Life Abroad: My Time in Austria as an Exchange Student
May 22, 2018
VIENNA – It’s 13:22 and I am in Spanish class, except what the teacher is saying isn’t making much sense. It’s probably because of her quick-paced dialect. Learning a foreign language is hard, especially when you’re learning it in another foreign language. But that’s just a small fraction of it.
The life of an exchange student is fast-paced, usually; exciting, often; and confusing, always. It’s a life of adventure and excitement but also of frustration and sometimes boredom. Yes has become the new no. It’s never predictable and rarely controllable. Nevertheless, it’s a lifestyle to be cherished.
I have been living in Vienna, Austria now for eight months. During this time, I’ve felt every emotion imaginable, learned some useful language skills, and met some of the most interesting people ever. Living abroad is like what I expected but also full of everyday surprises. It’s exciting, true, but it’s also a bit scary and nerve-wracking. Having to face each day, unaware of what situations you’ll find yourself in, of who you’ll meet, and of what will embarrass you next is quite the way to live. But at the end of the day, or in my case, at the end of the 10 months, everything will end, and I will head home to Pennsylvania, back to my life in a town of 20,000, surrounded by people who won’t know the hardships I’ve faced throughout this wild experience. It’s like that, however, for every exchange student.
We are challenged with the thought, “You build a life for 16 years and leave it for 10 months. You build a life in 10 months and leave it forever. Which one is harder?” It’s a tough question. Yes, I miss the people and great qualities of my hometown, but I only have two more months of this great adventure I am currently experiencing. Two more months before everything changes and will never be the same. Two months until I have to say goodbye to some ‘forever friends,’ knowing that it will likely be years before I see some of them again.
However, I believe that dreaded feeling is worth it, for the memories I have made with them and the adventures that we shared I will cherish forever.
Going on the exchange, especially in high school, is a big decision. It’s giving up a year in a normal American high school, often times junior year – known to be the most pivotal for colleges, to go somewhere you aren’t familiar with, to turn strangers into friends and family, to speak almost 100% of the time in a language you are barely acquainted with. It’s hard but rewarding. During my time here, thus far, I have been embarrassed, overcome with nervousness, and in tears. However, every experience comes and goes, and things seem to only be looking up. I am riding the roller coaster of exchange and every day there are bumps, but lately it has been smooth and it seems to only be getting better.
Living in central Europe makes it quite convenient to travel to other countries. Places that seemed like far-away dreamlands are now just a day-trip away; pictures of postcard palaces and shopping streets are just a bus and subway ride away; and experiences that seem far-fetched and impossible are now happening every day.
When I first wanted to go on exchange, my main intentions were to meet new people, learn a new language fluently, and to have fun. Meeting new people: check. Learn a new language: much harder to obtain than I had previously thought. But my skills in comprehension, writing, reading, as well as speaking, have improved immensely. Though before my exchange my biggest goal was to have fun, I have learned, throughout numerous -sometimes unfortunate- events, that an exchange year is not about having fun. Of course fun is naturally involved, but it should not be the main focus.
Being an exchange student is basically living a normal life, except abroad, with new faces, in a new area, in a foreign place. The daily issues that come up in your life at home will likely not vanish. In fact, some new problems may come up, including host family tensions, social anxiety in a foreign environment, and basic culture shock with all the new changes around you. However, one of the greatest advantages of going abroad that I have found is perspective. Life is all about perspective. The biggest drama in your life right now could turn into a joke if you were placed in a situation 5,000 miles away from home. This is a realization that can change your outlook on life. Issues that once brought tears now cause little but a frown. Things that once seemed life-altering now are funny. It’s a strange yet refreshing enlightenment.
Being so far from home is hard, of course, especially with the always updated social media posts of events happening. However, I try to focus on the fact that I will be able to catch up upon my return, with a thousand new memories that I will sadly have to keep to myself out of consideration for others. Although I am completely alone here, I have never felt all alone. I feel the support from across the ocean as well as the never-ending love from fellow exchange students who are going through similar things like me. It’s a feeling of loneliness mixed with complete safety.
Going abroad was the hardest decision of my life, but I have no regrets. Of course it has been hard, and of course I am missing out on fun things happening at home, but I have a second home now – a new life, with new people who I can cherish the last two months here with because I know it will be gone before I expect. This decision has brought me countless experiences, taught me a new lifestyle, reshaped my world perspective and mindset for me to carry forever, and most of all, introduced me to some of the most amazing people who I know I can count on until the end of time.
To those of you with your head in the clouds, your heart beating with excitement, and your mind open to the new and unknown, consider doing a high school year abroad. It could change you. At the very least, it will always bring you something good. Even in the hardest of times, there is something positive to point to. I encourage anyone with ambitions outside of the U.S. to go abroad. The opportunity to live as a teenager in another nation is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
