When I signed up to be an exchange student, I had not actually realized that eventually I was going to leave my family, my dog, my favorite ice-cream place, the Sundays at my grandma’s house making pizza together and basically my entire reality to fly across the ocean to make one of my biggest dreams come true. But that’s what happened, and I’d make this choice again without any doubts.

Oak Park and River Forest High School hosts about six exchange students every year and according to the STS Foundation, a designated U.S. Department of State exchange program, “Every year, families across the U.S.A welcome over 30,000 high school exchange students from all corners of the globe.”

But what makes these teenagers decide to turn their life upside down? This foundation indicates that the main reasons why these many people choose the U.S. as their destination are the unique high school experience, the variety of extracurricular activities, the desire to study the language and to get to know a different culture. “The appeal of the U.S.A as a destination for young learners is undeniable,” the STS Foundation website states.

From the moment I left my family at the airport I knew this year was going to be a whirlwind of emotions. The excitement of the first day of school mingled with the anxiety of being on my own in an unknown environment, or the happiness of getting to know new people that often mixes with homesickness are very strong emotions to which many exchange students can probably relate.

The feeling of not belonging somewhere or the thought about not being strong enough for this experience sometimes gets at you; the first few weeks after the arrival will be the hardest and some might think that they want to go back home, where they have their normality and their routine. 

However, they should always remember that there are way more reasons to see this big change with enthusiasm rather than with fear. “I left for a reason. I wanted a change,” is what Romina Ruiz, a junior exchange student from Mexico at OPRF, thinks whenever she has doubts about her journey. 

The easiest thing to do is to stay inside your comfort zone, not challenging yourself or opening your mind and yourself to new possibilities, but as Dan Moroney, my host dad, said, “You don’t get the most out of life unless you’re putting yourself in new situations that allow you to experience something that you wouldn’t experience if you just stayed in your room scrolling your phone.”

This journey doesn’t involve only the exchange students though, but also many other people like the hosting families and the agencies that work and guide the teengers during their experience abroad. Hosting a foreign exchange student is a great opportunity to learn about different cultures, and as Moroney said, “Certainly being a foreign exchange student and hosting a foreign exchange student is a really good way to experience life in a new way.”

Another reason why a family might decide to host a foreign exchange student is because of their children are going away for college; Amy Moroney, my host mom, said, “Knowing that my son was leaving for another year, we loved to have another person in the house.”

However, the journey of hosting an exchange student is not without its challenges. Language barriers, the complexities of integrating a teenager into your household and the different habits or lifestyles are all possible complications that cannot be ignored, but which at the same time can be overcome thanks to an open and sincere dialogue between the two parties.

Like many other teenagers I’m often afraid of missing out on what happens around me and this is one of the constant thoughts that I had in my mind before leaving for the U.S. I kept thinking,  “What if my friends forget me? What if something happens to my family while I’m abroad and I cannot be there for them? What if…”

However, as Matteo Morelli, a senior exchange student from Italy at Fenwick High School, said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” In fact, all those doubts did not stop me from getting on the plane that brought me here, and even though I surely miss my family and my life back in Italy, the life that I’m living right now, the people I’m meeting and the memories I’m making are worth every tear I shed in that airport saying goodbye to the people I love the most.