3 months in America

Authored By:

Anna M.

It's been 3 months since I left Poland but feels like 3 years. So many things have already changed. My host family, friends, classes.

When September was just a month of learning and I didn't even know what was going on around me, October was tough. That was a time when I had to switch host families and move to another town, 30 miles away. I was lucky enough to avoid switching schools. However, that situation kinda broke me down. I couldn't count on any of my friends. The only people that helped me somehow were my teachers and family back home. They didn't let me down and I'm so grateful. One of the worst things is that I moved out of my house 2 days before my 18th birthday. And no, I didn't get a new host family right away. I got a temporary family instead. I missed Halloween and my birthday but it doesn't matter when I think how good my life is right now.

In the middle of November, after a month with my temporary host family, I moved into a new house. It was one of the best days of my exchange so far. My new host family includes mom, dad, and 4 younger siblings at age 15, 13, 10 and 8. It's such a busy house but I loved it since the very beginning. The funny thing is that my host mom spent a couple of months in Poland so she can speak Polish and impresses me all the time with her knowledge about our history and culture. There's no that weird feeling when I come out of my room. I don't feel like a stranger anymore but like a normal member of a family. I love making Polish food with them, playing board games, watching Barbie with my host sisters and just sitting by a fireplace doing nothing. It was worth going through all of it to get a happy home like this.

I don't have any close friends at school now but there's lots of people in every class that I can play around with. Especially in my acting class :D
The last class I changed was Trigonometry. I have Film instead. It wasn't quite a smart decision because I made it on impulse in the middle of a semester and I was 6 weeks behind.

In the end, I'm glad it all happened. The whole thing with my host family taught me like nothing before how to take care of myself. One of the best examples was the last day with my first host family. I went to town with my friend after school, not knowing if that night I'm gonna stay with her, my host family, local coordinator or a woman which is in charge of the Rotary Club in my school. I was talking to my coordinator when my phone died. My friend's phone was dead before and we didn't have the right charger. I suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and thought I was gonna cry. I was literally running to school at 6 pm to learn that none of the students that were still staying there had a charger. A little ashamed but helpless I went to the theatre and found my teacher who looked up my host mom's number and borrowed his phone so I could call her.
How many awkward situations I had since I'm here? Too many.

The first 3 months were crazy but it doesn't mean they were bad. I don't regret any of the decisions I've made. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be only better.