209 days down, 146 days left

Hey everyone!

A little update for you - I moved to my third host family on Saturday. And I just found out it's March. 

It's March. I thought we were in the beginning of February. I am only required to keep track of the day of the week, not the exact date, so it really snuck up on me when I realized I would be switching families in just one week. 

Once again, switching host families is a strange experience. I don't really remember it being talked about much last year, and I didn't think about it all that much coming into my year... 

It's great and difficult. Leaving a family that you have been living with, spending time with, traveling with, is almost harder than leaving home to go to another country. Yes, it was hard to leave home, but I know that I will see my family in Minnesota again for many years. I teared up a bit both of the times I have changed families. Not because I was sad to move, or because I didn't want to go to the next family, but because I was simply overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with emotions, memories, and absolute gratitude to them for letting me be a part of their family for just a few short months. 

When you switch families, it also puts you in perspective of your year. Three more months of your year have passed by, and you feel exactly the same. 

But, nothing is the same. You can understand and speak so much more of the language. Your relationships with friends and classmates are stronger than they were before, and you know more people than you did the last time you switched families. With that, you have twice as many family members in your host country as you did when you first arrived. I think I have family in almost every village in the Faroe Islands. 

And, it won't stop here. I have at least four more months to become as experienced in the language as I can, make more and stronger relationships with friends, and let my extended family in the Faroe Islands expand. I have four more months to make the best of every single day, and hopefully I will continue to do the same after I return home. 

Here's to the last third of our year, for all my RYE outbounds who are reading this! 

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Sorry - I got caught in the moment and forgot to tell you about my new family! Things are going fantastic here. I have now moved from Argir (a municipality of Tórshavn) to Tórshavn. It's fantastic, because I am much closer to the center of town and many of my friends. My new family is so sweet and caring, and I can't wait to be spending the rest of my year with them! 

The next time I switch host families will take me back to the airport in Vágar... Hopefully that doesn't come too fast. 

Kærar heilsanir, 

Katie