So tomorrow I'll be on a plane to Italy, on the biggest adventure of my short 15 years!
It’s going good so far. The language is hard to pick up because they talk really fast but I’m slowly getting there. The host family is really nice and understanding and I‚’m getting along with them really well.
It’s weird having two younger siblings because it’s sometimes difficult to communicate with them and they’re always wanting attention so it’s hard to handle sometimes. Aulnois sur Seille is tiny! There is hardly anything to do but the scenery is nice so the walks are good,...
My exchange experience resulted in one of the best experiences I have ever lived in my life.
I'm going very well at the moment. I find that time is going by too fast. Belgium is a super awesome country and I'm so glad I picked it.
I really enjoy this unique experience. Even if it was pretty hard at the beginning because I didn't understand the Aussie accent.
I'm having the most amazing time over here in the states! From the time I went through the international doors, all has been amazingly fun, new and most importantly exciting! I'm settling in great, my host family and I get on very well. It feels like I've known them for years already!
The American accent I don't recognise anymore, it all sounds normal! They love my accent and the fact I'm a true Aussie, makes everything all the more exciting! I've been out with a few friends and a few...
My family is amazing. They really treat me like a family member - of course it's been weird starting off in a whole new family, but they have really made it as easy as it possibly for me!
Everything is going very well! I'm definitely making the most out of each day. I just recently joined the Badminton club, which is so much fun. Here in the country I stick out completely! So, every day brings new exciting adventures!
Josephine's year-long exchange never quite finished after she returned to country Victoria in December 2005. In 2009 she wrote: I live in Italy now, where I did my exchange! I've just finished my philosophy degree at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome and will be starting Theology there in October. I have to thank WEP for the opportunity that they afforded me, without which I wouldn't be where I am today!
I can't believe that I leave tomorrow, the time went by incredibly fast. I'm going to miss almost everything about Belgium. Most of all the people, but also the culture, food, surrounding countries, French music and of course the language! I'm not fluent in French, but I can make myself understood and understand almost everything. Everybody from my host family, friends, host family friends, other exchange students, WEP and school teachers showed an amazing amount of compassion and...
For Christmas we'll go to a midnight church service and then spend the day first at home to open presents and then head next door to Nonna Teresa to eat with the extended family.
Yesterday we had a cooking class with a pastry chef, and we learned how to make macarons, choux, soufflés and marshmallows!
Everything is going wonderfully, apart from IT'S GOING TO FAST!
It’s been the best thing I have ever chosen to do. The experience has been unreal. I've been up to so much in the four months I've been here.
With school, which is amazing, I went and climbed some mountains, went horse riding, surfing, bowling and also went up to Dublin for a soccer game (Ireland v Uruguay) and it was a great experience. I've had quite a few holidays too, so I've had plenty of time to wonder around Waterford and experience the culture first hand. Ireland is a great...
I got on very well with my host family, always feeling comfortable and welcome. They really made me feel part of the family.
School is amazing, I am honestly loving school. Everyone is so nice and the whole school has been so welcoming.
Exchange is going well, I prepared myself for it to be hard but not this hard! It gets better everyday though which is good and now I have a really good relationship with the kids and the parents which was my main priority and which I am really happy about. People at school are so interested in me, there are some who mock me a little but it doesn’t matter; when I can speak two languages I can mock them! School is really hard, especially dictation! I have never done dictation in my life until...
Tutto è benissimo! Everything is going really well, though I still struggle a little with school, which I'm sure is normal and inevitable. My family is excellent and I love the Italian foods and customs! I am getting along with my host siblings very well also, which is great! Every morning, I ride to school with my host sibling Elisabetta.
The weather here has been gradually warming up and preparing for spring. I have visited a lot of Venice so far and I went there for the Carnivale. I...
I have experienced unforgettable moments of highs and lows, but I can't imagine not having done this now. Thinking about all the amazing people I've met, the lessons I have learned and things I have seen, I feel truly lucky to have been here living a different life. I have no regrets as I have grown to be more mature, open to life and aware of the world around me. Despite being hands down the hardest thing I have ever done it has been the best thing I have ever done for myself. I now feel...
I am having a wonderful time here. My host family are really lovely and very welcoming I have felt like a part of the family since my first day here. We spend a lot of time together as a family and they've really done everything to make me feel at home (even buying me Weet-Bix for breakfast). For Christmas we are going to church on Christmas Eve followed by a big meal and present opening! Then the next two days (Christmas and Boxing day) we will spend visiting family and just relaxing. I am...
Today it is -5 degrees and at the moment it is snowing lots! The snow is great, I love it. We have snowball fights and I've already been sledding once.
It is a hard decision to make at first, but once you arrive in your host country you will realise that every second and every minute of your two months, semester or year is a rewarding cultural experience.
I have just come back from Paris. From Montemarte you could see all of Paris and by night it was exactly like in the movies.
Christmas was amazing. I was a bit worried about the food to start off with. My host dad said we would be eating snails and I wasn’t sure how my stomach would handle it. Thankfully my grandmother doesn’t like snails so we didn’t have them. Apart from the foie gras everything else was amazing especially the desserts. I’m really going to miss them :) I spent the week of Christmas/ New Years travelling around and visiting different places and family. I especially loved Chambéry it was so...
The crazy Australian I am true and blue, yet the courageous Belgian is beating in my heart too.' Jenni from Brisbane embraced Belgian life 'to the full' as told in a recent email to WEP: 'Everything is going just absolutely fantastically superb over here. I'm living life in beautiful Belgium with some of the most amazing people in the whole world. My family is just fantastic and I love them all as if they were my own. I'm known as the crazy middle child and they are all my beautiful...
