Claudia an exchange student from Italy embarked on her academic year in America just about a year ago in Texas. Claudia speaks four languages and wanted to come to the U.S. to improve her English and experience the American culture. She stayed with the Wells family who immediately embraced Claudia as their own and introduced her to a variety of American sports, traditions and friendships.
The Wells family joined AYA in 2014 as a host family who wanted to give an exchange student an opportunity to learn, to grow and share American culture with them. It was also an opportunity for the Wells to learn about another country, language and cuisine.
A year has now past and Claudia shares with AYA a beautiful letter of thanks to all her American family and friends:
It was exactly a year ago…
A year ago I was about to start the best experience ever. A year ago I was leaving something that I knew “as well as my pockets” (as we say in Italy), and I was leaning towards something completely unknown, something hard to do, and something that requires a whole lot of courage. I was excited, confused, sad, anxious, afraid, but brave as well, but mostly, I was curious…
I couldn’t wait to see that amazing country, to fit into that culture, which is so different and interesting; to learn to be independent, and braver than ever.
Like all the exchange students in this world would say, the first 2-3 months weren’t easy at all. The language was tough to understand, the teachers were hard to follow, and the habits were incredibly different from what I had expected. The hardest thing had to have been making friendships, that’s for sure. After I started to fit in, to understand everything, to finally understand what I was doing…
I started to feel free and strong. I felt like I could do everything in my life after this experience.
I must thank two people in particular a couple that is a little different from the other ones, but is a special one, Shawn and Shelly. They are the most amazing people that I met this past year. They helped me step by step through my exchange experience and supported me every single time that things got tough. They laughed with me as if we were best buddies. They protected me as if I was their own daughter.
They also introduced me to a lot of great people like my American grandparents, my volleyball teammates, my brothers that I’ve always wanted, great friends, and Dorothy my Local Coordinator.
Thanks to ALL of you guys for making my experience the best year of my life and thanks to those who have been by my side this past year! I will always think about all the times that “y’all helped me”! See you guys soon (I hope)!
Love you!
AYA loves hearing from our students and how their academic year in America positively influenced their lives, how our host families welcomed them into their homes and how our volunteers helped guide them. Share your 2014-2015 experience with AYA or leave a comment below.
After reading this i think it is such a good experience and giving thanks is good. Nice and impressive blog.