About my exchange year.
I was sixteen,
Flying by myself to a new continent.
No limits.
Just me, my courage and my dreams.
Switzerland behind me,
Canada ahead.
Family, friends, habits behind me,
New experiences, new culture, new language ahead.
Doing this experience brought me courage that I could not imagine I had.
This year was not easy,
I had to adjust to this new environment,
Step out of my comfort zone,
Find my place,
But even when sometimes it was hard,
I did it.
I discovered the world,
Met some amazing people,
Opened my mind,
And I learned to understand myself better.
Someone once told me;
It’s not a year in a life,
It’s a life in one year.
That makes sense now.
But there is this feeling.
In my thoughts,
Sometimes during the day,
Sometimes during the night.
When I am with my friends,
Or alone.
Happy,
Or sad.
It comes without permission and kills the mood.
Homesick.
A mix of nostalgia and the absence of your family, friends and home.
Before leaving for Canada,
Some people said it was a bad idea to do this experience so young, they put their own insecurities on me.
However, the only words I listened to,
were my parents saying they were proud of me and of the woman that I was becoming.
I was sixteen.
Flying by myself to a new continent.
No limits,
Just me, my courage and my dreams.
Twelve days,
Twelve days, and this year is over,
Twelve days, and this life is over.
Canada soon behind me,
Switzerland ahead.
Second family, friends behind me,
Maturity, independence, memories with me.
Sixteen.
One year.
And the world will never feel scary again.
