BENEFITS

So, you're considering becoming an exchange student and want to know what kind of benefits you would gain? How would it enrich your life and change your perspective as you've heard me go on and on about? What makes it all worth it?

First off, in living abroad in another culture, you'd have the opportunity to learn another culture from an insiders perspective, something that you wouldn't really gain just by moving there. As an exchange student, many of the programs have you living with a host family, taking part in their daily lives, and learning how different cultures families go about living. You learn to pay attention to the little details of how you live your daily life, even down to how you take a shower (like, in Japan, you shower first THEN bath in the bath tub).

Next, the relationships you gain with your host family, your friends you gain from that culture and with other exchange students, other citizens, and your exchange program will have a profound influence on your life and your perspective as a world citizen.

And, as I pointed out in stories with my story about food, living abroad definitely forces you out of your comfort zone and into new, uncharted territory for you which allows you to grow and expand as a person. I am pretty sure that if I had never moved abroad I'd still be a picky eatter and have less of a world perspective and understanding for different cultures as I do from living in one.

Also, a major bonus in living abroad, especially in a country where English is not the main language, you will learn a new language and often become fluent! At first there will be major communication issues, however, you learn to adapt and work around it, learning that communication isn't only about words but about gestures, signs, and in my case, sometimes drawings! The ability to talk to someone in another language other than your native one is amazing and, in living abroad, it'd force you to have the 24-7 contact and give you the ability to pick on rather quickly!

Although there are many more benefits, the one that I'll end this list with is this: in being an exchange student, living away from home, and just everything that I listed above, gives you such a strong sense of self and understanding of things around the world. When I came back from America I did have troubles re-adjusting into American high school life due to my experience, and it wasn't always peaches and cream, however, the good definitely outweights the bad. You make mistakes, you get frustrated that you can't be understood, but you learn, adapt, and find ways around it and listen. Listening is the key and the more you listen, the more you learn to speak, and the more you learn to understand the culture.

Being an exchange student was one of the most enriching experiences of my life. It was hard, but the hard made the end result all the more worthwhile.