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