I AM NOT THE SAME PERSON I WAS AT THE BEGINNING OF MY EXCHANGE.

Friday, December 30, 2016 Cristian 27 Comments



My exchange year shaped me in a way no other experience could. In an age where every problem becomes huge and where family and friends are the most important thing, I left. I observed my hometown slowly fading while the airplane was flying through the clouds. No, I didn't bring my dog with me, neither my habits nor my favorite food. It was just me with roughly 20 kgs of clothes.

The difference between a normal teenager and an exchange student is mainly one. The exchange student is a teenager who has to go through the drama and problems of that segment of life while living with strangers out of the country, having to socialize to be able to get new friends and start working hard to feel part of his host community and working on the host language to eventually become fluent in it.

No one truly understands how hard it can get to be far apart from everyone you loved since you can remember. Everyone else sees it as a "long vacation". They get encouraged by the positive part of the experience - learning a language and traveling - but do not take into consideration the downsides. According to me and my own experience, it wasn't too hard. My ups were way more than my downs, but when I did have some, I really felt like touching the bottom. In a bad day, even a stupid joke could compromise my mood.


If I haven't made the decision of going abroad, I wouldn't probably call myself a strong person, or even open minded. Although I always claimed to love North America, I was quite ignorant about the US. People think they know everything by simply believing, but they don't. I had to see what the States were really about with my own eyes in order to know the truth. My perspective about the whole world changed. I chose the USA because of my unchangeable mindset and because I wanted to be fluent in English, if they sent me to some other country I probably wouldn't accept it, or do it but with a lower level of excitement. At the moment instead, the situation is completely the opposite. I wanna go everywhere. I have a hard time deciding where to go first and where to do this or that. I constantly look up, stare at airplanes drawing in the sky.

I understand now that I am spending my life planning my way out, always thinking about traveling, exploring or simply wandering around. Before going on an exchange, I just thought it would have been cool to live as an American, being able to purchase Starbucks coffee (yes, we don't have it in Italy) or storing my books in a locker. I didn't even take into consideration the idea of traveling else where because I was confident Rotary would have sent me somewhere in the States. But yeah, I ended up forgetting about Starbucks and didn't even have a locker in my high school. Life is interesting and never goes as planned.

I'd like to conclude giving a little advice: if an exchange student starts a discussion with "When I was abroad I..." s/he is not trying to show off, but is simply trying to keep memories alive. We cannot go back in time and live our experiences again but we certainly can keep "living" our side-life in our minds by remembering and thinking about the emotions we felt at the time.

- Cris

27 comments:

DID YOU DO SOMETHING VALUABLE THIS YEAR?

Friday, December 23, 2016 Cristian 2 Comments


I read "This is going to be my year" a lot on the internet, but then months pass by and that phrase turns into "I will try again next year". I see a lot of disappointment and unhappiness. I've to admit that for me it has been a pretty good year instead. I flew 8 times, I visited two new countries, been living in Denmark for a quarter of 2016, lost 9 kgs, graduated from high school and freed myself from that grey building shaped like a jail.

The highlight of the year was having both my American brother and parents visiting me in my hometown. I traveled around Italy and been to two cities for the first time: Pisa & Lucca.

I, once again, made international friends at my university and became a buddy and tutor for the new students coming in 2017 because I like helping people out. I am also taking Danish classes because I like learning new languages and cultures. I also climbed for the first time despite being scared of heights. I tried to be involved in as many things as I could but also to concentrate on my studies.


See, it sounds like I had the time of my life but I can tell you that I also had my downs, because everything has a price. Although, take that jump. Tuesday I went back to my high school to wish happy holidays to some of my teachers and when I saw their new students I felt like hiding and denying to be Italian. I saw a bunch of teenagers being childish and without any kind of interest in what they were doing. They were just trying to fit in, pursuing a boring life. This helped me understand how far I've come and to be proud of my achievements, however big or small they could be.

" It's like you're always stuck in second gear
Oh when it hasn't been your day
Your week, your month, or even your year
I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cause you're there for me, too "
- The Rembrandts (Friends Theme)

- Cris

2 comments:

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016 Cristian 2 Comments


My exchange year started around two years ago, yet every single day of my exchange year feels like it happened just a short time ago. On this day two years ago, I was in a new world. You could have offered me to be the first person to space travel with Elon Musk himself, I would have chosen the beautiful, weird, awesome, different world that is the United States of America.

After this much time, most exchange students are probably “done” with their exchange year and have moved on to other things. Pursuing careers, studying exciting subjects in university or travelling the world. 

Not me. 

Whenever there’s a High School in a movie, my mind instantly goes into nostalgia mode. I can only think of all the things that were so different, so new to me. My sole thoughts will be devoted to somehow recreating the curiosity that I was able to experience for this one school year. The smiles of people on the hallway, the cute cheerleaders in their uniforms and the feeling of unity when everybody wears school clothing for game day. And the weird kids who didn’t ever care what was going on. And how much I love all of it.

An American home in a movie will reliably bring back memories of movie nights with my weird, yet beautiful host family, that could barely take me midst all their own troubles but did so anyway. Laughing endlessly with my little sister at the worst TV shows that could possibly be on air. Simply the feeling of being home and being so indefinitely, even if it was only for those few months.

Any stupidly funny picture of American sports team couldn’t not remind me more of showing up to practice in a freezing Colorado winter or the burning mountain sun. It will never cease to create in me a feeling of wanting to bring back that time.


Everything comes back to mind and awakes in me a feeling which I can’t describe. It’s definitely closer to sadness than to euphoria, and has a hint of gratitude as well as regret in it. I do realize that I am describing a feeling in the way that sommeliers might rate wine, but this is what it feels like to me. 

