Exchange | Italy | Experience
Why I Am Taking an Exchange Year in Italy
“When you feel scared of something, that’s the best time to jump right into it.” “If you want to learn something quickly, put yourself in that environment.”, these are the two quotes that influenced my decision.
Let’s get to the point and be straightforward here.
What are the two reasons that send me here?
First, I would like to experience western culture (Europe), and there’s an agency called AFS that does the job of sending students to exchange in other countries. With that said, I chose Italy and go for it.
Second, I wanted to learn something very valuable and important, but I don’t know what it is and I wanted to know, so I just jump into it and hoped that I will learn something useful for my future. So far, I have been living in Carini, Sicily island in Italy for 5 days and I have picked up quite a few things.
What have I learned so far?
First things first, I have learned some Italian words and phrases in daily conversation like “Ciao! (Hi!, Bye!)”, “Buongiorno! (Good morning!)”, “Buonasera! (Good evening!)”, “Buonanotte! (Good night!)” and how to introduce myself such as, “Mi chiamo Mario. (My name is Mario.)” More words that I learned are the ones in the kitchen such as “forno (oven)”, “pomodoro (tomato)”, “frigorifero (refrigerator)”, “coniglio (rabbit, yes, we do eat rabbit ;-;)” Yesterday my dad was driving and we saw a mouse so he called out “topo (mouse)”; we also saw the beautiful moon so he said “luna (moon)”.
The second good thing that I started to stick with is taking care of myself without other people telling me to do so. If other people have to tell you what to do to take care of your face, your acne, your body (lotion), and everything about your life, you won’t be able to live by yourself. With that said, sometimes it’s a good idea to join a long camp or take an exchange year to force yourself into taking care of yourself automatically.
The third point is that I learn how to cope with homesickness. I have come to the idea that, if you miss home or miss your parents, just let it out, let the tears come out. It really helps you go through a hard time and overcome the sadness within you. Let yourself cry, and quickly recover yourself back. My mother (biological mother in Thailand) taught me that if you feel lonely or homesick, find something to do, for example, take an English course (IELTS, SAT) that is useful for your future. I believe her, and I overcome homesickness.
The fourth and last thing that I just experienced today is when you think something is hard or impossible (in my case, studying at school in Italian, a language that I don’t even understand in daily conversations). When you think that it’s not possible to do, try to ask yourself this question, are you the first one doing or going through this? 99% of the case, somebody would already do the thing you are doing right now. So, it’s not impossible, they did it, they still survive, it won’t kill you, and it’s accomplishable. (My biological mother in Thailand also taught me this thinking logic through a telephone call)
And that’s all the things I have learned since I stepped out of the airport so far.
By the way, I just want to give a big shoutout to my biological father in Thailand who is reading this. He is a very big fan of my articles on Medium and gaming, vlogging videos on YouTube. (channel: We are PILOTS)
Thanks for reading till the end. I appreciate you! Always love you!❤️
As always,
See you later, alligator!
