Today is by far one of the saddest days of my life. But first I have to outline the past few months in order for you all to understand why I am so sad.

Late August: The first day of Gym in school. The new girl sits next to me because I am the only familiar face.

September: The new girl and I become very close. We talk a lot, and she fits right into my group of friends. She plays in the band, so every Friday she gets to experience a high school football game. In Gym, we teach her lots of American games, such as freeze tag, red rover, and duck duck goose.

October: I, along with her host family (my AP chemistry teacher), organize her surprise sweet sixteen birthday party. It’s a Halloween party, so she also gets to experience the American Halloween. We are very close friends at this point, always talking and gossiping and hanging out. She and I join stage crew together and work the spotlights for the winter play, It’s a Wonderful Life. Every day, we sit in a little room for about three hours for practice and help each other with homework, talk, sing, laugh, and everything else.

November: The band trip to Hawaii. She gets to experience all America has to offer, and the most beautiful state of our country. I get to experience it with her, along with the rest of my friends. We have a great week, and all grow closer to each other during that time.

December: Her first American Christmas. She also makes her first chocolate chip cookies, which she soon falls in love with. We exchange presents, and hers is so thoughtful, it almost makes me cry. I get her a nice gift bag of tons of candy along with bath and body works stuff.

January: We schedule sleep-overs, parties, ice-skating, and more. She has truly brought my group of friends closer, and we are always hanging out at Mrs. Guarriello’s house to visit her.

　

Last week: She is my best friend. Turns out she never saw a puppy before, and coincidentally on the day of a surprise party for her, I got a new puppy. She comes over to my house for the day, we play with the puppy, and then she is so surprised when she gets home to find all of her closest friends there.

January 20: This wonderful, beautiful girl is Alina. She is a German exchange student, and she is going home tomorrow. It’s like breaking up, almost. A hole is already forming in my group of friends, a hole that can never again be filled. Today was full of tears as we told her good-bye, some of us for the last time. Who knows if we’ll ever make our way to Germany when we’re older? For some of us, today was probably the last day we’ll ever see her. Her last hug I will always remember, her face, red and puffy with tears, is burned into my mind. She is my best friend, and tomorrow she’ll be gone. Yes, I can still communicate with her, but I cannot hug her, cannot pat her back or put my head on her shoulder. And she’s not just a half-hour away; she’s halfway across the world! Today has been very hard on me, the tears have been flowing, I will always remember and love my Alina-lina-lina.