I'm almost twenty and left for exchange almost three years ago, but I want to tell you all about my departure day anyways, because it is always good to remember it.

Try to imagine a sixteen-year old who hardly travelled by airplane ever before and who had to fly for almost twenty hours and have a layover in one of the biggest airports, Heathrow, by himself. It isn't hard to imagine, right? But I wasn't worried at all, actually.

I think I put many alarms on my phone just to make sure that I'd wake up on time, even though I knew that there was no way I'd miss even the first one. I hardly slept, I was too excited. I arrived at the airport so early that I had breakfast again with my parents to kill time and have a last chat with them. I specifically asked for window seats at the counter, but from Milan to London I had an aisle seat, which anyways is better than the middle one. I didn't mind as the flight was short. The flight was delayed for approximately 30 minutes, but I was still not worried.

Flashbacks of 16 year-old me wearing a blazer and wandering in Heathrow still come and go nowadays. I was so excited to be out of the country, to see things I used to see only on a small screen. I was even excited to have a coffee from Starbucks (we currently don't have it in Italy), just because it was so famous.. I even took a selfie with its sign, what an idiot some of you might think, haha neext.

Heads up for future exchange students: 
Having a frozen yogurt right after a coffee and before a 9-hour flight is not a smart idea. I had to use the toilet onboard a couple of times because of that, but anyways I will keep details for myself.

I was finally floating between clouds, over the ocean and Canada. I was listening to music, even though British Airways' playlist was very poor in choices (there was basically the full discography of one direction and not much more). My point is: I never slept. I just couldn't, so I took thousands pictures of.. clouds. "Cabin Crew please take your seats, we will be landing shortly." This is it. I played "Hopeless Wanderer" so many times that day that it was just about time to land and start wandering hopelessly.

Touchdown. 

"Welcome to Denver, Colorado. The Mile-High City." I don't even wait for the airplane to park that I'm already texting my American family. "I landed" I said, and shortly after I directly called them. I'm sure customs where not so long, but they sure felt like that. Gosh, I was exhausted yet so energetic. I couldn't wait to cross the gate and meet my US family, I already imagined it in my head, just like in the movies. I'd arrive and they would be there waiting and ready to hug me. Well, they were not. "Where are you Cris?" "I don't know, I don't know this Airport. I'm assuming I'm at the arrivals." And I was, but my American dad & brother were waiting for me at the national arrivals, I arrived with an international flight, so we missed each other.

I desperately needed to use a restroom but they did not have dinner prior to my arrival, so we stopped at Wendys. I did not want any food so I just stole a few fries and had a frosty. The sky turned dark-blue and I was just staring out the window while my host brother was staring at me as I was some kind of alien. "Wow" I was thinking "This is insane!" Milan is a city, so everywhere you walk you have buildings limiting your vision. In Colorado all I could see where endless fields and a 180° sky.

My house was at the end of a blind alley and once arrived and parked in the garage they showed me everywhere, up and down the stairs. It was almost 1 am when I went to bed because I couldn't sleep so I started unpacking. 6am is around the corner and I'm already up. "They must be sleeping still, it is Sunday. There is no way I can go upstairs now, I will decorate my room." 

Two hours later I couldn't keep myself in my room, I wanted to go upstairs and talk to them. They were up and surprised because I was awake. "You know Cris, we hosted 16 exchange students before you and you are the first one who woke up so early" - "Well, what would you say if I told you that I'm actually up since 6am?" The weather was beautiful so we had breakfast outside the patio, I had banana bread with the amazing coffee my American dad makes. I felt like I was living in a movie. "Cris, I have to wash my car, would you like to come with me?" Of course I went, his car is amazing! He got it a few hours before I landed, I would say he did it just for me but that would bea lie haha.

It was so cool to be able to drive through my host city with daylight. My dad showed me my school, places where they normally go to grab a coffee, eat or buy groceries and all I could think of was "It looks just like GTA, huge roads and enormous cars."

We had reservations at Texas Roadhouse for 5pm, which is a bit early for me to have dinner but it turned out great because by 6pm I was literally falling asleep on the table. Thankfully after that jet lag didn't hit me anymore. I had dinner with a student from Greeley who was headed to Belgium two days after. We basically switched continents. 

It was for sure one of the most intense moments of my exchange year, followed by American holidays, trips and meetings with unbelievable people. I feel still fortunate nowadays for the experience I had, for the amazing family who I am still in contact with and all the other people who still text me now and then to see how I'm doing. By writing this post I realised how many things I still remember, even though it has been three long years, full of changes and stuff that enriched my life.

For all my Italian readers, and for whoever trusts Google Translate, I wrote a journal while I was in the USA where I went deeply into what I did other there, if you are interested check it out: 

ON MY WAY TO USA.

- Cris