The funny thing is that my exchange year was a rather hard time and god knows that I had a hard time finding friends, competing in sports, talking to girls and maintaining grades in school, all the while eating mountains of food that would have served three normal people (right mom?). My family both American and German will tell you that my problems, especially with the attitudes of American people towards friendship would never have indicated that I would ever write this. Most people were even annoyed for my bashing of Americans because I was so desperate to have a real group of friends. From a rational standpoint, I consider the American school system even worse and more boring than the one here in Germany. There is a pile of things that are not great about America (insert Donald Trump joke here) and that I didn’t even find great back when I was in Colorado.

And yet here I sit, with a couple of tears streaming down my face, reminiscing of that time when everything was made out of curiosity. When I could walk down the street, finding everything just so amazing, that it didn’t matter whether it was better, worse, uglier or prettier. When things were the way they were and everything was new.


The fascinating thing, to me, is that while I lived in this wonderland, all the American kids lived a normal, ordinary life that was no different than mine, judging by the surface level. Perception is weird like that. For somebody, my school here in Germany might be what Arvada West was to me.

I will never be able to comprehend, what this exchange year did to and for me. 

When I look around now, what I see is so far from anything I’d wanted life to be like. In America, everything seemed like a party. People were so friendly, not even knowing me. A simple “Hey, What’s up?” could brighten my day immediately back there. When I go to school now, most people are somewhat bitter and frustrated, living through series of tests and exams, all the while anxiously thinking about what the next three quarters of their lives should be spent this. And I know this not to be true and that there are others, who don’t live life in this gray, boring style. But I perceive it to be this way after my exchange year, as nothing will compare to the excitement, that the world around me seemed to be built of.

School to me is no more than manual labor in the vile factories of the industrial revolution. And yet it isn’t, from any rational standpoint.

The disillusionment that my High School year left me with opened the door for ambition and a longing for a life in which I can be curious about everything but also for hardship and feelings that only a sommelier could perfectly describe. 

I didn’t always have a great time in America. But if I could, I would take two years out of my life to spend another one in the United States of America. In this absurd world in which everybody is the way they are, in which dreams are made and crushed, in which people with blue hair with hippie ideals in mind walk next to business tycoons gearing up to destroy native American holy land for profit. 

All in all, I love America and the way it is. No, it’s not the greatest country in the world, but it’s been my greatest life so far.

Written by Finn Lobsien

2 comments:

DO NOT GO ON EXCHANGE.

Friday, December 16, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments


Yes. Don't. I mean other than making new friends, learning everything about a new culture, learning how to deal with things on your own and traveling, there is nothing good about it. Make the decision of staying home instead, consuming the bottom of your shoes walking the same path every morning because that is much more exciting than maybe getting to know someone new every time you get on the school bus.

Don't go abroad, I mean you people always say how good your home town is, how yummy the food is, how you are cooler than foreigners, how beautiful your language sounds. So why would you even consider going?


If you don't though, you need to know that you will regret it, and yes, I was being sarcastic earlier. See, the train of opportunities everyone always talks about comes only one time, you either decide to catch it or not. If you don't, you burn your only chance to know if it was worth it and will live with regret for the rest of your days.

If you are wondering whether to go or not, it means that something is holding you back. It could be a person telling you he or she doesn't feel like you could handle it. Or maybe fear is stopping you because you read on the internet someone had a bad experience. That is absolutely wrong, each one of us is different and deals with things and approaches people in different ways. Pack your things, smile, and walk towards your fears, because once you tear them apart you will feel the greatest.

PS Please support me by following my G+, as well as engaging with me on social media.

- Cris

0 comments:

HOPELESS WANDERER

Wednesday, December 07, 2016 Cristian 1 Comments

Maybe someone thinks I'm crazy, crazy because according to them I let memories hold me back in the past, but truth is I am moving faster than anyone who's just on the other side of the screen reading one side of the story. Yes, I incredibly miss being on exchange and I do write about it, but I am building myself a present as well as a future. My signature in that Rotary Application was just the beginning of something beautiful. It did not end when I caught the airplane that flew me back home, because as one brought me there, another one took me abroad once again.


See people, I've to admit it is not always easy. It is not easy to spend months without hugging my parents, messing around with my siblings & petting my dog. But it is what it is. That's what I had to sacrifice for studying abroad. Life ain't always a beautiful journey, but we can make it easier for ourself if we start doing what we love and start worrying less about what people say or think.

What's really crazy about me is that I, somehow, always achieve what I aim for, but once I do I need more. It's like one thing after the other. Maybe it isn't as crazy as it sounds, maybe it is how it is supposed to be. No one wants a boring life. No one has truly just one dream, our mind is full of them. We just need to achieve one at the time.
Sooner or later you will get wherever you want, but you have to make it happen. You've to find a way. Forget the cranky and single neighbour who tells you he makes big money in an office and spends his free time eating chips on a sofa watching a soap opera. You don't have to become like him. You don't need the money if you are going to spend them like that. I'm sorry if you are the kind of person that justifies his studies with "my parents told me to study law" because it translates into "I don't give a shit about it, but mama said so and I've got to stick to it". It's good you obey to your mom, but you've 99% of chance to end up dropping out after two years anyways, so I'd suggest to study whatever you are interested since day 1.

Dropping out is okay, as long as you are the one figuring out that it wasn't for you. I am not really sure which kind of life I want to live either, I change my mind pretty much twenty/twenty-five times a day. I realised I don't enjoy stable things, or at least not yet. I want to look out an airplane window, walk different streets every now and then & shake hands with new people.

 PS Please support me by following my G+, as well as engaging with me on social media.
- Cris

1 comments:

DESCRIBING EXCHANGE WITH SONG LYRICS

Thursday, November 24, 2016 Cristian 4 Comments

Everytime I listen to a song, that brings me back to a certain moment of my life, a good or a bad one. The first one that comes in my mind is Shake it off, by Taylor Swift. When I was in the US that song was played everywhere, I think I actually hated it at some point, it was too much. But today i want to focus on lyrics and categorize them in pre-departure, post-departure and post-exchange.

