Dia duit!
today I want to tell you about how I altered myself in the past 5 months. When talking about an exchange year, everyone tells you „omg you will change soooo much, you’ll be a complete new person when you come back!“ but in my opinion, that’s not how it works.
Of course, I got more independent and much more grown up, at least that’s what my family and friends in Germany told me. And before I came here, I was so afraid of phoning people I don’t know very well ( i.e. the doctor, the pizza delivery, etc :D) and I hated going somewhere alone. But yeah, now I can do all that stuff without having any problems. I guess it’ll never be my favourite thing but at least I feel comfortable doing these things.
Nowadays I just go somewhere, smiling and saying „here I am, who are you, what’s your name, where do you come from, what’s your story?“ whereas a few months ago I was more like „don’t talk to me I hate people don’t even look at me just leave me alone“. I just got very talkative. And I didn’t even need to kiss the Blarney stone for that ( irish people will know what I mean) 😀
Before summer, I hated to talk to my doctor’s. I just wanted them to do their job and keep quiet. But when I was at the dentist on Monday I talked to her for half an hour about everything and anything and I didn’t even think of feeling uncomfortable.
What I also learnt is the importance of friends. Yes, you can go to a club on your own. Yes, you can go shopping on your own. And yes, you can also travel on your own. But it’s much more fun if you do it with some friends so you make memories together. And I learned that it’s hard to keep in contact when you don’t see each other for a long time, but it’s not impossible. You get to know who your real friends are and with whom you’re just a „friend“ at school.
But the thing I realized most of all is the importance and the meaning of family. No matter what you do, no matter where you are, your family loves&helps you. I realized how dumb and how mean I was as a teenager and how unfair I am to them even nowadays when I am very annoyed. Looking back, I feel very sorry for them and I can’t believe how unfair I was. But I guess it’s part of puberty and I get to know everyday that I am by far not the only one who treated her parents that way.
There are also certain things that I thought would change but they didn’t. It’s just because when you hear someone talking about exchange they talk about the greatest time they ever had and all their friends and everything. But that’s just not true. If you are a person that doesn’t have lots of friends at home (i.e. that you prefer to have 2-3 close friends and some school friends rather than having 1000 friends with whom you are not so close with) then you won’t have billions of friends and thousands of parties here as well. Of course, irish people are very nice and very friendly, but being friends with everyone is just impossible. No matter what you expect, don’t overestimate yourself! You’ll still be the same person, maybe slightly different but in general you’ll be the same. Of course you should adapt yourself to your hostcountry, but don’t change too much if you feel uncomfortable. The quote that „life begins at the end of your comfort zone“ (here you go Carmen :D) is very true but don’t overdo it.
Slán, Julia
julia goes to sligo 