One year ago today, I arrived in Italy. A year ago. It's hard for me to believe that it has already been that long. As many of you know, I am now "repeating" my junior year of high school. This has positives and negatives. It's sad that I won't be graduating this year, but I'm trying not to look at it that way. I think of it now as me having more time to better myself. I now have two years of high school to get my GPA up, take the ACT a few times, do some volunteering, and basically do anything I can to go abroad again. These things all go hand in hand. I'm feeling very motivated so far, and I have been doing well in these last three weeks of school. I also have been saving my money from babysitting and working to pay for my next adventure. I've been home for three months now, and everything is going well. I'm trying harder in school, and making new friends. I spend a lot of time babysitting, volunteering at church, and spending time with my friends. While everything is going well and I can't complain much, some days are still hard. When I first got back, I would speak regularly with my host family through Facebook. This lasted for about a month or so. It's died down since then, and that makes me sad. The same thing with my friends. I do talk to my friend Jasmine a lot, though. It's just so strange to go from living with these people and seeing them everyday, to messaging every so often. I know we're all busy, and the time difference definitely does not help. I just miss it so much. I miss walking around Cuneo, and taking the bus to school. I miss making my bed in the mornings, and helping my host mother set the table. I miss helping my little host brother and cousin with their English homework, and eating lunch at the grandparents house on Tuesdays after school. I miss speaking Italian everyday. Things are so different here. My days are so routine. In the first few months living in Cuneo, everything was so new. I spoke zero Italian, and relied on my host sister to translate everything for me. I didn't know what was going on 90% of the time. I grew more independent, and stopped depending so much on the people around me. I experienced some really hard times and some really incredible moments. In those nine months, I learned so much about Italy and about myself. I learned that I don't always have to be so passive, and speaking up is good sometimes. I learned that it's okay to make mistakes. Pronouncing a word wrong, or using the wrong verb tense is not such a terrible thing. So many times, I wouldn't speak in fear of messing up. After a while, I learned not to think so much about it and to just talk. I started learning so much faster after that. I learned to get past my shy tendencies; if I wanted to make new friends, I would have to approach them myself. I applied to this exchange wanting to learn a new language, and learned so much more than I ever thought I would. I'm so proud of myself and everything that I accomplished in that time. I'm so thankful for my parents for urging me to stay during the hard times. I'm thankful for my host families, and friends. Rotary Youth Exchange opened my eyes to so many things. I look at things in a different light, now. I met so many people from all over the world, and lived for nine months as an Italian. I realize how fortunate I am to have had this opportunity, and would give anything to experience it again. Nothing will ever compare to the time I spent in Cuneo, and the relationships I made. That little city left a big impact on my heart.
