I still remember how my parents tried to cheer me up at Logan Airport 8 years ago when I was tearing up while waiting in line. I was   ____   my year abroad in Finland, pretending to be brave while actually feeling   ____   .

What I didn’t ____ when I decided to go abroad was that I would meet people who would   ___ the way I thought about life and the world. I _____   didn’t expect to still be learning, _____   and changing as much as I am 8 years later because of that experience.

The biggest way being an exchange student ______ my life was through the people I met. I never would have come into contact with these friends from Finland and around the world ____, and I’m still in touch with them now. Spending time with them helped change my ______ greatly and helped me make some big decisions that led me to a point where I am   ____   a career that I’m passionate about, improving my quality of life and   _____ considering a big move!

Throughout my travels I was continuously _____   at how the people I was traveling with were those I met 8 years ago. It feels like we’ve never been apart. The _____   have withstood (经受住) 8 years and countless miles, and will continue to last.

Being an exchange student changed my life. The   _____ I had and the bonds I formed while living far away from   ____   and beyond my comfort zone in a foreign country really shaped me for the better.

One day, I was picking up a friend. As I was ____ him, I noticed a hamster(仓鼠)in a cage. I put my finger into the cage to ____ him. He bit me. I went to the bathroom and washed the _____off my hands. When I came back, I was told, “You ____ it! You should have seen it. After you left, the hamster went _____. He ran on the hamster wheel really ____. Then he dropped off and died! ” There was indeed a ____ hamster in the cage and we buried(埋)him in the garden.

I told my sister this ____ several days later. She was sure that I had been ____ by a rabid(患狂犬病的)hamster. I said it was nothing serious，____ she called the hospital. The hospital staff told her that some ____ would come to bring the hamster for further tests. I had to drive back where the hamster was buried，____ him up, and bring him back.

The doctors packed the hamster with ice and ____. By this time, my sister was sure that she was ____. Then an idea hit me! I went into the bathroom, put some shaving cream(剃须膏)around my ____, and came back out. I lowered my head, telling my sister I wasn’t feeling ____. I then showed her my mouth with shaving cream. She ran outside and didn’t stop ____ although I shouted after her, trying to tell her that it had been a ____. She did come back ____ , walking sideways ready to run away again. You can’t buy ____ like that.

Careers in science are generally believed to be too complex for students who aren't talented or clever enough, but Seott Kelly, commander of the International Space Station, would prove it's   _______ .

As a kid, he was _______ and uninterested in science and all other _______ as well. He couldn't _______ what the teachers were saying, spending most of his time in school _______ Therefore, he earned terrible _______ and barely graduated from high school, and he even thought he would never _______ his dreams.

That all _______ when he picked up and read The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe's classic account of the pioneering Americans who first explored space. _______ at last, he was determined to be an astronaut, which meant doing well in science classes. So that day, he ________ his mind to do well in it.

After so many years of daydreaming, it wouldn't be ________. But he started thinking about it like a game. The more he ________ his study skills, the more he ________ and the better he got. ________, it became a(n) ________ with himself to see how good he could get. No one was more surprised than him when a ________ daydreamer started getting straight A's in science, which is ________ to be an astronaut.

So we need to stop ________ the statement that science is just too hard. If you're students who have been told "you are not a science people" or " your brain doesn't think that way", just ________ the comments! Everyone who wants to can learn this stuff - they just have to be ________ to do the work.