My Heart Belongs Where You Are: Part 1

Originally, I wanted to do one blog about all of the exchange students I’ve ever known, but I felt like there was just too much to say that altogether, it would basically be a full book, so I decided to split them up into separate posts starting with the first exchange student I ever met.

Freshman year, I joined the musical, which was The Music Man, and was cast as a featured dancer. It was a very small part, but I was excited because of my background in dance. I was in a few scenes here and there throughout the show, and it was nothing too special until one day when we were working on a dance scene. Basically, that scene was a transition into another scene, so we just went on the stage and danced to set the mood. The style was ballroom dancing, and since I’d never ballroom danced before and I missed the introduction to it because I had cheerleading, the concept was very new to me. I remember the day we were first assigned our dance partners. Because I was the tallest, I was put with the tallest guy dancer. Thus, the first time I met Ivo.

Ivo was an exchange student from Croatia that year. He was cast as the part of Charlie Cowell, a bigger part with lines, but ended up dancing with us for some scenes because of his dance background (I’m guessing because he was fantastic). So basically, our first interaction was him teaching me how to ballroom dance, and I remember that he was so tall that I had to stand on my tip-toes just to be able to dance with him. Being the awkward person that I was, I probably didn’t say one word to him the whole time because I was so busy messing up every single step he taught me (he had ballroom dancing background, so he taught me everything I needed to know).

Later on, we were paired up again because of our heights, but this time, the song was way more upbeat and jazzy (more my style). We stood next to each other during the song “Shipoopi” and did a few partner things as far as I can remember. That was my favorite scene because it was so much fun learning the choreography and getting to know Ivo. As practiced went on, we grew closer and closer and we were great friends by the time the show rolled around. I may be a little bit biased, but our stage chemistry was impeccable. Because of both of our backgrounds in dance, we made a great team.

My favorite picture of us during "Shipoopi."

Before musical ended, though, prom started rolling around. One night, I was snapchatting Ivo (I’m not certain if this is exactly how it went), and I told him something along the lines of not having the best day or not feeling great. He told me to wait to open his snapchats until he texted me to open them. I waited a couple minutes and received notification after notification from Ivo on Snapchat. I finally got a text from him telling me to open them, so I did, and there was picture after picture of his face with one word on each of them saying:

“Do,” “you,” “want,” “to,”

And then there was a phrase:

“build a snowman?”

And the next snapchat said:

“Just kidding. Do you want to go to prom with me?”

Aside from the Disney reference making his situation ten times better than it already was, I was so excited, and after asking my parents for permission, I replied saying:

“Can I say something crazy? Yes!”

I went to prom that year with Ivo along with my best friend Katy, and we had a blast together. If I recall correctly, the music wasn’t fantastic, but I do remember them playing “Let it Go” from Frozen and literally everyone left the dance floor except us. Better yet, Ivo started singing it in another language (I can’t remember which one, sorry!). He was the best dance partner. Afterwards, we went to After Prom, and I don’t really remember much of it for some reason, but all I know is that I am not a fun person after 11:00 pm, so I probably wasn’t that great to be around at three in the morning, but I had so much fun.

Looking back at all of the memories makes me miss when we were together. Before Ivo left, Katy and I took him out to lunch and when we dropped him off at his house, I remember feeling so heartbroken like I’d just lost a family member. I wrote about Ivo in my journal in the time that followed and have even written about him occasionally throughout the past few years. I don’t think I’ve ever missed someone like I miss Ivo. There was a time when we sort of lost contact, but have lately started chatting again through Instagram and Facebook, which I am so thankful for.

Ivo captioned this "You couldn't handle us even if we came with instructions" on Instagram

Ivo, thank you for taking the weird, awkward freshman that I was under your wing. You are so special to me and when you left, you took a piece of my heart back to Croatia with you. Thank you for all of the memories you gave me when you were here. Without you, I truly believe I wouldn’t be the person I am today. You are irreplaceable and are so one of a kind. I wouldn’t trade our goofy pictures or silly memories for the world. I think about you all of the time and can’t wait until the day that we reunite and how exciting that will be. Until then, I wish you all of the love this world has to offer. You gave me so much, and I so wish that I could give the same amount of happiness back to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for accepting me and making so many memories with me. I can’t wait to see you again.