Being an exchange student is an indescribable and unique experience, we all agree on this, but how does it feel like to come back to your Home Country?
Here's a little list of "What to expect" based on my friends' and my own experiences.
1)"Where am I?"- this is usually the first question that pops up into your mind right after the general excitement of seeing your family and friends for the first time in months. Be prepared because, especially for those of you who have been in a country where people speak a different language than yours, the day when you wake up wondering How comes I'm NOT in my room? is coming.
2)"Take me back HOME"-do you remember those moments during your exchange year when you were all the time looking for things which would eventually remind you of your Home Country? Or when the only thing you wanted was to be back home for just one sec? Well, it's exactly the same shit all over again, just reversed.
Then these moments disappear, just as magically as they did during the exchange year. And that's exactly when the third and worst moment of all starts:
3)"Host Country, please, STAPH!"-it's everywhere. It almost looks as though the entire World has just found out about the existence of your Host Country -whichever it is- and can't wait to make you aware of it. Every. Goddamn. Second. Be it Norway, Argentina, or even the most improbable tiny village in the far north of Siberia, every news is going to mention it somehow. I'm not kidding, Karma can be such a bitch at times. And for those of you who don't see what harm it could do, just scroll back to point 2.
How do we survive all this?
Come on, that's an easy one! The same way we survived the exchange year: put a smile on your face, a positive attitude on your mind, surround yourself of nice people and make junk food your best friend!
Good luck to you all!
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Here's a little list of "What to expect" based on my friends' and my own experiences.
1)"Where am I?"- this is usually the first question that pops up into your mind right after the general excitement of seeing your family and friends for the first time in months. Be prepared because, especially for those of you who have been in a country where people speak a different language than yours, the day when you wake up wondering How comes I'm NOT in my room? is coming.
2)"Take me back HOME"-do you remember those moments during your exchange year when you were all the time looking for things which would eventually remind you of your Home Country? Or when the only thing you wanted was to be back home for just one sec? Well, it's exactly the same shit all over again, just reversed.
Then these moments disappear, just as magically as they did during the exchange year. And that's exactly when the third and worst moment of all starts:
3)"Host Country, please, STAPH!"-it's everywhere. It almost looks as though the entire World has just found out about the existence of your Host Country -whichever it is- and can't wait to make you aware of it. Every. Goddamn. Second. Be it Norway, Argentina, or even the most improbable tiny village in the far north of Siberia, every news is going to mention it somehow. I'm not kidding, Karma can be such a bitch at times. And for those of you who don't see what harm it could do, just scroll back to point 2.
How do we survive all this?
Come on, that's an easy one! The same way we survived the exchange year: put a smile on your face, a positive attitude on your mind, surround yourself of nice people and make junk food your best friend!
Good luck to you all!
