Before going on exchange everyone hopes for the best, but how can we really define what best is? Well, I was hoping to go on exchange somewhere close to a big city, just because I grew up in one. Although, I would have been okay living in a smaller place than my own because when I decided to go abroad I also agreed to be flexible and embrace diversity rather than familiarity.

My kind of expectations.

My first desire was to be placed somewhere near New York because it has always been my dream city. I've seen it in movies, all over the internet, in paintings and what not. I was (and still am) a bit obsessed with it. I'd have loved to be placed in a big house, like one of the movies, with lots of neighbors and a welcoming family. I was dreaming of soft white snow falling throughout Christmas break and lights all over the neighborhood. The school I was hoping for was quite big, with a strong consideration for the Arts, High School Musical type of institution basically and nice school bus rides to go on. I was wishing to be able to be in a place with at least a minor transportation system because my independence wasn’t really something I was ready to give up.

What my exchange was actually like.

To start off, I was placed in Colorado which is great because, eventually, it was one of my choices. I lived one hour away from Denver, which is a big city. However, I only went there maybe three times because public transportation here in the West is pretty much inexistent. I loved my home and the people I lived with, which is eventually what every exchange student hopes for. The town was actually quite boring, and even in the city itself, there was little public transportation. I had to rely on others to get to places, which was quite annoying. I was independent for a lot of things but dependent for a few as well. My school was pretty small too, I believe my senior class was composed of less than one hundred students. The arts had their weight but the auditorium was quite small and so was the number of people interested in supporting the plays and shows. 

I did have snow on Christmas day, which was fantastic. Every day during winter break it felt like Christmas because the atmosphere was amazing. I went to Christmas concerts, shows, parties and I was surrounded by lights everywhere I went. We exchanged gifts, watched movies next to the fireplace and had one of the previous exchange students come to visit us.

Deliberation post exchange.

Was my exchange the way I thought it would be? Not entirely. Was it bad? Nope. I think it is understandable that people imagine things before they actually become reality, but I think that it’s safe to say that we need to keep expectations as low as possible so that we don't get disappointed. According to me, our exchange has to be different to whatever we had in mind anyway. It’s more fun. Think about it, would it be really great to know in advance what your experience would be like? There would be no fun because there wouldn't be any discovery to make. Prior to departure, we (might) feel scared, sad, confused. We don't know where we are going, who we are going to live with, we don't know if we will have friends and things to do after school and so on; We are not going to see our family and friends for almost a year. We are going to change and grow without the people who have always been by our side; We basically don't know what we signed up for. Yes, we are going to study abroad, but did we really think about every single aspect of the deal?

This is why I think that exchange students are brave, interesting and open-minded.

- Cris

I feel extremely grateful because I am writing this blog-post at my American home. It has been three years since the end of my exchange and being back is honestly still quite weird and unbelievable. At the beginning of my new experience here, I was complaining about the fact that it doesn't feel like exchange at all. The reason behind this is that it is not an exchange, and nothing will ever be like it. However, this past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the District Conference in Estes Park, Colorado where I hung out with inbounds and Rotex. That was all I wanted to do: being in Colorado and around people from all over the world, once again. It totally felt like nothing changed since 2015.

Despite that, this conference opened up wounds that were never closed in the first place. As I was performing "Love in Any Language", my mind was traveling back to the 2015 Conference in Fort Collins, when I was on stage with my group of friends. The song makes me quite emotional and so you might think that this is why my mind was playing with my feelings, but actually, even doing something as simple as going to the pool or the hot tub with the current exchange students would bring me back to the good old days... I wouldn't change anything about my exchange but if I could go back in time I'd definitely do two things: treat people differently and say "thank you" more often.

Exchange is a fixed period of time during which every single one of us starts from scratch. The only problem is that this awesome experience has an end, just like everything in life, and this is definitely what ruined me. It is difficult for me to acknowledge closure and accept when something is officially over. I might be having the best time and enjoying myself but as soon as that comes to completion, I blast into tears. I get so sad to the point that I wonder whether it was worth it or not. And of course it was. Not just good enough, but beyond excellent.

People might not imagine this because I'm a big guy, but I'm quite sensitive. I detest goodbyes, but that never stopped me from traveling. I'm so grateful to have people in my life that make saying goodbye so hard, and I love Rotary International with whole my heart because I met those people as a result of being part of the Youth Exchange Program. My exchange year might be over, but because of Rotary, I continue to meet incredible people

- Cris