We all know that most of the times songs make it easier to explain things. It is easier to write down our feelings rather then say 'em out loud. Months ago I shared with you my exchange year playlist (click here to read more about it) but today I want to describe with song lyrics what an exchange student might feel during the whole experience, from the fear that chases us before departing to the unstoppable sadness of losing everything and everyone that takes over us when our time abroad is up.


PRE - DEPARTURE LYRICS

 Hit the lights - Selena Gomez
"It's the plane you wanna catch to Vegas,
Things you swear you'll do before you die,
It's the city of love that waits for you,
But you're to damn scared to fly."

 Sleep on the floor - The Lumineers
"Pack yourself a toothbrush dear
Pack yourself a favorite blouse
Take a withdrawal slip
Take all of your savings out
'Cause if we don't leave this town
We might never make it out"

POST - DEPARTURE LYRICS

 Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford & Sons
"And hold me fast, Hold me fast
'Cause I'm a hopeless wanderer
I will learn, I will learn to love the skies I'm under
I will learn, I will learn to love the skies I'm under
The skies I'm under"

 Where is my mind? - Pixies
"With your feet on the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?" 

POST - EXCHANGE LYRICS

 Welcome to my life - Simple Plan
"Do you ever want to run away?
Do you lock yourself in your room?
With the radio on turned up so loud
That no one hears you screaming
No you don't know what its like
When nothing feels alright
You don't know what its like to be like me
To be hurt, to feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one there to save you"

I really like every song I listed here because somehow I can relate to the lyrics. When the time to depart arrived I was really excited to go, I was ready to pack and hop on a plane and when I had to fly back home nearly one year after, I felt broken, lost.
Do you feel like these songs are the ones which shortly descibe your feelings? If not which ones would you choose? I am curious to know!

- Cris

4 comments:

ONCE ABROAD, ALWAYS ABROAD.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 Cristian 12 Comments



 Dear mom and dad, friends and family, it's not you. It's me. Once experienced the unknown I constantly feel like I need more. It's like a chain reaction, I get something and I already need more. It sounds bad, I am putting distance between myself and the people I love, but the truth is that no matter how far I travel, I will eventually come home to my beloved food and culture. So, I must follow certain paths until they are available, 'cause opportunities are temporary, you either catch them or not.

In ten years I will be able to tell people amazing stories, meanwhile a peer will talk about the same kind of coffee he drank every single morning for the past 10 years. I will be able to say that I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in beautiful San Francisco, that I saw a broadway play in New York City, that I surfed in paradisiac Hawaii and hopefully much more.


I know I arrived in Denmark three months ago, but I am already planning my way out. It is not because I don't like Denmark, but because life is short and I want to accept as much opportunities as possible. Teenagers change their iPhones every year to stay up-to-date, I just need a plane ticket every now and then, I think that's more important.

Above the clouds I always wonder where and why people are flying. On my latest flight I met an Australian guy. He's 20 years old and he moved to Amsterdam at the age of 18, without any plan. Everything worked out and last summer he travelled throughout Spain and Portugal, sleeping in tents and beaches, falling asleep looking at the stars and waking up with a kiss from the sun. Some of the things he did were kind of insane, but overall his story was inspiring. He felt Australia wasn't for him and eventually moved to Europe to walk his own road.

There are many opportunities out there, open your eyes and have the courage to "grab" yours.

- Cris

12 comments:

A drop of Exchange.

Monday, November 07, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments


Throughout my exchange I recorded many videos but I ended up rendering just the ones that I took while travelling. I've one for Denver, New York, West Coast and so on. But tomorrow (should I say in one hour?) is my birthday and this past weekend I was feeling quite sick so I stayed home with a cup of hot tea and my laptop, watching videos I took in the US. Now, I'm not sure that was a good idea, but I felt like doing something more. I wanted to gather all of those in a bigger video, and so I did. Quality is bad, framing equally bad and I didn't even follow a timeline. Although, all of this is on purpose. Between one laugh and the other travelling somewhere and behind the scenes of a play I was part of, I captured some memories with my smartphone.

Exchange is a change. Each and everyday was different from the previous one. So now people you know why I travel. I want to follow new paths every time I get the chance to, and while I do so, capture moments with my little device. Change is scary, because we know that things will be different but we don't really know what kind of things. Two years after I can say that it is still exciting to face the fear of the unknown. Even here in Denmark I was kind of nervous to show up the first day of University, but two months later I'm here writing this post and I cannot believe how many things changed. Take that plane, walk that path. If your friend wants to capture a moment, let him do so, even if you feel like you are too ugly for a picture (lol). There is no coming back, and the only way we can hold on to moments is to keep them in a video or a picture.


Here it is, this video shows more or less a quarter of the things I lived overseas, but I have to say that you will not be able to understand unless one of you appears in the video. There so much behind a 10 seconds video, you don't even know. So please watch it with a bit of imagination and try to focus on the content rather than the majestic quality.

One last thing - Here's a list of the places that appear on the video: Colorado, Wyoming, California, Arizona, Nevada, New York, Washington DC, Missouri, Hawaii, Mexico.

- Cris

0 comments:

Distance is my enemy

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments

If I could go back in time and meet the person I was in 2013 I'd say to him Thank You.
Most of the students who leave their homes do so because they have a friend who previously did the same and told them about the experience or because their parents introduced them the idea. I found out about the programme in a different and interesting way. I was chatting with a friend and I was telling her how cool it would be to go to America and attend school there, like in the movies. So I just felt like googling it. From that moment it was like a whole new world opened up to me.

