And suddenly the experience is over. It seems like ages ago when I was at the airport saying goodbye to everyone, when I walked away from my family and my friends looking forward to my adventure, feeling weak and strong at the same time. Now, after six months in New Zealand I’m back at the airport, carrying a huge suitcase that is heavy with too many clothes but full of feelings, memories of people.
Why is it so complicated to explain what I’ve been experiencing in these past few months? Probably because an exchange is not a part of your usual life, it’s a short, intense, amazing, unbelievable life.
Exchange is change. One day you were at home and then a couple of days later you are in a different place, in a different house, with a different family, a different language, a different lifestyle, a different school and different people around you. You get to know how to build up a new life knowing nothing and nobody and starting just with you and yourself.
Exchange is learning. It’s learning to be surprised, interested, shocked while you are discovering a new culture. It’s learning to appreciate the little things; learning to appreciate your home country, your family and your friends; learning not to take everything for granted. It’s learning to wake up every day and be ready to learn.
Exchange is growing. It’s doing things you never thought you would ever do. It’s jumping over your shadow and having to adapt to completely different situations. It’s being caught unaware and then trying to face any problems, no matter what.
Exchange is saying yes. Saying yes to different activities or different food. It’s doing things for the first time and trying out things. It’s taking every opportunity you can get.
Exchange is people. It’s being open-minded, having an unexpected energy to make new friends and feeling like sharing ideas, opinions, and experiences all the time. It’s keeping in your heart so many life stories and treating them like precious lessons.
Exchange is learning to say goodbye. It’s understanding that you have to go back. It’s leaving places, feelings and people behind without being sure you’ll ever see them again as you’re never going to live the same experience again.
Exchange is being at the airport boarding your airplain knowing that, as you didn’t turn back when you left for a new life, you shoudn’t do that now while you’re going back to your old one.
Ginevra Nicola (4F)