A Message from Our Youth Exchange Student

I hope to gain many things from this foreign exchange trip. I want to gain experience. I want to learn more about other people. I want to become more responsible. I want to achieve a high level of friendship and self-confidence.

I wish to gain experience from the outside world.  Most of my life has been spent right where I am now, Wasilla, Alaska.  I want to see more. I feel like I need to expand my horizon.  I want a change of scenery.  I need to see the outside world to reach my full potential.  Gaining experience from another place will change my view of the world.

I want to expand my knowledge of other cultures.  Knowing more things about other cultures such as their habits, religions, and their styles of life will help take away my false stereotypical views I’ve been raised thinking.  Being immersed in a complete unknown and unfamiliar environment will be good for me.  I’ll learn to adjust to things that I’ve never been introduced to before.  Strengthening my insight on other types of environments is a goal I’d like to obtain from this.

I hope to gain responsibility and learn to become more self-reliant.  Being away from my parents and family for a year is destined to make me more independent.  It’ll prepare me for adulthood.  These experiences will teach me to rely on my own actions and face every one of my mistakes.  I want to learn to live for myself.  I want to have a better idea of what to expect in years to come.  Responsibility and self-reliance are characteristics I’d like to strengthen through this journey.

 Another important thing I wish to gain is friendship.  Living with host parents and possibly their children is something I’m really looking forward to, even with others my age in school.  I hope to have close bonds with all of them.  And as life goes on, I hope to continue having contact with them.  Friendship means a lot to me.  Friendship is one of the many things I hope to achieve from this exchange program.

I hope to learn. Learning in general is something I love to do. I’m a very curious person and want as many questions answered as possible. Filling my head with more knowledge of things will help me become the leader I want to be.

I’ll become more self-confident. I don’t have the best self-confidence. Being in front of many people I don’t know and having to give talks and presentations to them will surely change that. Self-confidence is something I struggle with. I wish to change it from a weakness to a strength.

There are a large amount of things I’d like to achieve from this program. This exchange will improve me. It’ll shape me into the man I’ve always wanted to be. Thank you for your time.

                                                                                                            Everest