Watching how excited they are to be coming, and seeing them flounder around, worrying about visa'a and Rotary travel packs makes me see how fast time goes while you're here. It's almost like you move into another universe, where time moves strangely irregularly, and things you always worried about often don't matter so much. You come here because you choose too, you choose who'll you be on exchange, the side of you that you'll show to everyone else. No-one here knows anything about you and it's up to who you want to be portrayed as. Your exchange will only hand out what you put in.
Personally, three very important things I find here on exchange all begin with F. Hence, my three 'F's':
- Learning FRENCH. You're not just going to be able to speak if you dont try. You have to really work at it, no matter if you "already speak french" there is a good chance being in a native speaking French country will double your french skills.
- Making FRIENDS. Exchange friends are reasonably easy to come by. People are here for the same reasons and are just as eager to make friends. As for Belgians, them you'll have to work a little harder to get. Really, they lose nothing by not becoming your friend and leaving their comfort zone and working to become your friend. You, on the other hand, lose out on an important cultural part of your exchange. AND;
- Your FAMILY. You're not always going to be a perfect macth but they did open their home for you and made your exchange possible so you have to work to work it out. 90% of the time your family will help you achieve the other two 'F's' and it'll make your exchange so much better if you make an effort to be part of the family.
Our lives are lived inbetween the fast lane and the slow lane. Times will be slow, when you're at school, when you're doing nothing, but when it's fast, it flies by like a car going way to fast. A blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of thing. You have to keep your eyes open for oppurtunities.
My parting words are these final words:
- Come with few expectations but a VERY open mind. No two exchanges will be the same. EVER, so 99% of the things in my stories will be different to what you saw from the same thing we did together or something completely different. Each experience is different.
- Be prepared for a hard year. As much fun as we have, it is a hard year away from your friends and family. When you come here, you know no-one. That can be could, but it is also very difficult to find the surface and learn to swim after you've been thrown into the deep end of the pool. Make sure you are prepared emotionally.
- Get ready for a wild, fun, friend filled, crazy, wild and unexplainable year. You'll forever have stories only your exchange friends will understand and you'll form a strong bond with the friends you make here, having gone through such amazing experiences together. If you're prepared to work, this year is honestly going to be one of the best years, and you will forever remember it, be telling stories to your grandchildren who'll never believe that Nan was that cool.
