An Exchange Carol: looking into the minds and memories of past, present, and future exchange students.

Ciao ragazzi!

This post is from an idea my host mom gave me while having a conversation on our scooter driving through town. She asked me about my blog, and what it was all about. Then she asked if I could write about other people, and the answer to that was "of course". So, the idea that came from her idea was this.

An Exchange Carol.

A hundred and some years ago some dude with some paper and a pen by the name of Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, probably one of the most famous books ever to be written. In fact, I was just in a book store today and found a copy of it in Italian. I digress, this blog entry is inspired by him as well. Here lies three segments of this post that I will take you through tonight (or this morning depending on what time zone you are in): the ghost of exchange's past, the ghost of exchange's present, and the ghost of exchange's future. Now, from studying Dickens last year in my freshman English class I know what honestly happened in A Christmas Carol and I can assure you that there will be no rattling of chains of past co-workers, small crippled children who will make your heart cry, or greedy old men in this version. Andiamo.




1. Ghost of Exchange's Past

My first interviewee of this entry is my host brother, Mattia. In early December he returned from a trimester study with AFS in Belgium.

• What was the best moment of your exchange? Why?

Minchia....cazzo....I don't even know. Probably the period of time when I could honestly feel like I was part of the family. Also, in my local chapter in Belgium, I had 24 kids from other countries around the world. The feeling of being with them and knowing that I was making life-long friendships that would be with me forever, and none of those people would ever be that far away.

• What was the hardest part of your exchange?

On my third day in Belgium, my sisters were at school and my parents were at work. I was completely home alone, so I figured I would take a bus to go around the city. So I did. At the end of the day, I took the bus home. But the thing is, I took the wrong bus. With mediocre French I tried to explain to the bus driver what happened but he told me that I had to get off. I ended up in the middle of nowhere. I ended up getting home completely fine, and I can laugh about it now. It was more of the scariest part.

The hardest part was the first few days of school at lunch, when my classmates weren't my friends yet. No one ever really told me where to go or what to do for lunch, so the first few days I ate alone because...I just didn't know what else to do.

• Do you or did you have regrets about anything in your exchange?

No. I only had three months, so I knew going into it I had to do as much as I could .There wasn't a question about it. I lived, ate, and breathed "carpe diem".

• Why did you go abroad in the first place?

I went abroad for two reasons: to learn French and to broaden my horizons by learning more about the world and the cultures inside of it.

• Describe the feeling of coming home after exchange. 

When you first open the door of your house after being away for so long, you don't remember a lot. You just want to go around the house and do everything at once. Suddenly bathrooms and bedrooms and everything has interest. Seeing your family again is really strange, but yet so great to see them again.

• Do you think you have changed because of going abroad?

Yes. Before leaving, distance seemed like such a big factor of life. I was leaving home for 3 months, and going to live in a country on the other side of Europe. It meant a lot (distance). But now, it doesn't seem as much of a big deal. The world somehow seems wider, and Catania seems smaller, but distance still seems like less of a factor. I also reevaluated Sicily (also Italy in general). Before going away, I didn't like Italy and all of it's characteristics. But now home has a different meaning since I got to look at it in a different way.

• Are you staying involved with your ogranization/AFS? How?

OH YOU KNOW. (referring to me, Kara).

• What is the most valuable thing you learned during your exchange year?

There is no time in life to waste. Me, especially because I only had 3 months or so in Belgium on exchange. With so little time, I made a pact to myself to visit as much as possible, learn as much as I could, and just live for those 90-some days like I wouldn't have to go home.

• Are you still in contact with your host family and friends?

Yep. (skype and messaging)

• How hard was it to pick up the language, and how much did you know before you came?

Not incredibly difficult because I had studied French for 3 years in school, and also with a private teacher for 2 years (though those lessons only frequented about once a month). After getting to Belgium and meeting my family, trying to participate in school, etc., I realized how terrible my French was. Knowing a language is different than speaking it.

