Time is a really weird concept isn’t it? Einstein said that it all comes down to relativity. He proposed that all of time can be measured in the effect it had on oneself. For instance, putting your hand on a hot stove for a minute will make it seem like an hour, but sitting with a pretty girl for an hour might seem like a minute.

With only eight weeks left of what is easily the most fun we have ever had, the international students are being to think of how fast this semester past. It is really difficult to believe that only two months ago we were completely new to each other and the whole UNC Charlotte set up. So much has happened in these two months that it made time irrelevant, but now as our time is ticking away, we realize that that is all we have –time.

We struggle with the idea of not being able to see each as much as we do now in say three months’ time. We will go our separate ways and plan on, someday, visiting each other again. Saying goodbye is going to be terrifying.

Leaving behind your new friends and an environment you just settled in only to resettle in your pre-exchange circumstances.

Many of the international students are planning trips all over the United States, stretching the fun as far as possible. Places like New York, D.C., Key West and Miami are popular choices for many of them. We will spill over all of the world, knowing that we have just concluded the best semester of our lives and trying to put off going home as long as possible.

Photo by Corlene Beukes

Still as we draw closer to the time that we may go home, it seems to me that time is dragging by. Don’t get me wrong –UNC Charlotte and my American experience has been incredible, but home is waiting and all its included luxuries.

We all miss something of our pre-exchange life that we cannot wait to experience again, even if it means missing parts of our exchange lives.

As time carries us apart and measures our time together, the memories we made and the friendships we formed, we know that it is only time that can bring us back together. Even if we are worlds apart from each other, the time we spent together will always bind us and will always be treasured by us.

So with two months left and so much to do, we will carry on making memories and spending time together. There will always be something to do and something to remember. For now it is like sitting with a pretty girl, but when we have to start saying goodbye that is when the hot stove comes in.

I guess Einstein was right when he said it was all about relativity. We will never know the impact on our lives by events and people before they cross our paths. It is bittersweet, though, to know that what we want most to last will feel like a minute.

But our minute is running out. As we are desperately trying to grasp onto the last grains of time, we realized that our friendships are not defined by how long we have been friends or how many memories we share. It is about us; the people who have crossed each other’s paths and left indelible marks on each other’s lives.

For it will forever be about the people we are with and not even time can change that, because you know, time flies when you’re having fun.