What I'm trying to say is that we gotta take the right choices because it is not just about the present, but it is also about the upcoming future. Going on exchange made me the person I am today. I probably wouldn't even be in Denmark right now if I didn't use google that night.
A few nights ago I received a random call. It was my American dad. "Hello, dad". He said he just wanted to remind me that his wife and he will always support me no matter what path I will take in life. I felt so lucky and glad I couldn't even talk. I wish every single exchange student could feel home in their host country as much as I did. If I could afford the plane ticket I'd fly back every single weekend, even if it takes 20 hours to get there.


It is so awesome to travel everywhere, to settle in different countries every now and then, to love new people etc. and this is why I'd say Thank you little Cris. But there will always be my enemy distance to ruin everything. Because no matter how hard you try to keep in touch with the people you love, you will slowly stop contacting them. It doesn't mean you love them less than you did before, but it just happens, and it sucks. People will also let you down and you will have no one to rely on. Everyone you love will be far away. You'll have to deal with shit all alone, it sucks, doesn't it?

Chris Martin sings "Oh take me back to the start" and sometimes I wish I could do that. Being 16 years old again, flying over the ocean towards the unknown land of the States.

- Cris


0 comments:

MY AMERICAN PARENTS CAME TO VISIT.

Friday, October 07, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments


 Time does change things. Two years ago I would not have thought of moving to Denmark, little I knew of what I wanted to study. But, there are also some things that never change, that is for instance the relationship with people you love, because if you keep loving there is no way time will ruin that. This past weekend was amazing. I was with my american family where I was born and raised. It felt like I never left america, but I actually did not see them for 14 months. We raised our glasses and celebrated family, by blood and by choice.

After seeing them in my homeland I realized that everything is possible. Last year when my american experience came to an end I felt horrible, I didn't trust anyone saying "You will see them soon" because let's face it, when is "soon"? who can define how long "soon" is? Now I really think that if we really want to, we can make things work. I met one of my best friends on a trip in Europe, I met my american parents, I am doing what I wished I could do for months and such.


Two years ago I was living with them in Colorado and now they were walking by my side in Milan, Italy. How cool is this? I feel grateful for everything they did and still do even thought I am not with them anymore. They told me they are proud of me and I couldn't feel happier. I honestly feel sad for the people who did not have them as host parents and had a bad experience instead. I actually read on the internet that some people even regret investing money on an exchange year because they had a hard time and I think it is just too bad. Host parents should be as excited as the students when it comes to the whole experience. As students change over time so do host parents. You are surrounded by new things so it makes it easier to suck up the culture of your host country, but for host parents the only source of learning about your culture is you, this is why you have to be good.

 READ ALSO: TRAVELLING BACK TO MY HOST CITY AFTER TWO YEARS.


- Cris

0 comments:

MY FAMILY IS FOREIGN.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments

This is the story of some exchange students who once were headed to the same desolate camp but didn't know what was going to happen next. They didn't know each other and couldn't even imagine how close they would get by the end of their experience abroad. But let's start from the beginning.
One Friday, just a few weeks after the arrival in the USA, I skipped school to attend the orientation camp. I knew I was going to meet other students but didn't know I'd feel incomplete without them once back in my home country.

After awkwardly introducing one another, we started talking about simple stuff like which grade we were in, which sports we practiced, why we chose the US and so on.
But then we had to sleep all together in a freezing cabin, take a freezing shower at 6 in the morning, hike in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and sing around a bonfire while eating s'mores. We learnt a song called "Love in any language" during which we also signed, but we didn't know how important that song was going to be at the very end. 
I had a really good time: no phones, no WiFi, no virtual world - the only connection we had was with nature (so connected that we shared our cabin even with a couple of mouses lol that ain't fun).

The orientation camp was a really positive start for an awesome year.

I had the chance to hang out with some of the students almost weekly, but we finally met all together again in December, when we had to interview some of the outbounds - American teenagers heading out of the country -.
In January we had the Rotary ski weekend and I still think that it has been one of the best weekends so far. I had a real American breakfast really early in the morning, we skied most of the day and then we had the chance to have dinner at a western event at the top of the mountain. The view from the gondola late at night was amazing and I can remember being in there thinking how grateful I was for everything that was going on with my life at that point.

Weeks passed by, we hung out at Starbucks, played bowling, attended the outbound's orientation and before we realized it, it was the 5th of June. We were on the bus and starting our western adventure with San Francisco as a final destination. As the bus stopped in Mesa Verde National Park, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco I lived interesting days. Although we shared amazing memories and lived the trip of a life time, everyone could easily pass from being happy to being sad and angry within few minutes. Misunderstandings led to pointless arguments and we spent our 3 days conference in a very intense atmosphere. But then, we had to sing "Love in any language" in front of everyone, for the last time. Tears started streaming down, we hugged each other, we told each other how important we're for one another and that we couldn't let time or distance separate us.


That night was the last one of the conference, it felt endless and yet the shortest. We spent it in a room being goofy as always, trying to focus on the good things rather than the bad ones. Silent breakfast and then everyone had to carry out their bags and find their ride home. Then we kind of repeated what we did the night before. I cried so much I could barely see something. As soon as I closed the car door I felt like my heart was torn up in pieces. Even unpacking was hard so I just reached my bed and started staring at the brownish ceiling asking myself where 10 months went. How was it possible that I just had 3 weeks left in America when I still remembered the 15 years old me trying to convince my parents to let me go on exchange, how?

Nowadays it is still hard, because no matter how many people I meet or where I go, it will never be the same, and it is legit. I always want to experience something new and being in Denmark is amazing, but being away from home makes me also think about the good ol' days.

