If you could proof read my essay that would be great. All input is much appreciated. Thanks!
Life is always changing, but growth is optional. How could anybody possibly grow without stepping out of their comfort zone? This year I have stepped out of my comfort zone, finally.
By the time you read this paper, I will be five or six months into the best year of my life. I am a Rotary exchange student in Cucuta, Colombia.
But, how do I describe what it is like being an exchange student? Wonderful? Exciting? Difficult? Amazing? I could use a thousand words and still not touch on all the joys and terrors of what being on an exchange brings; however, I will try. I believe this adventure that I have begun will forever change me. Right now if it is for the better I can not say, but I wholeheartedly believe that it will. I am truly on my own for the first time in my life. I am the one that has to take care of myself, and do things that my parents use to help me with. For example, I manage my money, make sure I stay safe, and make sure I eat right. I have a host family to help me along the way, but ultimately it is my responsibility. This sudden change will force me to grow and mature more than I ever could in my home in the United States. How could you know what tolerance is if you did not have to get use to something you did not like? Everyday, I am surrounded by things that I do not like, and that make me uncomfortable, but I have to deal with them. I am learning that I have to judge things and other people more slowly, because even though something is different does not mean it is wrong.
This year will teach me more about the world than I could ever get out of a text book. Everyday I am exposed to new experiences and things. How could somebody learn what diversity is if they have never sat in a room with people from all over the world and talked for hours without stopping telling nothing, but stories about their home countries. Teaching each other phrases in there native language, and about the cultural differences. I am learning about a new culture, and ultimately that will teach me about my culture in America.
I have learned more about myself in the past two months than I ever have. How I cope with difficult problems that I have never had to deal with before. For example wanting to hug someone more than ever, but a computer screen wont let you. Or desperately trying to tell someone something, but you have no idea how to say it. Many of the problems that I have faced will challenge me again in college, but this time I will be better equipped to deal with them.
Have you ever sat in a room and listened to people speak, yell, and laugh in a language you can not understand? Have you ever had the desperation of wanting to talk, to say something, but not being able to. Of being so frustrated that you want to scream, but if you do people would not understand why you are having this sudden burst of emotion. They can not understand that you are upset, frustrated, and lonely. I have, every day in the beginning of my exchange I felt like this. When I sat, in school, in my small wooden desk covered in writing that I did not understand. The only thing I had to keep my company were my thoughts. Thoughts can be a dangerous thing when you miss something greatly, because they always drift back to what you miss the most. I knew I needed to keep preoccupied in school, so I began to study Spanish everyday, all day. And with time, I began to build up a vocabulary, and with my vocabulary I began to listen to others speak. Many people have never been truly mentally challenged in there life. My first month on my exchange my brain was always exhausted and on over drive while I was trying to learn a new language. At first, I could only pick out certain words, but as time passed ever so slowly, I understood more. Now, I can understand close to all, and by the time you read this I am confident I will be fluent in Spanish. People take knowing a language for granted, but when you have to learn one to make friends the true value of a language is apparent. Learning a new language forces you to open up, make mistakes, and learn from them. Now, when I look back at all I have accomplished on my exchange, especially, with my language I know that I can conquer anything life brings. As long as I am persistent and do not give up I can overcome it.
I am a rotary exchange, and I know that I will forever have a family that no normal person could ever have. That I will forever have a friend in every country in this world.
