“For spring break I was suppose to travel to Dalmatia with the other exchange students here in Croatia . We were going to go to Dubrovnik where Game of Thrones was filmed but all trips for my exchange were cancelled because of the Coronavirus including Eurotour. When the U.S. government issued a level 4 travel advisory I started crying like you wouldn’t believe . This was suppose to be one of the best years of my life. Travelling europe carefree while learning another language but now I was being told I should come home for my safety. I love my host family incredibly.  Sometimes I prefer them over my real parents . I couldn’t imagine leaving them three months early so my American mom fought to let me stay which I have been permitted to. It’s scary thinking maybe I’m not able to go home in case of an emergency because flights are cancelled but I’d rather stay here. The past three months have been a major blow for me cause my dog in America died, my friend also died, the capital here was hit by two earthquakes that destroyed the city, the two months of quarantine and I found out a teacher who had saved my life has died as well. So many emotions have hit me and I wasn’t realizing how much of my exchange I was missing out on. A couple days ago I pulled myself together and sewed together facemasks with my host mom.  I learned to make bread and ordered myself a Nintendo Switch . I’m resentful of my exchange year . This is every exchange students absolute worst nightmare. But it can happen and it just sucks. I’ve learned to push through it and learned to remember the good time I’ve had before quarantine and the good times I’m having now.”