- Cris

0 comments:

DANISH LIFE - Living the present

Sunday, September 11, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments

I made more troubles here in less than 3 weeks than in my entire life. Oh well, probably not, but I laugh on it now. One of the first things I experienced after a few hours in Kolding was being locked out my own apartment, which means that I left my keys inside even though my buddies told me at least twice to always carry them with me as the door looks itself. The good news is that while I was locking my windows my friends rang the bell and once I reached the door I forgot to lock one of them, so my buddy climbed the wall and walked through the unlocked window to grab my keys. He now keeps a copy in his apartment, lol. But before gently closing the door behind my back and realizing how stupid I am, I can proudly say that I pick up a lot of stuff for my flat, like kitchen stuff, a wardrobe, made the bed and things like that. In fact I was exhausted.


My first day, or first few hours I should say, have been intense. I've been to a house party, had a pizza by the lake at night, walked around the city, checked out the big mall and finally met my roommate. On Monday the 29th of August I was already in class and I was like "Am I seriously starting University?". Now I'm here and I can tell one thing: no more anxiety or pressure by the teachers, nice classmates and environment (at least so far).

It is not going to be easy from time to time, I'm not a designer or anything close to it, but I'm here to learn and I know I can do it if I put enough effort. I've nice friends who can party but also try to stay healthy and go for a run (or in other words they are trying to get rid of me by killing me once and for all since my body is used to eating rather than sporting, lol). Anyways I am concluding saying that Thursday I even swam in the cold sea here because sometimes it is better to be a little crazier than the average. Seriously though, it has been really warm here this past week when last sunday it was rainy instead. 


- Cris

0 comments:

FIRST DAYS ABROAD - WHAT TO DO

Tuesday, August 23, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments

A few people asked me what to do on their first days abroad and I realized I never wrote anything about that. Now, I start by saying that for me it wasn't hard to be abroad. I was really excited and I didn't feel sad or homesick at all. I was happy to be where I was and I was trying to be as calm as I could about anything. The only thing I can say is that I felt awkward the very first day of school, which wasn't really about classes, it was more about being introduced to teachers, classmates and about attending an assembly in the main gym.


1. ASK FOR HELP.

Even if you are confident enough to do your own things sometimes it is good to ask for help. I had a map of the school to help me find my classes but I asked a girl where the library was so that I could get to know someone new.

2. DON'T STAY IN YOUR ROOM.

Some of you might feel embarassed of your poor language skills: don't be. Your host family will appreciate you trying to connect with them, regardless your ability to do so: It will get better day by day. Do not stay in your room because you feel out of place, hang out with your family in the living room instead, watch a movie together, go grocery shopping together or get a cup of coffee but do not skype your family back home every day, that won't help you settle.

3. DO SPORTS.

If you are like me, you don't like sports and prefer to spend time differently, but if you join a team there's a better chance to meet people. I chose to do tennis even tho I wasn't good, I actually got better and I enjoyed experiencing something new.

4. TALK TO PEOPLE.

If someone comes up to you and asks something, don't cut the conversation by simply responding but keep the conversation alive, one thing leads to another and you might end up having lunch together.

5. BE INVOLVED AT SCHOOL.

Sometimes students don't talk to you because they hang out with the same people and don't see the point of getting to know an exchange student. You gotta show people why you are interesting. Be involved at school, take fun classes and be part of extra activities. The more you are around and the more they will talk to you.

6. BREAK THE STEREOTYPES.

Some students may think you are from a 'weird' country due to the fact that they believe in stereotypes. Exaggerating: if you are from Italy your grandpa is part of mafia; If you are white you can't be Brazilian; If you are German you are related to Hitler and so on. 
I had the chance to do some presentations for my classes about my homecountry and hometown so that americans could see where I was used to live before arriving in the States.

7. ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Last but not least, always act like you know what you are doing or what is going on around you. Even if you are a shy person, act like you are an outgoing one. Show your interest on meeting people and people will reach out to you. Don't be the weird guy who says no one talks to him but at the same time doesn't do anything to change the situation. Your fellow students are in their hometown, living their usual life, the exchange student is the person who has to build up his experience.

PS It has already been a year since I came back from exchange, but my host brother came to visit me this summer and we toured Italy together: watch the video!

- Cris

0 comments:

FROM AIRPORTS TO TRAIN STATIONS.

Sunday, August 14, 2016 Cristian 2 Comments


Every day millions of people take off from one place and land on another one. They leave their comfort zone, travel, connect with locals and travel again. There are people who measure life with plans, schedules or things of value; I measure life with plane tickets and experiences, things that aren't tangible but really important to me.

"Roots are important, but we men have legs, not roots, 

and legs are made to go anywhere else."


When I step in an airport I feel like I'm capable of anything. I am brave enough to distance my feet from the ground, to face the earth from above where cars look like ants and fields look like puzzles. I love when the aircraft speeds up and within seconds leaves the asphalt because it's when I realize I am going somewhere. I feel something in my chest and I start smiling like an idiot looking out the window. I wonder where the person next to me will be ending his trip and why there. I start thinking how awesome it is to be sharing a trip with hundreds of people who are flying in the same direction but for different reasons. It puts joy into my heart to be meeting people from all over the world in such a short period of time.


Traveling by train calms me, I always make sure I get the window seat so I can look outside and enjoy the view: see the green fields pass by, cars racing and clouds moving while I listen to music. No matter how uncomfortable it can be at the moment, traveling by train is awesome.


Some people take traveling for granted and they are fine when a trip comes to an end because they are ready for the next one. I am not that way, I am always ready to travel no doubts, but I feel bad every time I travel back home because as you do it you realize that the fun time you had becomes a memory. It is good to be home, to sleep in our bed, to use our own bathroom, to be able to 100% relax.. but what about what happened on our last trip? that we will never have back, so make it the best you can!

- Cris

2 comments:

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE KIND..

