THINGS I LEARNED,
AND I’M LEARNING EVERY DAY,
AS AN EXCHANGE STUDENT
My adventure started on
August 12th, when I left home, family, and friends to live in a city
8000 km away. Now that it’s been three months since I arrived here, I can say
that I’m learning and growing so much out of it. Here are some of the things I
consider to be most effective about this experience:
1. You can
do it.
If I think about the last night with my family, or the arrival at the airport, when I was crying so hard that my dad gave me his hanky (that I now keep under my pillow when I go to sleep), I still have goose bumps. I felt like a little girl. I wasn’t sure I would have made it. But I got by fine. I learned to deal with my emotions and, especially at first, with nostalgia, but now I’m not scared anymore and I’m enjoying every single moment here.
2. I am getting to know myself.
I am doing something for the first time every day. It is a new life, and experiencing something new helps a lot when it comes to self-knowledge. I am learning to take my time and reflect on who I am, becoming aware of the things I like the most and, at the same time, of those I don’t like at all, or understanding what I am good at and what I could do better instead. I can see my flaws, strengths, and weaknesses more clearly now, and I believe this allows me to be a better person, cause I know my limits and I challenge them from time to time.
3. Most people are nice and kind.
No matter if they are friends or perfect strangers, they do not hesitate to help, whenever I need. And I love the community, where people support each other and organize fundraising events where you get to help the needy and, simultaneously, you meet new people, in a warm, friendly environment. This is something I’d like to bring to Italy with me, because there’s no better feeling than the one you get when you do something for someone else.
4. Home is where heart is.
My host dad, as soon as we got home the first day, told me that “This will be your house for the next ten months, please feel like you are at home, because you are not a guest but you are family”. I think this was one of the best things he could have said, because I got to enter our house with the perspective of a girl who is coming into her own home. I leave here a piece of my heart every day.
5. It’s the little things.
I didn’t mean to, but I often took things and people for granted, forgetting to be grateful and to rejoice moments. Since I’ve been here, I say thanks more often than not, and I show my appreciation, because people’s presence is significant enough for me to thank them. Before going to bed, I make a list of the things that made me happy during the day, and I often find myself to be enthusiastic for my first pancakes ever, or for a big smile I received. These are only examples that can hardly represent how lucky I am. I’m so grateful for the moments and the faces, the laughs and the tears in my life. Because they made me who I am and led me to where I am. And now I take the occasion to thank those who are here.
6. I don’t hide my feelings anymore.
I want to come as I am, follow my heart, trust my intuitions. And, most importantly, I talk about whatever concerns me. It’s not something I wasn’t used to, as I spent a lot of time talking with my family back in Italy about everything I was thinking about, but I was afraid of not being able to do the same here. I was wrong. Host families are wonderful people who are so interested in your feelings and emotions, that they will always listen to you, whether you are facing a big issue or you simply want to share opinions. They’re just all you need.
7. Finally, I learned something about my life in Italy.
Being far from my family and country made me realize how much I love them. They say that you will really appreciate something only when you lose it, and, in this case, I can only agree.
Now, being sure that I’ll keep learning more and more during my stay here, I want to conclude, leaving a quote that you may all know, but that is always inspiring, at least to me.
If I think about the last night with my family, or the arrival at the airport, when I was crying so hard that my dad gave me his hanky (that I now keep under my pillow when I go to sleep), I still have goose bumps. I felt like a little girl. I wasn’t sure I would have made it. But I got by fine. I learned to deal with my emotions and, especially at first, with nostalgia, but now I’m not scared anymore and I’m enjoying every single moment here.
2. I am getting to know myself.
I am doing something for the first time every day. It is a new life, and experiencing something new helps a lot when it comes to self-knowledge. I am learning to take my time and reflect on who I am, becoming aware of the things I like the most and, at the same time, of those I don’t like at all, or understanding what I am good at and what I could do better instead. I can see my flaws, strengths, and weaknesses more clearly now, and I believe this allows me to be a better person, cause I know my limits and I challenge them from time to time.
3. Most people are nice and kind.
No matter if they are friends or perfect strangers, they do not hesitate to help, whenever I need. And I love the community, where people support each other and organize fundraising events where you get to help the needy and, simultaneously, you meet new people, in a warm, friendly environment. This is something I’d like to bring to Italy with me, because there’s no better feeling than the one you get when you do something for someone else.
4. Home is where heart is.
My host dad, as soon as we got home the first day, told me that “This will be your house for the next ten months, please feel like you are at home, because you are not a guest but you are family”. I think this was one of the best things he could have said, because I got to enter our house with the perspective of a girl who is coming into her own home. I leave here a piece of my heart every day.
5. It’s the little things.
I didn’t mean to, but I often took things and people for granted, forgetting to be grateful and to rejoice moments. Since I’ve been here, I say thanks more often than not, and I show my appreciation, because people’s presence is significant enough for me to thank them. Before going to bed, I make a list of the things that made me happy during the day, and I often find myself to be enthusiastic for my first pancakes ever, or for a big smile I received. These are only examples that can hardly represent how lucky I am. I’m so grateful for the moments and the faces, the laughs and the tears in my life. Because they made me who I am and led me to where I am. And now I take the occasion to thank those who are here.
6. I don’t hide my feelings anymore.
I want to come as I am, follow my heart, trust my intuitions. And, most importantly, I talk about whatever concerns me. It’s not something I wasn’t used to, as I spent a lot of time talking with my family back in Italy about everything I was thinking about, but I was afraid of not being able to do the same here. I was wrong. Host families are wonderful people who are so interested in your feelings and emotions, that they will always listen to you, whether you are facing a big issue or you simply want to share opinions. They’re just all you need.
7. Finally, I learned something about my life in Italy.
Being far from my family and country made me realize how much I love them. They say that you will really appreciate something only when you lose it, and, in this case, I can only agree.
Now, being sure that I’ll keep learning more and more during my stay here, I want to conclude, leaving a quote that you may all know, but that is always inspiring, at least to me.
"Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe
harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-- Mark Twain
-- Mark Twain
Chiara Muzio
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