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| THE MEANING OF AN EXCHANGE | |||||||
| "So much is said about being an exchange student, but only when you experience it things make sense. It is definitely not easy and whether you want or not, you end up changing and growing. Once your exchange is done you finally realize that you can handle way more that you could and would ever imagine; that you need to appreciate things you have because they might be gone sooner than you think; that life is not easy and true friendships are really forever. | |||||||
| The best part about being an exchange student is not the parties or places you get to go to; not the independence and life experience, but the friendships. I'm not talking about the friends you made from your host country, but about the other exchange students. For most of us, they were the very first "friends" we had in this new experience; we met them in orientation meetings, trips, etc. They were the first people we actually talked to without having the fear of speaking in a different language. No matter what, there's a big difference between a "host country friend" and an "exchange student friend". Exchange students have a special bond. Despite language and cultural differences, you'll understand each other because you experience similar situations. | |||||||
| The hardest part of facing the end of your exchange year is to accept the fact that it's going to take a while until you have the chance to travel the world to see your exchange friends again. Because once you leave your host country, deep down inside, you know that sooner or later you'll be back, but when are going to have enough money and time to travel the world??? Some of us became friends because we were placed in the same schools, lived in towns nearby each other; others we met along the year, during trips and meetings... | |||||||
| The trips... first day: nobody knows each other, everyone is shy... by the end of the trip everybody knows everybody and saying good bye in the last day is as sad as when we left our friends and family in our home countries... How many lifetime friendships and romances started with: "how can I say this in your language?" It's hard to believe that so much can start from such a simple sentence! Does this story sound familiar to you??? Just wait, it gets worse... | |||||||
| Very first trip, when it is time to leave is not so terrible because you have the whole year ahead of you, so the chances of meeting everyone again are very big. Time goes by, and your year is slowly getting to an end. You have your last trip... Probably it will be the very last time you'll see most of your exchange friends for "God-knows-how-many-years"... And this feeling is just horrible. It's when you wish things would never end; when you wish you could turn back time and do everything again, and maybe do what you wanted but never had the guts to, like kissing that girl or boy or spending more time with A, B and C... And there you are, saying good-bye, fighting the tears and making promises to people that you could never imagine you would meet in your life... unfortunately things don't always work as we want and not everything is possible... | |||||||
| Once your year is done, it is when you realize who you will ALWAYS miss the most: your exchange friends spread all over the world. And one day you're going to be at a Geography or History class, and as some countries are mentioned, you'll think about your friends that are half way around the world away from you, and you'll have to fight the tears again... Their occasional letters, phone calls and emails are going to be of unbelievable value and will bring joy to your bad day or week. The end of our exchange year doesn't mean the end of friendships, as said before: true friendships are forever. | |||||||
| "As we go on, we remember all the times we had together and as our lives change, come whatever we will still be, friends forever" | |||||||
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