When I came back from my exchange some of my high school mates asked me how my “long vacation away from parents” was. Hearing how they would refer to what is one academic year away from home annoyed me quite a bit. For your information, going on an exchange is way different from spending a vacation abroad. Follow through these before discovering what the perks are:

LANGUAGE BARRIER.

You might have studied your host language in school before but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are good or fluent in it. Like, seriously, I wasn’t good at math when I studied it in Italian, how easy do you think it was when I had to take it in English?!

NEW ENVIRONMENT.

You are not living at the house you grew up in, and you are not surrounded by your family and friends. Your mom is not cooking and your dog is not there to pet. You may have left the continent even, so everything that is around you is completely new, starting from the people you now live with: strangers that you will learn to trust over time.

NEW FRIENDS.

Suddenly, you are without your best friend, the person you probably grew up with, and all the other ones that come along when you go out for a drink. The people you might want to be friends with abroad, most likely, already have a group of friends so you will have to do all the work and gain their trust in order to be considered part of the pack.

UNPLEASANT SITUATIONS.

While studying abroad everyone gets a little bit homesick or sad about something. There are a lot of things that might contribute to that feeling, starting from classmates that make fun of you for the way you dress, for your broken speaking capabilities, or who knows what for. 

So, if you are one of those who thinks that going on an exchange is a long vacation, think again. It is hard enough having to grow up where you were born and raised, try to imagine being sent overseas on your own at the age of sixteen. Now that I have listed the things you might have some difficulties dealing with, I will try to underline the perks of what living overseas as a foreign exchange students are because those are what actually count in the long run.

You are a celebrity.

Oh, yes! You are the new guy in town, the cool kid from Europe who came to the boring American city. Maybe your school is even K1-12, meaning that it has elementary, middle and high school all on the same campus, and so, everyone knows everyone. They see you and they all start to wonder who you are. By no time you are on everyone’s mouth, it is up to you to keep that excitement going by speaking with people so they get to know you. If you do not, they will slowly get used to you being there and will not pay that much attention to you because after all, they have their friends they always hang out with.

They love your accent.

They will ask you to repeat a word twenty times just because they think you pronounce it in a funny way. Do not take it too seriously, even if it sounds like they are making fun of you. Let them, because your English will get better and they will start speaking about something different and hopefully you will be their friends after all. And besides, who does not like foreign accents?

Less school, more learning.

If you are lucky, your school counselor will help you out in picking the classes you will be taking for the entire year, but since you will be an exchange student they will also allow you to switch classes throughout the year if you are struggling with something. Also, teachers might give you half of the homework compared to the rest of the class because it might take you twice of the time to do it, or simply because they understand that you are also there for the experience, which is already a learning process itself.

From Student to Traveler.

What do you do when you go to a foreign country? You try to visit it as much as possible because you don't know when you might go back. This same principle also applies to exchange students, that, in fact, explore all the time. As soon as I arrived in America, I started taking pictures of everything because I wanted to capture every moment (and also because some things were strange and I needed to capture them, like… what’s up with the level of water in American toilets?!). Photography is not the only passion I discovered while studying abroad, but also writing, duh, and traveling. I visited a lot of States whilst in the USA.  In fact, my math teacher was sick of me asking for permission to go somewhere all the time, he always looking at me like if I disappointed him when I asked him to sign, but he would always do so. 

Speak your own language.

FYI, It is rude to speak your own language in front of others, so I hardly did it, but sometimes I felt like I needed to speak in Italian just so that I could pour out. I vividly remember when I decided to go on a scary ride at the amusement park California Adventures. I wanted to scream but I did not want to be understood, so I started swearing in Italian.

Start taking care of yourself.

Despite having to rely on other people for rides anywhere, I was pretty much independent. Before going on exchange the food was always on the table, I shared my room with my siblings, and so on, but once I arrived on exchange I became more independent, if no one was at home I’d cook my own lunch,; I’d do my own laundry, I’d help with errands and chores.

Have the Time of Your Life.

Your experience may have been full of ups and downs; it may have been too hard at times; it may have been stressful... but the things you did to overcome the problems, the people you've met, the places you've seen... those will never leave you.

This is very personal and based on my own experience but you guys are more than welcome to leave a comment below if you feel like there is something that needs to be said about this. If you made it to the end, congratulations! Here's a new article for you to read:

Travel Does Not Exist Without Home.

- Cris