Being an exchange student is being part of the world

An exchange student is more then just going off to another country and seeing it. Or you being able to tell all your friends you saw this place and you went there. It is an experience of a lifetime. It changes you. You find out who you are, who you want to be, and who you hope to never become. You gain things you never thought you had. Confidence, strength, modesty, and so much more. You learn how... to survive without your family, and your friends. Everything that you ever thought was normal has been turned upside down and you take it all in stride and make it part of you.

Every part of your exchange is a memory. The bad, the good, the horrible, and the great. The places you see and the people you meet shape you into a different person. You leave your country as one person and you come back another. Yes you still have the same face and the same smile but inside changes. Some people change so drastically their own parents don’t know them anymore, while most change just a little. They are more sure of themselves. More mature. I like to say this, “we don’t remember days; we remember moments.” And after your exchange year, you have enough moments to last a lifetime. 

Exchange students are all different people. They come from all over the world. They live different lives, have different friends, and different personalities. Every exchange student has one thing in common though. That is that they are in a new country, trying to figure out just how to live and fit in the best they can. This common ground between people from all over the world gives the ability to create the most real friendships you will ever have in your life. These friends that you make over your year will be your friends until you die. When you go through the same amazing experience together, even if you live an entire ocean away from them, you never forget the friendship you have with that person.

We all leave for different reasons. Some leave because they can’t stand their parents, some leave because they want to see the world, and some leave just to prove that they can. In the end though, we all leave because we are brave enough to do it. We don’t stay in our comfort zones and do what our parents want us to do or what our friends are doing. We find a new path that leads us to do amazing, incredible things. this path doesn’t just end after your exchange either. Through out your whole life you will choose the path that is less traveled. You will do what you want to do. You will follow your dreams and nothing will stop you. I do my best to live by this quote, which says: "Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you are afraid to do. It's having the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory."
I truly believe thats what all exchange students are. Courageous.

By Shane Bodie, a Rotary exchange student from Canada.