Joyeux Anniversaire!

Happy Birthday to me! Today isn't my birthday, but this was taken March 13th in France on my 17th birthday.
I thought my birthday might be a difficult day to be away from home, but my day was one of the best I've had yet during my stay in France.
When I went to school all the kids in my class said happy birthday to me and asked how old I now was. I got e-mails from a few friends, recieved phone calls from Jessica and from my dad (who dramatically sung Happy Birthday to me), and had a little celebration with my host family who gave me earrings as a present.
And even now two weeks later I'm still recieving things in the mail. My Oma sent me a birthday card, my family sent a new outfit with a matching necklace and a magazine, and Alyssa sent me a lovely birthday letter!
Even though I was away from home, I got to see how much everyone cares just by their small gestures of recognizing my birthday. I think if I was home, I wouldn't have felt the love like I did here! It meant so much to hear from everyone on my birthday!
So what does being 17 mean? It never really feels like you're any different on that one day, especially since I always refer to myself as the next age for at least two weeks before the actual day. "I'm nearly 17". It's like rounding up, I suppose! It's getting ready to say it full time, maybe?
Anyways, being 17 means I'm no longer 'Sweet 16', a title I'm ready to get rid of, and I can actually feel like I'm a teenager. I'm in the last 3 teenage years, which to me, feel like the years I'm finally comfortable with myself and can get down to doing all those typical teenage things.
So here's to the start of the final phase of being a teenager, and having an absolute party with the remaining years!