This quote represents the best way to describe my year abroad, which was not like any other

year in my life, but completely different, and it gave me the opportunity to create a whole

new life in a foreign country.

A year seems like a very long time to be away from home at first, but it is actually not even

enough to try all the new things that a different country has to offer.

I am not saying that there are no down times during the year, of course there are, but these

moments make you grow as a stronger and more independent person.

I was a little scared when I found out I was going to spend a whole year in Michigan,

especially when I looked up how cold it gets in winter, but day by day I started appreciating

more and more the Great Lakes State.

You have to be very lucky and find a family that makes you think of something else when

you are feeling homesick or finds the most comforting words to say when you have a

problem, and I can honestly say I was chosen by the best family that I could have ever

asked for.

FAMILY

My host family was definitely the best placement I could have ever wanted. I mostly got along with my host mom Katie, who shared most of my interests, has always been there for me, and also made me live the best adventures this year. She took me to a concert, to an NBA game, many football games and all over the state on the weekends. She is a nurse at the hospital, so she gave me the opportunity to do a job-shadowing and assist an open-heart surgery. It was incredible since my dream job is to be a cardiac surgeon!

The thing I appreciated most about her was that she would always ask me how my day was, and after a while she got to know me so well that she did not even have to ask to know if something was wrong. She completely understands me as if I was her own daughter.

My host dad, Matt, was somehow similar to my real dad. He would take me around everywhere I needed, at any time, if it was at practice or at a scout meeting, he was also there to pick me up even though he worked at night and he was very tired. He would fulfill our time with jokes that nobody gets other than himself, but he would worry about me exactly how my own father does. He tried to learn Italian but the furthest he could get in the whole year was to learn one world, ‘Friuli’.

Last but not least there was my host brother, Brayden, who definitely made my year much more fun. He can say anything or do anything and make it fun. I experienced having a younger brother and cooking with him, watching tv, making puzzles, and having long talks in front of a bonfire. 

I was also very surprised that I totally felt part of the extended family too. I really get along with my host grandparents, they took me to the cabin for a weekend and we totally had a blast! They taught me how to fish, hunt, and feed the deers and elks. I could not forget the cousins, who were so close together but included me too, and the aunts, who took me shopping all over Alabama, and the grandkids, who were absolutely adorable.

They opened their home and their heart to me and they made me feel truly part of their family, which is absolutely priceless and I will always be grateful for this. I hope I can give back to other students the same love they gave me. 

NEW CULTURES

This year the biggest change was made by the opportunity to get to know a culture that seems very similar but also very different from ours, the American culture. I could experience their habits and traditions such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day and Labor Day, and confirm or deny the stereotypes that characterize the American culture. 

I am glad to say that I also had the chance to know other cultures other than the American one. Other exchange students where hosted in my town, so throughout the year I could also hang out with students from Spain, Germany, Denmark, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia. I could share the experience with them and get to know their countries’ costumes, and I can tell I have friends in almost every continent of the world.

SCHOOL EXPERIENCE

The school system in the United States is very different from the Italian one. The first thing you notice in an American school is that every teacher has his own classroom and the students move each hour from class to class. This implies that also your classmates will be different from one hour to the other, because the schedule is personalized and everyone can decide which subjects he or she wants to study. Some classes are required though, like English, Math, Science, History and Government. I also took Psychology and Business Management to diversify my schedule. The Math class I took was AP Calculus, which is the college level, and prepares the students to take an exam which will give college credits. 

The schedule included a compulsory Seminar, which is a sort of free time that every student can use to do homework, decide his post-high school plan, or visit a teacher with a hall pass to make up a test or ask for help on the subject.

The year is divided into three trimesters and the classes can last one, two or three trimesters, depending on the difficulty. At the end of every trimester the students have to take a final exam to verify that they learned the content of the course.

Every class is 62 minutes long and there are 6 minutes in between each period. 

SPORTS

A great part of the school career in the American system is sports.

Sports are strictly related to the school program and students are highly encouraged to be involved with the activities that are offered. It is considered part of a student’s education to be in a team or a club in order to promote a social interaction with peers as well as a collateral and wider training.

During my exchange year I decided to try new sports, that are typical of the host country and are not very common in Italy. I have been part of the cheerleading team for two trimesters, which were divided into Sideline Cheer and Competitive Cheer. Sideline was the time when we cheered at the football games, supporting the school team, whereas Competitive Cheer was characterized by competitions of choreographies between different schools.

I was also part of the softball team for the third trimester, which has been an eye-opener toward a sport I had never heard before, and I have found out I really like.

School sports have been a fundamental part of my year. I had the chance to try something I have always heard about, like cheerleading, but also new things, like softball, that otherwise I would have never known of. Most importantly, being part of a team made it easier for me to bond with my teammates, who then became my friends. 

BEING FOREIGN

There are so many new things and activities I experienced when I was abroad that they would be too many to list, but there is also a very important life lesson that every exchange student learns, no matter how sensitive he or she is, that is the one of being foreign. 

No matter how many friends you make in your host country, there will always come that moment when you do not feel completely comfortable, you do not feel at home. It might be for the cultural differences, for the language, or just because your new friends have known each other for their entire life, but there will always be a time when you think that it would be easier to be in your home country. This is completely normal, and it does not even last long if you know how to take it, but it makes you realise how people feel when they are new in a group, for many reasons, or when they feel left out. This whole life lesson teaches me how to behave when I see someone that is not completely confident in the group I am and how to include him or her and make them feel part of it. It does not take much to understand some situations, you just have to put yourself in the other’s shoes. I needed to feel foreign in a situation to understand how people feel when they are away from their home.

In the overall, I look at myself after this year as a totally different person compared to the one who left, I can say I was put in front of issues I would have never thought of before and I look at the world with completely different eyes. I am very grateful I had the opportunity to be in a completely different environment, appreciate the good things of both my home and my host country and question their negative sides. I can say I have changed my perspective on things I took for granted before and I have a better understanding of issues, cultures, and lifestyles. I cannot say that everything was easy, but overcoming the hard times was the fundamental part that made me grow up this year. I have so many great memories of the time in America that I can totally affirm I would do it all over again if I could.