My Exchange in Canada 2013

I’ve always wanted to see the world – meeting new people, learning new things, discovering another culture and experiencing a completely different way of life. When I heard of the opportunity of making a student exchange and going to school abroad for five months I finally told myself, don’t dream it, do it! The thought of leaving my family and friends was kind of shocking at first, but going to high school is a one time opportunity and I was afraid I’d regret it later if I didn’t take this chance. I will never forget the expression on my parents’ faces when I first told them about my plans.

It actually took me a while to persuade them, however, the idea of sending your constantly petulant teenage child away for five months must sound pretty convincing, right? Thanks Mom and Dad, by the way. One of the hardest things was letting go of my friends. When you are fifteen years old, your friends probably play the most important role in your life and being without them for such a long time seems really terrifying. However, I knew I could keep up contact with them via Skype, Facebook, etc., it’s not like I was going to leave them forever.

I made my final decision in February 2012, one year before my departure, though the time between those two dates went by horribly fast. I remember I was only dreaming about my exchange, when it was suddenly January 30th, 2013 and I was standing at the airport with my packed suitcase. I was terribly excited and couldn’t wait to begin my new life, to become part of this foreign culture, but at the same time I had no idea what would await me, I didn’t know a single person, shortly, I WAS TERRIFIED! Saying goodbye to my family wasn’t the easiest thing to do either. Let’s be honest, I cried like a three-year-old at the airport. Pathetic, isn’t it? After a 16-hour journey I finally arrived in CANADA!

The first days in my new home were amazing, I literally loved EVERYTHING. My host family was, and still is, really great. My host father works at the Canadian Air Force and my host mother is the Head of Guidance at my school. They have two children (3 and 6 years old) who are really amusing kids. Besides, another International Student, a 16-year-old girl from Hong Kong, lived with me and my new family. During my time in Canada she was probably one of the closest persons around me, she seemed like a sister to me.

Anyway, back to my first days: Although they were really exciting, the first two weeks were kind of tough. It was just hard adjusting to this new environment and realizing that you have to stay there for five months. Fortunately I found some really good friends soon, who helped me a lot during my first weeks of school. Speaking of school, Canadian school is really different, on my very first day I felt as if I was in some kind of bad American teenage movie. From the yellow schoolbus, the lockers in the hallways, the skateboarders out front, to the graffiti in the bathroom - everything was so clichéd.

I only had four classes this semester; Instrumental Music Grade11, University French Grade 12, IB Math Grade 11 and Academic English Grade 9. As my classes were in different grades, I got to know different types of people, which was very interesting sometimes. I became friends with musicians, skaters, technology “nerds”, Native Americans, football jocks and drama people; the crazy thing was that most of them were really different in character. I also played the piano in the pit band for the school musical and made some friends in the band and the cast. Making friends is not that easy in the beginning because most people don’t put a lot of effort into becoming friends with exchange students, as they leave anyway at the end of every year. You have to talk to them first yourself and give them a reason to become friends with you - never be shy when talking to people! Most of them are very friendly, and even if they’re not, you’ll never see them again – that’s sometimes an advantage of being an international student.

Personally, except for Mathematics I found the classes I chose fairly easy. I was the youngest student in my French class, where everyone else was around 17 to 18 and had been learning French since Grade 4, still I got the highest mark by the end of the year. Furthermore I had the best mark in my English (!) class - although English is not my first language. That surprised even the teacher.

Besides school I had the opportunity to go on many trips, including Ottawa, Niagara Falls, Kingston, Canada’s Wonderland and, of course,Toronto. It was great to see other parts of Canada, and every place I went to had something special for itself. I’ve done and seen things I never could have done in Austria and I’m very grateful for the opportunity.

Exchange is not only learning and practising a language but discovering another life, becoming independent and mature, growing up, changing. Yes, looking back at it now, spending time apart from my family, friends and life I was used to has changed my personality, but in a positive way. I see people and things in a different way, I don’t judge so soon anymore, I’ve become more open-minded, especially concerning things that are different, because if something is different it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. I realized that things that used to be so important to me, don’t matter so much anymore. I know now what my strengths are, I realized that I can handle a lot ON MY OWN. Those are all things I never would have figured out if I hadn’t done it.

Exchange is meeting international students from different countries; it’s making friends all over the world, letting them tell you stories about what their life looks like. In only five months I’ve made friends in Hong Kong, China, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, Korea, Japan, India; but most of all Canada. Friends, who in just five months can become more important to you than people you have known all your life.

Exchange is saying goodbye, to your family and friends, hugging and fighting tears at the airport, not knowing how to leave behind all the people you love, walking into this world of strangers, who will become your second family. It’s saying goodbye to the people who helped you become the person you are now, sharing hundreds of memories with them, being so grateful for everything they have done for you; and yet you have to leave them. It’s this tremendous pain you feel in your chest, stealing your breath, taking away the words you prepared to say from the tip of your tongue, when you leave the people in your host country, because no words could ever be appropriate to express the feeling you experience when you have to leave some of the most important people in your life, not knowing when, or IF you will ever see them again, having no idea how to proceed without them. It’s leaving your best friends; to return to your best friends, returning to a world where everything, and yet nothing is the same.

Still, all these new experiences make up for the goodbyes, which are by far the hardest part of going on exchange. The language itself was no problem at all, the past six years at Baumgartenberg have prepared me thoroughly to master all the situations I’ve been put through. It is really easy to pick up the language and after only one week my thoughts had already switched to English.

To anyone considering going on exchange– YES, DO IT!!! You will have the time of your life, you will learn so many things you haven’t known about yourself before. It’s an amazing experience and I wish everyone had the opportunity to do it. So if you want to go abroad I can only recommend you to take this chance, it will help you A LOT. If anyone has any worries or questions or doubts etc. you can come and talk to me at any time, I can tell you about my experiences and I’m really glad if I can help you.

I know that this is a really long text, and I’ve spent hours writing it just because I had so much to say; but if anyone has actually read it and made it to the bottom down here then, last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who supported me and made this amazing year possible. THANK YOU!

Helene Käferböck 6A (Canada, January – June 2013)