Sunday, August 07, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments

How many times a day people say to be nice to one another? A lot, but how many of those are actually nice? A few, because most of the people nowadays put their wellbeing first, even if that means to be incorrect to others. Today I want to tell you that it's not always about receiving but it is about giving as well, and to do so I am going to share a couple of experiences of mine.
_

Exchange Students reunion in Denmark.

If you've been reading my blog long enough, you'd know that I will be soon moving to Denmark for University, but before making this life changing decision, last winter I flew into Copenhagen for a few days and visit. There I was going to be reunited with some exchangers. When I was planning my trip, my american family told me that the exchange student they hosted some years before me was from Denmark and that I could text him if I needed help of any form. So I decided to do so and ask him if he knew cheap hostels in the city. My friends and I ended up being at his place for four days as he told me he was out of town and I was welcome there. But the story doesn't end here. As I landed I did not even have to catch a train because his friend was waiting for me there, he picked me up and drove me to the flat. It was really nice of them to do so. Everyone in Denmark was really nice to me, this is also why I can't wait to make my way there.


A text message changes your day.

As I am a member of a lot of exchange student groups on facebook I always see that many fellows need help or have questions about certain countries. Once, a guy from Mexico was searching for someone from Italy, so I offered my help as I thought he was going to ask me how to say something in Italian or needed suggestions about hostels/places to visit. He was actually looking for a family who was willing to host him a couple of months in the summer. He's partially Italian and he wanted to get to know the language and the culture. I thought I was going to be useless as I couldn't host him, but I knew that trip was really important to him. As my trip to Denmark was made possible by kind people who offered their help, I was going to do the same thing: trying to be as useful as I could. I asked anyone I could think of if they were willing to host a college student. I eventually told my friend to find a family through workaway. He ended up living in three different cities in my beautiful country, so far. I'm glad all of this worked out great for him, because he's a great person to hang out with. As I hosted him in Milan, he returned the favour and hosted me in Liguria and we had a really good time.
_
I shared this because it's just great how a message can change things these days, social media can be awesome if used for good. Facebook became the place where people need likes to be cool but I'm actually glad there's still someone who uses it to connect (or reconnect) with people. When I tried to find a family for that guy I didn't expect to have anything back, I just felt great when he told me he found a place to stay. I try to treat others how I want to be treated, and this is my advice for today.

- Cris

0 comments:

MY HOST BROTHER CAME TO VISIT.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments


I've been super busy lately, but I can explain why: I finally graduated from high school and.. my American brother came to visit me in my home country! As soon as I picked him up at the airport it was like nothing changed during this year apart, like I never left Colorado. But the thing is, I did leave last year and now he was the one on my side of the ocean. I spent 3 weeks with him, during which we toured Italy and spent some nights out with my friends. It has been awesome, we went to Lake Como, Verona, Venice, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, Rome and Cinque Terre. I hope Italy didn't disappoint him, he ate Italian food, visited the colosseum and rode a gondola, is there something more Italian than this?


Already half of my summer passed by as I will start college in a month, but I am for sure happy of how I spent it. I had the chance to visit a lot of my friends along our trip and I got to do new things. But Sunday my American brother's time here expired. My family and I drove him to the airport and I helped him checking-in. The hardest part of the morning wasn't leaving him, because his visit made me realize that there will be other opportunities to see him in the future. What has been hard was not boarding with him, knowing that he was going to land where I once landed for the first time almost two years ago. As I was slowly walking out the airport facing the ground, I thought I would have done anything to catch that flight as well. People told me I am crazy. I mean, seriously, why would I go back there when I live in freaking Milan, Italy? I know, my American town sometimes smells bad, I gotta walk 30 minutes if I want to get some Subway or a cup of coffee, but so what? it is still MY town, with people I love.

As my exchange brother was on the other side of the gate, I started feeling strange. I cannot explain what I felt, but it was like leaving my exchange for the second time. As I did a lot of high-quality stuff in such a short period of time, I felt sad because I missed the fun I experienced a few days before, but I am feeling better now as I know one thing: there will be the time when I will land at DIA again, and it will be beautiful and emotional. I just gotta be patient because the right time will come and it will feel amazing. There's like a transparent chain that connects my American family and I, no matter how many miles divide us and how many months pass by, we will be one and the same because even if a solid year went by, I still feel part of the family.
- Cris

0 comments:

DON'T LET SOCIETY DEFINE WHO YOU ARE.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016 Cristian 0 Comments

"You spend so much time with other people, you spend so much time trying get people to like you, you know other people more you know yourself, you study them, you know about them, you wanna hang out like them, you wanna be just like them, and you know why? You invest so much time on them you don't know who you are. I challenge you to spend time by yourself. It's necessary that you get the losers out of your life, if you want to live your dream."

 I was watching a video on Facebook, when I heard this paragraph and I wanted to quote it because I couldn't agree more. I always see people comparing themselves to other people. It is time to live our own life, to do it the way we want to and let people live theirs the way they want to.

 "Did you see what he achieved? I wish I could do something like that.."
Who says you can't do it yourself? Who says he is better? Just do your own thing, if you want something, work on it and make it happen. I'm sure the person you are comparing yourself with didn't achieve it out of nothing. We just see the best of people, we see what they want us to see. If we knew what they went through, I'm sure we would love our own life a little more.

On the other hand, there is people who says shit about you just because they think they are cooler than you. Just know that they are as cool as you are. Don't choose your host country because it is cool, because it is the place a cool person would choose. Go somewhere YOU would like to see and explore. Live the culture, don't go there to drink the umpteenth beer, get drunk and screw the whole year up because your organization sends you home earlier. Have fun, of course, but don't make breaking the rules your first purpose on exchange. I don't wanna be the partypooper or to sound like your mom, I'm saying this because a lot of people get caught and I'm sure it was no fun to end their exchange earlier.
I spent my whole summer before departure trying to convince my parents to let me go on exchange, they raised the money and they finally signed my application. Living in the USA was my dream, was it worth it to ruin everything over a beer? Let me tell you, it is not. Drink it when you are beyond sure you are not risking to be sent home, then drink as much as you want and have fun. And first of all, YOU have to decide if you want to drink it, don't do it because they push you. Once you get caugh you can't say "I did it because they did" but you have to take your responsibility.

