In 2012,
Carolina Stein’s family chose to become part of the AFS family and decided to
host an exchange student for six months. During last year’s second semester,
Angelica Zalunardo, from Italy, lived in Goiânia, learnt a little bit of our
culture and gained a new family: Carolina’s family. Carol, who is 17 years old
and studies Production Engineering in São Carlos Federal University, talked to
the AFS Goiânia Committee Blog about her experience as host family.
AFS Goiânia Committee Blog: How did you know about AFS Intercultural Programs?
Carolina: I discovered the organization through a friend from my school who was
going to do an exchange program in France.
AFS Goiânia Committee Blog: Why did you decide to host an exchange
student?
Carolina: I decided to host Angelica because of the experience that knowing another
culture can bring. I also wanted to host her for the opportunity of learning
Italian (language I’ve studied) and of teaching Portuguese to an Italian.
AFS Goiânia Committee Blog: Did you have any problems at the beginning of
your experience because of your cultural differences?
Carolina: At first, the hardest
thing was communication. Even though I knew how to speak Italian, it was still
difficult to explain some of the house habits and customs. But Angelica started
to understand Portuguese very fast and soon she was speaking very well. The
cultural differences appeared, but everything was treated with respect and
comprehension from both sides. And we always learnt something new from the
other one.
AFS Goiânia Committee Blog: How was
your relationship with Angelica?
Carolina: When I met Angelica I realized she was very
different from me, and she realized the same thing. We always said we were
totally opposite to one another. It was surprising for us, besides our
differences (and maybe because of that), how we got along very well, how one
completed the other one. In no time Angelica was already part of the family;
she was my older sister and a great friend.
AFS Goiânia Committee Blog: What did this experience as host family
represent to you?
Carolina: The experience as host family taught a lot to me and added a lot to my
personal growth. It represented the gain of a new perspective of the world to
everybody in my house.
Blog AFS Comitê Goiânia: What did you learn living with somebody from
another country?
Carolina: I think I learnt that, although the language, the customs and the clothes
are really different from ours, somebody from another country is just the same
as we are. The feelings, insecurities and dreams are the same for every human
being. That makes me think that prejudice and intolerance towards other cultures
and people are so irrational and the biggest problems of humanity could be
resolved if people were aware that, in essence, all the habitants of this
planet are equals.
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