he lived in Brazil for a little while during college, and he knows some Portuguese. (He says he's partially multilingual, whatever that means.) But my mom made an interesting comment the other day. She said, "Tell Johan what you're doing. This year was kind of like being an exchange student for you." And after thinking about it more and more, I realized I really was like an exchange student this year. I lived in three different cities, with three different families, I had to learn a whole new language (the hockey vernacular is a little different than the shred gnarpow lingo of the Vail Valley), and I had to readjust my whole lifestyle because before this year, I had never played hockey at such a high level. I had never even played more than 20 games for the past 4 years. And this year, I played 37 at a much higher level, I practiced hard every day, I worked out pretty much every day, and, as you can imagine, it was very taxing on my body.

Anyway, I thought it was a neat realization because this year was a very different year for me. I only skied one day...Living in Bismarck, North Dakota was a little different than living in the Vail Valley, to say the least. I met people who didn't know what mountain biking is or who haven't skied in their life! It's mind-boggling. This year was different, but so much fun. And such an amazing experience, one whose real amazingness probably won't sink in completely until after I'm finished living the life of an exchange student. After this year, I realize I am so blessed to live where I do and to have had the opportunity to do so many things in my life that most people never even dream of doing. I also realize that at this point in my life, I'm making sacrifices to chase my dream, but I'm so happy I'm chasing it. If I wanted to be a skier, I would have chosen that path a long time ago.