simple as learning whatever is taught in school, though. It's about learning how
to listen, how to speak, how to think. Learning who you are, who your
friends are, the type of people you want as friends. Learning how to trust your
innermost feelings, and how to find those feelings in the first place.
It's about learning what's really important to you, and learning what really
doesn’t matter at all.
Exchange is about how to tolerate, how to accept, how to like, and how
to love. Learning how to give as well as to receive, and how to trust that
everything will even itself out on it's own.
It's about learning that your mom and dad do have the right answers
sometimes, and that your siblings aren’t as bad as you thought they
were.
Exchange is about learning how to treat people as people, not as
stereotypes. Learning that each person is unique and has their own
special talents but also has faults. Learning how to achieve, how to succeed,
how to accomplish. It's about learning how to not come in first place and
still be proud, and about coming in last and learning how to admit that you
could have been better.
Exchange is about learning that large parties don't necessarily mean a
good time. Learning that loneliness doesn't go away in a crowd, and that
sometimes it's okay to be by yourself on a Friday or Saturday night.
It's about learning that your lunch time crowd does not constitute your
popularity, and that popularity is all a matter of perspective. It's
about learning that boredom is simply laziness of the mind.
Exchange is about learning how to pack a bag and how to pack a room
full of way too much stuff. It's about learning that people probably like you a
whole lot more than they'll ever tell you, and that it's your
responsibility to make sure your friends know how much you appreciate them.
It's about learning that simply doing what you're supposed to do isn't
enough, you need to put forth twice that effort. Learning to fully
grasp whatever it is that’s sitting in front of you.
It's about learning how to make people smile.
Exchange is about learning how to miss people enough to not stick them
in the past, and how to not miss them so much that it keeps you from
moving into the future.
Learning how to motivate yourself and how to motivate others.
Learning what the phrase "make do" means and how to use it to seem as
if you're not simply "making do".
It's about learning the language and lingo of your host country, and
how to swear in all the different languages of all the other exchange
students.
Exchange is about learning.......LEARNING HOW TO LIVE!