" Exchange is change. Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colorful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and first of al constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything.
Exchange is realizing that everything they told you beforehand are wrong but also right in a way. Exchange is going from thinking you know who you are, to having no idea who you are anymore to being someone new. But you are still the person you were before but you jumped into that ice cold lake. You know how it feels like to be on your own. Away from home, without one you really know. And you find out that you can actually do it.
Exchange is thinking about what's right and what's wrong. About how stupid or rude you just were to someone without meaning it to be. About the point of all this. About the sense of life. About who you want to be, what you want to do. Someone you didn't even know a few months ago. And about what the hell the guy just said.
Exchange is people. Those incredibly strange people, who look at you like you're an alien. Those people who are afraid to talk to you. And those people who know your name even though you have never met them. Those people, who tell who to stay away from. Those people who talk about you behind your back, those people who makes fun of your country. All those people, who aren't worth your giving a damn. Those people you ignore. And those peoples who invite you to their homes. Who keep you safe. Who become your friends.
Exchange is uncomfortable. It's feeling out of place, like a fifth wheel. It's talking to people you don't like. It's like trying to be nice all the time. It's cold, freezing cold. It's homesickness, it's awkward silence and it's feeling guilty because you didn't talk to someone at home. Or feeling guilty because you missed something because you were talking on skype.
Exchange is great. It's feeling the connection between you and your host family grow. It's meeting people from all over the world. It's having a place to stay in almost every country of the world. It's cooking food from your home country and not messing up. It's seeing beautiful landscapes you never knew existed.
Exchange is falling in love with this amazing, wild, beautiful country. Exchange is frustrating. Things you can't do, things you don't understand. Things you say, that mean the exact opposite of what you meant to say. Or even worse... Exchange is unbelievable. Exchange is not a year in your life. It's a life in a year. Exchange is nothing like you expected it to be, and everything you wanted it to be. Exchange is the best year in your life so far. Without a doubt. And it's also the worst. Without a doubt.
Exchange is something you will never forget, something that will always be a part of you. It's something no one back home will never truly understand. Exchange is growing up, it's realizing everybody is the same, no matter where they're from. That there is great people and douche bags everywhere. And that it only depends on you, how good or bad your day is going to be. Or the whole year. And it's realizing that you can be on you own, that you are a independent person. Finally. And it's trying to explain that to your parents. Exchange is everything. And exchange is something you can't understand unless you've been a foreign exchange student. "
- von irgendwo aus dem Internet
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