REPORT of Francesca as EXCHANGE STUDENT in the USA
Being an exchange student isn’t easy. It’s actually the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Being an exchange student means start your life all over again. It means change. A rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, amazing, constant huge change. Change family, culture, school, friends, siblings, language, lifestyle, country, diet, simply everything. Being an exchange student is realizing that everything you imaged beforehand it was wrong but also right in a general sort of way. Being an exchange student means going from thinking to know who you are, to have no idea who you are anymore, and at the end being someone new. Personally I think that being an exchange student taught me so much. And I'm not even talking about that bit of English that now I can speak. Being an exchange student taught me values that changed me forever. It taught me who I am and what kind of a person I want to be. It taught me that, at the end, somehow, you will survive no matter what. It taught me that ten months can pass by in less than a second if you are in the right place. And, mostly, it taught me the real meaning of the word "family". I learned that family has nothing to do with blood. It doesn't matter where you come from, what language you speak, or who your actual parents are. Family doesn't deal with your past. Family deals with who you are now and what you have to offer. And it doesn't matter if you don't have a lot to give as long as you give it all. I learned that family is kindness. Respect. Trust. Patient. And, mostly, lots and lots of love.Being an exchange student taught me that happiness is everywhere and that being happy is more a choice than a fortuity. It taught me that real life starts outside your comfort zone. And that if you are brave enough to try you will be repaid with the best experience of your life. My list of pros would be endless so I’m just gonna explain the only con I can think of. It ends. Ten months and a whole new life later, it ends. And I swear, NOTHING, and I mean LEGIT NOTHING was ever that painful. For ten months I built a brand new life and then in a second I just lost it. And I could’t do anything about that. I couldn’t stop the time and neither go back to the start. I could just look back and realize I made it throw. I never thought saying goodbye to someone would be that hard. Leaving my host family, my friends and California left an empty space inside of me. I miss America every single day and even if I physically came back in Italy on June 17 I know I left my heart in Huntington Beach, California. Anyway, just to be clear, if I had the chance I’d do it all over again without even think for more than a split of a second.
