A few short months ago, on a fateful afternoon, I had a thought that would alter my life forever. I saw myself living in a country not my own, with (up until then) complete strangers for a year. I saw myself having to learn new dialects and languages, cultures and foods. And so, with that goal in mind, I began to prepare myself for this odyssey tirelessly. I took as many classes as I could to prepare myself for the time when I would leave my home for a year. I began to study the various cultures out there, just to get a flavor of what my life could be like, and I steeled myself for the fateful day when I would step on that plane.
That is a lie.
Actually, one day, I thought to myself "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to do an exchange program?" That was two weeks before the deadline. Things were tight, but we somehow made it. I didn't even really start to consider what my year was going to be like until quite recently. Now, I can almost taste the new words tripping off my tongue fluently. Now, I can almost feel the exhilaration of stepping off of that plane for the first time in Switzerland, breathing Swiss air for the first time, and meeting my host family for the first time. But honestly, when I signed up for this, I had no idea what I was getting into.
But now, I know where I'm going (Fribourg, Switzerland), and who my host family is (the Schneuwlys), and what languages they speak (French and German)
