Other than my choice in movies, I’d like to think that I’m not really into very cliché things. Yet here I am stating one of the biggest clichés in the book by saying, “It changed my life.” But honestly? It’s completely true.
When I first heard about Rotary’s short term exchange program, I didn’t even want to do it. In my mind, I thought leaving for a month would mean missing out on a summer spent going to the lake with my friends and taking dance classes. While I did miss out on a few lake trips here and there as well as an entire month of dance, I got an experience that shifted the ground I stood on, changing my entire perspective of the world and where my life was headed.
Somehow between talking to my parents and watching Rick Steve's videos on Europe (seriously, though), I applied and got matched with a family in a small town located 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam. Once my match was made, I wasn’t nervous; I was more excited than a six year old at Disneyland. Flash forward a few months and I landed in Amsterdam where my host sister and host mom awaited me with a big Dutch flag.
My host family exceeded my expectations and made me feel like another daughter within the first 24 hours of my arrival. My host sister and I clicked faster than you could snap your fingers, quickly becoming best friends. Ultimately, my host family was the number one reason that my experience was so incredible.
The next four and a half weeks flew by in a whirlwind, yet I remember it all with vibrance. I visited cities from Maastricht in southern Holland, to the Hague, to the famous pottery town of Delft, to the beach, to Amsterdam twice, and to Haarlem on a weekly basis.
I felt like a local as I biked everywhere I went. Even crashing into my host sister’s bike didn’t stop me from seeing monuments, museums, and artwork that I had only ever seen on Instagram. I tried new foods and fell deeply in love with the Dutch custard, vla.
I saw Europe from cars, trains, and planes as I got to travel through Switzerland and northern Italy. I rode every single roller coaster in an Italian amusement park even though it was at least 95 degrees and sweltering hot.
An excessive amount of pictures were taken of bunnies on a small island called San Biagio, where I also got to swim in the most beautiful lake I’d ever seen: Lake Garda. I ate way too much bread and was constantly awarded the “piece of shame,” or the last piece of food because seriously, I couldn’t get enough.
Looking back, going to the Netherlands was easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Traveling abroad for four and a half weeks allowed me to experience a culture better than any book or travel show could have. I probably talk about my exchange experience too much (sorry for the amount of times you’ve heard “when I was in the Netherlands,” Mom and Dad…), but going abroad was truly life changing. It really is all it’s cracked up to be. So if an opportunity arises to travel somewhere new, I’m going to take it; I hope you will, too. It’s worth it.
