Kyle's Thought Tank (My Brothers Thoughts)

Hello people of the world! This is Kyle Popovich, the younger, more awesome sibling of the Popovich family as well as the anxious brother for the soon departing Alicia Popovich. As all of you readers know, my sister is going to be a German-bound foreign exchange student, and writes these blogs to document her experiences leading up to her leave, as well as what she expects, what she hopes for, etc. Most of all of the blogs uploaded have been written by my sister, but now I have the spotlight for another nine paragraphs and I'm going spill my thoughts on the Rotary Youth Exchange, my sister's future, as well as my own.

Most of my life, my adventures, my opinions, my reasoning is told through word of mouth, linguistically, and especially through story. So, for the most part, that is how this blog is going to be written, through storytelling. It all started when my sister met a girl from Belgium named Madeleine Planque. A foreign exchange student that came to Logansport, Indiana, U.S.A. from Belgium through Rotary. My sister and Madeleine became close friends and as Madeleine's time in America progressed, it influenced Alicia more to also become an exchange student. Despite not even tasting a crumb of what the Rotary is like, Alicia and the idea of traveling the world abroad has interested and influenced me so much as well, that I hope to become a foreign exchange student too during my sophomore year of high school.

If not for Madeleine Planque, my sister's future, as well as mine, would change drastically for the worst. I'm only fourteen years old but that doesn't mean I have weak opinions and beliefs. I know for a fact, whether or not I become an exchange student, although I will, my life, my family's, and definitely my sister's is about to change a lot for the better. And again, all because of Madeleine Planque that this is happening. The night before Maddy left for Belgium was bitter sweet because of how she grew on our family and my sister and the strong influence she had on our lives. It's insane to think of how she practically comes from a different world, from a different culture, different life than the United States. It makes me think how life is much, much larger than me and how much of earth there is to explore. I am just a small speck of existence yet I can experience so much, and to start at such a young age, will help me mature faster, will help me with college, will help me prepare for life. Becoming a foreign exchange student at a young age is similar in effect to learning two languages at birth. It's much easier to pick up both languages by being raised to speak them than if you were learning at age 50.

My family has travelled a tremendous amount in my lifetime and I have been to crazy, insane, unbelievable places such as Jamaica, Samoa, Logansport, Indiana, New Zealand, etc. All the places and experiences I have taken in aren't even the tip of the iceberg. This is why I need to become a foreign exchange student.

My thoughts on my sister vary. I know that the start of her exchange will be difficult considering she only knows how to call people a donkey in German, but I believe she will pick up quickly. She has a magnetic personality which can help her in an underrated country for hospitality and I can see her making the most of her year, as I hope I will. My sister still has a lot of maturing to accomplish before I can call her an adult but I truly believe that shipping her off to a foreign country overseas is the best way to do so. Enough about my sister I know the readers are here for me. :)

Now onto my life post-August 1st (Alicia's departure). Preparing for high school is hard enough but now I have to prepare for a brother. My family will be the first to host a foreign exchange student from India named Yash, and I see it as a challenge. Nothing my family cannot handle, but it will be difficult transitioning him to the American culture considering where he is from and the language barrier. Yash is older than me but I am still excited to hangout with him and take him places that would just make for "another day" with my sister. However, when I asked God for a brother instead of a sister, this isn't exactly what I pictured.

(P.S. I am an avid meme-ist. For this old people reading this confused, google it.)

Now onto me. From my infancy to probably 8 years of age I was a spoiled brat to put it best. In my younger years I would cry if I didn't get what I wanted, I would have to have one of a specific three foods no matter what restaurant my family was at because I was a picky eater. I was an adorable, hot mess. Years 9 to, probably 12 or 13 I was a homebody afraid to leave my comfort zone and I still carried some same bad habits such as being picky with my food. Yet it seemed to have all changed in an instance. No matter what some people might think, I try not to take things for granted anymore and I try to push myself mentally. The same kid who wouldn't want to dress up for formal events is know bungee jumping, and running off of 40 foot cliffs into water and trying things I wouldn't even think of doing years ago. A former, anti-social, ego addict is what I was. And don't think that it is my parents fault for how I was raised, my parents are the best in the world. However I am different now.

Although, some qualities and characteristics remain the same for me, like my competitive nature (which I get from BOTH of my parents). I want to face my challenges head on and one of the biggest challenges I view, is becoming a foreign exchange student. I love my family a lot, and it will be harder for me to leave than my sister in my opinion. My desire is to go somewhere in Asia. I love the people, the food, regardless of where in Asia.

At the end of the day, all of this. All of the people coming and going year after year, experiencing so much and cherishing the opportunity to live another life, completely different from their own, doesn't only make me think of how large the world is. It makes me think of what makes you happy. Because if you're completely, 100% happy, nothing else in the world matters. Everything falls under happiness. And for me, myself, Kyle Popovich, it has been hard finding what makes me happy. Truly, I have expressed this very little to the people I am closest to but I have been depressed in the past thinking deeper about what life means, why we are here, and what our purpose is if not to die after a century and eventually have all of history forget about you. And sure, I'm 14 in age and sure, these emotions of sadness can be caused by mood swings. However, the emotions are generated by thoughts, thoughts that a person of any age can have.

I am just realizing that happiness is the joy that occurs when we make the most out of our lives. That happiness can be some experienced to the fullest by going to places where people have lived and loved and died and felt emotion in general. The feeling of joy can be found in the strangest places and people all over the world, you just need to open the door to discover it. Becoming a foreign exchange student, as well as Rotary helping you get there and taking you through the experience is the key to unlocking this door. I am simply exhilarated to see what the future holds for my sister, and myself. Thank you and don't forget to like! and comment! and subscribe! (I'm hilarious).