By Aiko Sarasvaty Pranowo*
Why I can go to Italy for doing exchange?
The question still looms on my mind. I still can’t believe that I’m in Italy. I used to have a dream of going abroad, and it turned out that I am being able to go abroad, not to be a tourist but a student exchange. To be honest, Italy is not my chosen country. Of the 10 choices, there is no Italy in it. And yes, I’m regretting that I didn’t put Italy as my first choice.
My name is Aiko Sarasvaty Prabowo, you can call me Aiko, I come from Indonesia. I am 17 years old. In Italy, I lived in Napoli.
When I am sitting on a plane, I still not believing that I will go to Italy. Especially during orientation in Rome, ‘how can I become an exchange student in Italy? ‘’ That’s what I asked myself at that time. When I in the train to Naples to meet my host family, my heart beat so fast, lots of questions, lots of thoughts in my head while on the train.
‘’ What will my host family looks like? What will my school be like? How will my life be like? Can I adaptation with Italians? ”, I am trying to not to expect anything and not prejudice myself.
When I go down from the train, this is the moment I waited for, the game began. I immediately saw the ” Benvenuti ”, seeing the smiles of the volunteers and the host-family. I looked for my family, I saw the look of their eyes, their smiles, and I still remember the moment at that time. The point is I can’t say anything especially when I first meet face to face and talk to them. There was something funny when I met them, I was confused, kiss or not, because it was new to me. Be an awkward moment between me and them.
Even small things here can make me very enthusiastic. Just a small example like: breakfast, in here we only drink milk or coffee and eat bread or biscuits, in Indonesia when we eat breakfast we usually eat rice and side dishes. There was also a dinner time when I was with my family for the first time. Too much, at that moment I was really surprised. In my mind ’’ When I can finish all of this food? ‘,’ And I’m used to things like that now. Pizza, which is usually 1 pizza eaten by 4 or 5 person, here 1 person 1 pizza, the first time I am eating pizza, I can’t finished it, after that I can finish my own pizza because this Italian-made pizza has its own flavour, which makes Italian pizza is different from other country pizzas. And also Italy has many types of pasta, and they are looking so good.
My family here is very attentive to me, I am grateful I can stay with them. There is also a family tradition in Italy, for example, every time they have dinner they tell their stories and every sunday while having lunch, this is very meaningful because all family members can gather together, while watching tv and joking. Also when there is a party with family, this is something that I like, we play, sing, joking, and certainly eating, as always I count how many more dishes to finish this party.
My life here is not entirely haha hihi haha hihi (always happy), There is also dissatisfaction, anger, sadness that I have experienced, but I thought to make my exchange year memorable, because I didn’t know when I could return to Italy to meet my family and my friends. Also there are many challenges that make ‘New Me’, there are changes in me before and after I went to Italy like the way I think, how I communicated, how I deal with new things, and how I deal with problems.
I never thought I can study in Italians High School before. The education system in Italy amazed me so much. All information is just to check on the school website (grades, present data, assignments, etc.). I noticed in here they are prioritizing memorization. The new thing for me is the lesson ‘’Philosophy’, even though in the linguistico, scientifico, classico, there are still Philosophy lessons. I was also amazed too by the students in Italy, they were all strong at memorizing and diligently working on assignments. My classmates were also welcome to me, every time there were things I did not understand, they would help. Teachers are also friendly with their students. I thanked so much to my friends in here who help me and hangout with me, they make my days more colourful.
Italy, you could say this country is close to the perfect word (because there is no perfect thing). There are good panorama, good food, friendly people, good city atmosphere, and so on.
Many lessons that I got from this student exchange student, I live for moments that I can’t put into words. Sono Ancora Viva.(*Student Exchange AFS Italia, 2018)