 Be the person you wanna be, don't do what society wants you to do. As exchange students we should promote diversity, we need to understand that what is different from us isn't always wrong or bad. You don't need to be accepted by people, people need to love your real you, and not make a copy of themselves.

 // ps click on “Follow” (right hand-side) so you won't miss future updates //
- Cris

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I DON'T HATE HOME, I JUST MISS MY EXCHANGE YEAR.

Sunday, June 05, 2016 Cristian 54 Comments


The first thing I thought when I was at the airport getting ready to go back home after my exchange was that I lived the best experience of my life so far. However, I promised myself to keep getting out of my comfort zone and live my life the way I want. This is why I don't fancy staying in one place for my whole life! In my opinion, life isn't meant to be lived in one place only. I don't want life to pass by neither to regret things when I get older.


Last summer when I returned home I was happy to see family and friends, to be greeted by my dog and to walk through my hometown, but it only lasted a few days. My parents thought I did not like home anymore, that I had a problem with them or something. Reality is that I was missing my exchange year badly. Wasn't it understandable? I couldn't just pretend that 11 months never happened. So yes, I needed time to settle once again, even if we are speaking about home. I had to accept the fact that after one year of new experiences, I went back to my old and boring routine. 
No one seemed to care, the only thing they cared about was having me back, they didn't even consider that I was hurting. When they did realize something was wrong, they told me to cheer up because hey "you will have the opportunity to go back and visit!". 
A tip for you all: if you ever have to comfort a former exchange student dealing with depression, do not say that they can go back and visit. It should be obvious that we look forward to visiting, but it will never be the same. 


Please people, do not tell me something like "Why do you want to study abroad again? Why don't you care about me? Why do you leave me here? Aren't we enough?" You need to understand that I don't leave because I hate you, I leave because I love myself. This is what I need. I am still young and I want to keep my options open. There's lots of time before I have to settle somewhere. There is always time to go back home, where our own story started.

UPDATE: It's May 2020, I already graduated from University, I went on Erasmus, I did an Internship in the USA (exactly where I did my exchange year, so in fact, I did have the opportunity to go back!), and I am currently living in Portugal where I am quarantined, away from my family. Fast-forward 4 years from the very first time I wrote this and I can now say that after this state of emergency, I will definitely go back home for a while.

Read Also: "Five Things I've Done For The First Time On Exchange."

- Cris

54 comments:

ARRIVING VS LEAVING: FEELINGS.

Friday, May 20, 2016 Cristian 5 Comments


Arriving in a foreign country on your own at a young age is definitely something hard to deal with, but what's even harder, according to me, is having to leave everything behind once your time abroad is up and you need to go back.

A few days ago I decided to read, after a long time, my old blog. The one I wrote prior and during my exchange experience. I must admit that it was a poor decision. When I was 15 and going on exchange was still just a blurry dream, I spent afternoons reading blogs of the current exchange students, to see what they were doing and get inspired, in a way. While I was reading mine I felt like I was reading someone else's blog. It's a fact that the person I was on exchange was different from my 15 year-old self, but now I can promise you that I already feel distant from my 17 year-old self. No doubt that we change every day but it is just interesting when you keep track of the things you do and think and go back to read all those records years after. That's when you realise that there has been an actual change. 

ARRIVING IN MY HOST COUNTRY...

When I arrived in the US I was incredibly excited. After 17 hours of traveling, when I arrived at my new home I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't want to close my eyes, I was scared I could wake up back in Italy. I woke up at 6 am, which means that I basically slept 6 hours or so, and before that, I stayed up for like 24 hours straight. I didn't really know what to do at that moment so I decided to set up my room and unpack my things. Subsequently, I went upstairs to see if someone was already up. My American parents were really surprised I was up at 8 am, they hosted 16 times before me and no one woke up that early on their first day. I was full of excitement and I went to wash the car with my American dad who drove me around the city to show me what it had to offer. It was amazing to drive through those big roads even though it all looked rural to me, very different from my hometown, Milan.


...DEPARTING FROM MY HOST COUNTRY

I can't really talk about just my last night in the US because I just cried my eyes out for hours, so I am going to talk about my last three weeks there. Even if they were the last ones, I was really busy. I had my last rotary conference, and that's when my friends and I started crying. It was a really emotional moment, everyone sang along and we said goodbye until... God knows.
The day I said goodbye to the most amazing people I've ever met, I stayed in bed. But then I told myself I had to live my last days to the fullest. I hung out with my American friends, I celebrated my American brother's birthday and I visited a new city in Colorado, Boulder. I went to Hawaii for about a week, I surfed in Waikiki and then I spent 6 days in beautiful Kauai. For my last dinner in the US, I decided to have Chinese food at a restaurant where we used to go really often. The interesting thing is that I had dinner with the person who I had my first dinner with, and I saw her just those two times. I got really emotional when my family was driving me to the airport.. Once I entered the car I realized I wasn't going to go back to my American home. My exchange was over. My American parents spoke with my American brother about other things, they probably didn't want to deal with the situation. That was the last car ride of my exchange, my last goodbye, my last human bean coffee. I kept looking out the window because I didn't feel like crying in front of everyone. I didn't want to admit it was over. I kept looking at the Rocky Mountains.. and then, before I realized it, I was checking in at the desk. There, I focused on the good things because I was tired of crying. Good things end too, and I had to be okay with it. I was going to see my family and friends after 11 months, how could I not be happy? But eventually, I took off and...