• Do you have any advice for future or present exchange students?

Don't waste time and try to profit off every moment. Don't ever hold yourself back from doing things that are good for you. Get yourself out there and speak a different language. Speak as much as possible. You'll learn, you'll make friends, you'll live a new life and if you don't speak that language there isn't a way you can do those things. Don't be afraid of the outcomes because no one will remember them in the long run. Making mistakes will become a part of you, so just embrace it or else you won't be able to function.

2.  Ghost of Exchange's Present

My monkey for this branch of our journey through the mind of an exchange student is from the United States, studying abroad in Italy. No, it's not me (for once). It's one of my closest friends here on Sicily, Anthony Devier from Illinois. He is studying with AFS in a town called Agrigento on the other side of Sicily. To paint a little picture he kind of looks like this

• Why did you choose to go abroad?

            I chose to go abroad because I wanted to learn about a part of the world I knew I had no clue about.

• What is the hardest thing you have encountered yet?

              The hardest thing about being an exchange student depends on the person abroad and their personality, but the hardest thing for me is getting to know people. You enter into their lives with the language barrier and can only get to know the people that speak your language. On top of that, you're intimidating. You're the foreigner; you're the untouchable. Yet you feel like every single person surrounding you is the foreign one. People around you are looking at you as "cool" and new, again you're intimidating, but in reality you're just sitting there begging for people to come talk to you.

• How's the language and how much did you know before coming?

             The language isn't incredibly difficult. I came to Italy with a small background knowledge of Spanish, which helped me with the Italian grammar. Once you get the patterns of the language down, it is easier. Before even getting here, I had to do the Rosetta Stone corse for AFS, which prepped me with basic present-tense sentences, greetings, colors, and numbers, but that was really it.

• Describe the feeling of stepping off of the plane and into your host country.

           As soon as we landed in Rome, I was basically fine while everyone else was grumpy from not sleeping or going insane with happiness and whatnot, getting to know each other and talking about everything. What really got to me was landing in Sicily. After getting my family and being in the car home for about an hour, the fact that I was really here hit me. I went through a massive wave of homesickness my first two days of being with my family, but after those 48 hours, it blew over.

• What is living with another family like?

          To sum up living with another family in one word, it would be awkward. I think the thing I said the most for the first 2 weeks of exchange was "this is the most awkward experience I've had in my life". The thing is, it doesn't necessarily get better. It just gets easier to handle and deal with because you become used to it. The awkwardness just becomes a normalcy.

• What is the best thing about being an exchange student?

          The best thing about being an exchange student probably would be that you get to see people honestly. When you're back in your home country everyone just assumes you know what you're doing and that you don't need help. Here, with me being the one that can't fully speak their language and am not completely accustomed to their way of life, I have gotten to see how truly caring and helpful people can be.

• Do you have any regrets about exchange?

          My biggest regret of this exchange (so far) is being afraid to take risks. I have held myself back a lot because I was too afraid to make a fool out of myself by sitting down and trying to start a conversation. I was too afraid of the awkwardness that I knew would come. But, I found that when I actually took the chance, knowing that I was most likely going to make a fool out of myself, it ended up being one of the best moments of the day. People see it as trying to get to know them or trying to be involved, and when you are the one to start that, they become more involved with you.

• Have you battled homesickness? 

          I never really have had major homesickness (besides the first 2 days). Homesickness after that was just for 5 minutes at a time. Even when I was back in Illinois saying goodbye to my family and friends I wasn't emotionally attaching myself to them. It was more of a "see ya later guys", not a "I'm not going to talk to you all or see you all for like a year" ordeal. After getting here, I got more of the shock like "wow, that really was the last time I would see them for ten months". But I've never had homesickness that has really rocked the way I spent my time during my exchange.

• What were you the most excited for before you came?

