Ashley Clinton, 2012-2013 Youth Exchange Rebound

I Smile When I Think About It!    

When I heard the news I was to live my exchange year abroad in Sweden, I went oh ... They told us to choose 5 countries that we wanted to go to, Sweden was my 5th choice.  But nonetheless I left my home and off to start my life as an official Rotary Youth Exchange student in Sweden.

 FUN FACTS: The population of Sweden is 9.5 million, the population of just the state of Florida is approximately 20 million, and the population of Miami is 5 hundred thousand. For the first 3 months there I knew Swedish just as much as I knew Chinese. 

The language by far was a difficult task for me, but as time went on I found myself having conversations with Rotarians at the Rotary meetings. In fact, one of the first nights in Sweden we had just finished dinner and my host mom asked me if I wanted more food and I said "nej, jag ar full" and then my host sister Hanna leaned over and said "That means you're drunk. You say jag ar met". And from then on I knew the difference. Learning Swedish in school also helped a ton. I attended Bstra Gymnasiet in Skog:\s, where my first 4 months of school was just Swedish lessons. Later on in the year I switched into the Nature line at my school.

Saint Augustine said "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."  Having the opportunity to leave my home country and travel to Europe has let me read more than one chapter of my book and surely bring me more to come in the future. Travel makes you modest, and you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. This year abroad has really opened my eyes and saved me from making choices that I didn't want to make, this year has taught me so much about myself. I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale. 

 At the end of the year all of the Exchange Students in Sweden went on an l8-day Euro tour.  We visited nine countries and had the most amazing experience that any l8-year-old would die for. We traveled to Berlin, Cracow (Poland), Auschwitz, Prague, Saltzburg & Zellam See (Austria), Slovenia, Venice & Lido di Jesolo (Italy), Paris, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Copenhagen. In those 18 days I saw more than most people see in their whole lives and it was such an amazing experience to travel, I get excited just thinking about It.

Living there for a year I've come to appreciate things that I took for granted back home like the hot sun and the cool beach of Miami. Sweden has taught me to really appreciate home and the things I have here but also be so thankful that I got such an amazing, cultural and exciting country to live in. I want to cry because I have never been so in love with another country as I am with Sweden. 

Exchange is so much more than pictures of statues or historical Sites, more than simply living in another country, more than learning a new language.  It's an opportunity of a lifetime that cannot be described in words.because it’s the feeling you get, the moments you have there and only another exchange student can understand it.  

I can't go back in time, I can only think on the many memories,. Having bonfires with 'all the exchange students in Stockholm.  Missing the bus and having to run to the train station.  Gaining weight from meatballs an from meatballs alone.  Almost losing your breath at the sight of Stockholm City as you ride in with the train. I smile and remember what an amazing year I had and maybe inspire people to go out and do the same with their life.

So I thank the Rotary club of Coral Gables for sponsoring me this year and giving me the opportunity to travel to Sweden, experience all the culture and live like a true Swede. I'm so glad that didn't get my first choice of country, I'm glad I got Sweden. So thank you once again for having me as this year's exchange student. I will never forget these memories and the experience I' had in Sweden. Jag alska Sverige ! Tack for en fantastiskt. De har inte hej dil. Du och jag vi ses igen.