It is that time of the year: exchange students started traveling across the world, from Europe to the United States, from the States to South America, and so on. A lot of people will be facing jet-lag, some will handle it better than others, but what should you do when you get up at three or four in the morning and cannot go back to sleep? I personally went to bed at midnight my first day in the States but I still woke up at six a.m. the day after, which was not nice. So I started unpacking and then at eight in the morning I finally decided to go upstairs and see if my host family was up, and, even if it was Sunday, they were. But what if they were still having sweet dreams?

Prepare Breakfast For Your Host Family.

I am sure your host family already showed you where the fridge is and told you to feel like at home, so my suggestion is to prepare breakfast for them. If you do not know what they like in the morning, just prepare something you normally have and tell them that is what you eat in your home country. They will not judge what you made, but will instead thank you for thinking about doing such a thing for them. This way they will see your interest in bonding with them. I am sure that if they host students because they enjoy it, they will appreciate your action.

Do Some Exercise.

I am not a sports lover and I will probably never be, but one of the things you can do early in the morning is working out. You will most likely gain weight in your host country anyway so the best way to "prevent" it is to start doing some exercise for the very beginning. By the time you will be done you will be able to take a shower and go to the kitchen for breakfast.

Read Or Watch TV In Your Host Language.

If you are done with your exercise (or simply skipped it - and that's okay) you can read a book in your host language and underline the words you don't know so that you can look them up afterward. If you are not a book lover and prefer to watch tv, do so. Turn it on and put subtitles in your host language so that way you will hear it but also read it. It will help you a lot and you will improve in a very short period of time.

Write A Letter To Yourself.

This may sound a bit stupid, but it is actually nice in the long run. Write down everything that comes to your mind. I mean, you are in your host country and still have the whole experience in front of you: write down what your feelings are, what your expectations are, what your level in your host language is and what you wish to achieve before the end of your year abroad. A year later, once you are back home, pull it out and read it. It will be crazy to realize how much you have grown.

Explore The Area Around You.

If you have the chance to, go for a walk. Don't be sitting on your bed just because you don't want to be the weird kid who walks on his own, just go. Imagine this: It is 6 in the morning, the sun is rising, the city is still calm and it is not hot yet: go for a walk. Watch bakers prepare their shop window with fresh bread, postmen riding their bikes and delivering newspapers, elderly people sipping coffee etc. If you are in the United States most of this might not be the case. Usually, the only way a person can get around is by driving a car, and you clearly cannot do that. So consider this idea only if you feel like you can do it. Maybe you can walk around your neighborhood and if you meet a next door fellow just say hi and introduce yourself. That way if they see you going around on your own they will not think a stranger is roaming around their property.

Write An Entry In Your Journal.

I suggest you keep a journal throughout the whole exchange experience because it will be nice to be able to read it again after some time. I wrote an online blog while I was on exchange and I also kept a calendar where I briefly wrote what I did day by day. I have been back from my exchange for two years now and I still open up my agenda sometimes to look at it and see what I was doing the same day two years before. It is also nice because sometimes I forget things and when I read them I am like "I did not remember that at all!".

Do Not Take Day Naps And Stay Up Late.

One of the most common advice people give exchange students is to go to bed when the host family does it, that way they will most likely wake up late and not before their host family. This can be true, but it depends on the situation because as I said earlier I went to bed at midnight and woke up at six. It sure helps not taking naps during the day, if you sleep in the afternoon you will be wide awake by the time everyone goes to bed, and that is not nice, but if it happens just follow some of the advice I gave you earlier! Read a book, watch a series or write a journal.

Read also: MY LAST DAY AS AN EXCHANGE STUDENT.

- Cris