Through this program, what have you learned about yourself and what will you bring back to your home country

I am Mina, staying with A-SMYLE program in Marysville, WA

In every person's life there is a moment that raises above all the others, carries an extreme importance. Not a lot of people, though, experience that moment while they are still teenagers. I am one of the lucky ones. That October of 2009 seemed to be just a regular rainy October that I will spend at home, in Serbia. Except one little thing: I had to keep some silly promise to my parents to enter a testing and try to become an exchange student. But so did hundreds of other kids, so I suppose that doesn't make any difference. Until one day you receive a phone call saying that United States wants you to come and spend a year living in the country, learning about their culture, making memories. Well then that is something special!

From that moment my life turned upside down. I would have never imagined that I will be the one who is chosen to go live in the US; not with my poor English skills and my boring- nerdy personality! But somehow I managed to pass all four rounds of tests and that fact alone has changed me a lot. My self-esteem went up by a couple of bars and I can never thank my parents enough for making me enter this amazing experience. Now when I look back I can't help but wonder why my self confidence level was so low when all the people around me thought the exact opposite about me. I suppose I needed a proof from someone who wasn't related to me in any way, who was able to judge me from an objective perspective.

No matter how happy I was to be one of the finalists, one thing was hanging over my head like a huge rock, threatening to fall any second. It was the final decision. The thing that I am absolutely worst at: making decisions. Cutting the rope, taking the initiative. With this experience I had to face my worst fear and make my own decision. Once again, my parents were so supportive no matter what I decide, but they could not make the decision for me. I closed my eyes, squeezed my teeth, and decided to step into a new world. After 9 months in the US I am proud to say that I haven't regretted a moment that I've spent here, and that this was the best year of my life so far!

Life with my host family is great. I always say if I got to pick my host family myself, I wouldn't have picked it better. It is amazing how they are so much alike my family at home, but yet so different. Through the year I have became so much more independent, I've upgraded my system from an immature teenager to a young adult. Starting from all the little things like doing my own laundry and cooking, to those big ones like managing my own budget and time, caring about my own health, etc. I learned that family is the most important thing in the world, and I realized that I have taken all that support and love for granted. And I sure learned to appreciate my mom's daily work and effort that she puts in every day to keep us all in order. I admit it, comparing to American teenagers, I was a bit spoiled.

The differences between the US and Serbia could be huge or small, depending on how deep you dig. Since I've already dug a pretty deep hole the differences I've discovered changed my point of view. I've learned that knowledge isn't just memorizing all the facts about history, geography, science, etc. that they teach us back at school in Serbia. It is knowing how to apply all the things you learn and understanding why you are learning it. All the interesting projects and research papers I had to do in school here had taught me that. Also I was amazed how various people live together in the same country, appreciating their diversity and respecting each other no matter what their religion or skin color is. On the other hand, I learned to praise and respect the long tradition, culture and history my home country has behind it. Those are the things I missed the most, our traditional food, music, spirit and I think I didn't realize how big part of my life that is until I had to spend a year without it.

Except the great memories and a lifelong friendship with my host family I will bring home a lot of new ideas how to improve our country. Not only by changing all the old-fashioned and conservative things, but also by pointing out all the good things we possess that have been neglected or we just didn't realize how important they are. As an exchange student, you have to get used to one thing constantly buzzing through your head, no matter what you do: comparing. Comparing everything that you experience throughout the year to your home country. Comparing food, school, holidays, people, style of dressing, television, every little part of the life, even the silliest little things as door handles! The cool thing, though, is that at the end you get to pick the best from both and apply it to your own life, to become a better person. And that is what I am looking forward to the most.