Then I arrived home, I spent 2 beautiful days, my best friend surprised me at the airport and my mom threw a surprise party for me. The day after my arrival it was my sister's birthday so I even celebrated that. It was amazing but then I started feeling weird, arguing with my parents.. I felt like I wasn't in the right place and things were falling apart. I was desperately missing my exchange...

Read more about "My Return Home".

- Cris

5 comments:

THROWBACKS OF EXCHANGE.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016 Cristian 4 Comments

It's been months since I came back from exchange, but the desire of travelling and meeting people from all over didn't go away, and it probably never will. These days there are a lot of rotary exchange students on their EuroTrip: they basically travel through Europe on a bus for a couple of weeks. They stop in places like Paris, Strasbourg, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Venice.. and then my hometown: Milan.


I love the fact that we are in the 21st century. I follow a lot of exchange students on social networks and one of them happened to be on her way to Milan. I decided to text her and join her group. I showed them around and chatted for a few hours. I felt weird because not even a year ago I was the one road tripping. They were really nice to me, but seeing how excited, happy and close they were made me think about my exchange. I extremely miss everything and everyone. I remember laughing 24/7, proudly taking pictures with our own flag, making bad jokes.. I mean exchange is literally the time of our lives, at least so far. We experience so much in such a short period of time; one year seems a lot at the beginning but it is not that long, time flies.

It hurts to meet cool people in the morning and have to say goodbye in the afternoon. There's no time to really get to know each other. But I keep doing it, because meeting people from other places is fun.


After my bus trip and when my american family drove me to the airport, I felt like my heart was taken away. I felt empty and I couldn't stop feeling sad. I still remember the pain I felt back then, but I am about to start college in Denmark, which means I will start a new life, just like I did a couple of years ago. I just cannot stay at home. I know that I will probably feel sad and empty in a few years because of the same reasons I felt that way before, but I couldn't care less.

My point is: The hardest moment is leaving your host country because your exchange will be over forever, no more DQ blizzards with your host family, no more football games, school dances or rotary trips. Nothing. You won't take it back. It hurts when it ends, but IT IS WORTH IT. I'd go on exchange again and again.

- Cris

4 comments:

RIDICULOUS THINGS AMERICANS ASK EXCHANGE STUDENTS.

Friday, April 15, 2016 Cristian 39 Comments

Hello guys, some of my fellow exchange students sent me some of the questions americans asked them during their time in the US, I wanted to share them with you because they are really funny. Please know that by posting this I am not judging anyone, I know that everyone can ask stupid questions, regardless where they are from. Take it easy. 

Let's start with some Geography..

Is Spain the capital of Italy?
Is Spain next to Singapore?
Brazil is between Germany and Spain, right?
France is in the UK and Paris is in London, right?
Is Norway a city in Nazi-Germany or Europe?
In which part of SOUTH AMERICA is Austria?
Isn't Austria a US state?
Is Austria the capital of Germany?
Is Finland in China?

You said you are from Europe, WHAT IS IT?
Do you speak EUROPEAN in Europe?
How many hours will it take to DRIVE FROM NEW YORK TO PAKISTAN?
How many hours does it take to TRAVEL from the Netherlands to Europe WITH A CAR?

Do you have running water in Denmark?
Do you have bathrooms or do you PEE IN THE BACKYARD?
Do you have chips, iPhones and cars in France?
Do you have kangaroos in AUSTRIA?
Do you have cars and trees in Germany?
Do you have A MOON in Poland?

Do you eat turkey in Turkey?
Why are you WHITE if you are FROM BRAZIL?
Do the leaves of a tree turn colors during fall in Germany?
Since you are German, are you RELATED in any way TO HITLER?
You said you have the moon in France, does that mean there are TWO ON EARTH?

- Cris

39 comments:

THAT ONE TIME IN NEW YORK CITY

Monday, April 11, 2016 Cristian 4 Comments

I think each one of us has a dream place, mine was and still is New York City. Don't ask me why, because I can't answer. I don't know. I grew up with the idea that NY was the perfect city. Crowded, busy, full of yellow taxis and skyscrapers. The city of lights, the one that never sleeps. There is always something going on and it's exciting.


Well, my dream became reality one year ago today. I woke up at 3 am in order to catch a plane and fly out from Denver to The Big Apple. I was so happy I couldn't describe how I felt wth words. I am not a morning person but I can tell you it wasn't hard to wake up, even if it was super early and I probably slept less than 2 hours that night.

I had a layover in Chicago, and it has been hard not being able to make a stop there as well, I bet it is beautiful. As soon as the airplane touched the ground I felt something inside me, like if the younger me whispered in my ear "I knew you would make it to New York".


I spent my first night at the hotel in Newark, attending a BELO presentation with nearly 90 fellow exchange students from all over the world. I will never forget when, the next morning, our bus came out of the Lincoln Tunnel. My eyes pictured the New Yorker building, and that meant just one thing: I was finally in Manhattan. I stepped out of the bus at 9 am, in front of the Public Library. I couldn't stop looking around me, everything was so huge.

Speaking about getting a full experience of the city, we even got stuck in the traffic and yes that ain't fun. We were supposed to spend approximately two hours in Times Square, ended up having like half an hour of free time there. What can I say? Beautiful, yes. But I've always pictured it differently in my head; like the Statue of Liberty, that I thought was enormous.

Sometimes I think back in time and I realize I had the beautiful opportunity to visit so many places that now I don't even know where I would like to settle in the future. Even if I visited NY, three days weren't enough to really live it, this is why I want to move there sometime, get lost in streets I don't know with a cup of coffee in my hand. I've always wanted to visit it but during my staying in the US I actually fell in love with another city of which I knew very little about.. San Francisco!
And you, did you manage to go back to your host country after your high school exchange?
Did you go elsewhere for college? Comment!

Check out "What to do in New York City." <--

- Cris

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