          Oh God, I don't even know.... I mean, I came with the mindset of "this is the land of pizza and pasta so it's gotta be good!" But, it was also a way for me to reinvent myself. Coming here, no one had an idea of who I am or who I have been (in the States), so if you've ever looked back on yourself and saw something that you wanted to change about yourself, you could change it! Looking back now, I have changed, and when I return back in July, I will be a changed person. How I've changed....well...I don't even know.

• What surprised you about your country? Do you still look at your host country the same way you did as before you came?

          Before I came here I knew that most of the stereotypes of Italians that we had were probably not true, so I didn't honestly know what to expect. But the thing that surprised me the most about Italy was the patriotism....for America. It was kind of mindboggling to go to school and see everyone in their American garb or have someone ask about the Clintons or the Bush presidency or ask my opinion on Obama while also giving theirs.

• What is the most valuable thing you've learned (so far)?

         The most valuable thing I've learned is that people around the world are so alike. Ya know, when I go into my American school and everyone has their own little groups and their own little groups of friends and here, I came in and got to know all different people from all different groups and I realized that everyone was so much of the same thing. Same problems, same worries, same whatevers. I remember looking back and thinking that I was so different from some of the groups of kids I went to school with in America and I can already look back from 12,000 kilometers away and see how alike we really were/are, and who they really were. It's a small world.

3.  Ghost of Exchange's Future

For the final ghost of our exchange carol, the ghost of exchange's future, I am using a boy from Italy, Simone,  who is hoping to study abroad for an annual program in a currently undecided location, and a girl from my area of Pennsylvania, Joi, who is hoping to study abroad in Italy next year. Joi is trying for the same scholarship as I am on, the Speedwell Scholarship. Currently I am cheering her on and I hope that she will be able to have the same, life-changing experience I am in the midst of in the 2014-2015 school year. Both of these two sound so undecided because it is still really early for students to be cleared by AFS, have paperwork in, have a host family, etc. So we're working with what we have for the sake of getting this done in time for it being a Christmas special entry!

• What are you scared for?

Being completely powerless in situations I can easily navigate in the United States (my home country) in English. -Joi

• What excites you about exchange?

When I think of going abroad for a year, I get so excited because I know that this could very well change my life forever. I get butterflies in my stomach. I begin to imagine a completely new life; new school, new family, new friends, new culture...an adventure where absolutely everything is new! -Simone

• Are you learning/do you speak the language of your host country?

Since I still have 10 countries in my selection (when Italians go abroad they have to pick 10 countries they want to go to, in the US I only chose three. His are Japan, Hong Kong, Netherlands, South Africa, Denmark, China (boarding school), Argentina, Brazil, United States, and Sweden), it's nearly impossible to learn a language. I know the basic fundamentals of Japanese and Portuguese but that's about it. (Note: he speaks English already which covers for the US and South Africa) -Simone

• Do you think you know a lot about your host country?

"Well actually, I think I don't know anything of these places (countries I've selected), because you can learn the language, the customs, the traditions, but you can't learn a culture. You can only live a culture." -Simone

• What do you think is the most important thing to do while preparing for a trip abroad?

To get as much information as possible. Talk to the people that are already abroad in your choice country. Research on the internet. Read blogs. Get to know the other kids applying to go abroad at the same time as you. Also it can help you learn more about not only the country you are aiming to study in, but about the other countries and their cultures others are experiencing as well. -Joi

• Describe the feeling you have when you think about going abroad.

"The feeling of going abroad is an emotional roller coaster in itself. There's the stress of the possibility of your credits not transferring. The worry that your making the wrong choice. The excitement and wonderment about spending an entire year being independent and adventurous. Lastly, there's the realization I have every once in a while that tells me that I have to go through with this. There are no other times or opportunities to go and I can't let fear hold me back." -Joi




There you have it, folks. I wish you all a Buon Natale e un capodanno meraviglioso, e probabilmente, ci vediamo a 2014!

Buon Natale a tutti, e a tutti una buona notte.