AN UNBELIEVABLE MONTH

By: Alessio Ferrari

What If I told you that in just 1 month, you can experience one of the most overwhelming adventures of your life while knowing that you still have a long journey ahead? Well, I’m Alessio and I am doing the school exchange year in the U.S. and in just one month I’ve already had the time of my life. Stay with me if you want to know more about it.

First of all I am in a small town in Michigan called Lowell, I’ve been here for little over a month and I’m loving it. I landed on the 19th of August and I had a very warm welcome by my host dad, Robert, and my host mom, Lisa. They helped me settle down and go through the culture shock (believe me it really hits hard, but more about that later) by being always open for questions and ready to help. Moreover they already hosted students in the past and as of right now, they are hosting me and another student from Brazil, Mathias. It’s a little hard talking to him because he knows very little English but I bet he is going to learn it pretty fast. In these first 30 days we bonded like a family by going to lots of places and experiencing new things, such as: Tubing, Laser Tag, visiting Chicago, canoeing, parties and much more (all of these could have their own separate story).

Apart from family, school has been probably the biggest thing I was excited about before coming here. The easiest way to describe it is: It’s just like the movies. It’s astonishing how much the school system is different from one nation to another. The school here in the U.S. is without doubt much, much easier, but I feel like that’s what makes it a little better. People here are actually excited to go to school, especially knowing that there are various sports events almost every day and clubs to join to pass the day.

Not to mention that depending on where you may go schools have special events, for example in my school the 23rd of September, is a day against breast cancer and the school instead of being known as Red Arrow, is known as Pink Arrow and the entire day is themed around this cause, with everyone wearing

pink at the football charity game.

 Going over the people that I’ve met I already have a lot of friends, and trust me it is impossible not to make at least one friend, it may be because I am an exchange student, but peopleare way more friendly here than in Italy (the adults too).

Not to mention there are also other exchange students that are new to the school just like you so joining forces is not

a bad idea. Finally, this experience is fun and for what I experienced so far, a must do. However it is also very hard in the first days, or weeks

you arrive at the destination. The culture shock is very hard to go through, everything is different here, from food to school to even just how certain stuff works. This shouldn’t make you rethink about doing this experience because as hard as it may be it is also what makes the experience unforgettable.
All in all I truly hope the vibe of this journey stays the same if not improve during the year.